Sunday morning I walked into the hospital nursery and the nurses had big smiles on their faces. Turns out that our doctor gave the OK for Wes to come home with us on Monday. It took all morning to get things in order. He had to pass a car seat test, where they make sure he can sit in the seat for 90 minutes without his oxygen saturation level dropping too much. He actually failed the first test, but on the second test they hooked him up to oxygen and he passed. We also had to wait for home medical services to bring over some portable oxygen and a sleep apnea monitor to take home with us. We only have to leave him hooked up to the oxygen and monitor when he’s asleep in his crib, and sometimes he needs the oxygen when he’s eating because I think he forgets to inhale occasionally.

So Monday afternoon we finally got him home. All the nurses were so sad to see him go. One nurse who was off-duty even came in especially to say good-bye to him. They made us promise to send them pictures and email updates when we can.

Once we got him home it was like, now what? We have a baby at home…what do we do with him?

He seems to be a fairly low-key kid to take care of so far. He doesn’t cry a lot. In fact, the first night I didn’t hear him cry at all to wake me up to go feed him. John had to nudge me awake when he heard Wesley making noises (but not crying) through the monitor.

Today we took him in for his 2-week checkup. He’s gained a little weight. When he left the hospital on Monday he weighed 4 lbs 2 oz. Today (with his diaper on) he was 4 lb 5 oz. The doctor wants us to take him back next Wednesday for another checkup, and we need to schedule an appointment with a cardiologist to look at Wesley’s heart. It’s very common for babies with Downs syndrome to have heart problems. So far, at least, his heart appears to be in fine condition. But the visit with the cardiologist is just to make sure there’s nothing the doctor missed.