Over and Out

It's been a great day with Foster home. We still feel clueless, but it's fun having him all to ourselves. It's so much easier to change a diaper without 6 cords attached to his body and feet!!! He hasn't stuck to the strict schedule of the NICU (eat every 3 hours) but he has mostly slept and ate all day. It's more of a challenge not having a scale to weigh him on before and after nursing, but if he still seems hungry after nursing, we offer the bottle. Trial and error at this point, no more nurses to guide us. We won't know if he's gaining weight appropriately until his first Dr's appointment on the 30th.

The cats seem indifferent to Foster's arrival...unfortunately I can't say the same for Parker. She is intensely observing every move with him (the herding instinct). I think once she gets accustomed to his strange garbled noises, things will settle down.

We can't thank all of our family and friends enough for your support over the past 5 weeks. Even if we didn't reply, your phone calls and emails have lifted our spirits and made us realize we weren't going through this alone. I'm sorry we've been totally engrossed in our own lives and perhaps neglected and missed other important events in your lives, but we are on the rebound. Having a newborn home will be demanding, but we feel we have our own lives back. If I miss blogging, perhaps I'll start a new one, but for now, I'm signing off. I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and fun summer!

Foster has a new blog...http://fosterlittle.blogspot.com

Finally!

Countdown!

We were pleasantly surprised last night when we arrived for the 6pm feeding and Foster had passed his carseat test and was already hooked up to the 12 hour pneumogram. I guess he got moved to the top of the queue and passed with flying colors! This means that if he continues to eat well ad lib over the next 24 hours, he can go home tomorrow or Wednesday. We are thrilled, and running around frantically trying to get things ready. You'd think 4.5 weeks in the NICU would have us better prepared, but it's all the little things we want to get done without a baby in tow (installing air conditioners, Home Depot, Target, car seat installation, etc). We just learned he ate only 50/60mls at noon, but not to worry, as long as he doesn't lose weight. He weighed 6lbs 7.5 ounces last night. Almost a normal newborn! This picture is of one of our favorite nurses, Kate, who took care of Foster for a significant part of his hospitalization. The nurses are amazing and we've learned so much from them. One of them also made plaques (see below) for the dads on Father's Day.
As much fun as I've had writing this blog, I won't be continuing it in its current form when he comes home. I'm sure life will settle down and all I'd have to write about would be dirty diapers, breast feeding woes, and sleep deprivation. Perhaps I'll start a weekly one for family, but I won't bore the rest of you with the mundane details of life with a newborn.
Hopefully tomorrow's post will include pictures of his homecomming!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day to Chris and all the dads out there who are following this blog. We are happy that Foster arrived early enough to celebrate with us this year! He got dressed up in a special outfit for the occasion (I couldn't resist the urge to buy it) and seemed particularly happy to be in dad's arms this morning. The best present will be him coming home this week. He is up to 60mls for each feeding and is eating like a champ. Last night he tipped the scales at 6 lbs 4.5 ounces and he is really starting to look and feel like a real baby...less fragile and much stronger! Diaper changes are getting a little more challenging with his strong kicking. He seems to "perform" each time we attempt to change it, and you never know where it is going to end up. The joy of a boy!
Foster is going to have his car seat test this afternoon which entails an hour and a half period where he is monitored to make sure his head doesn't flop forward causing him to have periods of apnea. After that test, the only remaining hurdle is the 12 hour pneumogram, during which he is intensely monitored (even more machinery hooked up to him) to record respiratory activity, apneic events, and cyanotic episodes. Since the NICU is very busy right now, there is a queue for this test (there is only one machine), but he will likely move to the top of the list tomorrow or Tuesday. We can't wait to get this little dude home!
(yes, I bought a new camera...how could I not have one for Father's Day and for his homecoming???)

Look ma, no tube!

Today is the day that Foster got his NG tube pulled! I had a great picture of his tube-free face, but then proceeded to drop the camera on the NICU floor. They didn't make me throw it out (see previous post on the strict floor-drop policy); however, it appears to have some serious lens damage and refuses to power up. So, we're stuck with old pictures, probably for the remaining life of this blog. We've had bad luck with this camera...when Foster was born, we had lost the battery charger and had to rely on my mom's camera when she came to visit. Now, Foster is about to come home and we are camera-less again. I should probably make it a priority to find a camera shop today. I'm just having one of those classic "Liz" days...I dropped the camera, then I dropped my reusable grocery bags in a puddle before going into the grocery store, and then once in the grocery store, I plowed over a whole display of baby belle cheese. Who decides to put 40 boxes of cheese on a flimsy cardboard display in the middle of a busy grocery store isle? But back to Foster...he reached 6 lbs 1 ounce last night and is downing his bottles and putting in some serious breast feeding efforts. He had an eye exam yesterday, since preemies can develop a retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), but his retinas were still too immature to assess. Therefore, the exam will get repeated in 3 weeks. It looks pretty promising that he'll be an outpatient at that point.

Happy Birthday

Today Foster is 4 weeks old. In some respects, the past 4 weeks have flown by...he has grown before our eyes (he is expected to reach 6lbs tonight) and it is hard to picture him as fragile as he was at the beginning. But, for the most part, his birth seems like ages ago. The NICU will (hopefully) soon be a thing of our past, but it has been a long 4 weeks of painfully cautious optimism. Foster has made rapid progress and passed every milestone quickly, but we have always had to temper our excitement and anticipation in case of unexpected setbacks. Just when he seemed to make a leap, the doctors would remind us of all the threats still out there. Even though he is doing incredibly well this week (he ate all of his feedings overnight and nursed a full feeding this morning) and there is much talk of him going home next week, it is hard to get our hopes up until he is in the car with us as we cross the bridge from NJ into PA. So, I am elated he is slated to come home, yet also terrified of a setback at this point, when it is least expected. Everyone keep their fingers crossed that the next 4-5 days go by smoothly and he is home by the end of next week!

Blue Steel

Today has been a spit-up free day so far, although Chris will be there for the noon feeding, so maybe Foster is saving it up for dad! Foster got examined by a preemie physical therapist yesterday and he checked out A-OK..except that he can only turn right. That is, he primarily lies on the right side of his head. A side preference is typical for babies...we will just have to encourage him to mix it up so he doesn't get a flat head over time. It makes him a mini Zoolander (who could only turn right on the runway), which is appropriate since he is also really really ridiculously good looking. This is his killer Blue Steel.

I've decided this is my last week of work and I feel great about the decision. Most of the doctors and nurses are very optimistic he will go home by the end of next week. It will be great to have more time with him in the NICU and to catch up on my "To Dos" before he gets home. He still needs to pass a 24 hour apnea test, the car seat test, get circumcised, and have an eye exam. Hopefully that all goes smoothly and he passes with flying colors.

Weight: 5lbs 14 ounces!!