Homecoming!

Two weeks from the day that Elise Paige Kaiser was born, she came home.
The day started out like any normal day in the NICU- bottle feeding, diaper changing, temperature taking and a bath. Elise had been taking more and more feedings by bottle. In fact, she had been eating by bottle for 48-hours straight (which was the final prerequisite for going home). We shouldn't have been surprised when the doctor came in at 1pm and announced that Elise would be heading home today- but we were! Another doctor had told us the previous day that Elise would most likely be released on Monday- so needless to say, we were a bit surprised!

Prior to her release today, we had a car seat 'test'. The test consisted of Elise sitting for two hours in her car seat without us removing her. The nurses were watching her vitals during the entire two hours- making sure that she would breathe without difficulty. Elise passed without any problems. If she had problems during the two-hours, the NICU staff would have recommended a different car seat- one in which she would lay down flat rather than sit up. Yesterday, Elise also had and passed a hearing test. No problems there!

After the car seat test, we ate a final bottle, got a new diaper and we hit the road. The ride home was definitely more eventful for us than Elise, who slept the entire 15-minute ride. I sat in the back while Jeff drove. We made it home safe and sound.

Jeff's parents had already arrived to our house to help with the introduction between Elise and our dogs. The dogs were waiting outside when we returned so we were able to bring Elise inside and unpack all of the thing we came home with. Once settled, Jeff brought Garth and Brutus inside. They were already familiar with her scent (from dirty laundry) so they weren't too impressed with her. The little sounds and coos did create some interest-- especially with Brutus. Probably within the next few days, they won't even care about her at all! There is just a lot of sniffing!

So, here we are...settling in for our first night home! Had we known yesterday, we would have napped a bit and rested up!!!!