Well first things first...we are HOME!! That's right in Wenatchee...in our house...and its great...just really so good. 

Now let me back up and fill in some details.

On May 7th, Chase and I spent the night at the hospital in a parent sleep room in preparation for Emmit's hernia surgery the next day. While enjoying our coffee in the morning, I got a call from the nurse say "Are you up yet? Your son figured out we aren't feeding him and he is CRANKY." So off Chase zoomed to the NICU to snuggle our son. And Emmit sure did need those snuggles as his 10 am surgery didn't end up happening until 1:15. It was a long day of hurry up and wait. 

Just about an hour after they wheeled Emmit away to surgery, we got the call that it was over and all went well. Emmit soon returned to the NICU. He was conked out from the anesthesia and his breathing tube was still in. The anesthesiologist explain she had a hard time placing the tube due to Emmit's small mouth and didn't want to pull it right after the surgery in case he wasn't up for the job of breathing when he came to and still needed the tube. So we sat and waited for signs of Emmit waking up. A few hand wiggles here and there, a couple of feet twitches. Then Emmit started trying to cough out and gag on the breathing tube. It did not look fun. Finally the respiratory therapist and nurse decided Emmit would breath on his own and the tube came out! A really good sign for the speed of Emmit's recovery. That night we tried giving him a small bottle which he took quite happily. Another good sign!

The next day, Emmit was pretty sleepy as the effects of the drugs slowly wore off. He did an alright job of eating and the staff started talking about Monday for a discharge. Emmit continued to do well and he seemed way more comfortable without the hernias. Midday Thursday, our nurse stopped by and mentioned that the discharge coordinator was working her butt off to get everything in place (home oxygen and follow up appointments were the two big ones) for us to discharge Saturday! I honestly didn't believe it. I didn't even tell my family until Friday night due to fear the doctors would change their mind and keep us another few days. 

But Saturday arrived, sunny and bright, and nothing had changed. They really were going to let us walk out of the hospital with Emmit. We had joked about doing it some many times over the past 141 days, but this day nobody was going to stop us. We packed up our things, said our goodbyes and hopped in the car for our first adventure with Emmit outside the hospital. The trip itself was very uneventful; Emmit slept the whole way waking up just as we got home wanting a bottle. We arrived at our house to welcome home signs, balloons, flowers and dinner waiting in the fridge...such a blessing after all the excitement of the day. Thanks again Sarah, Eric and Aly (and Mason and Nora).

And now we have just been doing life at home. Emmit has become a champion eater since we have gotten here taking more than he ever did in the hospital. Routine and consistency seem to be the thing for him. We had our first pediatrician visit yesterday and found out Emmit is now an 9 lb chunker. We've gone on our first walks, introduced him to the dog and two days in we already had a load of laundry. 

The last thing to report is that we went to Seattle today for an eye exam and there continues to be only normal eye development and no signs of ROP. A long way to travel to get that news but definitely worth it. 

We now have a couple weeks before any more follow up appointments. It feels so normal to have him home. I sometimes forget what the last 4.5 months held...well almost. Our plan now is just to figure out how to do this parenting thing and still get some decent sleep. So nice to have normal parent things to struggle with after all this time.