Luke came home yesterday evening (11/9/12)!!! Andy, Jordan, Drew and I went to a Veteran's Day program at Eli's school in the afternoon. It was very nice. The kindergartners recited the Preamble to the Constitution! Also, the kids sang the military branches' songs and God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood. So cute. Eli really does go to a great school. We are going to miss it when we move.
Afterwards, we dropped the kids off at a friends (Nicole-you rock; as do you, Chantelle)! Andy and I thought it best for us to go get Luke and have the little kids get to meet him at our house. We got to the hospital and fed him his bottle, and after a short while, we were on our way home! He came home on a portable monitor that lets us know if he has any bradycardia or apnea episodes. He had been having a "brady" once a day, or every other day, so they wanted to be safe. The monitor has indicated a low heart rate (brady) a few times now, but some of those times, it also indicated a loose lead, so I think that maybe one of them was real, and the others were false alarms. We prepared the children by telling them how loud it was, and to get Mommy or Daddy if for some reason we weren't in the room when it went off. Eli knows about CPR, so he told us he would do it if needed; thus, we made sure he knew NOT to attempt that. Mommy and Daddy are trained for babies, so only we will do it, IF we need to. When the alarm went off the first time, Eli panicked, and was pacing, saying "I hope Luke doesn't die." :( I know, but we are honest with him and he is a sharp kid, so it doesn't surprise me. We assure him that Luke isn't going to die, but it is just to be safe, but he definitely worries when it goes off. I have no doubt that Brady's death has affected his view of babies dying (we have talked about it often, of course). He knows that it isn't the norm, but he also has lived through it, so it's a very real fear to him.
Luke has adjusted to being home great! He was eating so much that they moved him to a 4 hour schedule instead of eating everry 3 hours. We have had some trouble getting him to burp since he's been home, which is funny because the nurses all laughed at how loud (and easily) he burped when in the hospital. I guess Andy and I are out of practice. Hee hee. He tolerates the other kids' noise well, and really is happy when he is alert, and sleeps most of the time between feedings. He takes awhile to eat sometimes, so it is time-consuming, but everyone is patient with us. Andy asked last night how we did it with two, and I told him I never slept!! The kids ran in and were in awe of Luke. They want to help out more than we are ready for them to just yet. Jordan keeps saying that we named him Luke because we didn't have that name yet in our family, and that she suggested Luke as a name! Drew has some congestion, so we won't let him kiss him yet, but he is always touching his hands and forehead (yes, they all know they have to have clean hands first).
I HAVE LOVED TODAY! We just stayed in our pj's, did whatever we wanted, including Andy taking the kids to the Braum's drive thru for ice cream to bring home. :) The kids have played wonderfully together, and I have gotten 4 loads of laundry done, along with dishes and general pick-up; and it was all without guilt about not being with Luke. We peek at him often, and are actually comforted by the monitor (how were we not paranoid with the other two?!). Life is good, and we are eternally grateful to everyone for their thoughts, prayers, love and support. Most of all, we praise God, who knew that our family wasn't complete yet, and who gave us so much peace, patience, and strength to take this journey with HIM as our guide. We have already had so many "just stare at our miracle" moments.... Thanks be to God!!!!
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