Day #12: Homeward Bound!

Yeah! I guess the headline gave it away....we get to bring baby boy home tomorrow! We are soooo excited, and scared at the same time. It is a day we have looked forward to since we got married and FINALLY it is going to happen! Joel got circumsised early this morning before we got there. He did so well that the nurse said they didn't have to give him the Tylenol at all. He slept a lot today and did not eat very well, but the nurse said that it could be due to the circumcision earlier. I forgot that he had his hearing tested yesterday and passed, much to his hearing instrument specialist daddy's delight! I got to snuggle him for a while this afternoon while Rob was in the lobby making phone calls. He's so darn sweet. He grunts and makes a lot of weird noises and "talks" a lot...especially when you are trying to get him to eat. He also has a funny little habit of shaking his head side to side when he doesn't want the passy or the bottle. I know he doesn't know what "no" means, but it sure looks like it when he does it! Let's just say he knows what he wants when he wants it! He makes really entertaining faces and loves to have his hands in his face. Sometimes he falls asleep with his fingers spread across his face, like he just wants everyone to go away! We did well today with the soothing techniques we learned in our preemie parenting class. He seemed much calmer and relaxed. We kept the lights low and kept the door mostly shut. He seems to be pretty good at settling himself back to sleep once he wakes up. We are trying not to run and pick him up every time he cries. Most of the time he wimpers a little bit, finds his fingers, and falls back asleep. I'm sure we won't be that lucky when we get home! The nurse told us not to rock him, pat him, and talk to him all at the same time because he will get stressed and start hiccuping. I wasn't sure I was buying that, so I tried doing only one or two of those at a time. It actually worked! When I was just rocking him and talking to him he didn't hiccup at all, but when I did all three (briefly!) he did seem more wiggly and got the hiccups quickly. Who knew? Our big accomplishment for the day (aside from getting Joel sprung!) was to install the car seat in the van. I'm sure we looked ridiculous in the back of the van (no middle seats!)in the parking garage trying to wrestle the base into the seat belts tightly enough. Can't wait to move it when the other seats are back in! Well, we have to go pack and clean up our room so that we will be ready in the morning. I can't believe we are finally coming home! It seems longer than it actually has been, that's for sure. I won't be blogging every night (I'll be a little busy!) but I will update and post pictures once in a while. Thanks again to everyone who has followed our blog and is so interested in our whole process. We couldn't have done this without lots of people at home helping to keep us sane. We will see all of you soon! Good night!