On Wednesday, July 1st, Kehlani was finally discharged from the NICU! Her stay there was just 17 days! We were anticipating 3-4 weeks but extremely surprised to just have it be 2.5 weeks. 

At the hospital, when a baby is born, or when parents go home with their new baby, there’s a bell they push on the wall in celebration. I never pushed it when we had Kehlani (it was really late that night/early morning) and I didn’t even know about it. But the nurses told me that a lot of families choose to push the bell when they go home. So in the 17 days there, I heard that bell rang countless times and every time I heard it, I wished it could be us pushing it. But our day finally came!

For some time, I had built up a scenario in my mind, of what I wanted it to look like when Kai finally met her new sister. She had been on FaceTime so many times, seen so many photos, and begged us to come to the hospital to see her sister. It was always the hardest “No” I’ve ever had to tell her. So I decided to ask my friend Marisol if she could come take photos of us introducing Kai for the first time. Marisol was also there for Kai’s birth and photographed/videoed the entire day for us. She’s been one of my closest friends for many years.

Back home, Marcus asked for the afternoon off because “Audra needed to swap and spend time with Kai.” So we kept it a secret from my dad and mom in hopes of surprising them too. I shared the good homecoming news with Grandma Jeanne because I didn’t know how else to get her out to the farm.

When we got out of the hospital and made our way down to the front entrance, we had Marisol wait with her daughters and Kai over in a shady bench area. While Marcus got Kehlani out of her carseat, I went over to let Marisol know we were ready for them to meet. I went over to Kai and started recording with my phone. It was the sweetest surprise I’ve ever been able to give Kai! Her first question was, “Can I hold her?” She was the proud sister I hoped and thought she would be. (See the video below!)

After eating with Marisol and her daughters, we finally made it home to the farm. It was so amazing to drive home and know I didn’t have to go right back to the hospital the next morning. I drove around the circle drive and opened the window so my dad could see inside the car. I wish I had a photo of his face when he saw the 2nd carseat in the back. He was so excited. I asked him if he would go make sure mama was home too and then Grandma started unloading the supper she had brought us to eat.

When my mom came outside to see why Grandma was randomly bringing her supper, she saw my car and asked if I had brought that baby home. It was such a fun surprise.

Like for most people, the year 2020 has not brought the best memories and experiences for my family. April and May were very hard months for us, and things seemed to be getting a little better in June. Then Kehlani came so early and nobody could meet her so being able to bring her home before the 4th of July was quite a blessing for us.