Mid-month update

Nap time!

Currently, Theo is down for nap #2 of the day, Nick is volunteering at church,  the laundry is running, and the kitchen is clean, so I figured it was time to sit and write a quick update.

Life continues to be wonderful for our little family. But, the last few weeks have been a reminder for me that we are going to have some setbacks along the way.  I think that is par for the course.

March Madness

We love taking walks with Theo

March, in our house, was full of madness.  We love having Theo home.  Our life has been filled with non-stop excitement.

Let me tell you a little bit about Theo:
1) He has a smile that melts my heart.
2) He talks and talks and talks.
3) He loves to wiggle.
4) He is incredibly curious. If I try to hold him close to me, he will have none of it. He wants to be up on my shoulder, examining all that the world has to offer.
5) He has some amazing "dance-offs" with his dad.  For those of you unaccustomed to a dance-off, it involves Nick dancing like a crazy man while Theo quietly watches him.  As soon as Nick is done and points to Theo for his turn, Theo starts wiggling.  Both of the men in my life know how to shake it.

6) Theo loves watching Curious George.  He also loves golf.  Theo watched more of the golf tournament on Sunday than 99.9% of Americans.
7) You would be hard pressed to find a happier baby.
8) If Theo is fussing, he must be hungry.  Otherwise, he pretty much doesn't fuss.  We recently started rice cereal to help cope with the extra hunger.
9) He loves being outdoors.  Watching him look at the trees while we walk through the park is an incredible experience.

Home Sweet Home

So happy at home!

I must admit, I love being a mom to Theo.  I have told people that with him in the NICU, I often felt like a part-time mom.  I love feeling like a full time mom now.  The last 5 days have been absolutely incredible.  We love having Theo home!!!  It feels wonderful to be able to be a family in our own apartment.  Theo has been such a joy since he was born, but especially over the last 5 days.  We are so blessed.

I think that Theo was a bit overstimulated the first day that he was home.  He wore a very serious expression as we showed him around, took him on a short walk, and let him play on his play mat.  It wasn't until we put him on his changing table to change the dressing on his catheter that he really started smiling his big, beautiful, heart-melting smile again.  I think that was the first thing that felt "normal" to him.  Since then, he has adjusted beautifully to life at home.  He smiles all the time, sleeps really well in his own crib in his room, and seems very content.  We are fortunate that he sleeps all night long -- we are indebted to his nurses!

Going home!

After 86 days in the NICU, Theo is scheduled for discharge tomorrow.  We can hardly believe it.  It has been an emotional evening already for the Foy family, as we recount our innumerable blessings over the last 3 months.  We are so thankful that we have such a happy, healthy (relatively speaking) boy who we get to bring home TOMORROW.  Wow.  God is good.

Our team of doctors, nurses, and numerous other support members (from the dietician, to the physical therapist, and our occupational therapist, to name a few) have been amazing.  We have been so impressed by their willingness to help us get home as quickly and uneventfully as possible.  Believe me when I say that this is no small feat for Theo.  We are basically bringing a NICU back to our house, minus the full-time doctors and nurses.

One Step Closer

We have seen lots of smiles this week!  Someone is happy!

There has been very little to report over the last week.  No news, in my book, means good news.  Theo started dialysis again last Tuesday, and has been handling it very well.  His eating has suffered a bit, but that is common for pediatric dialysis patients.  On Monday, Theo transitioned to the Cycler!  We are one step closer to coming home as a result.

Nick and I started training for the Cycler on Monday.  Since dialysis is federally regulated, there is a curriculum that we must be taught.  Our first lesson covered questions such as: what is a kidney? what do kidneys do? what is peritoneal dialysis?  Let me tell you, none of this is new information to us at this point.  The practical, "hands on" training started yesterday; we learned to change the dressing on Theo's catheter (which will be done daily once he is home) and to set-up and disconnect the machine.  Over the next week, we will complete the training and will be ready to do everything on our own.

Dialysis, here we come!

Happy boy!

Theo has been off of dialysis for over 2 weeks now.  Pretty remarkable, considering he had to start dialysis when he was just 8 days old.  We're thankful for the time off of dialysis, since it has given us the ability to be more mobile with Theo and it has given the catheter more time to heal.

There was hope that Theo's lab results would hold in a somewhat "normal" range for a while longer so that we could bring him home and then come back to the hospital once he needed dialysis again.  In fact, the NICU staff had arranged for Nick and me to "room in" with Theo for the weekend, and had planned for a Monday discharge if labs on Wednesday and Friday continued to look good.  By Wednesday, though, the results had started to creep up, and then they moved even higher again on Friday.  As of now, it looks like dialysis will start again tomorrow morning.

Little Miracles

Family photo op: Theo's first field trip outside!

We have had an incredible week.  I wish I could do it justice by putting the week into words, but I cannot.  All I can say is that we have a little miracle, and his name is Theo.

Theo recovered nicely from Wednesday's surgery.  He was not too happy with his nurse or his parents on Wednesday when he was not allowed to eat, but once he was able to get some food in his belly and some morphine to take off the edge, he was a much happier camper.  We had hoped that we could let the new catheter heal for a couple of days after surgery before needing to start dialysis, and so far, our hopes have been greatly exceeded.