I believe the new pictures above tell the story pretty well. Yes, Caden is sleeping in his own room at home tonight for the first time. We arrived home at approximately 6:00 PM New Years Day. Caden is doing really good. He seems comfortable and happy at home.
Riley has been sick for the past several days. Even so his first words to Caden were, “sit down, play train please.” I would say that Riley is really excited that Caden is home. It is really tough right now because we need to keep Riley out of Caden’s face since Riley is still coughing a bunch. Riley wants to be right up next to Caden and we have to minimize contact until Riley gets well. My Mom is enjoying seeing her two youngest grandchildren home together even though she is still fighting a nasty cold. She will head home Sunday and we will begin our first week as a family of four.
Caden was sent home with a feeding pump, suction machine, and apnea monitor. Believe it or not this stuff was all delivered and we got trained on it today. I started the day off by asking the doctors and nurses what they were doing with Caden that we could not do at home. Their answer from Caden’s nurse was, “ah ha, the big question.” Obviously our confidence played a big part in determining when Caden got discharged. Sherry and I discussed it last night and we felt that we were ready to ask that question. As you can see it paid off. Don’t get me wrong. We are scared silly. I have to just keep remembering my favorite verse 2 Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Your prayer will help too get through as it has already so many times. We are very thankful for the blessing that we have received today in getting Caden home. We are thankful that Sherry is finally getting some comfort from drying up her milk. We are thankful for the friends and family who do things for us. Sherry and I ask that God give us strength and confidence to deal with Caden’s needs as well as Riley’s and each other’s.
We hope that your New Year starts of a little happier as a result of this great news. May God bless you and your family as much as he has blessed ours this day.