picture heavy post

Wow. What a busy day yesterday. I was SO exhausted when I got home last night. Travis and I came home about 11:30 last night. Jay took the night shift with him and gave me a break. He got to New Hanover about 5:30ish yesterday. For those of you that live here...the Duke team chose to go straight down college road to shipyard to the hospital. We came off I-40 about 5:10, on a Friday. What's that tell ya? Traffic traffic traffic.

We had our own little welcoming committee too. Mom, dad, Jay and Travis were waiting on the side of the highway when we came along. They were waving as we drove by. I cried when I saw them. I cried a lot yesterday actually. When we pulled out of Duke....When I saw the first sign on the interstate that mentioned Wilmington....When I found out at rest stop that he had been peacefully sleeping through the bumpy ride...When I saw the family on the side of the road...When I-40 ran out and we were in Wilmington...When they unloaded him...it was never ending! I told my mom, as happy as I was yesterday, when he was just going from one hospital to another for a month, i cannot even imagine the joy I will feel when he truly comes HOME.

But he made the trip just fine and when he was unloaded from the ambulance at New Hanover, he just looked bewildered all snugged up in his box. The lady you'll see in the pictures that is the older of the two, with the white hair, she came on the helicopter to get him when he went to duke. She recognized his name when the call came to them yesterday for transport and chose to take him. So sweet.

He got all settled into his new room fairly quickly, and it's the room right next door to the one he was in when he was born, I thought that was cool. They did all their assessing of him, and got him hooked up to their monitors and weighed and measured and all and then he was all ours. Travis and Jay got a quick little bit of snuggle time in with him before heading out to go to Fall Festival (Travis was a ninja like the picture I posted earlier in the week). The NNP on duty was NOT happy about the way Riley's PICC line dressing looked, so they set about to get that changed fairly quickly. His line was actually becoming exposed and that is a major infection risk. Especially since he likes to suck on his fingers. :o) This morning will be lab work and xrays. Yesterdays lab work showed a SLIGHTLY higher "banding" in his blood work, and from what I got out of that is that is immature white blood cells so his body could be gearing up to fight infection OR could be from stress of the vomiting and stuff. Either way, before Dr Logan would accept Riley back to NH, he had to have a blood culture (big needle stick, ouchie), a urine culture (cathed him...double ouch) and a round of antibiotics, just to be proactive since he had the higher banding count and had been vomiting. He'll continue on the antibiotics for 48hours until the culture results are available.

So...hmmm, I THINK that is about all for yesterday. Jay has gone back this morning. We CAN spend the night out there in his room here, and I'm sure that will happen some, but we both felt comfortable not staying last night. We know he's in good hands. Travis and I will go out later. I have to clean out my van first and get some things together to take out there for him, like clean clothes. Got to find out more of what is ok for him to have and all here, since we weren't here very long before, like can he have bouncy seat and whatnot. If so, I gotta wash that cover cause he puked on it the other day.

So here are a few more pictures from yesterday taken with the real cameras, not just my cell phone.

Snug as a bug with his bear when I got to his room early yesterday morning. Then he was disturbed cause I HAD to dress him for Halloween!


Wiggle worm just after getting dressed


I love him on his tummy




His setup there


Forever grateful for these guys


I left his room at Duke while they were getting him setup for transport...hooking him up to the mobile IV pumps and all, because I had 2 BIG bags full of milk, a huge patient belongings bag full of his stuff, my bag loaded down with medical stuff they wanted ME to take (like ostomy stuff) and my camera. I had to get down stairs, and walk across the street to the parking deck, where I forgot where I parked and get out and over to the emergency room to follow them. When I got there I asked the driver who came out to tell me how "fast" he'd be driving (lightweight never went above 72), if I could walk under the garage to take a picture when Riley was wheeled out. he smiled and said sure...I walked up to the ambulance to find THIS:

They were fast! You can just see the top of his little head in the box. Oh and I could have rode with him back on this trip. But of course I had a van LOADED down with stuff I had to bring back.

Yeah...I really have mad camera skillz right?! lol (notice the sign?)


Kind of surreal that my BABY is in that thing! I still feel like I must be dreaming some times.


Jay has mad camera skillz too...this was taken in his mirror of us coming down the highway!


Riley and Mommy making the trip "home"


Time to unload the bebe


Travis was much impressed with the little lift thing they use


There he is! (don't ask whats going on with Travis over there!)


What on EARTH are ya'll doing to me?!


Keeping an eye on his brother


Trip is over


Tired but happy mommy


Choking travis and pumpkin butt


Love :o) (notice that picc line hand in mouth!)


Riley says HEY!



Lots of people commented yesterday that he looks so little in his halloween suit...he IS little still. He is still under 7 pounds. His weight when he got to NH yesterday was 6lbs 13oz. He was 6lbs9oz at birth. Not much weight gain on IV nutrition. He'll be little for his age for a while until all this is over. Then, once he can eat normally, he'll really start to grow they say!


So that should catch us up for now! And several asked if I will be keeping up the blog. Of course!
1) i had the blog before Riley came along
2) his journey isn't over yet with all this. He will be at NH for about the next month until he is ready for his next surgery. Then he will take another ride back up to Duke where they will hopefully be able to reconnect his ostomy, and they will take out any bad intestine that is in there. Scary scary stuff.But it's down the road so trying to not think of that for now.
3) we have family and friends who don't live here and I think they would disown me if I didn't have pictures for them to see and keep up with!

as always, more later!