Welcome home John

Hey strangers and when I say strangers I mean readers, I promise I have not abandoned you! There just are not enough hours in the day. There have been two other posts I've started since blogging their birth story that never made it to post. But tonight I spent the afternoon (I usually do evenings) at the hospital, and I'v got a sleeping baby (for the moment) so I'm taking this chance to finally log back into blogger!

At day 23 on my 23rd birthday we welcomed the part 1 of our twins home! It was the best and the most bitter sweet birthday gift I could've asked for. I was over joyed to finally be walking out of the hospital with a baby but my heart broke to separate them again. I simultaneously cried both happy and sad tears as we packed up John's things and kissed Hunter goodnight.

There's no sugarcoating it the ride home was horrible. Not because of John he's actually great in the car but we sat in an hour and a half of traffic causing us to be late for his feed. His first feed that we controlled and it was late. Awesome. As if having him in the car for the first time (in rush our traffic) wasn't terrifying enough our poor guy was hungry. Thankfully he managed to sleep through the whole ordeal and we ran inside dropped our bags and popped a bottle in his mouth and we were back on schedule within 2 more feeds! The car ride aside the first night actually went great. Taylor took off work but was still on his "nights" schedule so he stayed up with John for his night time feeds before I took over at 6am. My brother in law and his girlfriend brought us dinner, a couple friends, my dad, sisters, Meme and Taylor's dad came by. All in all we couldn't have asked for a better first night home or birthday for me unless it meant they were together!

Since John's homecoming we've mastered the art of being stretched thin. If we thought different towers of the hospital was hard we had no idea. Most people go on a date night a month or two in, but you don't prepare to be away from your baby daily so soon, It sucks. But I can't say enough how thankful we are for the friends and family who've helped make the visits with Hunter possible. I haven't missed  a day with him, and for that I am so grateful. Some ddays John will tag along to the hospital either with us or with a family member and we go back and fourth in the waiting room to spend time with both of them, That seems to be the "easiest on me". Fear not our hospital is strictly births, antepardum and nicu so the infection rate is very low. He has more of a chance of contracting something at Walmart (where by the way he's never been). Infact John's only "public" adventures out have been to the hospital, a specialist he sees (he's fine, but thats a topic for another blog for another day) and to the pediatrician. Call me paranoid but it'll be a few more weeks until I've got a pint sized grocery shopping buddy.

John has met friends and family, celebrated Halloween, been introduced to his swing, bouncy chair and floor time all of which he loves, we watch Mickey Mouse in the morning while I wash bottles and catch up on the dishes and of course he's enjoyed lots and lots of snuggle time. We've been lucky that so far amidist the chaos we have going on John has been a pretty easy and happy baby, he eats good and sleeps pretty great too. Which is so good for me seeing as I don't really have opportunity to nap with him during the day. Oh and for those who've asked the dogs are doing great with him. Thor is obsessed and follows John everywhere I take him and is right next to anyone holding him and Molly could care less which is totally fine too.

Now I can't let John have an entire blog spot light to himself. I have had a lot of people ask about Hunter lately. I've had a few people ask if he's going to be "okay". He absolutely will be! His premature lung disease was merely an injury so to speak. His lungs will take some time to completely heal from the pockets that collapsed and he'll come home on medication but it definitely will not plague him for life. At the moment feeding is the biggest hold up in his homecoming. He's got some pretty nasty reflux that the doctors are working on getting under control, two days into the new treatment and he's already showing improvements! And we are working with a team of therapists to get his bottle skills down, he's definitely showing more interest as the pain from the reflux lets up. They say this should be "the fix" and that he might be home by Thanksgiving! Fingers crossed!

Until next time (whenever that may be),
Momma D
XOXO