Cameron Coming Home

I will never, ever, ever forget the day we brought Cameron home.  Before a preemie can come home, they have to meet certain criteria.  In Cameron’s case, he had to be able to take all of his feedings by bottle without any issues, had to be able to maintain his own body temperature and be able to pass a car seat test (no issues with breathing).  Cam passed his car seat test with flying colors.  He slept the entire time.  After 38 long days, we got to take him home.

I was so excited to take Cameron home.  I finally got to be that proud glowing mom walking out of the hospital with her baby.  What a great feeling.  Cam had accrued a lot of stuff during his NICU stay.  I felt like we were moving out of the hospital.  I was glad to walk out of those NICU doors for the last time.

We got Cam in the car and drove away.  He was finally all ours.  I sat in the back seat while Andy drove.  I couldn’t stop staring.  He was beautiful. I was partly afraid he would stop breathing but he didn’t.  He did as most do and slept the whole way home.  When we got home, the first thing Andy did was take a nap with him.  It was so nice to be home.

Cameron was a great baby!  He was already set on his every 3 hours schedule, so we followed his lead.  Andy and I worked out a schedule so that the two of us got a solid 6 hours sleep every night.  We were pros.

Our baby shower was scheduled the week I went into labor.  So, we didn’t have one.  We had a coming home party for Cameron not long after he came home.  It was wonderful.  4 days after Cam came home, we had our newborn pics of him done.  They turned out beautifully.

He slept in a bassinet in our room until he was about 3 months old.  After that, he went into his crib that was right across the hall. 

The biggest challenge we’ve had to overcome in the past 17 months was getting him caught up developmentally.  We worked with him every single day and followed the guide lines and suggestions from the therapist.  By the time he had his 14 month follow up, he was completely caught up and advanced in his language skills.