10/30 Home!! :)
In support of
The Lange Family
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The Lange Family
Adjusted age: 8 weeks, 3 days
Day of life: 172
Beckett: 10lb, 4oz
Juliette: 11lb, 11oz
After 172 days in the NICU, we are finally home!
Beckett is going home on oxygen and an NG tube for bottles he doesn’t finish. We’re hoping he just needs to build up some stamina in order to take full bottles consistently. His hernia surgery is scheduled for January, but if his eyes aren’t fully healed by then, we may try to push the date back. He will be followed up by the same doctor as Juliette, plus several specialists. They try to schedule as many appointments on the same day and coordinate with Juliette’s appointments too so that we aren’t constantly driving back and forth to Iowa City
This has been the hardest experience of Dan and I’s life so far. From the fear of going into extremely early labor and not knowing what the outcome would be to leaving the hospital day after day without our babies, we wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone. We had to learn to sit in the unknown of our kids’ short and long term health outcomes, haven’t lived in our house for almost 6 months, and attempted to work in an ICU setting while staying involved in our babies’ care. These 172 days have been really difficult.
And yet.
We have experienced an overwhelming outpouring of love and support. I have always been a firm believer in showing up for people and creating a village and while it can be hard to ask for and accept help, we really tried to be vulnerable and let our village help take care of us. We have had people provide donations and gas money, cook us food, drop off snacks and gifts, send encouraging messages with no expectation of response, mow our lawn, return our packages, generously provide breast milk to help feed our daughter, and countless other things that have made this difficult experience feel less heavy.
Going through this has fundamentally changed us and one of the biggest impacts has been our appreciation for showing up. We are forever grateful for everyone that showed up for us. While it feels like our communities have never been more divided, witnessing people show up with kindness and generosity has been healing. When all else fails, be there for each other.
This will be the last update from our end, but we appreciate everyone who read these and supported us through this. If you’re looking for us, we will be at home as a family.
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