One of Shawna's favorite times of year is the Christmas season and getting the family out and about, enjoying all of the great, family, offerings that the season presents. Getting home by the holiday's was always something we felt would happen but we were never sure. So, one of our first activities as a family of 5 was to get out and enjoy the horse/sleigh rides and reindeer downtown Zeeland.
But let me back up. Our last update had us hanging out in the NICU at CHOP and waiting to finish our checklist for discharge from the hospital. Kierstyn was doing very well and by Friday night, of the birth, we thought there may be a chance that we'd be discharged on the following day. Well, that night, KJ's temperature dropped just a touch (enough for some small concern but VERY small concern) which had a few of the doctors wanting us to stay for "a little longer." Well, the doc that told us that Saturday morning told us that and then jetted away, leaving us (and our now frustrated nurses, as they'd seen KJ for a few days and saw that she was doing great) with a very blurry picture of when we'd be able to come home. We requested to see that doctor again so we could be given a ballpark figure of when we'd be discharged so that we could figure things out for travel and me getting home for work. Our NICU nurse (we had many awesome ladies, but one in particular, Katie) really went to bat for us and pulled some strings with a different doctor who was also phenomenal in taking into consideration our distance from home, to get the process going. Unfortunately, by mid afternoon we still had not been communicated with on discharge. So, I went back tot he Ronald McDonald House to check out and pack up. I needed to get back home to work on Monday and Shawna was feeling good enough hanging in Philly a few more days (what's a few more after 101) and possibly flying home or me heading back out to pick them up.
Frustrated with not knowing a few more answers, I jumped in the car at about 3 and aimed it west on my way home to pick up the boys at John and Janet's and get home by Sunday. Fortunately, we (Hope) was playing at 3 so I could listen to our game on the radio while I started my journey home. I was celebrating Ben Gardner's layup at the buzzer of the first half when my phone rang and Shawna's name popped up on my screen (I was now about an hour into the trip home). "Can you turn the van around? How far are you?" This was with a bunch of laughing in the background from our nurse and doctor. It was determined that there was a very good chance we'd be shipped home the next day so I needed to turn around and head back to CHOP!!! All good with me if it meant we be on the road home, for good, the next day (personally, I think it was our insurance company wanting to get us off the books and they told CHOP to kick us out!!). So, one more night in the NICU. Sunday turned into a long day before discharge as lots of paperwork needed to be done and on a weekend, CHOP is a bit less staffed than on a weekday. We spend the morning hanging out and waiting (we'd become pretty good at that).
We were finally released around 1 in the afternoon and booked it home, arriving around 2am Monday morning. KJ was a rockstar traveler....and I say that not because she "sang" and made noise like one, but that we only stopped 3 times and she slept for 99% of the time we were on the road. The other rockstar was the star of this whole show, Shawna. Maybe I shouldn't be typing this as it may get her in trouble, but she even drove for about 3 hours!!
Our arrival so late/early meant we couldn't wake the boys to see their new sister but it sure made it easy to get them out of bed in the morning (many of you parents know the battles with kids in the morning, waking them up before they want to get up) when they knew they'd be able to see KJ.
They were PUMPED....to say the least. We didn't know how long the excitement of having a new sister would stick around and keep them on their best behavior, but still, into our second week at home, the boys have shown us that KJ is going to be blessed with two great, caring, big brothers.
The much anticipated arrival back home and adjustments back to "life as normal" - whatever normal is - has been an interesting one and at times overwhelming. We arrived to a house that was decorated beautifully with Christmas cheer and numerous reminders of CHOOSING JOY. Updates to our house had been made, cleaning had (once again) been taken care of, the fridge and cupboards and been stocked (but the roof still hadn't been redone....c'mon people!!). We were once again, blown away, by the selfless acts by many people to make our lives and transition home, easier. The prayers, calls, texts, gifts, cards, etc., keep pouring in to help support us. We've been left, time and time again, speechless at the incredible people that we are so blessed to have in our lives.
We come home to our new normal. With KJ, it will be years of lots of appointments with many different specialists to track her and help to make her life as "normal" as possible. It started this week with a visit with our family doctor and a checkup with neurology in GR. Just to preface the medical update, a lot of her future, medically, we won't know about until she keeps getting older and developing (i.e. we won't know the severity of any ambulatory issues until she's at the age when walking would start to occur). The neuro-doc was encouraged by her development, already, as she weighed in at 5lbs. 11oz., above her birth weight of 5.3!!! The areas that may be cause for concern and possible shunting in her brain checked out and looked good. These will be closely monitored for a while to make sure nothing screwy happens, which is always a possibility. He commented that her scar from the surgery also looks to be in great shape and healing well!! So far so good!! We'll be seeing bladder specialists and orthopedics in the next week and are also hoping for good reports from them.
For those of you that know Shawna, having a 3rd child was not going to slow her down. Life does seem to be back to normal as I've been able to get back to work, out recruiting (with the boys a little) for Hope, Shawna to the Critter barn with all the kids today (shoot, I got a text picture of them at the movie "The Good Dinosaur" last week....KJ was 9 days old!!!, although it being an empty theatre at 11am Shawna said it was great as the boys could be loud and she could breast feed without any worries!!).
So, long story long, we're home and happy to be here. Seeing friends and family in the community, at work, at church, basketball games, etc., has been awesome and we can't stress how grateful we are for this. This is a thank you to you!!
CHOOSING JOY (as a family from Zeeland...but honestly, missing Philly...a little)
-Jeff
Thanks for the update hope you keep this blog going as it will give us a place to go for prayer updates
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