Waiting to come home too...

Ok, so by now you know that we brought Ethan and Hunter home. No doubt, a very exciting and happy day! Life with two babies at home has been nothing short of wonderful. Except that there was always a piece of my heart missing. And I'd find it every night on the 8th floor in the NICU. That's where our baby boy Colton was waiting for us...I don't know what it is...perhaps it's the cleft lip and palate that made me especially protective of Colton, I don't know. I just know that my night was complete only when I could go visit our little guy and snuggle him. After he'd eat, he'd lay his head on my chest and sleep for as long as we'd let him. Until the moment, when I just knew that we HAD to say goodbye...I'm sure you can imagine the heartache we felt having to look into his little eyes and explain to him that we'd come back for him in the morning, but that we had to leave him there, by himself for another night. I can honestly say, I cried more tears during the week Colton was at the hospital alone than I have in a very long time.



To top it off, there were lots of changes going on this week for him as well. Remember how we've often said we are creatures of habit? We like routine and we like knowing what to expect? Well, one night, after we'd taken the other babies home, we went to the hospital only to find that Colton had been moved out of his usual spot in the NICU and had been relocated to what is called a "Procedure Room." Now, there is nothing wrong with this room, except that in all honesty, it felt like a closet. (It was NOT in fact, a closet, it just felt like that because of the isolated-ness of it!) Apparently, many families really hope their baby gets assigned to this room because it is much quieter than the rest of the NICU. Unfortunately, I am NOT one of those families. The guilt I was feeling already, having to leave Colton behind was torture in itself. Then to have him moved to a room where he was literally alone was more than I could handle. We tried to make the best of it by reading to him and singing to him, but the reality was that the moment I walked out of the NICU, I could not stop crying. He's a triplet. He's never been alone, and I did not want him to be alone now. (In retrospect, I realize that this was much more a ME thing than a Colton thing...he probably didn't even realize he was alone. But psychologically, for me, he had been abandoned!) Luckily, thanks to Brian, the Super Dad, who kindly told the NICU staff that his wife was a complete wreck about where her little boy had been assigned, they found a new spot for him later the next day.

This is the night Colton spent in his isolated room. But to make the best of it, I decide to read to Colton...It's a story called Owl Babies about three little owls... Like a good kindergarten teacher, I make sure to show him all the illustrations...(Never mind that his eyes are closed....) :)
In another unfortunate twist, the second page of the story goes something like this...."Once upon a time there were three baby owls...who lived in tree with their mother. One day, they wake up and their Owl Mother was GONE!" (Ok...here come my tears! I can't even finish the story because I'm afraid that Colton sees me as the Owl mother who is gone when he wakes up!) Brian lovingly suggests maybe we read a different story.... :)

He does like the pictures though, and in case anyone was wondering, the Owl Mother DOES come home in the end! She was just out getting food! :) (Big surprise, I know.)

Brian and I were just loving Colton's fuzzy hair! We call him our Fozzy Bear, (From the Muppets) :)

Now these next pictures are important because as if moving to an isolated room wasn't confusing enough, Friday night, April 17th, Colton had to move yet again!! This time he got moved out of the NICU and down to the the Pediatrics Unit on the 3rd floor. He got to share a room with another NICU baby...the good news is that we were told Colton had to move there because he was stable and was getting ready to go home soon...we just didn't know HOW soon.

His biggest challenge was feeding. Because of his cleft palate, eating does not come as easy for Colton as it does for the other babies. He has to use a special bottle and nipple called the Habermann Nurser. Before he'd be allowed to go home, he had to be eating 80-100% of his food through the bottle, and NOT use his NG tube. (Nasogastric tube). Well between me, Brian, my mom, my sister, his loving NICU nurses, (remember this part, because I'm going to tell you a story about one of those nurses in a separate entry...but it's a very important piece of this story. ) So between all of us, we made it a point to have one of us at each of his feedings so that he could really get a good opportunity to practice using his special bottle. And it paid off....Colton took to it like a champion baby!! Eventually, after spending 3 nights in his room on the 3rd floor, we were hoping for the good news we'd been waiting to hear....

This is Mom and Colton after getting settled into his new room.

Technically, he wasn't alone...he had Tigger and Pooh to keep him company!

Here we are practicing eating with our Habermann Bottle!

Please look at how cute his fuzzy hair is!

Here's Daddy doing his CARES...(His diaper, cleaning his lips and eyes, his temperature, etc.)

To help Colton know that he wasn't alone, I taped pictures of our family to his crib. :)

Colton and his daddy

This is the sign that hung on my crib!

HOORAY! HOORAY! This was the day they decided that Colton was eating well enough from the bottle, that he no longer needed his NG tube! Look how sweet he is with no tubes!