Home Sweet Home

Praise God that Sutton was healthy enough to be discharged from the hospital today!  I spent all morning staring at his monitor with an anxious feeling in my stomach.  Anyone who has spent any significant time around heart/respiratory/oxygen saturation monitors know that they can be a blessing and a curse.  NICU parents tend to base their kids' progress on these monitors all the while knowing that one shift in position or tiny foot kick can show an inaccurate reading.  I am highly aware of these facts, but I kept feeling a surge of panic any time Sutton's oxygen saturation dipped (even though I could see his rosy cheeks beaming at me). Suttie's "incident" is one we won't shake for quite some while.

The surgical team came in today and told us that if his stats remained good while he took a nap off oxygen and his next feeding went well, we could go home.  This was music to our ears- we were so excited to have our healthy baby back, plus we couldn't wait to see little Lawson!

After a good nap and feeding, we gathered our belongings and got the heck out of that place!  The staff was amazing and the nurses were so sweet to us, but we were ready to put this experience behind us.

Andrew's mom is coming up to Columbia to help with Sutton's transition back home as Andrew leaves on a business trip.  On her way she met my parents at the lake to pick up Lawson.   How lucky are we that our precious babies have two sets of grandparents who have continually rearranged their schedules and made special trips to help us take care of our family?!  We really could not have survived these past six months without such amazing parents.

We are hopeful that this is the last surgery for Sutton.  The doctor is confident that the procedure will prevent further diaphragmatic hernias as they sometimes reoccur.  Sutton has a follow -up appointment in August.  From there, we will follow up with x-rays every few months to make sure those pesky organs stay in place.  

Thank you for your Facebook messages, texts, emails, phone calls, thoughts, and prayers.  The comfort and support we received over the last few days was a tremendous help.

("I feel better!")