After Thomas was born we knew that he would have to spend some time in the Special Care Nursery. The good news was that it was mostly as a precaution, as Thomas was strong enough to not need oxygen and was almost regulating his own body temperature. In order for him to be released he needed to complete his necessary food quantities by either bottle or nursing in under a half hour (for at least 24 hours), regulate his own body temperature free from the incubator, and be gaining weight at a good pace.
We were also told that Thomas would more than likely have jaundice. When Joe and I were dismissed from the hospital around noon on 12/3, Thomas was put on light therapy for his jaundice. His bilirubin levels weren't high enough yet for concern, but he was put under the lights to prevent the levels from increasing. He was under the light therapy for until Friday, 12/5. This was difficult for Joe and I because we were told to leave him under the lights as much as possible, with the exception of coming out for feedings. It was so tough to not hold him all day! By Friday his bilirubin levels had come down enough to come off of the light therapy and he was also doing such a great job of maintaining his body temperature that he was moved from his incubator to a bassinet. That was a huge step! Unfortunately, all of these big improvements take a lot of energy from the babies and can affect their eating. This was the case with Thomas, and as of that first weekend he was still not able to eat on his own. He had a feeding tube that helped him get the quantities needed and what he didn't take from me or his bottle.
By Monday his bilirubin levels were higher than they liked, so he was put back in a light therapy bed. He looked like a little glow worm in there!
We had been told from the time that Thomas was first admitted that since he was doing so well and was such a great weight that he might be released in no time. It was a little discouraging for us to get so excited at the idea of bringing our baby home and then finding out that he had to stay. What helped was knowing that the only thing holding him back was the eating and that at least by the time he got home he would be guaranteed that he was doing a great job at his feedings.
By Wednesday 12/10 Thomas was officially done with his jaundice treatments and had taken and passed his car seat evaluation, so we were just waiting on the eating. All of the nurses were so great and did a wonderful job of offering tips and keeping us updating on his progress when we had to go home at night. Joe had gone back to work officially that week and it was so difficult for him to be away from us. Fortunately, I was able to spend all day with Thomas in the hospital. When Saturday, 12/13 came around we arrived at the hospital to great news....Thomas had started eating on his own over the night and had been doing awesome ever since! If he could keep that up we would more than likely be able to take him home the next day. We were so excited! When we left the hospital that night we had an emergency cleaning session at home and made a stop at Babies R Us to get more supplies. We were trying not to get our hopes up in case Thomas would have to stay but felt confident that it wouldn't be too much longer!
On Sunday morning when we arrived at the hospital we just had to wait for the Nurse Practitioner to come around and let us know if we were released. We had the best news when she made her rounds...Thomas was ready to come home! We received final instructions and took some great pictures of Thomas with his primary nurse Debbie, and we were on our way home!
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