AT HOME with Sophia

Sophia is home. No more NICU. 5703 Wynona. Home at last.

A week and a half ago, Gary, a male NICU nurse (the male nurses are cool and don’t seem out of place until you have a lot of detailed questions about breastfeeding your baby, but even then they are pretty good), gave Sophia her first bottle. Usually the small babies can only eat a little, they choke and spit up and aren’t coordinated enough to do it well. Sophia took the entire bottle, chowing down like she had been doing it her whole life.

Sophia set records from that point on, taking more bottles and the breast more often and longer than they expected. I asked how soon she might come home and they said 2 weeks. I asked a few days later and they said maybe Monday. A few days after that, the doctor said how about the day after tomorrow?

‘Going home’ seemed abstract at first, they couldn’t say how old she would have to be or how much she would have to weigh. It was more about skills. Can see eat all the food she needs to to grow without the feeding tube? Can she hold her own body temperature? Can she breathe consistently, not pausing for so long that her heart rate drops? Sophia could do all of these at just 34.5 weeks old. The nurse said, “Don’t get your hopes up about that, I have never seen a baby go home before 35 weeks.” But she did. She is home.

I will update this post later with a picture, running out of time for now, just wanted to get the word out. SOPHIA IS HOME!!!!