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Sorry it has taken me so long to post an update. Life has been crazy adjusting to our new normal and unpacking after being gone for 7 weeks...

Finally leaving the hospital

On Monday morning we got word from the attending in the step down unit that we would be discharged later that day. Max had been doing really well and had been taking enough milk by bottle that they were able to remove the NG tube. After a few extra tests and lots of paperwork we were finally discharged at the height of rush hour. Max wasn't very happy with the traffic and the first hour and a half of the drive was pretty rough. We decided to drive half way to San Luis Obispo and spend the night in a hotel. Then on Tuesday we made the final trek to Walnut Drive. Molly was anxiously waiting outside with my mom. She was so excited to see us and to finally see her brother outside the hospital. The last time she had seen him he was pretty sick and intubated so this was a nice change. She has already been the best big sister and a super helper to her mommy (very different than when Luke was born and she wasn't too happy to be sharing her mom).  Molly loves to hold him and to give him lots of germ filled kisses. Luke was napping when we got home and so he was super surprised to see us when he woke up. He had been talking about feeding his brother a bottle everyday before we got home so he helped for about 2 seconds and then went off to play Batman!

Max has been much happier at home. No more fluorescent lights, monitors beeping, kids crying, and people messing with him. He is sleeping better and crying less. We still give him Tylenol twice a day to help with incision discomfort.

On Thursday we headed up to CHOC for Max's first cardiology appointment. He had an ECHO, EKG, oxygen check and weight check. Things seems to be pretty stable. Dr. Doshi has her work cut out for her to keep Max's saturations up over the next year. As Max gets bigger his PA band will get tighter and his oxygen saturations will decrease. Dr Hanley (Max's surgeon) wants him to be 10kg or 22 lbs for his next surgery. Right now we are trying to figure how many extra calories Max needs in order to start gaining weight. Right now he is 8 lbs 6 oz (birth weight was 8lbs 11oz). Brad and I have never had a skinny baby so this is new territory for us. We also took Max to his first pediatrician appointment. Luke said to me before I took him "Are you going to the hospital? Please don't go back to the hospital." I guess that is his way of saying that he likes having his family back together!

And I have to give a shout out to my other half on Fathers Day weekend because he has truly been an amazing partner and daddy over the last month. Happy Father's Day to our Daddy Braddy!!