Home Again

Yes, Emma made it home again. The plan the last few days was for her to come home today, and then last night her right leg (especially her foot) started to get really swollen. This was the leg that always got really swollen whenever they put a PICC or IV in it. So then this morning, one of the doctors ordered an ultrasound to make sure she didn't have a blood clot. I was going to just hit the floor crying if they told us that she had a blood clot and that we'd have to stay in the hospital for yet ANOTHER problem. But thankfully it wasn't a blood clot; they actually just think that Emma's veins are "messy" from all the times she's been messed with and stuck. I think it'll take a while for her veins to cleaned up again. Elevating her leg will make it better.

Emma still has some pretty bad gas pain, even though she's been burping much better these days. She just struggles so hard to breathe, especially when she chokes, and I think she swallows a lot of air this way. I just don't know what the answer is. She's not screaming all day or anything, but the afternoons and evenings really aren't that pleasant. We feel like we're on pins and needles waiting to see if she's going to scream in pain.

In addition to the swollen leg and gas, we now have two more problems: diaper rash that's bleeding and spreading and a cold. First, the diaper rash: worse than it's ever been. She had blood in her diaper today, poor baby. We're trying to keep her lying on her tummy with her diaper open to let as much air get to it as possible. She contracted a cold these last few days in the hospital, as did I. So far mine has made my throat really sore. Emma's has made her really, really snotty. Since we learned that she chokes on her secretions, the doctors told us that a cold will be very dangerous for her: they said she'd choke all the time on the mucus. Last night my mom was holding her, and she threw up all kinds of mucus all over my mom. (I know this is gross, but bear with me.) She did it twice, on a smaller scale, today. What this means is that she's actually NOT choking on her mucus - she's swallowing it. So this puking is actually a good thing! No one wants their child to have a cold, but today a doctor wondered if this is something that can improve, and perhaps her swallowing will gradually get better. Who knows.

Sooooo...anyway, we're finally home. It sort of feels like we're home again with the same baby who has to be on her tummy all the time, but for different reasons now. Before, it was because of the wound on her back (which is completely healed now, by the way), but now it's because it makes her tummy feel better and to let her hiney air out. We've put together her bouncy seat and her swing, and we can't wait to get her walking in her stroller. She loves to move and be on the go, but we've got to her butt all healed up first. Here's a picture of her loving her trip in the wagon on the pediatric floor. I know her face looks like she's scared, but I promise she's not; in fact, she's looking at my mom wondering when she's going to stop talking and starting pulling her again.



Here's Emma in her cute little going-home dress today, completely sprawled out taking a nap. She had lost some weight when she came back to the hospital, but since she started eating rice cereal, she's packed on the pounds again. Please notice the fat roll in the middle of her right thigh; if you look really closely, you can see some baby cellulite on her left thigh!



Well, time for a final feeding. Emma's been eating her last bottle at 10ish and sleeping until about 7. Let's hope she continues this trend for our first night back at home.