What a great day!
Actually... it was a crazy day!
First we were going home, then we weren't and then we were and then I had to have surgery and then it could wait and then we didn't know what was happening (and Mum cried) and then, they let me come home!
For a week.
I had to go back to hospital for a hernia operation... But, I was home!
They made us sleep together in a family room for a couple of days there. It was a chance for us to get ready to be alone.
Mum and Dad walked me down the corridors, for the very first time.
We left the hospital, together... a family.
It was pretty amazing! They strapped me in to my new car seat, and we were off.
Commonly played radio songs at the time were Tell the World I'm Coming Home and Been a Long Time (Wes Carr).
It had Been a Long Time and I was finally Coming Home!
Everyone was exhausted, but we had a little Welcome Home party.
Mum found my hernia two days before I was being sent home for the first time. This was a right inguinal hernia and needed to be operated on. This is usually a standard day surgical procedure, but they kept me in hospital...just in case. My alarms monitored constantly and the nurses were worried so they sent me to the ICU. I came home the next day.
A midwife came to see us. She told Mum she should join a Mother's Group. She said it would be good for the OTHER mothers. She said it would be good for them to 'see how easy they had it', compared to me. She knew I was a premature birth baby, and that I had been in hospital for four months. She knew I was on a breathing monitor, had brain damage and an (undiagnosed) vision impairment... And, she asked Mum whether she had any concerns over my health.
At six months old, I went back to hospital for my immunisations. Because I had stopped breathing when I got my earlier ones, I stayed overnight as a safety precaution. This time, I was bigger and stronger. I didn't stop breathing and was sent home.
At seven months old, we went to visit my grandparents on the Far North Coast. I had my very first ocean swim, at Yamba.
I still couldn't handle milk. I had terrible reflux and would throw everything up. Mum would feed me and then sit very still with me, for over an hour, before moving to put me back to bed. It never worked. I was still sick.
Even now, I don't like milk. It still makes me sick, so I drink lactose free milk.
Once Mum and Dad introduced me to mashed and pureed solids, I started to really eat. For the first time, I was a good eater, and I really started to grow.
I still got sick a lot, so when I was two, Mum took me for bowen massage therapy. My reflux seemed to stop instantly! We're not sure whether it was the massage, or that I had finally outgrown the reflux.
**We always look for a silver lining. We'll always find a way.
#nevergiveup #nolimits
When Wheelchair Stops Being a Dirty Word
About the Sisters
Kangaroo Cuddles
Premmie Day – Dexter’s First Month
My Birth
Dexter Doll
When I Was Tiny
Dexter Hit 3 Months Old
Dexter’s Earliest Days
My Prematurity
Dexter's 2013
Dexter's Vision
Dexter's Cerebral Palsy
Dexter's Cancer
Who is Dexter?
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