Sweet Baby

On Friday, Andrew turned seven weeks and his gestational age as of yesterday is 39 weeks! I can’t believe that he will almost be 2 months old! Over the weekend, we celebrated the first day of spring (with another snow fall), Andrew’s first Easter and yesterday we had cake for my birthday! We took Andrew on his first long car trip to my grandma’s, but unfortunately she had suffered an awful fall and is now recovering in the hospital. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. We are hoping that we will make the trip again in a few weeks for her 80th birthday and then he will be able to meet her and spend the day with her. We went to the eye doctor today and his eyes are still immature and developing the way they should be. The doctor told me it’s like growing grass…it takes a long time. So we have another appointment in two weeks. Andrew is growing like crazy…he is just over 7 pounds! We’re still enjoying being at home and we can’t wait until it warms up so we can head outdoors. We’ve tried out his bouncy seat and bought a new swing because someone really loves to be held. The chair and swing are still too much for him, there isn’t enough support for his little head and body. So then we decided to try a little papasan chair and…it works! Of course it’s really hard to not hold him; he loves to be held and sleeps so peacefully.

Home

Andrew turned six weeks on Friday and his gestational age is 38 weeks today! I have been trying to post an update, but it seems that there just hasn’t been enough time. We really have spent the last week enjoying being at home with Andrew. We visited the pediatrician and eye doctor last week. Everything went well at both appointments. Andrew’s eyes are still developing appropriately and we will go back again in two weeks. The doctor said that because he was born around 32 weeks, he should be just fine. We went to the doctor again today, because we were worried that Andrew has been a little congested. He sometimes seems a little stuffy, but everything is fine. We need to be very careful as it is still RSV season. He was 5 pounds 11 ounces when we left the hospital and he weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces today. He is gaining a little more than an ounce a day, which is great! We are still trying to establish a routine…Andrew usually just decides what to do. I’ve posted a few pictures…he seems to enjoy his bath and just being at home.

My own bed.

Oh it's like I'm on a hammock on the beach!

Snug as a bug in a rug...in my pack n' play.

Time to go home!

Andrew is five weeks old today! We thought last night was our last meal at Beaumont’s cafeteria, but we had lunch there today. We were all set to go home and we had to wait until 2:00 for the cardiologist to come for the echocardiogram. It seemed like forever…but it was worth waiting for because everything was fine with the echo. They still say that he has PPS…something he will grow out of. So we cleaned his crib out, signed all of the discharge papers and headed home. It is great to be home! We are visiting the pediatrician tomorrow morning and the ophthalmologist next week. We still pray that everything will continue to develop appropriately with his eyes. I posted some pictures…Wrigley didn’t even seem to notice him when we first brought him home. He figured it out once he made a few sounds. Wrigley jumps whenever Andrew makes a peep. So far, he has been good, just really curious.

I'm ready to go!

Time to go home!

It's good to be home!

Wrigley's first introduction.

Home Tomorrow?!

My last 10 hour day at Beaumont…well hopefully. We are planning on taking Andrew home tomorrow! Andrew is 5 pounds 8 ounces! He has grown so much during his NICU stay. We had another meeting with the lactation consultant today. Andrew has developed some bad bottle habits in the past week. It’s funny to say this, because he just started gulping down bottles, which is what we have been waiting on to go home. He’s taking bottles at inconsistent amounts, which is hard because he seems to just gulp the bottles down. Hopefully getting home will be the solution. The doctor’s said that tomorrow will be the day…after the echocardiogram. During our meeting with the LC, he was off of the monitor…so I wasn’t even able to peek at it to watch his stats. That’s the bad habit that Brian and I have developed over the past five weeks. “Don’t watch the monitor, watch your baby.” That’s all we heard. So we had our last meal in the cafeteria and we took a lot of our bags home. We can’t wait to take our vehicles off of auto pilot to Beaumont! Tomorrow at this time, we will all be home! We plan on spending the next few days getting adjusted…as much as we can? We do have to make a trip to the pediatrician on Saturday morning. So we’ll keep you updated…and try to post pictures.

Car Seat Test!

We’re still shooting for a Friday discharge. I asked the doctor’s about the possibility of a heart murmur, since a few of the nurses have asked me if anyone has noticed. The doctor listened to his heart and said that there is nothing to worry about, but just to be sure they ordered another echocardiogram. She didn’t want us to get home and visit the pediatrician, only to have them worry and send him in for a check up. She was afraid that they may not be as experienced with preemies and something that they call PPS. It’s a good thing to have everything checked before we leave. We are ready to have him come home, but are getting a little nervous. I think we started to get nervous because two of our friends returned to the NICU today. First, our friend who left on Sunday morning, and then one of the twins who left on Monday night. They are fine…one will most likely go back home tomorrow. We met with the lactation consultant today. He is doing great…but she thinks he needs to get home so he can have consistency in his feedings. When we are not there all night, he is taking different amounts in his bottles and he needs to just be at home so we can figure out a better schedule. He definitely lets me know when he is hungry. He is also getting a little sneaky…he doesn’t want to be put down. We went to the Infant Massage meeting tonight that they have for the parents of the NICU. It was nice to meet some new families and learn about massage techniques and the benefits for babies. We then put Andrew in the car seat for the 30 minute car seat test. He didn’t have any “dings” on the monitor and he showed no signs of distress. See pictures…we think he was quite content. That could be because he had just had a huge bottle for dinner? He gained another ounce today, after maintaining last night.

