158 days

Alexander spent 158 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. It was 62.5 miles each way. It took approximately 58 minutes to get there. We made 81 trips. We drove a total of 10,125 miles. We spent over 157 hours in the car. Sometimes statistics really put it in perspective on how far we've come these past 10.5 months. 

As of Monday, we hit another important milestone - Alexander has been home more days than he was in the hospital. This was a date I marked on my calendar. A date I literally counted the days until. To me, this date helps further ourselves from the hell (and peace) that is the NICU. 

Much has happened in these 158 days at home. Most recently Alexander has been on the move. He rolls around the room and will even get up on his knees like he's going to take off - he just hasn't quite figured out the forward motion yet. We are working on sitting up - and our doctors have given us some tips to help him out. 

We had Alexander's high risk follow up appointment at the 'U' today and his doctors are thrilled. They couldn't believe how well he was moving about and how he was grabbing toys. They said he's behaving just like a baby his adjusted age (almost 7 months now!)! He was able to be weaned from his oxygen down to .5 liters again, so we hope the extra time on .75 liters has helped him and it will stick this time. We will be closely monitoring him and hope he's ready! He also loves baby food - especially bananas and sweet potatoes. He eats like a little bird with his mouth wide open and will even cry for more. 

We were very blessed to find a wonderful nanny, Jaclyn, so both boys will be home, helping to reduce our risks for illness. It was a difficult decision as we loved Andrew's daycare and Alexander's nurses, but it's our goal to keep them both as healthy as possible as any sort of cold or illness could be devastating for Alexander. His lungs are very weak and still developing so a cold would go directly to his lungs and could be a potential setback or even land us back in the hospital with respitory failure. We will be very cautious this winter, especially with everything already going around, when we plan to be with family or friends. 

 

Life is busy and fun. We celebrated Mary Fran's 60th birthday with a surprise party at our home. It was great fun and all of Pete's brothers and sisters made it home. Pete and I also went to Vegas (my first time) for work and some one-on-one time. What a great time in sin city!!

While we have surpassed our 158 days at home, this is still just the beginning of Alexander's journey. And we can't wait to see what he does from here!