Luke, Day 4

Geno & I came home from the hospital last night, which was bittersweet. Nice to be out of our hospital room and back in our house. Even nicer to have Noah & Max back at home with us. We missed them. It's been an adjustment for them with us being gone but they were content being spoiled by grandma and grandpa.
It was really hard for us to leave the hospital last night without Luke. Knowing we would be back at home and not right upstairs in our hospital room was difficult to swallow. The hardest part for me was that I still had to do the typical discharge where they wheel you out in a wheelchair to your car. With no Luke swaddled and held in my lap and and an empty car seat on the ride home, it was tough. We were sad.
But the night turned up when we called to check in with our NICU nurse before bed. She said Luke was doing well. They were able to turn down the CPAP machine some and he was maintaining his sats. He was sleeping soundly and when they did his care he opened his eyes briefly. Geno and I haven't gotten to see him with his eyes open yet. I have no idea what color they are. He hasn't opened his eyes partly because he has been sedated and partly because the CPAP has caused them to swell shut. So we were excited he opened his eyes last night, if only for a moment.
Today was a good day too. He was down on his CPAP machine from 38 percent yesterday to 30 percent today. A big step down. His NICU Dr last night commented to the nurse that he is {hopefully} starting to turn that corner.
Again, we just have to be patient that it takes time, but any step in progress is a big step to us.
His blood gases still need improvement and he is starting to become jaundiced. But this is pretty par for course. He may need some bili lights in the next days depending on his levels.
We took the boys to see Luke briefly this morning. Max was crazy, as expected, running around every where. Noah was sweet. He sat next to him and instinctively reached out, touched his hair and rubbed his arm. He said, "Hi baby Luke, it's me Noah. When you get a little bit bigger, you get to come home with me." When he left he told him he will miss him. I stayed at the hospital for the day and Geno took the boys home to spend some much needed quality time with them. And they loved it. Lots of forts, tents, and leggos. Luke slept the entire day. His auntie came up for the afternoon and kept us company.
He had a mellow, uneventful day and that was a good thing.
After the boys go to bed tonight Geno and I are heading back up to spend some more time with him.
We'll see if Luke is a little more of a night owl.
{Again, thank you for all your thoughts and well wishes for Luke.}