recap of my visit with grammy, grampy and auntie colleen

sorry for no caps- ian is napping on my arm an i am typing one handed. yesterday the lynch crew came to visit - ian got to see grammy and grampy and auntie colleen again and they picked right up where they left off. here is a link to colleen's pictures of the day... Ian pictures

Ian's first videos

Steven took these photos and put them together with video from Ian's first week of life. Now that I have figured out how to post video to the blog you can expect more.

Hot day in CT

It was so hot that Ian stripped down to his onesie and relaxed in the basket with the air conditioning going...

Excitment from Tuesday

Ian's big day started with his first doctor's appointment - he dressed up nicely in a sweater that Grammy Lynch made him and off he went in his car seat. At the doctor's we ran into jabob's mommy and daddy and Jacob - Ian's neighbor from the NICU. What a small world! The doctor weighed Ian and he is 5 lbs 3 ozs! Wow! We also got the green light for a bath- here is a before bath and after bath picture. Then for comparison to his NICU crib - here is Ian in his crib with Mr. Turtle... quite a bit different than the NICU I think.

He's Home!

And already sleeping during the day and up all night. But we made it through and will be taking naps later today. here are some pictures from his discharge- which went really quickly! We were out of there in an hour. He gave the nurses thumbs up as he was strolled out of the NICU. Then when we got home Peter took a nice picutre of us - or tried to! Steven had Ian pose in his little bed - wasn't hard to do. Then we tried to sleep - Ian had other plans. Oh well! I'm doing some of his laundry now - he went through a lot of clothes, cloths, and pads last night. The best one was when he pooped all over Steven. Yuck! He just dribbles breast milk on me. Well - going to try to take a quick nap before he's up for his 9 am feeding. Trust me - there really isn't a schedule now - that's thrown out the window - I'm just feeding him whenever I think he wants it!

A sign that Ian's been in the hospital too long...

is when he starts diagnosing himself. funny guy! He was great yesterday as always and weighed in at exactly 5 pounds last night at 8 PM - but then he had the biggest poop ever and probably lost a little weight. Poor kid had his circumcision yesterday afternoon - but he's doing fine and this morning when I went up to see him at 8 he was calm as could be. We are still on track for tomorrow mid-morning the doctor said. Two other babies are going home today. And another probably Wednesday. So then there will only be five babies in the NICU. Ian's friend Jacob leaves today after 6 weeks and a day, Ryan is the one that will go home Wed - he wsa born a day after Ian so he'll have five weeks total - Ian officially has four and a half weeks under his belt. Already today Steven and I have between the two of us put the laundry away, done three loads of wash, vacumned and dusted the bedroom, cleaned the bathrooms, Cleaned the stove and the kitchen, gone to the dump, the bank, and ordered fruit baskets for the hospital. Still to do - go grocery shopping and relax at some point!

Today's pictures

Mommy isn't that great with the camera and these are fuzzy - but you can get a good look at my chubby cheeks from this morning right after breakfast. And I am almost doing the "oooo" look - you have to catch me doing it fast because it comes and goes. And as you can see - my clothes still don't fit - this is a bit big so I have to have the sleeves rolled up and my legs get lost in the bottoms. Tonight I weighed 4 lbs 13 ozs again - same as last night -- probably will be under 5 pounds going home. After a nice dinner I just layed and looked around before putting my fingers in my mouth - nice way to spend the night...

Going Home!

Ian got the green light yesterday to come home on Sunday. We met with the doctor for about an hour and got the full overview of everything that we have to do going forward with him. Ian then was visited by the eye doctor and he didn't like it one bit! Poor kiddo - had to have eye drops and was poked in the eyes a few times. He didn't even want to nurse after that and I had to give him a bottle. But - at 8 PM he weighed 4 lbs 13 oz - almost one pound over his birth weight. This morning he had a new neighbor next to him - a girl - I had to tell him to not make any moves on her! And I took a few closeups of Ian because I realized that yesterday we didn't take his four week old picutres. When I get home later those will be posted. I went to Babies R Us afterwards and got almost everything else I could think of that I would need to have with him coming home - I am sure I don't have everything though!

