Not a whole lot to report

So, nothing too new inside the incubator.

The doctors are still weaning him off the nasal prongs. This seems like it could be a bit more time, but they sure are confident that things will be just fine for him.

They did say that they anticipate some extra doctors visits after he comes home and that he may go home "on oxygen" due to the way he has handled oxygen intake and such. This is not too shocking, but kind of let us know that there is still a long road ahead to ensure that this wonderful baby boy has the opportunities to handle life the way he deserves. God's blessing and hand be with him on his journey, not just this short term journey, but his long-term journey.

Yesterday Julie went back to work and so we saw him at 2 different times. Julie spent time holding him in the morning and I went down around 7:30 pm and held him for a while. It was great and he cooed and made noises for about 20 minutes with me.

Julie has had that experience of him "talking" to her before too so it was cool for me to be the one holding him while he communicated. The nurses came over and were laughing at all the sounds he was making. It was cute!

So that is about that for today. I will be checking back in later and we wish everyone a blessed day!

Dirty hands?

Well, as promised, photos to come. In fact, I will post photos in order to describe how the day went;

We got to the NICU around 1:30 and knew what we were in for. We were greeted with a bright yellow tub prepared for his, and our, first bath. Be sure this is not the first time Julie or I had bathed, but.........you know what I mean.

We started by placing warm water in the tub, then Julie placed him into the water. He loved it! In fact, he made no real peep at all while she bathed him. She started with his eyes. She used cotton balls and sterile water for that part. Then it was on to.............

Washing his little head. She used a special brush that is non-abrasive, but really cleans his hair. He loved that too!

She rinsed him off and he let out a huge yawn!

Then we dressed him in his first clothes. No more just diapers, it is onesie time! We were not prepared for this part so we did not bring along a couple choices for him. We just used one that they have in storage for NICU babies. It is so tiny!

He was a bit chilled after his bath so we swaddled him and put a "Crystal hat" on him to get his temperature back up. THANKS CRYSTAL, he looks great!

Wrapped up like a gordita, or Ricky Bobby's arm, you be the judge.

So there he was, dressed up like a big boy and swaddled for warmth. I got a couple great videos of him getting dressed and of him starting at us. He was a perfect subject today! Way to go little man!

So............enjoy the pics and the vids, but stay tuned. Things seem to be readying for a change very soon. Being a big boy comes with certain "differences" that we had not been apprised of earlier. All is good, but it should be fun watching things progress in the next couple weeks!

Thanks again for checking in and have a great day or night, where ever you may be!

God Bless!

Stay Tuned

No news to report today, but there might be some awesome photos tomorrow.

Stick around!

Quick update

We are about to head to bed, but I figured we better get a quick update in.

Little man is doing great. He is over 3 pounds now and has lengthened a bit too. He looks great, and is doing awesome.

Today he had a second eye exam to be sure that things are developing with his vision. It turns out that while low levels of oxygen in premature babies is unsafe for a number of reasons, too HIGH levels of oxygen in premature babies can damage the blood vessels behind the eyes and affect vision up to blindness.

We got to the hospital just as the eye doctor was getting there so I figured I would watch the show.

To put things in perspective for you all, I am not a huge fan of blood or gross stuff and have been known to pass out at simple blood draws..........not just my own blood draws, but blood draws in general.

Hearing this, the doctor told me I should probably not watch as this procedure caused many a med student to pass out, according to him. I offered to take photos for the blog and he laughed and told me that nobody would want to see this.

So just to show him, I watched. And now I am paying the price. I can not get the image from being seared to my retina. It was absolutely appalling. I will spare the gory details here, but just let me tell you that his eyes were forced open and a "spear" was inserted below the eye ball to provide enough space for the doctor to look behind the eye............it was unreal and so gross.

So, now that you all are hungry ha ha...............everything was great. His eyes are progressing nicely and he should be good to go. The doctor will check them again in a month or so, but he was happy with what he saw.............even if I wasn't ha ha.

Anyway, we are both shot. We are off to bed and will have more updates later.

Julie goes to work on Monday again so please be in prayer for sound sleep for her to avoid exhaustion or sickness.

Thanks everyone and have a great night!

Check these photos out!

Enough said:

Back to it

I GOT TO SEE HIM!!!!!!

Julie and I went down before I went to work today and she got to hold him for about an hour and a half. It was amazing to see how he has changed, even in just a few days. He looked so much larger and really looked good.

Julie showed off a new trick and took him out of the incubator all by herself. It was awesome.

So, updates.............

He is still off the C-pap and they are liking his progress, even though he has had more issues being off. He is progressing very well and seems to be waking up more and more. Julie took some great photos of him with his eyes open. I will post them here tomorrow for you all to see. HE IS WATCHING!!!!!!!!!!!

For now, we are beat and are headed to bed. Peace be with all of you!

Another good day

Julie went down today with my Mom and got a chance to see him. I am one more day away from being let back in, and that will be a wonderful day for me. But Julie had a great day today.

He is "off the C-pap" again and has nasal prongs in place of the mask. This enables the doctors to keep pressure in his lungs, but also makes it so that he is not wearing the bulky stuff that makes him look like a Storm Trooper.
This is all part of the weaning process that they have been trying. In days past they have tried this, he has had a fair amount of "incidents" in fact, enough to force the Doctors to replace the C-pap.

For the last 3 days, his incidents have been fewer than 5 per day. Today, with the C-pap off, a few more, but things seem more encouraging than in times past.

Other than that, the most exciting news is that Julie got to take him out of the incubation unit (also called an isolet) by herself today. In days past, when she would hold him, the nurses would take him out and pass him to her. NOT TODAY!

She said she was a bit nervous at first, but she did great.

Not a whole lot else to report, but here are a few photos for everyone;

Sleeping soundly!

Holding hands with Papa. Story is that he reached up himself to grab hold. He is getting so strong!

He sure does love sleeping on his stomach. This photo shows a little bit of weight gain over previous photos.

Proud Mommy!