Discharged!

What a difference 24 hours can make! In less than 12 hours Oliver went from 6 liters of oxygen (at 60%) on the high flow cannula to the low flow cannula to room air which moved us upstairs one floor. His feeding tube came out this morning, and gradually other things were taken off of him (heart rate monitor, pulse oximeter, one IV, etc.). When the doctors did their rounds around 9:00 they said he could be discharged. I know from experience it usually takes two hours from when a doctor says those magic words until they actually return to your room and hand you the discharge papers. It actually took over three hours this morning, and the final step was to have the last IV removed and the "FALL RISK" tag removed from his ankle. I had changed him into regular clothes even before the doctors did their rounds (at the suggestion of the nurse). I had packed extra underwear, but I hadn't packed extra pants. He had one accident. He had gone into the bathroom but didn't make it on the potty in time. Although after I took off his wet clothes and put him on the potty he did pee and poop on the potty. They gave me some detergent, and I went up to the third floor and did a tiny load of laundry so he could go home in clean pants. I was rather nervous the rest of the day about how much regression we'd experience with the potty training, but he didn't have any other accidents today. Whew. Here's to hoping and praying that there won't be any major regressions. I was dreading starting that process up all over again after he wore diapers for 3 straight days after having worn underwear during the daytime for more than 3 months.

He fell asleep on the way home, and once we got home I put him in a diaper (which stayed dry) and put him in his bed. He slept for 3 hour and 45 minutes altogether. Last night I had put him to bed at 8pm in the PICU but then they woke up him to do the evaluations for the transfer, and the lights didn't go out in the new room until almost 10pm, and they woke him up at 2am and 6am with taking his temperature and blood pressure and such. All that to say, he didn't get nearly enough sleep last night, which is why he took such a long nap. He could finally sleep on his belly without any wires, tubes, arm restraints, etc.  We are both SO glad to be home! I have more I was planning to say, but the bed is calling my name even though it's only 8:30pm. It's been more than 11 days since I've had a good night's sleep. My back in particular has paid a price. Here's to hoping and praying that the kids let me sleep until at least 6:00 tomorrow morning!