I made it past the 30 minute test!

I'm pretty comfortable.

The car seat test!

Home on Friday?

Our new goal for discharge is Friday! The doctor’s said everything looks good today on rounds and I think Friday will be the day. Of course we know that it could be any day now. They are known to tell you when you come in that they are going home a day early. We are ready to have him home and we’re confident that he is ready to be here. He is still gaining weight…he’s about 5 pounds 4 ounces. He had his hepatitis B shot today and didn’t have any reactions. The OT visited him and noticed that he prefers to sleep with his head turned to one side, so we have to make sure we keep turning it the other way so he doesn’t get a flat spot. He does move his head from side to side a lot, but he definitely has a favorite side. His circumcision looks good and is healing appropriately. So we are getting closer and closer!

36 Weeks - Long Day

Andrew is 36 weeks old today. We had a good day in the breathing department today, despite Andrew’s circumcision this morning (see picture). Everything went well, but it was a tough day for the little peanut. He was pretty sleepy and didn’t have a lot of energy to eat, but by dinner time, he came around and ate like a champ. I spent the entire day holding and comforting him and hopefully he will feel a little better tomorrow. When I arrived this morning, the doctors and residents were making their rounds. The doctor looked back on the monitor to see the episodes he had yesterday. She wasn’t concerned at all about the ones during his feedings, but since he had two while being held, they will keep him for 3-5 more days. It would be more worrisome if he were having them when he was asleep in his bed and they were happening more often; however, it’s better that it happened before he was discharged and at home. So we said goodbye to our friends (twins) today, as they went home a day early and hopefully we will get to leave soon! We’re looking forward to getting together this summer with some people that we have met during our stay at Beaumont. It has been so nice to share stories and advice with people who are going through the same NICU experience.

It was a long, hard day!

I love my pacifier.
Resting after my procedure.

Not Yet

Well…Andrew bought himself a little more time in the NICU. It seems that he loves lodging at Beaumont, just like his mom. He will not go home tomorrow, as he had a few brady’s/desats today. This has not happened in a long time, so we feel like it’s a sign. Even though we were very excited to bring him home tomorrow, we were still a little unsure. He just moved to the crib and just started to take all of his feedings without the gavage tube. When he was eating today, he paused in his breathing and instead of taking a deep breath (like he usually does), we actually had to sit him up and rouse him a little bit. They aren’t too worried about it when it happens while he is eating, but it happened while Brian was holding him as well. So we didn’t want to do too much, thus we held off on the bath lesson and the car seat test. He is still scheduled to be circumcised tomorrow…so thankfully he’ll have another day to recover from that as well. They said he may be very tired and not as hungry afterward. So it’s probably a good thing that he isn’t going home right after that. I think we would worry. So it still could be any day…and with short notice. He had visits from Grandma and Grandpa Hull this weekend. Of course we had to do a lot of errands, laundry and preparation.

New Crib

Well when we got to the hospital today, they told us that Andrew passed his hearing test last night. They also moved his isolette out of the room. I then noticed that the gavage tube was out of his nose, but still stuck to his face. Andrew decided he didn’t want the tube in anymore, but he didn’t quite get all of the tape off this time. He did this as the doctor’s were making their rounds, so the doctor decided that he didn’t need it anymore. He recently has only needed it for a few times and during those times it was only for a small amount of milk. The nurse then told me that as long as everything went well, the doctor thought that Monday would be the day to discharge Andrew! Of course we were thrilled and the nurse joked that she “had to give dad CPR when he found out the news.” He did really well for the morning feeding and then we headed out to run some much needed errands before the homecoming. When we got back for the evening feeding, he took his entire bottle for us…in no time at all. I think he even had a little extra in the bottle. So we will have a couple of busy days coming up. We need to bring the car seat in tomorrow, so he can do the “car seat test.” He has to sit in the car seat for 30 minutes, while hooked up to the monitors, to see if he can maintain his oxygen levels, etc. Then we’re going to help give him a bath. Then we’ll have to go over some things and continue to ask any questions. On Monday, he is scheduled to be circumcised and then by the afternoon, head home. So we have a lot to do before Monday…hopefully we’ll be home by Monday night! I posted a picture of his crib…and one of him bundled in layers.

Snuggled in my crib.

Bundled in two layers of clothes, swaddled in a blanket and covered with a blanket. Oh and a hat that always falls off.

No more gavage tube!!!

My new crib.