Home At Last . . .

Our first family picture. Anna and Benjamin meeting Caleb for the first time, through the NICU window, as we were waiting for him to get all ready to come home with us!

As previously mentioned, we were supposed to bring little Caleb home on Wednesday the 22nd. It didn't end up happening because of one last thing they wanted to do and evaluate. A little disappointing, but we were used to things not always going as planned at the NICU. Instead, baby Caleb was ready to come home Christmas morning. It was the best Christmas present ever! We opened presents with Anna and Benjamin around 8am. Then, at 9am-ish a NICU nurse called to say the Doctor had seen Caleb, and he was ready to come home and spend Christmas with his family. It ended up taking about an hour and a half to do all the paper work, wait for a perscription to come from the pharmacy, and get some last minute instructions from the Doctor. But, we were all there (in our Christmas jammies) so very excited to bring Caleb home with us. This was also the first time Anna and Benjamin were able to meet their little brother, yay!

It worked out nicely that Anna and Benjamin had new, fun Christmas goodies to play with while Ethan and I settled in the baby (see third picture above). Can you believe that Caleb had four BIG bags of items and belongings from his stay in the NICU. Crazy! We got him all unpacked, and snuggled him for awhile...minus any cords or monitors!!! Then, we layed him in his bumble bee bassinet, so he could get used to his new bed. Caleb was a little sad about that, so we snuggled him some more.

Then, we changed Caleb into his matching Christmas jammies, and got ready to head over to Chuck and Melissa's for Christmas festivities that afternoon. We are being very careful about exposure to germs and big groups of people, doctor's orders. For example, at the Rayhorn's only Ethan and I held him so as not to do the "pass the baby" thing that is so typical in big groups of family with a new little baby to hold. It's a little scary having a high risk baby, but we are all adjusting well to having little Caleb home, and it was so exciting that he was able to be home for Christmas. He is such a sweet baby, I just love him! I'll write more later about our other Christmas festivities, and about life with Caleb J. Hope you all had a very joyous Christmas!