Carolina in my mind



Carolina in Toler's mind

With Toler's departure from the NICU imminent, Mom and Dad have been preparing for the transition back home to Charlotte.  Mom has been making lists of items we need, ensuring we have our home set up appropriately (as we did not purchase one item for Toler prior to our departure), and packing up all of the wonderful gifts and items we've acquired for Toler during our seven weeks in Colorado.  Dad has been working to secure transportation from the hospital to home.  Toler, of course, has done his part by passing his car seat test and continuing to eat from a bottle.

Grandpa and Grandma Smith got to see and hold Toler again today to tell him how much he is loved.  Grandma Smith helped to cheer on a tired Toler during his afternoon feed, while Grandpa Smith did a great job of holding Toler and ensuring he had his paci to suck on (as seen above).  Grandpa (with the help of Grandma) also beat Dad in a best of three series of hotly contested Scrabble, Toler's favorite word is wahhhhhh...

As our departure date nears, we will continue to keep everyone abreast of our travels and safe arrival home.  Dad's suspicion is that the quiet evenings for blogging and winding down will be replaced with some odd hours of care for Toler as we adjust to finally taking our newborn home with us.  In the meantime, Dad was successful in taking video from his phone of Toler during one of his nightly weigh-ins.  This gives a great view of our little guy and his growing personality as he is set free from his wires and tubes just before the great journey home.

Love,
Steve, Emily, and our Wiggle Worm Toler

Right around the corner

I get to go home soon?!?

Well, we were told that we'd be heading home soon and today our nurses said that Toler has been progressing so well that he is close to showing that he is no longer in need of NICU care.  If Toler continues to take all of his feeds from a bottle, he will have passed the final milestone and will be able to come home early next week!

Our next hurdle will be to actually get home.  The good news is that Toler has been off of oxygen support for many weeks and hasn't shown any signs of needing it to travel. We've consulted with multiple doctors, all agree that we can safely travel via commercial airliner.  Our request to be transported via medial airlift from Denver to Charlotte was shot down primarily because of the 5 figure bill, but also because he has been receiving the best possible care and would not have a medical need to be transported.

Germs, yes they are out there.  However, there is not a concern with airborne germs, rather with what can be touched.  Luckily for us, Toler's wingspan isn't very long and he will either be in his car seat or strapped to one of us, not allowing him to touch anything or anybody.  We were also given pointers on how to keep friendly strangers at bay and both Mama bear and Papa bear will be ready to show their teeth if necessary.

Toler will get his car seat test tonight, which means he will sit in the car seat for over two hours (statistically exhaustive window) to ensure he can tolerate it without any concerns.  By the time you read this, Toler will have already completed this little test. 

All that travel talk was brought on by our good luck charms Grandpa and Grandma Smith.  Today they both got to hold and love on Toler and we took several pictures to prove it!

Both Grandma and Grandpa were thrilled to hold their first grandchild today as you can see!  Toler was on his best behavior for them to show his love back.

Grandma, Grandpa and Toler

Smiths

With all the excitement from today's news, we also realized some other good news, our preemie is growing!  Toler is now taking close to 70 cc's, or just under 2 1/2 oz. every 3-4 hours.  He is now over 18" long and just under 5 lbs. 9 oz.  With this very positive growth, both Mom and Dad were shocked that our son, who is still over 4 weeks away from his original due date, is close to outgrowing one of his outfits.  Dad told Mom that preemie clothes had a shelf life, we just didn't realize some wouldn't make it off the shelf!  So Mom was sure to put Toler in one of her favorites today (compliments of Grandma Glenda) since we know he'll soon be onto bigger and better clothes.

You better check yourself before you wreck yourself...

Love,
Steve, Emily and Denver's finest export Toler