In 1955, a Midwestern movie maker opened a small amusement park among the orange groves of sunny Southern California. In 2005, Disneyland Resort celebrated its 50th anniversary by having what they called “the happiest homecoming on Earth”. Not to try to outdo Uncle Walt, this past Sunday, we celebrated our own happiest homecoming on Earth.

I know I said I was going to try to highlight some of the people that we met during our 81 days at the Kaiser NICU and hopefully one day I’ll be able to finish, but since Casey’s homecoming is such a monumental event I thought I’d skip ahead and share about this instead.

Saying goodbye to Kaiser definitely qualifies as bittersweet. For one, we’ve befriended so many of the staff and other parents what would it be like out there on our own? No could no longer rely on nurses to be with Casey 24 hours a day and make sure she’s eating and pooping correctly. Also taking her home meant that we would have to be available 24 hours a day and the good Lord knows that I do not do well when I don’t get enough sleep.

But we knew this day would come at some point so we charged ahead and picked up our little girl. The discharge process wasn’t exactly what we expected. There was very little pomp and circumstance considering we had been there for so long. It was almost like we were leaving every other day except this time we were just taking Casey home with us.

Rather than try to tell you about it, I put together this short video. Here, take a look and we’ll talk afterward.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXYOX_IU6xw]

When we got home Stanton (and our neighbor Tracy Bean) surprised us with balloons and signs on our fence. Quite a festive experience. Because Casey’s immune system isn’t developed we aren’t allowed to have visitor until next year. Of course we made an exception for my brother and my parents since they’re family. But other than that, everyone who comes by just waits outside and we hold up Casey Lion King style from 30 feet away.

Stanton was all smiles when we came home and he took some great pictures for us (he even brought us dinner the next evening). My parents also came over a little late to help us get settled in. Where would we be without parents? It was particularly reassuring having my mom there as she did raise three pretty decent kids. She proved to be a great help getting us settled in and helping us wherever she could. In fact throughout the past three months, she was the rock that I leaned on and the shoulder that I cried on. Pat, on the other hand, fell asleep on the couch 🙂 I guess he was so excited that his granddaughter came home that he completely exhausted himself.

But, *sigh* now she’s home (and not leaving for the next 18 years except to go to school and maybe the doctor). Our Kaiser NICU journey is finally over and new adventures await. Thanks everyone for supporting us and praying for us! We couldn’t have done it without you.