Steady progress for everyone and freedom for me!

Finally, after a mere 24 days in this hospital, I was released earlier today. WOO HOO!!!! I can't wait to take a shower without a damn hospital bracelet on! I was supposed to be released yesterday but was still a little anemic so I got another blood transfusion. So what exactly am I doing to celebrate my new found freedom? Staying in the hospital. No, I'm not completely crazy, not yet. I'm just taking advantage of a cool program for NICU parents called "rooming in." As long as they do not need the room for a true patient, they allow parents of NICU babies to stay at the hospital for free. They continue to provide linens and housekeeping services, but no meal service. There is a communal fridge and microwave in the labor and delivery waiting room, so we can have some food here but without a freezer supper could get interesting. And of course now I can come and go as I please, just as long as I sleep here and don't use the room as a day time lounge only. Ethan is staying with me for at least one more night, maybe tomorrow too but that will likely be it since school is starting on Monday.

I'm not sure how long I'll do this for, I think at least until my follow up doctor appt. on August 17, since I won't be allowed to drive until then. With Ethan being at school all day, it would be too tough to try to figure out how to get back and forth. Plus with pumping, I've got the lactation consultants right here to help me with any questions, and I don't have to worry about keeping it cold or transport.

I'm feeling pretty good, tired of course and still somewhat sore from the surgery, but over all pretty darn good considering I'm only five days post op. My total weight gain over the pregnancy was 48 pounds and as of this morning I've lost half of it. Yes, 24 pounds in five days. Of course ten pounds of that was literally babies, and then another 5ish I think is all the other crap in there. And then water weight from there, but I'm still pretty excited about that. I *almost* have knees again!! My feet are ridiculous elephant feet still but that's the last area to empty so I haven't lost hope yet.

The babies are all doing extremely well. It's almost a good thing that I don't have time to provide daily updates, because things tend to go back and forth so much that it would be a wasted effort! Everyone is getting breast milk via tube feeding, although Delia and Mike are getting more than Ben and slowly increasing every day. Ben got taken off his ventilator today and is now on a CPAP machine, while the others are down to nasal cannulas. Everyone is getting worked down slowly to a lower flow and less oxygen, thus far with no problems.

Ben and Delia both had echo tests done today on their hearts, as the doc is hearing a murmur that might indicate an open duct. While in the womb, some heart duct remains open to detour blood around the lungs (since there is no air in there ;) and within hours of birth it's supposed to close up. In preemies this doesn't always happen because the chemical communications aren't strong enough. Delia's is fairly small and she'll likely resolve it herself, but Ben's is larger so he may require medication to help him. They send the test results to STL for analysis and we hope to hear tomorrow.

Ben also had a PICC line put in so his umbilical line could come out. Mike had this done a couple days ago, and we thought Delia would also but it looks like she could avoid it. If she's able to tolerate her food increases, then she should not have a need for an IV within several days. Her umbilical line will expire, so she'll end up with a regular old foot IV for a couple days, but since that could be the end of her IV it's not worth putting the PICC in. The PICC is more "permanent" so to speak - 30 days - and a little more involved to put in, so the docs want to wait and see if she can get by without it. I swear one day I'm going to get off the elevator and see her walking down the hall talking on a cell phone or something!

Everyone got off their jaundice lights today, but Delia was put back on tonight. Since she was bruised up during delivery, her own stubborn fault for being burrowed so freaking low in my pelvis, she needs more time. Hopefully the boys are done with them though.

Ethan got to hold Ben tonight, finally, he is the only one we hadn't held yet, so that was awesome. I'm going to hold him later. Ethan said he told him all about yard sales and flea markets, I'm sure he was ecstatic about it :)

That's all for now, hopefully I'll have an update with some new pictures in a few days. Stay tuned!