Day 80

Day 80, we can hardly believe that we have been down here for 80 days, almost 12 weeks.  The day we have finally waited for is here and we get to take lil Walker who is now up to 4lbs. 8.6ozs home.  We can't wait for the little guy to see the sun and feel the wind and breathe the fresh air for the first time in his whole life!  We are excited to show him his room, and his house, and all the land that one day he will be running and playing on.  We are also nervous and anxious about how bringing him home will go, and what the future will hold, can you say mixed emotions!

This morning after a last wonderful service at Admore Baptist, we are so thankful for all the people of this church, we headed to the hospital.  The nurses had a lot of information and things to go over with Mommy and Daddy.  One of the first things they went over was about how to help keep Walker from getting exposed to germs, the nurses said visitors should be limited to immediate family, and that Mommy and Daddy should keep Walker at home and away from big crowds like Wal-mart or church until the pediatrician clears him.  Mommy and Daddy are so ready to show our amazing little boy off, but we have to do what's best for him to make sure he doesn't get sick after such a long stay in the hospital.

Around 1:30 this afternoon and after long goodbyes with some of our favorite nurses and nurse practitioners we packed up all the rest of Walker's outfits and things and Daddy and Papa pulled the car up around front.  It was an amazing feeling getting to walk around and hold Walker with no wires attached!  We got to take his first elevator ride in Mommy's arms, and got to see the sun for the first time.  He did well with his first car ride and slept and smiled most of the ride!

When we got to the house, Walker got to meet Jake who was very calm and interested in seeing what was going on.  Walker did great with his first bottle at home and took the whole thing, he even did a "big job" for Daddy, he is very relaxed at his house!  We got to show Walker his room, he was really looking all around and checking out all his tractors.  We even let him lay in his bed for a few minutes and boy did he look small in that big ole bed!  Walker had a good rest of his night, he ate well and rested some, although he was awake a lot and checking everything at his house out!  He also had a visit from Mimi and Bart, and Mamaw and Papaw who were excited to see how little Walker was doing adjusting to being at home.

Walker ate well at his 6:00 and 9:00 feedings, and we are still checking his temperature every three hours like they did at the hospital to make sure he is able to maintain it.  We are hoping Walker has a good night and even though it might be hard for Mommy and Daddy we are going to try to get some rest in between feeding him every three hours.  Luckily we will have Granny and Papa here to help, we want to make sure we keep a very close eye on the little guy.

We want to say thank you again to everyone that has been so giving and thoughtful to us during this experience.  We have had so many calls, texts, posts, gifts, and thoughtful gestures and we can never say it enough how much it means to us!  Walker definitely one loved and prayed for little guy, his blog has had over 65,000 views so there are a LOT of people keeping up with this little guy.  Now that we are home and taking care of Walker around the clock, we aren't going to have as much time to work on the blog.  We do want to keep everyone that has prayed so hard for our little guy up to date though, so we are going to try to keep doing one post a week, hopefully on Fridays, with lots of pictures so keep on the lookout for those!  Please keep praying for us as we take care of Walker and enjoy having him home with us, we love y'all!

What a difference 80 days has made, he has grown so much!

With "Uncle David and Aunt Gina", two of our favorite nurse practitioners!

Mommy holding him for the first time with no wires!

First elevator ride!

First real sunlight!

All strapped into his car seat bed.

Finally at home in the country!

Love our little family!

First bottle at home!

Showing Walker his room for the first time!

Love this shirt "Strollers are for city babies, I prefer a tractor"!

Walker in his John Deere bed, with his tractor shirt!

Mommy watching him breathing!

Daddy snuggling him after he ate!