H-O-M-E

Nine-five days ago on Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 3:30 am Stacy went into pre-term labor with a baby boy we would later know as Finn. Ten very important days later on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 after delaying the birth to infuse lung growing steroids and allow for more growth, Finn was born. After 85 more days spent between the NICU and the ICC and two surgeries later, the first chapter of Finn's journey came to end as he came home today!



Finn was discharged at 1:45 pm this afternoon. It felt like we were breaking him out but they willingly and happily handed him over. At the time of discharge, he had tripled his one pound 15 ounce birth weight and now weighs five pounds 12 ounces; he is also 18 inches long.

When we first made the rushed drive to North Memorial Hospital terrified of what the future held, this is a day for which we didn't even dare hope. Now that it is here it feels like a dream. We are happy, nervous, scared, awed and thankful all at the same time. Finn is on a home monitor for his apnea spells and still has a lot of challenges in front of him; but as he and we have done thus far we'll tackle and hopefully conquer them one day and one situation at a time.

Shortly I'm going to go downstairs and spend some time with my son - being able to say that sentence is a miracle; but before I do, I want to say thank everyone who has helped us along the way. We literally couldn't have done this without you. The nurses, doctors and other caregivers and staff at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Childrens Hospital have been terrific - saying thank you seems like too little but it is all I can offer in this forum - we will be forever grateful for what you have done for us. We are also extremely thankful for the family, friends and strangers who have visited, sent gifts, prayed, followed this blog and offered support.

Finally, we will be spending the weekend here by ourselves with just Finn. He needs time to acclimate to his new environment and we need time to adjust to him. While we can't wait to see you all and for all of you to see Finn at home, we respectfully ask for no visitors from now through Sunday. I will be off next week on a short paternity leave; if you would like to visit please call me and arrange a time to stop beginning Monday March 30th.

Again thank you so much to everyone and we will of course continue to keep you all updated on the continued progress.