I am home!

Dear friends and loved ones,

I wanted to drop a quick note -- I was discharged from the hospital this afternoon can finally came home. Homecoming is quite bittersweet as when I last left our apartment, I never imagined the events that would follow (I thought I might have a shortening cervix and needed a cerclage but everything wouldbe okay) -- and I still had Rachel and Isaac inside me, with Rachel happily still in her sac filled with water.

I miss Rachel so much I cannot express in words. But I feel very blessed and humbled that God has seen fit to let Isaac to continue to stay stable and he seems to improve a little bit when we see him each day. I honestly don't know whether I can handle it if Isaac was not doing well right now. Good thing our Lord is such a merciful and gracious God. We saw Isaac before I left the hospital. They are now feeding him 3 ml of my milk per feeding (I think they do 8 feedings a day) and so far he is digesting everything well. He seemed a bit more active today but we weren't sure whether it was the increased milk intake or because we went at a different time (1 pm as opposed to 4 pm).

Its really amazing. I mean, Isaac is such a tiny little baby and he is still basically still all skins and bones but he has the cuuuuuuutest little face!! My heart flips every time I see his sweet little face.

On another front, our good friend Ai has been posting questions on a Japanese premie board for us and we heard encouraging news that people do think that the NICU at Toho University Hospital is a good NICU and that the doctors there are very supportive and do listen to patients/concerned parents. This confirms our experience so far. Before we met with the doctor a couple of days, both Jong and I were expecting what we thought was the typical Japanse "sensei" (could be doctor or lawyer) treatment/attitude towards patients/clients, etc. A lot of "sensei's" feel like they know best and do not like to be questioned and do not like to explain. But that was totally not what we experienced and we are just so grateful to our Lord and all of your prayers.

In any case, I will try to post more tomorrow when I have more energy as the discharge was a bit tiring for me. Hopefully, my thoughts that I post tomorrow will be more cohesive.

But before I go, I want to really, really thank all of you for all of your prayers and support. It has been a tremendous source of strength and support for me. Every time I even doubt why all this is happening, I can see the goodness of our Lord through all of you.

Take care and God bless,

Sonia