Landen's stay in the NICU - Part 4 (9/13) COMING HOME!

When we woke up Tuesday the 13th, John and I were very excited ... and a tad bit nervous.  The day before we had been told that it looked like Landen would be discharged but we were cautiously optimistic.  The past few days we had kept thinking he was going to come home only to have our hopes dashed, so we didn't want to get excited.  However, we did pack the diaper bag with a coming home outfit just in case.  :0)


Could this be the day??

When we arrived at the hospital we left the bag and the carseat in the car.  We decided that walking in with them only to leave empty-handed would be too much to bear.  Lucky for us, once we arrived we were told right away that as far as they knew he was being discharged!  We had to wait for the doctor to come and do a full exam, but as long as she didn't find anything troubling Landen was finally going home!!  We were so happy!


Daddy is telling Landen he gets to go home today!

Once the doctor came she checked him out from head to toe and gave him a big thumbs up.  He was still just a little under his birth weight but she said that it wasn't anything they were concerned with and as long as we followed up with his pediatrician in a few days.  Once she left, John went down to the car to get the carseat, the nurse went over our discharge instructions, and then we packed up everything in his area - diapers, formula, the whole works!  We even had to get an extra bag because it wouldn't all fit into our diaper bag.  It took us a few minutes to get Landen situated in his car seat and strapped in correctly.  He looked so tiny in there!!  The nurses said we were good to go so we left the NICU (hopefully) for the very last time.  We were finally going home with our baby!!


Walking through those doors one last time.  It almost felt like we were stealing him or something.  It was a very weird feeling to walk out of there with Landen.

Miller Children's Hospital was so incredibly good to us, but we were happy to be leaving.

Landen's first car ride

He was passed out - slept the entire way home.

Welcome home Landen Sage!!!!

So, what do you think?

Mommy's giving Landen the house tour.

Taking a nap in the bassinet was all he was really interested in.

Doesn't he look comfy?

First diaper change at home - isn't the silliest stuff exciting?? It's the first one! And we don't have to move any wires out of the way while we're doing it!!

Look how teeny tiny he is.

Landen's showing Daddy how much he likes it at home.

Doesn't get much better than this.

First time meeting Nala.  She sure sniffed him a bunch!  She seemed to approve though.

John and I had our follow-up champagne toast to Landen.  It was definitely a much happier toast than the first one on the night I got out of the hospital.

So incredibly happy!  We finally feel like parents, and not just visitors in the NICU.

The first 11 days of Landen's life were hard on all of us, but we were ready to start our lives together as a family.