I told you that I wouldn't post anything until he was in our living room, and well he is in our living room! Well he is actually sleeping his is very own bed right now. I got a phone call this morning saying that Thursday or Monday was going to be the big day, then I got another phone call about an hour later. Three of Max's nurses and his discharge coordinator had me on speaker phone announcing that he was actually coming home today!!! Talk about a moment of panic. My main concern, for some reason, was that I hadn't steamed cleaned our carpet yet. Oh well, we'll do that later. I ran around here like a chicken with my head cut off trying to figure out what last minutes things I needed and to make phone calls. Then I headed off for my last visit to Children's Hospital- had to make a last minute stop to Wal-Mart to pick up a timer though.

The day was totally hectic. We had the home care nurse in his room showing us how to use his feeding pump (we will be using this for feedings throughout the night so that we don't have to wake up to feed him every 3 hours.) We also had nephrology giving us last minute directions and to make sure that we were good to go plus the nutritionist on top of that. The discharge coordinator and tons of nurses were in and out all afternoon until we left as well. It was a HUGE party in B9 for a few hours! So much fun and so many memories!

149 days! That's how long Max was in the hospital. It was the most trying time of our lives, but the most exciting and memorable time as well. Max has overcome so much in his short 5 months of life- more than what most of us will ever experience in a lifetime. He is truly my hero and I look up to him for the strength that he has and for all that he has endured (with a smile on his beautiful face.)

I also have to take this time to thank EVERYONE that has helped us get through this time. We couldn't have done any of this without our family, friends and newly acquired acquaintances. The love, support and prayers that you all provided to us has gotten us to where we are today.

The most important group of people that I need to thank (and bow down to) are our doctors and nurses. Ladies, you all are our angels here on earth. You will never know how grateful Tim, Max and I are that you were brought into our lives. For 5 months you were Max's adoptive mommies and we are so thankful that you were there to care for him and to love him when we couldn't be. Max will grow up knowing who each and every one of you are and the impact that you have made on our lives. I don't know what I am going to do not being able to see you all everyday. Believe it or not this is hard on us as well. October 8, 2008 was a very bittersweet day. We got to finally bring our sweet little boy home, but we also had to say goodbye to our hospital family and friends. I did tell some of you though that this is not goodbye, it's see you later. We will most definitely be keeping in touch and we will see some of you on Friday and Monday when we're there for his follow up appointments. We love all of you ladies and please know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the best care of Max and for making a huge impact on us. You all will forever hold a very special place in our hearts.

To all of our primary nurses:
Aimie H.
Tanya B.
Tonya F.
Amy S.
Lori T.
Kelli W.
Allyson V.
Liliana P.
Chenelle M.
Tina L.
Sara B.
Reanna S.

These ladies have gone out of their way to take an extra class on how to do Max's dialysis. Some of them our going even further beyond their call of duty to take on the challenging tasks of becoming Max's home care nurse on top of their jobs at the hospital. Do you all see why we love these ladies so much! Here is to the best group of primary nurses a person could ask for.

First trip to load the car!
A handful of Max's primary nurses
Max wasn't a happy camper to be strapped into his carseat
Max looked out the window the whole car ride home
Meeting his doggies for the very first time
Our precious angel is home and asleep in his very own bed