#169 Discharge

Last Wednesday (March 18), Mia was discharged from Blank Children's Hospital. The Hofman family is finally home! We are so grateful for God's love and faithfulness to us over the past month and a half. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us. Mia spent 41 days in the NICU. This was an incredibly difficult and stressful time for us, an experience that I'm sure Tess and I will never forget. But, praise God, Mia was really a champ the whole time. She didn't have many setbacks and had no real serious concerns. Learning to eat took a few weeks, but little by little, bit by bit she gained weight and strength. Finally everything clicked for Mia early last week.

After weeks and weeks of NICU life, packing up our belongings at the hospital and the Ronald McDonald House and loading them into our van was bizarre. After one last bottle in the hospital, Mia got her sensors removed. We strapped her into her carseat, and then things started to feel very surreal. I carried Mia out of her room and out of the NICU. After I drove the van up, Tess carried Mia out of the hospital. We were free!

Look, Mom: No wires! 

Ready to go home!

While it took Mia nearly six weeks to make it home from the hospital, we still weren't expecting her to be here yet. We will need to watch her pretty closely for a little while to make sure she continues to gain weight. And after having nurses caring for Mia for so long, we're still adjusting to sleeping in the same room as Mia and getting up with her in the middle of the night. But we are so happy to be home. We are beyond excited to have Lanie back with us again. And we are so, so grateful that Mia is healthy. Our NICU adventure is done. Now it's on the next one.

Mommy happy to be home with her girls

Grace and peace,
BMH