We're Home!

Hey folks - well, as you might have guessed, we have made our way home with the girls. They went from the intensive care unit on Friday to an intensive care step-down unit. We we're given a room with both of them in a crib...and advised that we needed to "room-in". Kathy is convinced that the step-down unit really was a "see if you have ANY clue whatsoever as to what you are doing with these children unit!!".

Their feeding tubes were removed, and we began breast and bottle feeding every three hours. Kathy sent JW home early evening with the request that he get well rested, as she needed to be able to lean on someone over the next couple of days as one of the two of us handled the round-the-clock care.

Here is one of our first pictures of them together, and the first time we saw them both with their eyes open!

Kathy spent the night with them Friday night, and with the help of a wonderful nurse who was doing everything possible to get us out of there and on our way home....we made it through the night intact, but without much hope of being discharged on Saturday because Alicia had lost more weight post-delivery than is typical.

We also spent some time Friday evening and Saturday with the birth mother letting her meet the two little ones that she had so faithfully carried for close to nine months. She is truly an amazing person to have done this for us...one of her happiest moments during all of it was seeing the biggest smile she could ever imagine on JW's face after she delivered. Here's a picture of us saying our goodbyes.

Saturday morning arrived, and we greeted the doctor at around 8:45. He obviously had looked at their records, including their feeding log over the last 12-16 hours, and asked Kathy some questions about how they were breastfeeding. We apparently passed the test, because he then looked at JW and asked if we were ready to go home! With a resounding yes, the doctor wished us luck and sent us on our way. We quickly scrambled to finish the 8:30 feeding, headed back to the hotel so that Kathy could take a shower, and we could pack bags. We made it back to the hospital in time for the 11:30 feeding. Our nurse had packed up all sorts of supplies for us (thankfully, as we at least knew what to do with what we had been using in the hospital - not so with all the stuff at home) and had discharge papers ready to sign. Here's a picture of all four of us ready to leave the hospital!

The trip home was uneventful - they slept the entire way. The last 48 hours since our arrival back in Memphis has been a bit of a blur - we'll provide further update later - it's feeding time again!

Kathy and JW