4 years ago really?!!

So happy to be home!

Getting ready to leave the hospital as a family!

There are certain dates throughout the year that just stick out and today is one of them. Four years ago today we brought Gracie home from the hospital. Finally! We didn't expect it because it was a Saturday(they didn't usually release patients on Saturday) and the day before the neonatologist had told us no. We were all set to take her home and she had a bradycardia episode where her heart rate and breathing dropped so low that the monitor she was hooked up to started beeping to tell us that she was in trouble. In that situation we had to massage her or pat on her back to stimulate her breathing again or give her oxygen. So because she had an episode, they told us that she would have to be in the hospital for another week. Unfortunately, Douglas was leaving in 4 days to go work in Alaska for the summer and I was terrified to take this tiny, fragile infant home alone.

We showed up to the hospital on Saturday morning totally ready for another week in the hospital. But there was a new saintly neonatologist on for the weekend and he said we could definitely take her home. What!? We were so surprised and excited. This was the day we'd been waiting for for 13 weeks. Gracie passed her car seat test and we filled out all the paperwork, took all her bags to the car, said goodbye to all our favorite nurses and friends and headed out the door.

It was a little scary to know that we were in control now and that there weren't any nurses around to help. Gracie slept most of the day but we did have a few stressful moments and Douglas rushed to Wal-mart at 1 am to pick up a baby swing.

We've learned a lot since then and we're so grateful to have such a healthy daughter. These four years have passed so fast and we love Gracie so much. How crazy it would have been to be able to look forward 4 years and see her now. What a different girl she is now.