The big One Month birthday

So Ian is celebrating his one month birthday in style today by starting his discharge proceedings. Sort of sound scary but it really isn't. Its very exciting and Ian doesn't really notice all the excitment surrounding him. Last night we brought the car seat up to the NICU so they could do the car seat test. He passed it last night - basically had to sit in it for an hour and have no breathing problems. He weighed in at 4 lbs 10.8 ozs last night - so he really might not be five pounds when he comes home some day next week. The doctor is meeting with Steven and I today at 3 to have the discharge meeting, Ian was examined by him this morning while I was there and seen by the physical therapist. Then my doctor came in and had me sign the paperwork for his circumcision - poor guy - it might happen today or tomorrow. He still needs his hearing test and eye test. So keep your fingers crossed that there are no apneas happening - which haven't happened but you never know!

Quick Update

Not a lot of time today - work is busy - have to get a lot done this week. Ian weighed in at 4 lbs 11 ozs last night. Up an ounce and a third in 24 hours. He is either nursing or bottle feeding at every feeding now and has lost that tube in his nose. This morning he was great with me and when Steven went at 11 he was good too. The having to eat on his own thing is tiring him out a bit so he's not as active. His room is painted -now to set it up. We have to get the rug too - that might be a today thing.

Lots of pictures

So - here are some pictures of Ian from his very big week - Wednesday he turned three weeks old and posed with a blanket that a nice woman from tennis made. Then on Friday night he loosened up - undid a few buttons and cuddled up to Daddy for his first bottle - it was filled with breastmilk so he at least smelled something familar - looked to me like he had no problem with it at all! After eating he relaxed in a very odd position - we don't know what he was doing with his hands - maybe signaling a small plane to land. The today was the most exciting- Ian's first bath! He made is little "ooooohhh" face when he looks surprised when Daddy was lowering him into the water - but then he liked it - no crying at all just surprised looks.

Update on feedings

Well - Steven just called from the NICU from the 11 AM visit and the doctor said Ian can start bottles today - but we are going to wait until tonight's feeding so I have another chance to feed him this afternoon. I'm not sure if its too soon or not - I don't want him to get used to the bottles and not want to nurse. But I am sure the doctor knows best - but I just can't believe how soon they are letting him try it. That means that he can get the tube out of his nose quicker I guess.

Sorry for lack of pictures

We've taken them I swear - but I forgot the laptop at work (since I had to bring it to work on Wed to do website stuff from here- for some reason the desktop won't let me do anything) - and then I never uploaded the pictures from Wednesday night. Ian is doing GREAT! Last night our nurse called about 7:45 to give us the update that he weighed in at 4 lbs 7 ozs! Wow - up 2 ounces since Wednesday night. He ate a lot Thursday morning and last night seemed to be doing ok with the nursing. This morning was even better. He's looking rosy and chubbier in the cheeks. His little legs are still skinny though. I can see him filling out the preemie clothes and almost too big for them. But he's still too small for newborn clothes. I'm going back at 2 today and again at 8 to feed him. The doctor said we can try three times a day now. Once feeding with me is established then they will start him on bottles of breastmilk - probably sometime next week. They say that no baby goes home exclusively breastfeeding so not to worry. We are still very tired around our house - yesterday I had the day off but did work from home in between doing a bunch of errands to get caught up. Steven and I are painting this weekend. Luckily its cool enough out and it won't be swealtering in Ian's room.

Three weeks!

