She Came Home!!

That's right, after 101 days in the NICU our baby girl finally came home.I can not describe the immense joy and relief. I smiled so big I thought my face would break and I cried so much I thought I would dehydrate. One would think we had reached the end, but really its just a transition. Avigayils story still has a many more chapters to go before we can celebrate her full return to health. Leaving the NICU however, is a major step.

She came home on Friday before Shabbos, and thankfully only on oxygen. This means that she can actually leave the house for short periods of time. Today, she got to go to the health insurance clinic and the well baby clinic. Later this week to the pediatrician, then next week back to the hospital to see the pulminologist. After that to the preemie clinic and to get a special hearing test at the audiologist. Our baby is only 103 days old and she already has so many specialists you would think she was 103 years old. In the coming days and weeks we have to visit all of them.

In between all this, we are learning the quickest way to switch her to portable O2 (she is usually on an oxygen concentrator) and shlep her and her O2 canister and her monitor down to the bomb shelter when the air raid siren goes off while simultaneously herding my other 4 children in the same direction. Life is just getting more and more interesting for so many reasons. 

Here are some pictures of her leaving the hospital. I hope to post more of her homecoming and first outing soon.