Home at last!

First and most importantly, NOELLE IS HOME! So much has happened in the last week that has led up to us bringing her home. She made such great progress and so quickly. Noelle started eating so well and one of the requirements to bring her home was that she needed to take all 8 of her feedings orally. Well she started doing this amazingly. Sunday, Nov. 23, the nurse that was attending Noelle told us that she doesn't expect us in the NICU (newborn intensive care unit) for longer than a week. This came so unexpectedly. We knew she was doing well but didn't realize how well. As the week went on she kept taking more and more feedings all on her own. And Noelle's pediatrician told us to expect her to come home on Saturday or Sunday (Nov. 29 or 30). We were so excited! But this meant that we needed to get A LOT done in a short amount of time. So as me and Michael started running around like chickens with our head cut off to get prepared for the arrival of our daughter, Noelle continued to grow and progress at an amazing rate. She was doing so good but she struggles a little with her oxygen still, mostly while she is eating. She still needs to get the whole "suck, swallow, breathe" action mastered. Babies born full term, for the most part, know how to do this but premature babies need to learn it all on their own. So this meant that we would be going home with a monitor (to monitor her heart rate and breathing) and oxygen. So Friday some people came in to train us on the monitor and oxygen. After this we got to do what is called "rooming in." That's where we spend 12 hours in a room with Noelle and her new monitors and take care of her all on our own. Well we obviously did a good job because we got to take her home on Sat. Nov 29 at around 10:30am! She left the hospital at 4lbs 9 oz and is still growing :)! We are so happy that she is home and feel so blessed that she is doing so well and is so strong. We just wanted to let everyone know the happy news and want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers.