June 21st - Welcome Home Wyatt

After 17 long long days, Wyatt finally gets to come home!! Overall, Wyatt spent 11 days in the NICU, then 6 more days in the Medium Care Nursery (similar to Zach's Extended Care Nursery). I spent the first 10 days at the hospital to be with Wyatt - 5 days in the regular hospital part, sharing my room w/ two other new moms and their sons, then 5 days in a dorm-like apartment provided, free of charge, by the hospital. I came home for good on Saturday, June 14th, the same day that Zach's Oma and Opa (or Ba-Pa as Zach calls him) had to leave to go back to Holland. During my 10 days at the hospital, Art's parents were at our apartment doing an amazing job getting the place exceptionally clean, cooking all the meals, and taking great care of Art and Zachary. While I was at the dorm/apartment, I came home once a day to spend time with Zachary, Art, and his parents. There was always a meal ready for me, and I was taken care of completely. It was wonderful to not have to worry about anything going on at home, and be able to concentrate on Wyatt.

We were told on Friday, June 20th that it looked good for Wyatt to come home on Saturday the 21st. I, of course, was nervous all night (barely sleeping), and the next day until we actually got him home. Saturday was Art's Dad's birthday, and Art's parents and sister came to Dusseldorf for the day, with the hopes of getting to meet Wyatt. We all, plus Zach, went out to eat at a German restaurant that we had gone to before w/ the Dutch clan. It was a beautiful day and we were able to sit in the Bier Garten. The doctor had told us we could come by the hospital around 2-3pm to get Wyatt (after I had asked if 8am would be ok), so Art and I took off for the hospital around 2:15 while the rest of the clan went to the park with Zach. Once at the hospital, we waited and waited and waited. Finally "Dr. Toby" (who checked Zach out and gave him a surgical mask when he first visited Wyatt in the NICU) came by and spoke to us, examined Wyatt, and FINALLY gave us all our paperwork and permission to leave. He apologized for being late saying that the NICU was getting full, and with several quite critical babies - it breaks my heart! We were told to come back on Monday for a weight check and to get his hearing test done.

Art, though reluctant, agreed to take a taxi home, and 10 short minutes later we were introducing Wyatt Carsten Counts to his home. Zach of course INSISTED that Wyatt go directly into the baby swing - the same swing he has been pointing to for weeks. Once firmly enconsed in the swing, Zach set about getting a pacifier ready for Wyatt. Then W woke up which made it picture time. Oma, Opa, and Tante Ja Ja (Janneke) all took turns holding Wyatt and taking pictures. Zach got to hold him for a bit as well. Unfortunately, it was pretty late by the time we got home, so the family had to get back on the road to Utrecht, so it was a brief meeting. Janneke will be back in about a week with Annemieke and will get more time with us then. Sadly, Oma and Opa (whom I now think of as Ba-Pa) were heading back to USA on Tuesday.

We were left on our own after that, and it was indeed a surreal feeling - having Wyatt home hardly seemed real...until about 11pm when he did not want to go to sleep. :)

It is wonderful to have him home! Now we have the task of figuring each other out and setting routines and getting into a rhythm with Zach and the rest of the family. Art will spend the week going into work in the morning, and coming home at lunchtime. This will help ease the transition.

Some pictures of Wyatt's homecoming.