Discharge Day

Mike had taken Thursday off work and my mom had planned on taking Zachary to Build-A-Bear for the day so we would only have to worry about the babies while getting Nicholas discharged.

We hadn't told Zachary that Nicholas was supposed to get discharged just in case something held him back. We walked in during rounds and learned that nothing so far had happened to keep him from going home. The speech therapist stopped by and gave us her best advice and opinion on what outpatient therapist we should use. His nurses throughout the stay stopped by, he was given hugs and touches and wishes for luck. 

The nurse practitioner who had befriended us stopped by. Her daughter had a g-tube until recently too, so she gave us as many tips as she could think. Nicholas was getting very worked up while she was there and the NP suddenly grabbed him in her arms and started shushing him. His nurse gave the NP a look of relief and said "he was trying to Brady because he was getting so worked up!" Remember that a Brady would put him back at least another five days. 

The Child Life Specialist that we had been working with throughout our stay stopped by with gifts for the twins and for Zachary. The neonatologist came in and talked about nothing at all. Just that they would miss him. They were so excited to see him go home but they were going to miss him. They loved him. 

Finally his discharge paperwork arrived. It was real. We were taking him home. Where he belongs. Where he had a big brother waiting to love him. Where he had a twin sister to cuddle. Where mom and dad would lose sleep to watch him breathe. Home. Transportation was called (he had to be taken downstairs in my arms in a wheelchair) and then we were off. The room was packed with all the supplies we could take, the decorations Zachary had left taped to the windows were packed away, Nicholas was dressed in his going away outfit and we were going home.

We ran into a former co-worker of Mike's downstairs who worked for the hospital now. He chatted with me while Mike got the car. He was waiting for a local celebrity who was coming to visit the kids in the hospital. Mike finally brought the car over and packed it up, put the babies in, helped me get in the back seat with them and we headed home.