Floating on air

Arabella looks like she's running or flying sometimes. Her hands and feet just go, go, go.

She's absolutely loving her new world 💜

We should see her thrive and soar now that she's out of the hospital. They say that NICU babies really start to flourish once they're home, and that's an exciting thought.

It feels like she's blossomed so much during the last month. I can't imagine her doing even better here at home. Bella might eventually turn into a super-baby!

She's developing so wonderfully. And she's curious about this bright, new, and especially BIG world. 

Yesterday we all had a good laugh about Bella laying on our bed. Kiera and I can take her anywhere around the house now that we have extra long tubing.

But we're still bound to this thing...

It's an oxygen generator (or concentrator, as some people call it). I call it the 'noise-maker 3000'. 

It basically filters in the air, compresses it, and delivers it out via the nozzle. It's easy to use, at least. All plug and play.

However, the generator is ugly, big, loud, and it emits a lot of hot air (this would be a great opportunity for a joke...)

Anyway, all three of us were sweating during our first few days here. The generator was rumbling the entire main floor, too. "Ugh! Will we ever have peace and quiet?" we thought 😬 

Thankfully we received extra tubing yesterday. We finally had enough slack to move the noise-maker upstairs into a spare bedroom. Now it's out of our way, behind a closed door, and collecting fresh air from a large open window.

Problem solved!

We're stuck with the generator because we need to preserve our oxygen tanks as much as possible. The tanks are for times we're on the move, or if there's an emergency like a blackout. 

Tomorrow we have our first pediatrician appointment so we'll have to be out of the house for a few hours. We'll simply take the smallest tank with us and hit the road 😊

The great thing is that Arabella doesn't require much oxygen. She only gets a small 'whiff', as they say. She's on 125 mL (or cc) per minute, so the smallest tank would last us roughly 57 hours.

Not too shabby!

It really is a tiny hint of oxygen that she's getting. You can barely feel the air on your finger as it comes out from the source. At first Kiera and I weren't sure that she was getting anything at all. It felt that light.

Light or not, Arabella needs the O2 to help combat her pulmonary hypertension. It keeps her heart from working too hard. 

She has a prescription for the O2 for the next 3 months, and after that she'll be reassessed. I really don't think she'll need it beyond the 3 months, but we'll see.

Oxygen isn't cheap, but luckily the government helps subsidize most of it. So I guess I can't complain about the government anymore 😛

Arabella's time in the hospital likely cost anywhere from $150,000 - $250,000 USD, and we didn't have to pay a single dime. That's based on today's figures and estimates, and believe it or not, the costs keep climbing each year. 

That's the astonishing price of prematurity (on top of everything else that a family might have to deal with). We must thank the good Lord for Canada's healthcare program. 

We've been so incredibly fortunate this entire journey. We received a lot of help from so many amazing people. Help in all kinds of forms, too, from people all over the world.

Without you guys I don't think we would have been so emotionally stable. Everyone out there was praying for Arabella and supporting us both. 

Having people behind you does something to your psyche. Kiera and I were so scared (especially in the very beginning), but having everyone backing us helped us battle through it all. 

I can't say thank you to you guys enough 💗