A week in Isolation

Once we left the hospital, we rounded the corner, crossed the street and were "home"  I walked Hunter into our room at the Ronald McDonald House, sat on the bed with him on my legs and thought to myself "now what?"  I had been so wanting to get him out of the hospital but then was pretty much stuck....by myself.... with my freshly operated on 7 week old.

The first night was awful.  I didn't sleep at all.  I checked on Hunter every 10 minutes at least.  Even though the constant beeping of monitors in the hospital is enough to drive you insane, NOT having them once you leave is just as bad.

Waking up with my boy

Sadly for me, we never got into a routine there.  You aren't allowed to have food in the rooms at RMH so I would have to go down to the kitchen.  He was still withdrawing from his drugs and was beginning to show signs of his milk protein intolerance so he was pretty miserable. By the time I got him fed, pumped, cleaned and sanitized all of my stuff,  and make sure I let him get good rest, it would be time to start everything over! Feeding myself was last on the list.  Add on that as soon as he was put in the stroller he would scream and I avoided leaving the room at all costs.  That week was absolute chaos.

My first trip to the observatory with my little guy

I got to have dinner with Corben one night over Face Time

He was rather comfortable at RMH

Steve came on Friday evening to spend the weekend with us.  We couldn't do much.  We wanted to visit friends but it was just too much.  I didn't feel comfortable leaving too far away from the hospital so we just did small little trips.  We drove all through Beverly Hills, tried to find the stars' homes, went to the Griffith Observatory, and he made sure I actually ate!

The Hollywood Sign

Playtime

We went to an outdoor place for lunch

Steve was supposed to leave on Sunday but I was at my breaking point and he stayed with me another day so I wouldn't have to be alone.  I am telling you, that week at RMH I seriously thought I was turning into a crazy person.  It is so hard to explain.  Yes, it was only a week, but I had Hunter's Tuesday clinic visit to make sure everything looked good and get the go ahead to go HOME, hanging over my head.  If things weren't looking good, would we have to stay longer?  Be readmitted? Plus add on that I wanted to get home to see my other son.....it all just became too much.  All of you that have commented on my strength...... that week I pretty much cried everyday, all day.  After 2 months of being strong, I was DONE.

Snuggles with Daddy before he left

Steve left Monday afternoon.  Tuesday morning we had Hunter's x-ray and clinic visit.  Everything looked great!  They took his Lasix (diuretic) down to twice a day from three times.  They took out his stitches from his chest and chest tube sites.  Everyone thought he looked great and we were told to go HOME!!!!

That day I had to pack up all of our things and clean the room at RMH.  Steve returned on Wednesday, September 5.  I packed up the whole car while wearing Hunter in the baby bjorn, picked Steve up from the airport, and then he drove us home!

Hunter wasn't the happiest baby in the world, he cried a LOT on the way home.  I think that is when his milk protein intolerance and acid reflux was really starting to be painful for him.  Poor guy.

Driving home

Around 5:30pm that evening, we arrived home.  My Aunt Susan, from California,  had been staying with Corben for 10 days at that point.  She had dinner ready for us and a glass of wine poured for me.

 HOME!!!

We made it.  Our family was together.  Funny thing was, after the rough two months we had I couldn't imagine that it would get so much worse.  None of it was heart related for Hunter, but he turned into pretty much the worst baby ever!  But at least we were all dealing with it together at home :)

Our first morning home!