Growing, feeding and losing our minds...

There are many reasons for the delay in posting updates, and we'll keep it brief because we are all extremely sleep deprived.
Connor:
* Doing well and weighs in at 4lbs 14 oz as of today. He took his first bottle of 20ccs
* He is on and off of the photo therapy as his bili levels continue to go up and down, right now he is back on the lights
* He was moved into an open air crib last night, no more incubator/isolette
Really he's just growing and needs to learn how to feed and he should be able to come home, we suspect sometime mid-April.
* Riding the preemie roller coaster again is no fun, but we feel blessed that is not struggling with anything more. Leaving him at the hospital is very hard.

Cameron:
* The day mom came home from the hospital Cameron got the Flu - made for a great easter weekend of throwing up. We did the usual call into the neurosurgeons but all felt pretty confident this was just the stomach flu and saved ourselves a trip to Children's.
* Received his new orthotics (AFOs) we are not sure about these and will review their use with the PT on Monday.
* He is going to measured for a walker in the coming week
* He is working really hard on some words, it's very cute and he loves to dance and it's just so wonderful to be at home with him and see him do all these things instead of hearing them through the phone
* He was able to go from sitting to standing on his stool in PT last week but we have not seen him take any steps on his own like he did during the one PT session a few weeks ago, but we know he's close

Mom:
* Another trip to hospital hell and emergency surgery early Friday morning around 12:30am for an umbilical hernia. It took from 11am to 7pm in the ER, multiple tests, CT scans, and general "not fun stuff" to get this diagnosis and the decision was made to repair this immediately to prevent major problems from developing. So mom had surgery at 12:30am on Friday and was in recovery by 2:30am and demanded to go home by 5pm Friday evening, thank god the wonderful Dr agreed to let me go. So just as I was getting back on my feet after childbirth I am now slammed back down and not supposed to lift anything more than 20lbs for 4weeks. I am in a ton of pain but trying to keep moving around so I don't get so stiff. UGH!

We have to believe that we have now played all the "bad" cards and this insanity will end.

Little Brother Arrives!

March 19, 2008
8:37am
5lbs
19 1/2"

Cameron's little (but very big) brother is here!!! We are all very excited and exhausted. Labor was very quick and despite a rupturing placenta, where things got very scary what could have gotten very bad turned out ok. Connor took all of about 8 pushes to come out, he was ready!!

He is in the NICU, as expected, but doing well. We don't know too much right now other than the Dr's are very pleased and cautiously optimistic. He is dropping weight, but today he took his first 6 ccs of milk and has been tolerating feeds since which is great. He will be tube fed, for about two weeks and then we'll try to move on from there. We will deal with your standard preemie issues (bilirubin, maintaning temp, feeding etc). He was "grunting" a bit yesterday with breathing and the chest x-ray showed some signs of Respitory Distress Syndrome (lungs not fully mature) but he's handling it ok on his own, no oxygen needed so far. We will hope this continues in the same fashion. We also had a head ultrasound today, just as precaution given the family history.

Connor has the longest legs and arms and dark hair - this is truly dad's son :)

Here are few more photos - Mom is going home tomorrow - YEAH!!! and we'll be down to visit with Connor everyday, they say he could be here 4-6 weeks but I have a feeling he'll be home sooner rather later.

Thank you for all the well wishes and support over the last 50+ days!

My Boys

I am so proud of my boys at home! Dad has turned into a regular Mr. Mom, I knew he was truly Mr. Mom when he told me a trip to the grocery store ALONE was a treat. He is doing such a great job that I want to take a moment to thank him for putting me at ease that all is well on the home front so I don't need to worry.

He and Cameron have no doubt formed a bond that will last a lifetime and I am so grateful for this, and to him for being such a wonderful father and husband. In between his new title of Mr. Mom he also managed to be the TOP REP of his company in February selling the most of everyone. How many people can pull off this feat while dealing with everything else? it's truly amazing.

He called me last week and had spilled bacon grease all over his hands and ended up in the ER with 2nd degree burns. I had to ask him how on earth are you finding time to make yourself bacon in the middle of the week? I may have to take a few pointers from him on time mgmt?

A for our other boy - Cameron - he too is doing great. We had the 6 month therapy review last week and everyone is very proud of the strides he is making. Some of them even said they should shred the report they did in January and re-write because he has come so far. He can now sign "please", "baby" and "eat" and he is engaging the therapists in play time bringing out his stool when our OT comes, he knows the drill. Matt told me last night that he now says "Ba Ba" for his morning and evening bottle - something Matt has been working on for the last two weeks.

The therapy team also talked about getting Cameron a walker, we have started the paperwork and he should be be receiving his AFO's the other orthotics, in the next week. We'll see what they do for him.

Updates from the hospital - I went into labor again on Sunday morning, ended up on the dreaded Magnesium Sulfate, it was not fun but still no baby which is all that matters - we'll leave it at that because reliving the last 48 hours would not be good for anyone. Today is 31 weeks and 1 day, going for an ultrasound today.... goal is to get to 34 weeks.....