I'm Coming Home!!!

  Finally.....one month and one day after Lily was born, she was discharged from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  I found a few photos that were taken around that time:

  Here is Lily in mid-March 2006 a week and a half before she was discharged from the hospital.  They finally got her out of her bed and allowed her to sit in a baby swing for a few hours a day which she loved!  You can see from the expression on her face in these photos, that she was still on a bit of pain medication at the time.

The next photos are from her first day at home, March 26, 2006

Uncle Ben (my brother) holding Lily

   One of the main questions Jeremy and I are always asked is, "How do you do it?"  I remember feeling so relieved that we were finally coming home and I could be a "normal" mom.  But, I also remember being so petrified that something was going to happen to her. 
  In answering the question, "How do we do it?", I simply say "We just do!"  And if it was your child, you would do the same thing.  If we don't stand up, protect our children the best we can, and be strong when they cannot, then no one else ever will.  I have met so many amazing "heart families" through this journey.  And not a single one of them ever thought they would be on this roller coaster of a journey that we call our lives.  But I also believe that many of us would never want to change it.  Our kids may not have a whole heart or a perfect heart, but they are perfect in our eyes :)