The Road to Home

The days after Savannah's arrival were stressful, sleepless, and overwhelming.  (Thus the reason that I am months behind with these photos...sorry). 

We were told to expect to have Savannah in the intensive care unit until her due date 4/26 which would have been about four weeks.  Luckily, she was only in the hospital for about ten days. 

It was crazy to see how much her little body would change in a matter of hours. 

The picture above shows Savannah about an hour after she was born and then again 24 hours later, as soon as she was unhooked from oxygen. 

On day one,  we were told that Savannah was doing well off of her oxygen and that she would be cared for in three hour shifts around the clock.  We were allowed to be present to ask questions and check her progress during any and all shifts.  I requested to be allowed to stay in the hospital for as long as possible so that I could be with Savannah. 

On day two, Savannah was still doing well off of her oxygen but she began to develop jaundice and had to be placed under lights to get her bilirubin levels to go down. 

My mom also arrived which was a tremendous help because Chance was not allowed in the NICU at all.  No children under the age of 16 were allowed in the NICU during flu season. I definitely understand the need for the no children rule, but it was so sad to not be able to introduce Chance to Savannah.  Not to mention that without my mom or outside help, it was impossible to balance the time needed to be with Savannah and to also be present for Chance. 
Thank God for my Mom!

It was so much easier to be present with Savannah when I knew that Chance was being well cared for too!

I honestly don't know how we would have made it without the help, love, and support of all of our family and friends.  I knew that Savannah was going to be okay, but it was still very comforting to have our smiling family and friends around to bring flowers, food, and hugs when we needed it most. 

Because the hardest days were days three through ten.  Little Miss Savannah had to be placed back on oxygen and was given a feeding tube because she decided that she did not like to eat (for anyone other than me that is).
 The hospital informed us that if we wanted Savannah to go home that she would need to begin regular feedings without the assistance of the feeding tube and that she had to gain weight...a lot of it. 

Oh, have I mentioned that the nurses had observed that Savannah strongly preferred breast over bottle...which meant that me and my boobs were requested to be present for each and every one of Savannah's feedings occurring at 830, 1130, 230 and 530 around the clock. 

My mom stayed for a whole week so that I could sleep  at the hospital every evening.  The rest of the time I would drive back and forth from home to the hospital every few hours.  Max was great about bringing Chance to the hospital to spend time with me.   We also tried to explain to Chance that we had a new baby to take care of at the hospital.  Chance understood way more than I expected him to and he was an absolute trooper about our strange and sudden family shift. 


We tried to keep things as normal as possible for Chance.  I took a few afternoons to meet my mom and Chance at the park in between Savannah's feedings.  Chance, exercise, and sunshine were a welcome break from the hospital walls.   

 

Chance has decided that he loves elephants and he would sit on that elephant statue in the park for ten minutes at a time.  He would also crack me up by playing with the tic tac toe board and insist that it be organized into all x's or o's. 

 

 

After ten long days, we were able to take Savannah home from the hospital and begin our journey in the real world.  No more nurses to help with feedings and my mom was saying that she would have to return home at some point as well...

Max and I hugged my mother goodbye, thanked her for all of her help and dove head first into being parents of CHILDREN!
 

We took Chance to the hospital so that he could be with us on the ride home with Savannah.  It was so surreal and absolutely wonderful to introduce Chance to Savannah for the first time. 

We are blessed with two beautiful healthy children and we can not wait for the many new adventures to come. 

These two make our lack of sleep and the limited amount of space in our bed all worth it!