Home coming, take 2 and picture gallery

Sorry for the delay in writing! Its been a busy week since we've been home. This time I think we will stay home for a lot longer. We are settling in nicely.

First, thanks for the many responses to our blog on songs that inspire. I love all the great songs, stories and poems that were shared.

We could have stayed much longer in the hospital; however, we choose to go home and work on the feeds with Noah. We now have a pump that regulates the speed that his feeds run in on. It means one more item to take out with us when we need to feed out and about but it seems to help Noah handle his feeds better - so it is well worth the effort.

I won't go into the details of our day - needless to say we need to stay focused and on-task to give Noah his feeds, complete g-tube site care, do some food therapy with him, attend appointments and of course not to forget about typical baby care. He is finally able to have some normal bowel movements which was a relief after having to resort to an enema in the hospital. Our nights are much easier now as Noah is on a continuous 12 hour feed. Jared gets up to fill the feeding bag once and Noah usually cries for a "vent" or burp through his g-tube a couple times a night which I handle. We've become quite the parenting team!! He is taking about 60% of his calories through the night which takes the pressure off the daytime hours a bit. We are still feeding every 2.5 hours in the day, but we have shaved off 1 feed since being home so now Noah takes 4 feeds in the day, each lasting 60 minutes. That's a great step forward for us.

On another note, I would recommend the following book - "More than a Mom: Living a Full and Balanced Life when your Child has Special Needs." A loving person in my life gave it to me and really I think it is a good book for ANY mom or dad. We are learning how to transform Noah's needs from struggle to strength. I love this quote from an experienced mom:

"The happiest mothers are those who have made the journey through all kinds of emotions to a place where they accept the challenges and embrace the life experiences it will bring them and their family. They are able to see the need as a catalyst for immense personal and spiritual growth (including reassessing one's priorities and values in life)."

See, that applies to any parent!! I hope I can grow into this quote each and every day. Thanks for reading. I hope you are treasuring the summer months.