Getting ready for homecoming

Well, we still don’t know yet if tomorrow will be the big day, as was suggested yesterday. But we’re gearing up for Veronica’s homecoming. You would think that 8 weeks after their birth we’d be ready for having a baby in the house. If so, you’d think wrong. 

Oh, we’ve made some progress toward getting ready, but the honest-to-goodness ready-for-a-new-baby stuff … we just weren’t there. So last night, after John told us at his 7:00 call that Veronica might be coming home tomorrow, Ethan and I sprang into action. We rearranged the master bedroom (because the babies will be with us for at least the next three months), washed the diapers (we’re doing cloth again), cleaned out the co-sleeper (how does all that stuff keep accumulating there?) and generally made sure we had everything where it needed to be. 

This evening we still have to do a little more rearranging in the bedroom, and we have to get the diapers off the line in the basement and bring them upstairs. But I feel like we’re almost ready to bring her home. 

When I left at 1:00 this afternoon, we were waiting for the technician to come and start the 12-hour test Veronica needs to have before discharge. Once that is done, she needs to do her car seat test (to make sure she can sit in the seat without having breathing or heart rate troubles). If she passes both tests, she can come home tomorrow. 

If she has any brady (heart rate drops) or apnea (forgetting to breathe) episodes while doing the 12-hour test, she still may be able to come home. She’ll just need to be on a monitor and possibly medication. Or, they may decide she isn’t quite ready to leave and we’ll have to wait a little while longer. 

Regardless, we’re nearly there with her. 

For the Colin update, we’re happy to announce that he has finally doubled his birth weight. Last night, he weighed in at a whopping 2 pounds 14.5 ounces. While he’s still too small to be on the growth chart, at least he is growing again. 

We are still waiting to see if the antibiotics took care of the problem that was causing him to start desatting again last week. Today he had his last dose, and he has been more stable. If he stays stable, we may be able to start weaning his oxygen again. I really hope so. 

As he has gotten older (and bigger), Colin has become a much happier baby. Now, when he gets upset, it’s more like a normal baby upset. He cries before feeding time because he’s hungry, and he absolutely hates having a dirty diaper. 

He also now provides me with some gratifying Mom moments. Twice today while I was in the nursery he got very fussy and the nurse wasn’t able to settle him down. Each time, she handed Colin to me and as soon as he was in my arms, he started to settle down. He also has more alert and happy moments, which are fun to see. 

If Veronica comes home, Colin will miss his lap time with Veronica moments, I’m sure. But he’ll also enjoy the undivided attention of whichever parent is spending time in the nursery — something he won’t get much of again after he comes home.