I know many of you are probably wondering how things are going at home?! Well, let’s first go back to leaving the hospital.

The last time I posted we were doing our overnight stay. While it went well, we didn’t sleep too much. Not because Olivia kept us up, but our sleeping accommodations were not the most comfortable, lol. That was one more thing that made us happy about going home. Our nurses and doctors were on top of everything, so there wasn’t too much we needed to do before we left. My mom was able to pick up Olivia’s last medication and we were able to get the pediatrician appt scheduled for Friday (it went great!).

When a baby has an extended stay in the NICU, there is a parade through the whole unit. The nurses come to the doors of each pod and wave pom poms to celebrate the baby graduating. It is such a memorable moment. We had three out of five of our primary nurses there to celebrate. Our two night nurses, Jessica and Mara, even stayed at the hospital to be there after they finished a 12 hour shift! Erin was the nurse to discharge us, which was special since she was our first primary and has taken care of Olivia since Day 5. Our social worker Alyssa was there to celebrate. We saw two of our favorite physical therapists and even Liv’s hernia surgeon was there to join in. I can’t wait for the day when Olivia is older and she can look back at the video and pictures of her special day. We have two videos from two different vantage points of the parade, so I made them into one video. You can check out the video here. And yes, we had special shirts for us and a onesie for Liv.

The sign above is one that we passed every day. It is right outside of the entrance to the NICU. Jeremy and I frequently dreamt of the day where Olivia’s name would be on it. And Tuesday was our day!

Saying bye to our primary nurses was hard, but we know they will always be in our lives and are Aunties to Olivia. One more shout out to Erin, Ariel, Courtney, Mara, and Jessica. We have told them all numerous times how much they mean to us. I do not think we would have been able to mentally and emotionally get through this as well as we have under the circumstances, without them.

On one of our last nights, Jeremy and I went to one of our favorite spots, OBO’. To commemorate our time at Sutter we captured this photo.

There will never be enough words to show our gratitude to all of the nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, lactation specialists, speech specialists, surgeon, opthamologist, ultrasound technicians, x-ray technicians, admin staff, janitorial staff, security, music therapists, pulmonologist, nutritionist, lab techs, milk fairies, pharmacists, audiologist, child life specialist, and cardiac sonographers who helped us get Olivia home. We feel so blessed. Olivia is a fighter, but she had some amazing support to get her to where she is today and who will continue to help her grow stronger each day. Thank you to Sutter for hiring the best so they can help miracles happen.

There is more to share about our actual time home, but I will try and work on that over the next couple of days. But just a teaser, it is surreal to have Olivia home. It is so great to have her home and is also filled with new challenges, not only as first time parents, but also navigating all the medical needs for Liv. We are of course all in, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy. But more on all this later. Now that we are home we won’t have updates all the time on Liv’s weight and height. When we do have updates on those I will provide them and then I can still provide her age and adjusted age.

Since we are home, I am unsure if people still would like updates. We are still working on getting Liv off oxygen and the various meds she is on. My feelings will not be hurt if an overwhelming majority do not wish to continue reading updates. I know everyone has busy lives. But if people do want to know how things are going I can definitely continue to update. Throughout this journey, this blog has become very therapeutic. Please take part in the poll below, so I know one way or the other.

And one last “thank you” to all of you who have followed us during this time. We know so many of you have prayed, started prayer chains, sent good vibes, donated, made meals, sent us doordash, sent messages of encouragement, and loved us through it all. We are overwhelmed with gratitude for all of you. Our people. We are so lucky to have you in our corner and cheering on our Lil’ Liv.

Lil’ Liv’s Numbers:

• Age: 22 weeks + 6 days
• Adjusted Age: 8 weeks + 3 days
• Weight: 10lbs and 15oz
• Length: 22.05 in or 56 cm
• Head Circumference: 38 cm

Until next time…