What another big day for the Tille family. Today was discharge day for Angela. It was a lot like moving out of the dorms back in college. It sucked, but was so worth it. Our day started by taking care of some things at ANW with Angela. I packed up some things while she was getting things in order with the doctors and nurses. We left mid-morning for the NICU at Children’s. This was the beginning of Angela’s last wheelchair ride. We spent a few hours there today. We had some great news on a couple of the kids, held a couple of them, brought in some breast milk, and felt like we got to know the kids a little better today. We went a different route around the room today by going from #5 to #1.

First was Madeline. She’s still on her C-Pap device 24/7. She’s the only one who is still wearing it all day. She is also on a little higher percentage of oxygen in the air that she’s getting. Her status here is a little discouraging compared to her sisters and brother, but the nurses warn us that she is still in great shape considering her age and we shouldn’t compare her to them. They’re just so far above the curve. Madeline now has a feeding tube and has already been given some formula and she’s handled it well. The staff at Children’s tried to give her an IV, but were unsuccessful so she still has a line in her belly button that goes into a vessel that can deliver the additional nutrition that she needs. The goal is to try again tomorrow to place the IV. If that doesn’t work, they will likely put in a PIC line. This is a little more aggressive in that the line will go through her arm or leg towards the abdomen and stay in place a little longer. It’s more stable, but it carries risks. They have to do something because the line in her belly button has to be removed due to the chance of an infection setting in. It’s a liability. She is a day or two behind her sisters and brother, but still in awesome condition.

Next on our tour today was Emma. She’s been the fighter all along. She was always the smallest during our ultrasounds. We found out today from a NP on Angela’s floor before we went home that Emma’s cord was connected to the side of the placenta, which caused her to grow not as was well as the others. There isn’t any real issue other than she just didn’t get as much of the good stuff from Angela while in utero as her sisters and brother.

Emma is the smallest and now weighs less than 2 pounds. According to the doctor and nurses, there’s no reason for concern. Emma is on her C-Pap 2 hours and then off it for 2 hours. It’s a great development from yesterday for such a pipsqueak. She is also feeding well and will continue. Emma has had an IV since delivery and will not need the PIC line. She’s doing great!

Alex was cool as a cucumber today. He is also on and off his C-pap every 2 hours. Alex was under the lights today when I took his picture. He and all of his sisters are under these lights to help with their bilirubin levels. Bilirubin is in the blood and can affect the liver and can cause jaundice. Their levels are low, but just high enough to justify the lights. Many children have this issue, even regular babies. I think both my niece and nephew needed lights, but don’t quote me on that. They did eventually turn off the lights so that Angela and I could hang out with him. His situation with feeding is exactly like his sisters. He’s doing fine for the first day. He and all of them will get more food tomorrow. Alex also had an IV placed and will not need the PIC line.

Lauren is a spit fire and has a bit of an attitude. Reminds us of her father. She was just crabby right from the start. I noticed she had a dirty diaper. As I began to change her, she started to pee and make the black tar poop more like crude oil. I quickly called for assistance. I just knew that I’d have poo everywhere and they’d ask us to leave. Soon after the diaper was changed, she calmed down, but kept pushing off her sunglasses which made things very uncomfortable while under the lights. She and all of her siblings can cry. Lauren is doing awesome with her breathing. She is completely off her C-pap device. She is feeding just like the others and will get more tomorrow, but she didn’t get an IV yet. If they can’t’ get it in tomorrow, then they’ll put in the PIC line.

Brook is also a rock star. She, like Lauren, is off her C-pap completely. Brook has an IV placed and is taking formula fine. There really isn’t much to report on Brook because she’s very much like the other 4…in great shape.

The kids will get an ultrasound later this week to check out the brain. This is common for all preemies and we’ll learn a lot more about how their doing at that time. Angela and I will go back for a long visit tomorrow where Angela will deliver some much needed breast milk.

Lastly, I welcomed Angela back to her home today. She was very emotional leaving the hospital today and she said that it must be something that she’ll just have to get used to. I promised her that it gets easier, but it will take a while. I spoke from experience. It was all very strange to her. It was the first time she was off the hospital property in over two months. Try to think back to April. Here in Wisconsin and Minnesota, there were no leaves on the trees and the grass was barely green. There were no flowers. She had no furniture in her basement. Now it’s furnished. She’s never slept in her bedroom and she’s never showered in her shower as I finished the basement while she’s was gone. She had a Coke today at lunch for the first time in 6 months. She was in ecstasy!

Welcome home Ang! I might let you snuggle tonight.

Until next time…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm and is filed under June, Post Delivery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.