We are home!!

Yes, that's right...we are FINALLY home!  Not for long though, we go back to SF in two weeks for Spina Bifida Clinic (a slew of dr. appts smushed into one day).  I can't tell you how excited and ready we were to come home and the drive yesterday couldn't have taken longer!!!    But to back track, I'll update about the weekend before.

Our good friends Jeff and Shana came to visit us and meet our newest addition. We were excited for them to come because we hadn't seen them in forever and we needed them for a distraction. We had to wait all weekend for a head ultrasound and hear whether or not we would be sent home. We spent the weekend in the hospital around PJ's feeding/cathing schedule and then in the down times we spent most of it walking....usually walking to somewhere to eat...haha...let's just say we let our food guards down for the weekend!! We had A LOT of laughs. I was telling Shana that most of our laughter came from the boys and from shock and awe at some of the down right hilarious things that come out of their mouths. haha...good times.

Shana and PJ...they must have coordinated their outfits that morning :-)

Shana giving me a make-shift manicure outside of Starbucks!

 Dinner at Park Chow in San Fran.  The dessert was amazing too...does it help that everything on the menu is organic??!! lol

The weekend was a good one and we were so thankful for their visit.  We are so thankful for everyone's visits.  Having my parent's there for a few days before PJ's birth and then them staying for a week after his birth was such a gift to us.  They have been such an amazing support system and source of home for us while we were there together.  We felt bad the many times that they had to sit and wait in the hospital while we had to cath or feed PJ.  They were so patient and understanding.  Having Daniel there with us too was so great and made it easier to be there and enjoy each and every moment.  A few days later Kyle, Jen, Andy, and Kendra and our nieces/nephews came as well.  It was so sweet for them to drive all that way to see us and more importantly meet PJ.  I know that there are a lot of family members and friends that would have loved to have been there but just couldn't.  Their prayer support has been so amazing and comforting.  We have enjoyed talking to them on the phone giving them updates, texting them pictures, and just knowing that they are praying for us and been so great.

PJ had an ultrasound on Monday soon after we got to the hospital around 8 am.  So, we thought we would hear the yes/no about whether or not we would get to come home.  Not only did he get that done, but he got his brace on his foot (FINALLY).  It's actually really endearing.  He looks precious in it.  It's this tiny boot.  It looks like a walking boot that you get after you get a cast off.  ALSO he got circumcized in the afternoon.  Poor guy had such a big day and we felt bad for all that he had to go through.  I could tell he wasn't himself because he didn't eat very good that day and he slept a lot.  I don't blame him, he went through the ringer!  Finally in the late afternoon Dr. Shimotake (LOVE HIM!!) gave us the go.  So, right away we called Daniel and told him that we were coming home the next day!!  My mom later told me that after he got off the phone he told her "now that's the news I've been waiting for!"....doesn't that just melt your heart?!

So, we had to leave the hospital in the early evening to clean our room at the Ronald McDonald house.  We ate dinner there because a woman was cooking for the whole house.  A few years ago she was staying at the house with her infant in the hospital.  She had been there for a few months.  She decided to make the whole house dinner one night and while she was cooking she got a call from the hospital and they told her to get there right away.  Her child passed away that night.  So, on the anniversary of her child's death, she cooks for the whole Ronald McDonald house because she never got to finish that one meal before.  So, we were honored to have her cook for us.  The Ronald McDonald house is really something wonderful.  We are beyond thankful for what they have done for us. 

The next morning we were at the hospital at 7:30 because we had to be discharged by 8:30 for his uerodynamics test across the street by 9:00.  We were so excited to have him unhooked by everything and be put in the car seat and get out of there!!

Putting his going home clothes on!

 We are so happy to go home!!

Looking pretty handsome in that car seat!

So, after the uerodynamics test we were out of there!!  The drive took us all day!  We didn't get home until 8:30.  But, you should have seen the look on Daniel's face when we got home!  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  :-)

This was right after he walked in the door!  He is so happy!

Showing us his craft.

Getting to hold PJ for the first time!

He was a little heavier than Daniel expected!

Daniel wanted to hold him before school.





All in all, we are so thankful and grateful to be home.  But, we are also thankful for the time that was spent in San Fran at the hospital. Yes, it was hard and difficult to only see PJ in the ICN, but there are many moments in which we feel blessed.  Mitch and I had a lot of time together and to be honest, we have grown closer in the last 3 weeks.  We have been able to revisit those "dating days".  We are thankful for that time.

We go back to San Francisco in 2 weeks and will have updated information on PJ then.  This Friday we visit our family dr. and then 2 days before SF we go to Reno to see a pediatric neurosurgeon.  We have a lot coming up.

Please pray for PJ and that his ventricles would remain stable and the "bogginess" on his incision site would continue to decrease.  Also pray that we would be that 10% in which he won't require a shunt.  We have been told in lengthy detail what to be looking out for and we are a bit nervous.  Please pray that if something were to come up that we would know and realize what is going on.  There is just so much now.  We don't have that comfort of being in the hospital and having dr.'s right there at his bedside.

Thank you so much, again, for all your prayers and thoughts.  They have gotten us through our tough times and we are so humbled by all of the love and generosity that has been shown to us.