Going Home Is Harder Than We Thought!

April is being discharged today, finally! While this is an exciting moment for us and a long time coming we have also found that it is a very emotional time. Last night we were packing up the majority of our belongings and were discussing how weird it was going to be for April to actually be home in her own room and bed.

For the past 10 weeks, this room and it's four walls decorated in 1980's wallpaper, along with the one window and tiny bathroom have been April's home. She has cried in this room, laughed in this room, prayed in this room, yelled in this room and most importantly fought for her children's life in this room and these are only the things that I saw. Only April and the walls know what else took place in this little room during the middle of the night and in the hours that I could not be here.

Room 325 will forever hold a special place in the Emrich's heart. Initially, this room witnessed a pregnant woman at 21 weeks but soon saw her blossom into a mother with unconditional love for her children and watched as the mother took on the battle of her life and kicked it's ass. This room, plain and simple, witnessed a miracle.

In addition to the room, the staff has been so wonderful and April has built strong relationships and bonds with many of the nurses. It is tough to just walk away from those friendships and think that we will most likely not see these individuals that cared for April and the babies hand and foot for the past 10 weeks. There is an emotional attachment from both sides that is hard to fathom unless you have gone through this ordeal. We plan on keeping the 3rd floor staff aware of Patrick and Savannah's progress as much as possible but know that there will come a day when we show up on the 3rd floor and not recognize any of the nurses. That is life, and in life people move on and change jobs. We know that tomorrow there will most likely be someone new in OUR room that is facing a battle of her own and we can only hope that this individual has the courage, drive and inner strength that April had and walk out of this hospital successful when her time comes.

Finally, today is emotional, because we are leaving our babies behind. Patrick and Savannah must stay here in the NICU to get bigger and stronger. We know that this is the best place for them and that God will continue to take care of them but is still hurts to leave them as we see other parents taking their children home. Our time will come, and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later, but until we have our children home safe with us, our family will not be complete.

We are leaving very soon and after 1,776 hours or 74 days my hero is finally coming home to where she belongs.

Our journey is not over yet, in fact it is just beginning, but the first leg of the journey has been completed and we are excited to see what is ahead in the coming months.

Welcome Home April!