The PICU

 I was there every day or night with the exception of 3 days. And those were the hardest 3 days to be away from him. My other 2 children had colds and i had no sitter for them, plus my husband was at work. And to top all that off we only have one car, and my folks had gone back to WA. Mentally knowing that i knew there was nothing i could do, but emotionally i felt like i was letting raiden down for not being there with him. All our nurses understood our situation and were very helpful, except for one. She was a new nurse that over saw him for that 3 day period and called me asking when i was going to be there to see him. I explained that i couldnt make it in and she said i needed to be there because of the baby. Duh i had to be there but if my other kids couldnt be watched and were sick what was i to do. My family flew down to stay as long as they could and went back home. I had no one else to help out. I talked to the social worker about what happened with the nurse and let her know our situation. Last thing i needed was CPS being called on me because i wasnt there. She understood and helped out with parking passes. (not that it was the problem) Thank goodness that i had told them i was pumping and planned on nursing, i was able to receive free vouchers for breakfast lunch and dinner while i was visiting with him. He was rarely awake and when he was he was just so perfect.
Everyday was a mile stone for him. They were worried about him being able to breath on his own, and he was able to. They worried about him not being able to eat from a bottle well due to the tube that was put down his throat, and as soon as the took the feeding tube out he was eating the normal amount of milk for his age. He just kept surprising them. It got to the point where i think they were expecting him to do really bad and he just kept proving them wrong. Then on the 13th of november we did our 2day overnight in the PICU. He wasnt hooked up to anything and we took care of him with very little help from the nurses. And then it happened.. on november 16th 2010, Raiden was able to go home with us!!!