This article is a continuation from Premature Patience – Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

Lori and I both woke up early yesterday morning. The doctor confirmed for us the day before that the Necrotizing Enterocolitis was probably not going to reoccur. She said the only stumbling block to bringing Caitlin home was gaining weight. As long as she went back in the positive direction, then we could take her home.

Lori called the NICU to see if Caitlin gained weight, and whether or not the doctor made a decision about her coming home. The nurse said Caitlin did gain back what she lost the day before; however, the doctor was in the middle of rounds and had not made a decision yet.

In order to kill some time, I checked e-mail and messed around on Twitter. Lori got dressed and ready to go. It’s amazing how slowly time moves when you’re watching the clock.

Finally, shortly after 10:00 a.m., Lori came walking downstairs with a disappointed look on her face. She came into my office and sat on my lap. Then, she looked up at me and smiled, “Our little Caitlin is coming home!!!”

Hooray! Woot! Woot! Man, what a relief!

Caitlin is a fighter, and I am so proud of her. I couldn’t wait to go get her. It had been 23 days since she was born, and we had been confined to an 6′ x 8′ area in the NICU for that entire time. I was looking forward to seeing her without all the wires connected. I wanted to walk around freely with her, like normal people do with their healthy babies.

Caitlin had overcome a major infection in her intestines, as well as a cascade of other problems associated with it. She had experienced things in her first three weeks of life that I wouldn’t wish on my least favorite person in the world. She drove me and Lori both to tears on many occasions, but yet she always remained strong. Her little body did an amazing thing – it healed.

Here’s a brief photo montage chronicling some of the experiences we had over the past 23 days:

Over the course of this time, I was surprised and humbled by the tremendous support and outreach our family and friends provided. Caitlin had thousands of people praying for her, or sending positive thoughts and well wishes; and, we can’t thank all of you enough for your kindness and consideration.

Some say they don’t believe in the power of positive thinking, or the power of prayer. I say that those people have probably never had to go through an experience like this. Each one of you helped to bring Caitlin home with every thought, prayer, card, phone call, e-mail, Twitter message or post comment.

I hope that you will all join me one more time in sending baby Caitlin a positive message:

Welcome Home Caitlin!!!

Thank you all very much. I’ll be sure to give you an update on how Miss Caitlin is doing shortly. Between her, Ty and Chani, I should have lots of great stuff to share this summer!

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