Saturday...

When I left off in the previous post, we had settled into the room for the night.

When we would travel up to see Eli our weekends typically went like this. Get in late on Friday night. Spend the day Saturday feeding him, hanging out at his bedside in the NICU at the 9:00 a.m. and Noon feeding, eating lunch and picking up a few things from the store, coming back to the NICU for the 3:00 p.m. feeding and then heading back home.

This Saturday was really no different except that we were joined by my parents, and we wouldn't be going home.

We started off the day and headed to the NICU to be there for the first feeding. Before we went in we were met by the Oxygen guy. He showed us how to use the oxygen tank that we would be taking home with Eli. It was not as scary as I thought it would be when we first learned of this.

We went in to feed him and were met at the door by the monitor guy. He showed us how to use the monitor that Eli would be sent home with. If I woke up with any doubts that they were planning on sending Eli home with us, they were slowly melting away. 

After the monitor guy we saw Eli, who had grown quite a bit since we last saw him. We changed his diaper, and fed him by bottle. The last time we fed him he was barely taking anything from a bottle. It was a joy to watch as he gulped down his food. 

Then it was time for the grandparents. I could tell you what happened but I thought pictures might say it best.

After they got a chance to visit we went to lunch with a friend going to college in Norman. Let me just say that any sandwich that you batter, deep fry, dust with powdered sugar and serve with raspberry jam is a winner in my book.

We came back home, saw Eli a few more times, had a good dinner and went back to the hotel...

That was Saturday... Find out what happened on Sunday...

A Surprise Weekend

Last week on Tuesday I shared that there were 4 criteria that Eli had to meet in order to be discharged, and that he had met 2 out of the three. Then on Thursday I shared how he was getting closer.. I even included this update:

"Talked to the Dr. today and said that though he is feeding by bottle regularly it still will be 5-10 days before he comes home. They are trying to get him off of the oxygen."

So with our date of sometime around the 15th still in our heads we went on with our daily lives. Until....

The phone call...

On Friday the 6th Meagan did her usual call to the NICU to check on Eli. Not much had changed, he was still taking all feedings by bottle. Then about 30 minutes later she received a call from the nurse.

"The doctor wants you to room in a few nights and take Eli home this weekend".. WHAT!!! Surprise #1

Then came with a phone call from the adoption agency. "You are all set to go except we are missing one piece of information before we can get Eli to you." WHAT!!!! Surprise #2

We spent Friday trying to get Surprise #2 taken care of, and thanks to some great friends and understanding people we got it done. We then quickly packed clothes for five days, instead of the usual 1, got in the car and took off. On the way we called the Hospitality house, which provides rooms, if available, for guests who have family in the hospital for a cheap rate.

Every time we have ever gone there was room... except this time Surprise #3

We had already arranged for my parents to meet us in Oklahoma so they could see Eli. When I told them about surprise #1 they were very happy, then when I told them about surprise #3 they proceeded to get a hotel room where we could stay.

We got into town much later than usual, settled into bed and went to sleep.

That was Friday.... Read what happens next....