Home Sweet Home

Hi sweet son, 

The last five days with you have been wonderful, we are so in love with you! On Friday, when we got home from the hospital, you had four very anxious people awaiting your arrival! Your grandparents had not met you until Friday because of the flu restrictions in the NICU. They were all so excited to finally see you and hold you! We are still limiting other visitors because you are still very small and your immune system is not very strong. We will let more people see you once cold and flu season is over with and its warmer outside. We can't wait to show you off, you are such a sweetheart! 

Proud Mimi and Grandfather

Nana and Papa taking pictures of you to show you off

Great Grandma Stephenson and Nana looking at you

Great-grandparents 

Four generations

Papa and his favorites

Jackson and Nana

Your dog Molly is also getting to know you. We can tell she already loves you! She will lay down beside us when we hold you, and if you cry or get the hiccups she will go and check on you in your bassinet. I hope you guys will be best friends one day :)

Molly loves you already... excuse my lack of make up...

A boy and his dog...

We have been trying to keep to the same sleep/feed schedule that you had at the hospital. That means every three hours we are up feeding you. Its a little exhausting, and honestly, I'm still struggling with being able to fall asleep knowing that there is no one awake to watch you breath! Its getting a bit easier, but I don't think I have had a deep sleep since you came home. A typical feeding session kinda goes like this... I wake up at 11:30 pm to pump for 30 minutes, go downstairs to warm your bottle, back up stairs to change you and then feed you. By the time all that is done it is somewhere between 12:30-12:40. I then hold you for 20 to 30 mins to let your food digest. If we lay you down after you eat you will spit up and I don't want you to choke while we are all sleeping. So normally, by 1-1:30 I am back in bed ready to go back to sleep... only to get back up at 2:30 to start the process over again. I really don't get to sleep until 5am when daddy gets up for work and takes you. The only way I'm sleeping soundly is if I know someone is awake and watching you. Hopefully, as you get bigger and stronger I can breast feed you, but for right now its too exhausting for you. Once I don't have to pump and heat bottles in the middle of the night it will speed up the process. I'm not complaining about the lack of sleep (YET), I'm just so excited that you are home with us!

All swaddled up in your sleep sack like the one from the NICU, we have to keep you warm!

First bath at home! 2/22 Thanks for my tub, Nicole!

Nice warm towel after your bath!

We went to your first doctor's appointment  on Monday and your pediatrician said you are doing great! When we brought you home on Friday, you weighed 5 lbs even, on Monday, you weighed 5 lbs 6 oz! You have been such a good eater!

Thanks Uncle Tim and Aunt Liz for my cute outfit!

6 oz in 3 days!

We love you so much and we are so glad you are home with us! Today you are seven weeks old, I can't believe how fast the time has gone by, time has gone by even faster since you have been home! We love you sweet boy!

Homecoming

Hi Sweet boy,

You are currently sleeping beside me in the comfort of our home. There will be no early morning trip to the hospital to see you. Instead, come morning, you will be within an arms reach. There are few words that can describe how your daddy and I feel, I wont even attempt to. Instead, I give you a few photos of homecoming day. I'll post more tomorrow, I'm too busy soaking you in tonight :) 

Welcome home, we love you! 

Sweet dreams. 

Six Weeks Later

Six weeks later, we find ourselves anxiously preparing for your arrival home, sweet boy! We got the news this week from the doctors that the countdown is on as long as you continue to keep up the good work! It has been a busy week of buying and assembling a few last minute nessecities. Daddy, of course, has assembled your pack and play and stroller with ease.  At the hospital today, you passed your hearing test, and you had your circumcision. You were SO mad and downright pitiful afterwards! I don't blame you! I held you until your tylonol kicked in and you finally calmed down and fell asleep. Your Daddy kept telling you, jokingly, that it was all my fault because I was the one that signed the paperwork!  One day you will thank me though :) 

You have been eating like a champ the last few days, 40 mls at every feeding! It's showing too, you weighed 4 lbs 12 oz today! You didn't eat very well after your circ today, but that was to be expected. We were hoping you would hit the 5lb mark by the time you came home, but that might be a little unrealistic since you have so much going on the next couple days! 

Tomorrow, you will have your car seat test, you have to sit in it for 90 minutes without your oxygen saturation rate dropping. Momma and Daddy are getting a refresher in baby CPR, and then Capturing Hopes are taking some of your last photos in the NICU! We are SO thankful that the day is almost here! 

So handsome. 

Getting your hearing test done, you look like you belong in a beats commercial 

Molly is patiently awaiting your arrival too, we have been bringing your clothes and blankets home so she can get familiar with your scent :) 

Making Progress!

