Though it was much anticipated when the day finally came to bring Ryder home we felt very nervous and unprepared. He was still so little and took so long to grow and progress we thought we were still a few weeks away from him coming home. I got a call from the nurse on Tuesday August 16th telling me that we needed to take some classes to be ready for when he came home. One of the doctors called the next day to tell me that he is checking things off the list to send Ryder home. So Kyle and I frantically took the classes and attempted to be ready. On Friday the 19th we brought Ryder home. We didn't tell the kids in case he didn't come home that day, so they were so surprised when we did. They all fought over him and wanted to hold him and feed him. I had to keep reminding them that we get to keep him.
He came home on oxygen and a heart monitor, so the poor thing was attached to way too many wires.
Ryder had been in the hospital for 7 weeks, (47 days). He came home weighing 4 lbs. 11 oz.
Taryn got to hold Ryder first after Kyle and I stopped fighting over him.
We were shocked with how good Jaren was with Ryder. He was such a good older brother and tried to be so soft.
Sooooo many kisses.
He would get too comfortable to eat when we held him and it would take over an hour, so we learned real quick how to prop the bottle so he would eat in about 15 min.
Next to me Camrie holds Ryder the most. She also loves to feed him and burp him.
At just 4 lbs he was so tiny. But in pictures it is hard to tell how little he was. So I got Dayton's size 6 shoe to show people just how tiny he was.
Only a few people came to visit because we were trying to keep as many germs away as possible, but that does not include Nana Decker or Grandma Jody.
Grandma Jody and Ryder loved to snuggle and take naps together. This happened at least once a day.
Just for fun we put Ryder in Jarens crib. Ryder nor Jaren liked it. They were both crying.
After 2 weeks we were able to take the oxygen off! It was so much easier to hold him and kiss him without the tubes in his nose and stickers holding it in on his face. We still had the monitor just to make sure his breathing was at the right levels.
More nap time with Grandma Jody.
We were trying to teach Jaren how to hold Ryder. It did not go very well. I think Ryder was very nervous and Jaren kept trying to push him away. The rest of us thought it was cute and kind of funny.
Just some random pictures of Ryder. Tying to show how little he was we put him in Kyle's baseball glove. Ryder didn't really like it. Then Jaren decided to join him.
Ready to play catch.
