She's Home - Finally!

I can't remember what I have already written, but Isabelle was discharged and came home on Tuesday! It has been great to have her home, although Eli's still trying to get used to her. We have lots of follow-up appointments scheduled with neurology and physical therapy to continue to monitor her and make sure she is doing what she is supposed to be doing. The unexpected news is that Thursday I took her to her pediatrician a regular appointment and he heard a heart murmur that he was concerned about. He got us an apt. with cardiology the next day and we found out that she has a hole in her heart. What this means as far as treatment goes, we're still waiting to see. There is a possibility that the heart will heal itself, although because of the size and location of the hole, the cardiologist didn't think this would happen. Sometimes children with this heart problem are able to treat it with just medication and sometimes it requires open heart surgery, to go in and put a patch on her heart where the hole is. We're not sure yet what Isabelle will need, the Dr. said that we will need to wait and closely monitor her the next 6-8 weeks to get a better idea of what we will need to do to treat her.

She is such a sweet little baby, loves to cuddle, barely cries and smiles a ton and sleeps so well. We just hope that all of these health problems will be resolved soon so she can just go back to being a little baby and not have to continue to be poked and prodded. Here are some more pictures of our last few days in the NICU and her first few days at home.

Isaac's mom, Virginia, and Isabelle. She has been a huge help the last few weeks, taking care of Eli almost daily so that we could go back and forth to the hospital. It was so nice to know Eli was with people he knew and was well taken care of.

My Aunt Deedee flew down to help for a few days and it was so great to have her here. She watched Eli and spent hours at the hosp. with me and Ellie. Isaac said she is at the top of his "cool list", which (according to him) is apparently a very coveted position. It was so nice to have an extra set of hands.
The last day with the head IV.
Eli enjoying some quality time with dad. Isaac took Eli to the Children's Museum, one of Eli's favorite play places.

Eli meeting Ellie for the first time. So far he hasn't paid her too much attention and he's trying to figure out where she fits into our family. It has been a rough transition for him, having us gone so much and having so many Dr. visits to always take her too, we've missed spending time with him. It's been harder to find the balance of taking care of 2 kids, with 1 of them so sick all the time.
Despite all the Dr's poking her and health problems, she is such a happy baby and always smiling.