The weekend and leaving the hospital...

Over the weekend Robin received tons of flowers and gifts from our friends and family, including lots of pink clothing.  We really didn't have any clothing for KelliAnne other than some gender neutral stuff.  Robin kind of anticipated on handling that later, as well as getting some stuff at showers and what not.  The St. Louis shower was cancelled while Robin was on bedrest, and I believe will take place some time later in the fall.

KelliAnne did great over the weekend, and she began to move around more and more.  We became more comfortable with the hand containment and learned more ways on how we can express ourselves to the baby through touch and sound.  We also started reviewing the info they gave us explaining the developmental benefits to this interaction.  It is remarkable how big of an impact it can have.

The nurses' job is not only to care for KelliAnne, but to make sure we are part of the care they give her as it is part of the bonding with parents.  They want us fully prepared to leave their NICU and take care of her like she was a term baby that had no health issues.  We are just trying to soak it all up.  On Saturday they had us changing diapers, checking temps, and learning how to help control the temp of the isolette.  They also asked us to be vocal with the nurses regarding care for KelliAnne.  The nurses are on shifts and change out frequently so we will actually start picking up many clues to what she needs that they are not familiar with.  One such clue that we advised our Sunday nurse was that she has better stats when laying on her right side, so she rotated her. The reason was supported by the x-ray that showed her left lung was still not inflating all the way.  We knew this but the new nurse did not, so they actually listened to us and let us feel more involved.

Later in the day on Sunday, we left the hospital. They kept Robin there an extra day longer than the normal c-section because we had the baby staying behind.  Next to seeing how lifeless and sick KelliAnne was on her first day of life, this was extremely tough.  The baby was supposed to come home with us in our plan.  We headed home where Robin's parents and my mom were waiting to help us get settled.  Robin's mom found our cleaning supplies and restored our home to a condition we had not seen it in for quite some time.  We were stunned at how clean everything was.  It was one less thing to worry about.

We were back at the hospital within a couple hours and stayed there until late that night.