Home sweet home

Today Alisha (now a mom) was released from the hospital. Near the end of her hospital stay she developed very strong headaches. She had been in the hospital for 24 consecutive days and was bedridden for the majority of that time, either to protect unborn Dottie or recover from the birth surgery. During that entire time she was either constantly monitored for Dottie's vital signs or frequently monitored for her own health. Each day seemed to bring a new problem where she'd either have a new IV put in or she'd be told of a new problem she had (thyroid, pre-eclampsia, glucose intolerance). To top it all off, nurses would need to check on Alisha every 2 hours through the night. Alisha had some great nurses (Michelle, Janelle, Alexis) during her stay in the high-risk area, but after delivery she was moved to post-delivery where there were more patients per nurse, which led to less personable nurses. Alisha's physical limitations from surgery also prevented her from seeing her newborn daughter, which added to the stress.

For those who don't know Alisha, she is absolutely an introvert. We only recently discovered was that those headaches were caused by 24 days of monitoring, worrying, interruptions, and surprises. A few days ago they put Alisha onto very strong IV medication to get rid of the headaches, but they kept coming back. Today when she got home, laid down in her own bed, and petted her own dog she said the headache instantly went away. She is glad to be home! Here she is in her wheelchair, waiting for me to pick her up.

Alisha and I will be visiting Dottie daily in the newborn ICU. Below is the building that Alisha spent the past 24 days living in. This is the building that currently takes care of our precious little daughter. Hopefully in a little over 2 months we'll pick up Dottie just like we did Alisha today.

As an added bonus, I was encouraged in the parking lot when I met a guy driving a suburban who said his babies (assuming twins) had been in the NICU for 4 months (not sure if he meant weeks?) and he was picking them up today. The only thing holding him back was a parking spot. If you plan to come see Dottie, come before noon or after 5pm, because the parking lot gets packed!