Change of Plans
Thomas is leaving Stamford Hospital on Tuesday, but he's not going back to Columbia for a ligation surgery. No. Instead, he's coming home!
He is seriously a different baby than he was just a week earlier. He had an echocardiogram today, so it will be interesting to hear the cardiologists assessment of it tomorrow, but the fact of the matter is that he doesn't seem to be too bothered by his PDA anymore, regardless of size. Here's hoping and praying that it is on its way to closing fully on its own. He had a chest X-ray today, which showed the chronic lung disease he's been dealing with from the beginning, but it apparently looked pretty good on a relative scale. Thomas has been on diuretics to help clear out fluid from him lungs, and he'll continue on those at home but hopefully just grow out of the dosage amount over time. Speaking of size, he's around 8lb 5oz at this stage. Huge.
The girls are doing well and actually have their 4 month appointment with the pediatrician next Thursday. Thomas will come along for that and will simultaneously be checked out as a new baby and a 4 month old baby. So strange. It's surprisingly complicated to field one of the most basic questions a mom can receive about a newborn: how old? They are almost 4 months, but they are also just a few weeks from a gestational point of view. The former age is used for immunizations, school enrollment, etc. But the latter age is more suitable for assessing developmental milestones. That said, they seem more advanced to me than normal newborns (and obviously less advanced than typical 4 month olds). They're all enrolled (automatically as micro preemies) in a birth to 3 program that will evaluate them initially and track their progress, so we shall see.
We are daily taken aback by these little miracles and how incredibly well they are doing, especially considering their start as 25 week quads. Praise be to God! Thank you for supporting us all throughout this NICU journey. Our NICU days might be drawing to a close, but the real adventures are just getting started :)