THEY'RE (coming) HOME!! (2/19/2006)

**Sunday, February 19, 2006**

When the babies were born, all 3 of them were taken to the NICU where they spent the first 9 days of life (due to being preemies). They were THE longest & hardest 9 days of our lives! They were so well taken care of by the NICU staff and we got to go see them as much as we liked, but-- we didn't have them with us and couldn't take care of them ourselves, which was disheartening, although we knew this is where they needed to be. I was discharged from the hospital on February 14th (Valentines Day) without my babies... it was literally a heartbreaking day for me! Following my discharge, I made sure to get up to the hospital at least 2x a day to take part in feedings, sit & hold my babies, just sit and watch them, and care for them as much as I could. We got word on Friday, Feb. 17 that Juliana, the smallest of the 3, was ready to go home ... and the other two would probably be ready to come home in the beginning of the week. Excited as can be, we went to the hospital on Feb. 18 to get her and were told, we had to make a decision... we could take her that day or come back (tomorrow) on Sunday and take all 3 of them home together. After discussing it, we decided to wait 1 more day and take them all home at 1 time... we thought-- they came into the World together, spent the 1st 9 days of life together, and would come home for the 1st time together. So....

On Sunday, February 19, we hurried to the hospital to pick up our babies!!! The nurses (sharing in our excitement and joy) had all of their stuff packed up and had them in their "going home" outfits! The "preemie" outfits were huge on them, but they looked adorable! So, we said our good-byes, loaded everyone & everything up, and we were ready to go! It was an odd, yet awesome feeling to be driving home with 3 babies with us. We arrived home to find Angelia (& "Memom" -- Brandi's mom) very anxiously awaiting our arrival! We brought all of the babies in and Angelia checked all 3 of them over... being very interested and excited ... it was her 1st time seeing them! She made sure to give all of them kisses and made sure to keep a close eye on her baby brother & sisters... it was so cute!

What a wonderful day this was... we finally had all 4 of our babies at home for us to take care of, hold, etc. It was yet another day we will hold dear forever... :)