Instantly Outnumbered: One Down, Two To Go/We Don't Need a License for This?

So many of you have heard that we finally have one of the triplets at home, totally dependent on us, with no monitors, nurses or other backup help for miles...scary. For those that were not aware, big boy Ryan came home (somewhat expectantly) on Wednesday night. We were originally planning to go back to stay at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) that day but Julie was very sick on Monday (yay emergency room until 1:30 am) so we decided to wait until Friday or Saturday to make sure that Julie was completely better.

On Tuesday night we received a call from the nursery asking us if we were planning to visit on Wednesday and that if we were, could we bring a car seat for Ryan to do his car seat test in (for the uninitiated, the babies have to sit in a car seat for 90 minutes while hooked up to all their monitors to make sure they breathe ok). They also told us that Ryan had been transferred from his isollette to an open crib. Since they had been telling us for several days that he was going to be moved to an open crib "soon", we weren't that surprised. What they failed to mention, was that if he could maintain his body temperature in an open crib for 24 hours then he was going to be discharged. Instead, when I asked the nurse if moving to an open crib meant that Ryan would be coming home "soon", she replied that the doctor would have to make that determination and that after she performed her rounds on Wednesday the doctor would call to give us an update on Ryan's status.

Apparently the doctor must have thought that Ryan was doing ok because at about 2 pm on Wednesday I got a call from Julie while I was still at work telling me that the hospital had called and told her that we needed to come pick up Ryan THAT DAY because he was being discharged. Julie tried to explain to them that she was still sick and that I was at work and that IT WAS ALREADY 2 PM AND WE LIVED OVER AN HOUR FROM THE HOSPITAL but it didn't matter. Now don't get me wrong, we were really excited to finally be getting one of our little trio home, but Julie was still feeling horrible and I had received a lecture from the nursery staff the previous weekend when I tried to visit the kids after not feeling well the day before.

Considering that I had not even opened any of the car seats yet it took a little while for me to get home from work and then get to the hospital. Needless to say Ryan passed the car seat test and after a discharge lecture and an unsuccessful offer of lots of money to any nurse who would come home with me to help us, I was on my way home with a 4 lb 14 oz two week old premature baby in the back seat. I have never driven so carefully in my entire life.

Mom with Ryan in his "coming home" outfit.

Yes that is a pea pod cap.

Striking a pose.

I need to mention that in keeping with my theme from several months ago regarding the lack of paternal inclusion in the pregnancy process, they almost would not let me take Ryan home on Wednesday night because Julie was not there to sign a release form. While they eventually determined that the forms did not specify that the mother had to sign them (only that it had to be a parent or legal guardian), I actually had to sign a form authorizing the hospital to release my son to an individual other than his mother. In other words, I had to sign a release form authorizing the hospital to release Ryan to myself. Hilarious.

Our first night home was a bit rough as Ryan transformed from a sleeper/eater at the hospital into a screamer/non-eater at home. After violating in excess of ten instructions that were given to me by the nurses at discharge, we had a much better night the next night. It has also helped tremendously that Ryan was already on a feeding schedule from the nursery which we are sticking to. Here's hoping that we can keep it up once Andrew and Nadia get home!

Thanks again to everyone for their thoughts and prayers (and future meals :P) and we will continue to keep you updated on what is going on. Both Andrew and Nadia are doing great and Andrew should be coming home in the next week or so. I am going to visit them tomorrow so I'll try to update the blog on Sunday with their progress. In the meantime, please enjoy a few more pictures of Ryan from his first couple days home.