Vampire nurses and such...

I can't believe I drank the whole thing! Now I need a nap. Oy!

Weekly weight check and doc visit today - I guess getting up every 2 hrs to feed him has been worth it - he now weighs 5lbs 6oz! They want him to gain 1/2 to 1 ounce a day and he's gained a whopping 9oz. since his last appt 6 days ago! I'm telling you this kid has an iron grip - he's got some serious plans ahead of him for his miracle life.

Had to let the vampire nurse prick his heel again for a hematocrit level. It was a bit low so he's now on an iron supplement - otherwise Nicky Nick got another gold star on his health chart!

Little firecracker

One thing I forgot after 9 yrs...babies don't sleep much! Well he sleeps well but he's eating 1-2oz. every 2 1/2 - 3 hrs - so I guess it's me who's not sleeping! :)

He's doing great. Sean thinks he's a doll to play with - he's always brushing his hair or wanting to feed or change him. He's a great big brother already! People ask how old he is and I never know whether to say 8 weeks or 36 weeks. Technically he was supposed to be born July 26 so he's really minus 3 weeks! He's just barely fitting into preemie clothes so another couple pounds and he'll fit into newborn.

Wow!

Monday July 2, 2007 - Home Sweet Home
Coming home day! Went to the hospital to feed Nick and watch a CPR video - then Sean and I had our last lunch with just the 2 of us at Chilis. We ran over to the bank to get a check to close mom and dad's house then went up to the lawyer's office to sign. All done! The house is theirs it's so cute. Then we went back to the hospital to pick up Nick. He was all dressed in the new outfit that Grammy gave him and we headed home. Still can't believe the ordeal is over and he's home!

July 1, 2007
Went to the hospital about 4 times today! He's awake so much longer now that it's hard to just feed him and leave. He passed his car seat test - they strap him in it for an hour to make sure he can breathe ok and has no issues with keeping his head straight. Thanks to the great people that work with Bri at BB&T for giving us gift certificates - we were able to get a very nice stroller/carseat! It even fits a 5 lb small fry very nicely.

June 30, 2007
Called this morning to see if he was eating at 8:30 and they said he did great...and to please bring in his car seat to test out because he's going home Monday!!!!!! He also got his NG tube out last night! No more tubes for good now, he's just on bottles. Had a very good day no desats or crazy stuff at all. 4lbs 10oz today.

Chunky Monkey

My little guy is a roly poly 4lbs 9oz as of last night! He was extremely sleepy when I got there for the 8:30 pm bottle. He was having desats around 85% (limit is blood O2 levels <88%) because he was taking shallow breaths or forgetting to breathe at all so I popped the bottle out to let him catch up and he wouldn't wake up after that so he got the last 10ml by tube. The nurse this morning said he took all bottles throughout the night and did well. So for his 8:30am feeding again today he was sleepy but finally finished it - I don't think he's a morning person he must take after Daddy! :) He was having really bad desats - like around 80% - so the nurse gave him a shot of oxygen. No idea why he started doing this now - I squeegee'd his nose but it wasn't stuffy. She thought maybe he was moving his feet and the monitor wasn't picking up very well because he hasn't been having desats like that and hasn't had oxygen in several weeks. Hopefully he will pull out of this desat trend today and get the NG tube out of his nose which would help!

This is a picture of Nick's condo. Doesn't he have a great view of the beach? It was actually painted by Sean's 2nd grade art teacher Olivia Scott. And I used to work with her husband back in the environmental lab days- small world huh?

4lbs 7.5 oz

Nick was 4lbs 7.5oz when I called last night. Sean had a swim meet 4:30 - 9:30 (and I thought soccer games were long holy smokes!) so I couldn't make the evening feeds. The nurse had given him a bottle at 8:30 which I think is the 1st one he's gotten from anyone else besides me. She said they were going to try a bottle at every other feed which is 8:30 and 2:30. I called this morning and he had gotten one at 5:30am (he was probably too tired at the 2:30am feed so they waited). Well we weren't sure he would be interested in a bottle at 8:30 for me...but sure enough he was! He drank 37ml in 5min flat (pass the Alkaseltzer). He keeps it down fine even though everyone is pretty surprised he's got such gusto when the bottle is about as big as his leg! That is 24 calories/ounce.

I came home for an hour and Nurse Kristin called and said Nick was wide awake if I wanted to give him the 11:30 bottle - heck yeah! So 20 min later I was parked in the special care nursery feeding him again...I could probably sit there all day rocking away. He took yet another bottle - 3 in a row. Very good job, baby!

What do babies dream about?

I've got a long to-do list sitting in front of me and look where I am *sigh*. I'm busier now than when I was working - and I'm so good at procrastinating. Some days it just seems like the hospital will never end. Then some days I can't believe he's 7 weeks old (or minus 5 weeks from his due date!)! Since he's closer to home now I've been going over twice a day but not staying as long. I give him his 2:30 and 8:30 bottles and when he falls asleep I put him back. He's so funny he drinks the 1 ounce in like 5 minutes then he moans and looks like "Oh my God why did I do that!" Like that Alkaseltzer commercial I can't believe I ate the whole thing! I'm thinking it'll be 1.5-2 weeks til he's home. They aren't pushing him too hard so he's still only getting 3 bottles a day (NG tube for 5 feedings to let him rest) . So he's got a ways to go. He did get his big boy bed today how exciting! That means he meets 1 of the criteria for him coming home (1. keep temperature steady 2. take all feedings by bottle 3. have no desats (apnea) and no bradys (bradycardia)

The swim meet was cancelled last night due to lightning so I did go for Nick's 8:30 bottle. He was getting a bath when I got there...he loves that! He was 4lbs 5.5 oz. His eyes were swollen from the eye exam poor baby. I gave him his bottle (35 mls) then he fell asleep from exhaustion - it's hard work for such a little guy to master the suck -swallow-breathe skills (which usually happens at ~34 weeks gestation). He was smiling and dreaming - what do babies dream about?

Out of the box!

Nick is getting 3 bottles a day now (35ml). I go the hospital for 2 of them (2:30 and 8:30) and the nurse tries to do 1 during the night - but so far he's been too tired to drink that one. Last night they opened up Nick's incubator like a DeLorean to room air and he has kept his temperature up just fine. So tomorrow he may get his very own crib like a big boy. He's 4lbs 4oz. now and actually has chipmunk cheeks - he's fair and looks like his mama and he's just now getting blond eyelashes. I went to feed him his bottle at 11:30 and the Dr. was there to give him his eye exam...good news - no sign of ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). He has premature blood vessels which is normal at his age (almost 36 weeks) and we'll get another exam in 2 weeks to make sure he's progressing. The blood vessels are in level 2 if you look at the diagram in the ROP link half way down the page. After that he was too tired to take his bottle so he got it by tube. Sean has a swim meet tonight so I won't be back to the hospital til tomorrow.