Oh how I love traveling and experiencing new places. I can’t ever get enough of that. There how ever comes a time during all my travels where I look forward to coming home. Even during the most exciting trip that seems like it is going way to fast. There is just something about coming home and sleeping in your own bed. I have this crazy travel bug that is always itching to go somewhere. Somewhere that is away from home even if it is just another part of the state or a camping trip that is a 15 minute drive from our driveway.
This most recent time away in Billings was not at all what I would have had in mind for a break from home and the everyday. You have all most likely read my recent posts on Elijah coming early, his struggles and improvements, my emotional state and everything in between. Well, we are finally home. We longed to come home many times over the previous two and a half weeks. Sometimes it felt like it was never going to come. The first week we were in Billings, we saw Elijah have progress almost every single day and the excitement to come home kept building. We never realized that the hardest part would be waiting for him to get his strength back up for nursing. Somedays it felt as though there was no progress. However, those days weren’t a step back either. It was just hard not knowing when he would get his strength. The doctor and nurses couldn’t even give us an estimate. This was the hardest part of it all. Waiting…
Brent and I looked at everything that we do back home on a day to day basis. Wow! We do almost too much. We realized that even though our newborn son, our first child, was in the NICU this was a hidden blessing. We got a break from the everyday. There was nothing we could do in Billings. It’s not like we went and did touristy things or hang out with friends constantly. We were forced to take a break. A much needed break. Brent and I spent our days next to Elijah while he was in the isolette and when he was in the crib. Brent’s and my love for each other just kept getting stronger. We loved the time we had together. We thought we were done with this much exclusive time together before Elijah came. We were wrong. It was good though and we were happy to have it.
Now we are home. Brent went back to work on Wednesday and I stayed home by myself with Elijah. This wasn’t suppose to happen like this either. Brent was suppose to be home for about 2 weeks with me while we tried to get a system figured out with our new little man. Those 2 weeks were used up in Billings, so I was on my own. I was slightly nervous, but more so because of Flynn. He had been really excited when we came home. I didn’t know if he would calm down and how I would keep him away from Elijah. Well, it went great. Flynn listened to me. I have been keeping to the NICU schedule give or take 15-30 minutes. It has helped a lot. I am not overwhelmed nor do I feel like I have no clue what I am doing. Those nurses sure did give us a crash course on taking care of newborn and it sure has helped. I don’t know if they realize how much help they were. They randomly shared information and ways to care for him. There are definitely several hidden blessings in this whole situation. We even were sad to say goodbye to all those ladies that we spent so much time with and who cared for our little man.
Home… A place we love being. A place that we can sometimes take for granted. A place that we are raising a family. A place to ourselves. A place that we are grateful to have. Home… A place where we are finally at!