I promise pictures from later tonight - its tough to take pictures of him when I'm also trying to feed him at the same time. Today we had an 11 AM appointment with the Lactation Consultant and Ian showed off for her. After a bit of a hard time starting, he remembered how to eat and went to town. I think he even ate a bit too much because a little started spitting back up - but that was ok the nurse said. He even pee'd all over himself and the pillows I was holding him up with while he ate. So that meant another change of clothes. The wierd thing was that the diaper wasn't that wet - he was wet - so the nurse said he might have peed out the side of the diaper. He's still a bit too big for preemie clothes, but not quite big enough for newborn clothes. Last night at 8 pm he was 4 pounds 4.6 ounces. We get another weigh in tonight. His face is much chubbier than before - he's nice and pink with rosy cheeks - sort of like me. I'm still not sure what color his eyes will be - they have gotten darker rather than lighter. His hair is still really light - he might end up blondish. We are all set to paint his room this weekend - and I have Thurs and Fri off but will probably do some work at home - so this is the perfect time to get it going and finish up by Sunday.

Growing Boy

Ian is growing really fast. Last night he was up two ounces to 4 lbs 4 ozs! And that is even with all the pooping and peeing he's been doing. He's doing really well with feeding too - he really has learned to coordinate his sucking and breathing. Sometimes he gets frustrated if he can't immediately latch on and get what he wants but with a little help from the nurses I've been able to get him started and going really well the past two mornings. This morning he got so much milk that he didn't have to have any milk through his gavage tube. When I left him at 10 AM he was still content and sleeping soundly. The Doctor said this morning that he is doing great - he just needs to be feeding on his own - everything else is fine. Last night he must have had a big night - and peed through four outfits! Nice - lots of laundry to do. We still haven't finished his room - this weekend will be the big painting weekend. But I have Thursday off so I might be able to do some then too. The other thing I have to do is go do shopping for baby care stuff - all the things that you don't realize you need until he comes home. I have a checklist to help and I will hit Target or Babies R Us to use some of my gift cards we've been receiving. At this rate Ian could be home by the time my neighbor and boss are doing my baby shower in two weeks! He could be the special guest :)

Ian's graduated again

Saturday was a big day for Ian - first Grammy and Grampy Lynch came to visit and got to see him for the first time without all the breathing tubes. Then that night he was moved to a crib - no more isolette! I've been practicing feeding with him and he's doing better - at least he knows that he gets fed from me even if he can't quite do it completely yet. Today was interesting- Steven got to deal with exploding poop - quite a sight to see - poop coming out nearly horizontally and flying over the side of the crib to get all down the front of me and the crib. Nice Ian! We went back to Babies R Us and got the car seat the NICU reccomended - and talked to everyone in there about their strollers and what they liked or disliked. We were in there for like two hours. Here are some more pictures from Sat morning and this afternoon - before poop all bundled up and then after poop while Steven was holding him so his crib could be changed! He looks pleased with himself...

Sleeping Baby

That is all Ian seems to do these days for me. He was wide awake last night for his Daddy - but this morning he was a sleeper. Oh - well that was after the explosive poop I had to deal with while changing his diaper. Luckily I had the other diaper right underneath him so it didn't really get anywhere but on the diaper. He seemed quite pleased with himself. Hopefully Steven gets to experience changing a diaper of a squiggly baby with wires. And try not to get the wires in the poop. We are still tired around here. This week is the bubble up week for Steven - so I can't wait until that is over for him. I'm averaging 3 trips to the hospital each day this week. Its a lot.

More Pictures

Ian is filling out- we can notice a difference. He got his IV off today and they won't have to put it back in - -that means fewer wires. he's in clothes too. And I've realized that if I bring clothes from here I'd have to bring them home and wash them. Better off letting the NICU dress him in their clothes and have Danbury hospital do the laundry! Tomorrow he might graduate to the crib if he can keep his temp under control. Not too many apena's today - only two - we've told him not to do it so he can come home. The first two pictures are from Sunday and the last two are from Tuesday night.

Eating and pooping

That is what Ian is up to these days - and gaining weight - he's 4 pounds 2 ounces right now. And they have him up to almost 1/2 an ounce of milk every three hours. Last night was exciting - he wore clothes for the first time and today he might be moved out of the isolette. He just needs to keep his own temp regulated. Steven's parents left early this morning. Now we are on our own this week. I've got to run and get up to the NICU at 8 - more practice with Ian for feeding going on this morning although he's still too young to master breathing and swallowing at the same time!