Hi sweet boy!
You are doing so well! Your feeding tube has been out for over 24 hours, which means you have been eating every meal from a bottle! This morning you took all 30 mls from your bottle and you were acting really cranky so we gave you another 10 mls and you sucked it dry! I'm so glad eating is starting to click! You weigh 4 lbs 10 oz, and are SO cute! We did some FaceTime action with Nana and Papa, you were so wide eyed and perky! You are so close to coming home, hopefully it will be soon! Below are some photos that Tara from Capturing Hopes took of you on Tuesday of this week, I love them!

My Little Valentine

Happy Valentines Day Jackson! Today we brought your nurses and doctors donuts! Most of them have been snowed in at the hospital the last couple of days because of the snowpocalypse! Nurses and doctors don't get snow days like everyone else, we are very thankful for all them and what they do for you and the other babies!

Hi handsome :)

You will notice that your feeding tube is back. It's not a real big deal, you have just been getting tired through some of your feedings and you weren't able to finish your bottle. You are still doing a great job! Unfortunatly, you did have an episode yesterday with your oxygen, so your countdown to go home has started over. However, your nurses and I have decided not to call it a countdown, we don't want to jinx it again! We are just going to focus on one day at a time, and hope that everything goes well over the next week! Today you weighed 4 lbs 9 oz, and you are still taking about 80% of your daily feedings from your bottle. We are all  hoping that your feeding lightbulb clicks soon, you are very, very close! You are eating 35 mls per feeding, hopefully, you will get to go back to adlibbing soon so you don't have to take so much for every feeding. The higher your volume the more issues of reflux you are having... Which is what led to your episode yesterday, you choked a little on your spit up and by the time the nurses got to you you needed some oxygen to bring up your oxygen saturation numbers.... A little frustrating, but oh well! We are anxious to get you home, but we also want you to come home when you are 100% ready. Today I would have been 35 weeks pregnant with you, and you are doing a great job for a baby that should still be chillin in my tummy! We are proud of you and love you so very much! Momma and Daddy are going out on a Valentines dinner date tomorrow at Fratellis, it might be the last date for a while :) 

Now some pictures from the big snow, we got 8"! What's really interesting is the last time we got this much snow was the February before I was born in 1987! 

No one on I-40 Thursday, we braved the weather to come see you that morning :)

Five Weeks Brings Good News!

Hi little man,
Today you are five weeks old! Daddy and I have been looking back at pictures of you from the week you were born. You have come so far! You were a frail, skinny little thing with lots of wires and tubes connected to you. Today you have chubby little cheeks, a face free of tubes, and you will curiously look around the room and interact with us. So far, you have been tolerating your feedings much better! You have been pooping like a mad man, three times this morning alone. I guess you didn't like that contrast enema all that much! Today you weighed 4 lbs 4.9 oz, and you are officially "ad-libbing" your feedings. That means you get to decide how much you want to eat from your bottle instead of them forcing you to eat 30+ mls. For example, at noon today you took 27 mls and at 3 o'clock you took 35 mls! As long as you continue to take more than your minimum, 25 mls, you won't need your feeding tube back in! You kept pulling it out anyways, and your are still gaining weight, so the nurses and doctors thought they would leave it out as long as you continue to eat well. Yesterday, you took 86% of your food from your bottle! Just last week it was 10%! Hopefully, tomorrow you will have taken all of it :)
You are doing SO great that the doctors gave us some good news yesterday... if you continue to improve the way you are, we might get to bring you home within the next two weeks!!!! Words cannot even begin to describe how excited I am! The news caught me off guard because it was the first discussion I have had with a doctor about when you would get to come home. I was told at some point after you were born that it would be around your due date, and no one has mentioned anything different since then. I sat there holding you and cried and cried I was so happy! I probably made the doctors and nurses uncomfortable, but oh well! You will have to stay in the hospital at least through next Monday, because this past Monday you had an apnea "episode" after your super exhausting morning of the enema, diaper blowouts, baths, and feedings. The NICU rule is that babies have to go episode free for one week before they can go home. Hopefully, you won't have anymore episodes and you will continue to take all of your bottles so that we can bring you home next week! I'm trying to not get my hopes up, but I've been in your room all afternoon taking inventory of your preemie/newborn clothes just in case :) We love you so much and are proud of how strong you are!

Above: You on January 14th

Below: Your silly faces on February 11th :) 

p.s. Snowpocalypse 2014 is currently going on outside, already 5 inches! Daddy, Lauren and I just went for a little joy ride around Clemmons in your Daddy's big Jeep, we might or might not have done donuts in a couple parking lots.... don't worry it was completely safe! I'll post some pictures of the snow tomorrow :)

Graduation!

This morning Momma was walking to your crib like always, when I was intercepted by a nurse who informed me that you graduated to NICU 2! You also spent all night in an open crib and maintained a nice and toasty body temp! You still weigh 4 lbs 3 oz, which is impressive after seeing some of your diapers after your contrast enema. You are taking the majority of your milk from your bottle at every feeding! You are doing SO great! Tara came by from Capturing Hopes and took your picture again, the sneak peek she put on Facebook just melts my heart. You are so handsome and we love you so much!