Home Sweet Caden....

Well, to say we were completely happy to bring Caden home before Christmas would be an understatement, and to say we were and have been completely overwhelmed would, also, be an understatement. When we went to pick Caden up from the hospital on Tuesday we walked in to him vomiting everywhere and choking on his vomit. The nurse said he had been doing this all day. My heart started to race and my stomach tied into knots as I was wondering if I was really ready for all of this. I definitely wanted Caden home, but at the same time I wanted him to be ready to go home. I asked the nurse if all of Caden's doctors felt that he was ready to leave, and she said they felt he was doing well enough to go home and we would just have to be very watchful of him. She gave us all the discharge instructions, extra bulb syringes and off we were like two first time parents. Then we drove our screaming son home in 5:00 traffic. When we arrived home the man who was supposed to change the filter on our heater was sitting in the kitchen waiting for us to tell us we shouldn't be running our heater because the ducts are in bad shape. That is a whole other story!!!

The girls were so excited to see their new baby brother and that brought much joy to my heart. They just looked at him like he was the most perfect little guy in the world and we agreed! It was a bit of an adjustment handling his feeding tube and medications, but we were able to manage it.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were great. Natalie was telling everyone how her Christmas wish came true by having Caden home. It warmed my heart every time she said,"This is the best Christmas ever!" I agreed, but was still tremendously nervous with all he has going on. Also, we almost ended up back in the hospital on Christmas because Cara stuck a small mint up her nose and we couldn't get it out. Never a dull moment around here!!!

Caden is doing pretty well at home. His best quality has been that he sleeps through the night! He does have a lot of reflux issues and because he doesn't swallow well with his open palate he is constantly choking and gagging. It makes me so nervous and I feel like I have that darn bulb syringe glued to my hand! I never found much use out those things with the girls, but it has been a life saver with Caden.

We are ever so grateful for all of your kind words and prayers. Although we haven't been able to see anyone, we feel surrounded by so much love and support. Thank you. We are trying to get used to this new crazy life. I think it is really going to take some time for us to be able to manage Caden and the girls and just everyday life. I am hoping we find our own "normal" soon. I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas!

Mary