HE'S COMING HOME!!

So, we were met in the hallway of the CICU today by Kelly, a nurse who has looked after Asher on and off throughout his stay at Arnold Palmer. She gave us the good news that Asher can come home TOMORROW!!! We are picking up his prescriptions around noon and then heading in for the rest of the afternoon so that we can learn how to feed Asher and administer the correct doses of his meds. Then, we are taking that sweet baby out of his little hospital bed and waving bye bye to all of the caring nursing staff which we have befriended throughout this journey...and we are going HOME! ;) I am giddy with anticipation and also quite a bit nervous. Anxious about being able to care for him in the way that he needs.....anxious about giving him the correct med doses and at the right times. It seems that I'm late for just about everything now a days and I don't want that to carry over into his schedule. But, I'm more excited than I am nervous, so I think everything will be alright. Tomorrow's stay will serve to answer all of my questions and also to give me a hands on practice while the nurses watch and make sure I do everything right.

Little bundled Asher staring at the new bigger world!!

His jungle crib toy. He LOVES this thing...in fact, he didn't even care we were in the room last night while that was playing ;)

Some more good news....they gave Asher another chest x-ray and he had NO extra fluid around his lungs which means that he is tolerating the breastmilk!!! ;) Answered prayer for sure! They have me adding a bit of formula to the breastmilk to help Asher put on some extra weight. He is practically skin and bones with a belly! Give me a month of good food and good loving and he'll be right as rain ;)

I was trained in using the feeding pump today and it seems pretty easy. It came with a rolling pole to hang the milk on, as well as a nifty travel backpack so that I can feed Asher on the go if I need to go out. In fact, I could probably feed him in my baby sling as long as I wear the little backpack around. That will help a lot since it takes an hour to feed him, every three hours.

Speaking of feeding....check out Matt feasting on Philly Cheese Steak Soup. Since I'm a breastfeeding mother, I get free meals and Matt can order a huge plate for only $5. We found out about this a couple weeks ago and have been taking advantage of it since dinners are so hard to whip together by the time we get home.

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Rod and Cheryl Reisman for their gift of restaurant gift cards. They are a huge blessing! I have always tried my best to feed my family well, but lately....I hate to admit it....but we have been pretty much living off of frozen pizza. So, thank you thank you for giving us another option! ;)


Well, that is pretty much it for now. We will have more to tell tomorrow after we get little man back home ;) Thank you to all who have agreed with us in prayer for our little guy to get better. Prayer works and I ask that you please keep it up when he comes to mind. He has a long road ahead of him which may include another open heart surgery in a few months, as well as dealing with possible learning disabilities, speach issues, etc. God loves this little boy so much and we want him to fulfill the purpose he was sent down here to do.

Blessings!
~Erika~