Happiness

Henry is OUTTA the hospital! In fact, as i type this, he is snuggled warmly in one of the Ronald McDonald House's pack-n-play next to me. Yes, I'm not quite HOME yet, but this'll do nicely until next week; I have an outpatient follow-up appointment next Thursday with Hank's primary cardiologist here in Philly. Hopefully she'll give us two thumbs up and we'll be able to drive home!

I'm feeling very good and positive about THIS discharge. Comparatively, I think i've always felt a slight unease when we'd get home before, always thinking "when" will we end up back at CHOP instead of "if." But not this time. I mean, i cannot predict the future, but I'm gauging how i feel based on how Henry LOOKS, and a dash of Mom Instinct. Henry looks GOOD. Happy, content and comfortable. I truly believe this nissen surgery is exactly what he needed to begin a nice quality of life for himself, aside from his heart complication, which will need fixing in a few months (let's not talk about that now...).

So for a week, Henry and i will hang out in and around the Ronald McDonald house. Maybe we'll venture out for a few walks around town (there's a consignment shop 5 blocks down and 2 over i've been wanting to check out). Tonight, I spent 2 or so hours 'organizing' things in the room. Henry is on several medications, so i spent some time pre-loading little syringes to the correct dosage. I also prepared formula for his overnight continuous feed (in 2 parts) as well as for tomorrow. I laid all his STUFF out and around, ready at my fingertips. I created a grid with times and meds so i know when to do everything (I no longer trust my mind to memorize everything, even though it still does a pretty good job).


Before today, i was able to go home for two and a half days! I surprised the entire family (Thank you, Shirley, for keeping a secret) and when i walked in the door around 9pm Tuesday evening, the look on all The Guys' faces was priceless, especially Ron's. Sam smiled and said "Mommy!" and Thom yelled and then giggled, all while walking over to me with his arms in the air! It felt SO TOTALLY AWESOME to be greeted with such genuine love and warmth. Ron happened to have Wednesday and Thursday off, and it would be an understatement to say that we had an amazing time together. We managed to get in a 1:1 lunch at Woodhouse together as well as an hour of playing TENNIS! That was probably the most fun. We are very equal to one another, which made it even more fun and challenging. Ron's good at getting me with the short shots and I aced him a couple times with my signature serve. Good stuff.

Sam was so very attuned to my being home and precisely HOW MUCH time he had with his Mommy. I kept reminding him that i would be back home within a week, but that didn't stop him from trying to [lovingly] monopolize my time, which i happily obliged, especially today, when i was trying to get on the road at a decent time. When i woke up around 7:45, i was thinking i would aim for 10am. That easily turned into 12, and in the end, that worked out fine. Sam was trying to squeeze EVERYTHING big into Stuff To Do with me, including tennis lessons (the rackets and balls were still out), reading books (a lot of them), sidewalk chalk drawings and playing fetch with Beegsley (who still stinks a bit like he flirted with a skunk - ugh), among other little things.

All the members of my immediate family, in these past three days (including Dad ("Pop-Pop") and Shirley ("Nanny")), have really highlighted what it means to be HAPPY, especially my husband Ronald, who I think truly loves me unconditionally. He makes it all just plain EASY. :-)