Free at last, Free at last!!!!!!!!!

Yes folks, you read it right, we are HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our maternal-fetal medicine doctor told me this morning that she was toying with the idea of sending me home and I pretty much looked at her blankly, partly in shock, partly in disbelief. They had told me day in and day out that I wasn't going anywhere, so this came as quite the surprise. She said she thought since I was stably-unstable, they can monitor me from home and through close follow up. I didn't really get my hopes up but called and woke Matt and told him the potential news, I'm not sure he believed it either. I didn't hear anything for most of the day and the OBGYN had already visited me by the time Betina (Dr Paek) had told me her thoughts. She said she'd consult with OBGYN to see if they had any objections and get back to me.

I had a decent day planned, my waxing gal oh so kindly made a hospital call and I was looking forward to a visit from Randi and Landon, who ended up surprising me and bringing baby Chase, who I scooped up and cuddled the entire visit.

Near the end of chatting with Randi, Dr Wells, the on call for OBGYN came in and said I was free. I hadn't heard anything prior that was in any way official so I pretty much freaked and danced around with Chase-man cuddling on my shoulder and squealed a bit with Randi. It was awesome to share such a happy and unexpected moment with her and the boys, and Matt of course.

I don't think Dr. Wells had finished her sentence before Matt was packing the room like a mad man. I thought we had done decently trying not to accumulate too much, but 16 days in a hospital, you accumulate a lot of crap. We took 2 trips to the truck with the cart overflowing with clothes, gifts, flat screen tv, xbox, you name it, we had it. Within 30 minutes of hearing from Dr Wells that we were good to go, we had the room packed and were heading out to freedom!

It still seems a bit surreal that I've spend the last 16 days away from home and stuck in the hospital. To our AMAZING and INCREDIBLE friends and family, WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS AND SURVIVED WITHOUT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The food, the visits, the cards, the phone calls and text messages, it kept Matt and I both going and we feel so loved and so lucky to be bringing our baby girl into such an amazing family.

I'm excited to be home and get to working on projects like unpacking, restocking our poor fridge, doing baby and my own laundry, and normal activities. I'm NOT on bedrest, I am still not allowed to go to the gym but I can run errands and go places like I normally would with the understanding that I'm not to run a marathon..... Follow-up will be very closely monitored, I get labs done tomorrow, a baby non stress test (aka NST, me sitting still for 45 minutes while they monitor baby) and a visit with Dr. Shumate on Friday, and Monday I'll have an appointment with maternal-fetal medicine for a BPP (the ultrasound). I don't know if I'm doing weekly labs or every few days but I'll find out on Friday. I'm excited that I didn't cancel our room at our favorite pub for our baby shower since I now actually get to attend. The shower is Sunday and we're excited!!! Getting back to normal will be great for Matt, myself, and the nameless baby. Matt heads back to work tomorrow.

With this new news, we won't be delivering baby early UNLESS something goes crazy between now and October-ish. Since she's been so stable and they'd like to avoid NICU time (us too), I think they'll let her bake until 36 or 37 weeks. Since she has the varicosity in her cord, they won't let her go past 38 and I dont think they'll let me go that long anyways, so delivery is TBD. We might not have a libra afterall, but maybe we'll get lucky and get to deliver her on 10-18 so Matt, myself, and the baby can all share birthdays on an 18th, which I think would be cool.

Back to normal life we go, and we couldn't be happier!

Thank you all for your well wishes and support!
We love you,
Matt, Rachel, and the nameless wonder