Dean is Home

This is our last family picture.  We took it a week ago.

 Dean had pulled his tube out of his nose twice in the same day.  The doctor was still there the 2nd time he did it and she decided to let him try all bottles since he had been successful after pulling out his oxygen tubes.  A few days later he got the okay to do the  last few things on his list.  That night Dean got to do his car seat test. 

 

The next day Nurse Sarah checked him out of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and into the regular Nursery. I got to take him to a hospital room for the rest of afternoon and we spent the night together for the first time since he had been born 16 days earlier.  

Thursday morning we hoped to get him home quickly and spend the day enjoying our wire-free little boy.  Instead we had to wait around until noon for the doctor to okay Dean's discharge and then wait until three for the nurse to take off his security band and sign the discharge papers.

 

Mom made a Welcome Home sign and bought balloons for Dean so we was welcomed in style! 

 Dean's life has been spiced up since coming home.  Not only has he gotten to meet Gizmo, be held more often, eat more when he wants it, and have the crib all to himself without his sister, but he also spent part of his first night home in the tornado shelter.

He's doing well at home and we've already had his first regular doctor's appointment.  He's up from 5 lbs 4 oz at birth to 6 lbs 2 oz in less than a month, so he's doing well with weight gain even though he continues to be in the 0%ile for height, weight, and head measurements (he's just above 10% in the preemie scale).  We love having our little boy home and look forward to the day when we can take our next family picture when Rachel comes home!  We pray everything continues to go well for big sister (today she took 6/8 bottles without any problems) so she can come home next week.