Thanksgiving 2008

First bath!

Three weeks for a bath....does that seem wrong?

I could get used to this

Jose and Andrew get some quality time together.

One on two

This was my first week alone with the boys starting on Wednesday. So far I've survived and it hasn't been too bad. It has been lots easier because friends have brought over dinners this week and I haven't had to worry about cooking or grocery shopping. I'm learning the art of timing their sleeping so I can nap. Ideally I nurse Andrew and get him to sleep around 11:30am, just before I put Sam down for his nap so I can sleep for as much of Sam's two hour nap as possible. So far I've managed 0 minutes one day, 1 hr the next and 45 minutes today. The nights are still rough (asleep 2 hrs, awake 1-2 hrs, asleep 2-3 hrs, awake 1 hr, then Dave lets me sleep in 1 hr and I'm up for the day), but I'm managing alright.

Houdini Pee

Andrew has mastered the art of leaking pee out of the middle of his back. Don't ask me how, but often just after you've finished changing his diaper, you go to pick him up and "Pow!" he's wet all over the middle of his back. Makes for lots of laundry...

I guess they are brothers...

...the resemblance is a bit uncanny.

Good name...

One Dimple

I'll try to get a picture of Andrew smiling in his sleep, because one of the cutest things is he's got one little dimple in his right cheek, but none in his left. He's just charming when he smiles and flashes that one dimple.

No diet for me!

Today Andrew was weighed at the doctor's and he's managed to regain his birth weight (8lb 9oz or 3.885kg) in 9 days. They usually want to make sure they do so by 14 days, so he's doing really well! It made me feel reassured because he has turned out to be a super efficient nurser. Babies take anywhere from 1o minutes to 45 minutes to complete a nursing and Andrew knocks them out in an average of 7 minutes. Sometimes he'll eat often, every hour or hour and a half, but other times he nurses for 7 minutes and then sleeps for three and a half hours! Not that I'm complaining, and apparently he's getting what he needs to grow. He's also a champion sleeper (knock on wood) and spends much of his day and night sleeping, with minimal fussing. So far he's been a really easy baby to care for, which is a blessing as I'm learning to balance caring for Sam and Andrew.

Sweetpea & Daddy

I get such a feeling of peace and inner joy holding either of my children when they are asleep.

Cute...and part Klingon?

Is it just me or does he look a little like Worf?

Homeward bound

Andrew is coming home with us!

Real clothes

No IV, no wires, no UV lights...
Woohoo!!
Just a hearing test to go.

Biliruben no more!

No more club ICU for Andrew!

Coming home!!

Biliruben at 11.5!
Its time to blow this popsicle stand!

Bililrubin is down!

Bilirubin level is 11.2 - low enough!

Now we wait to talk to the doctor and see if he gets discharged this AM or PM. Yay!!

Goal 2 met, but struggling on Goal 3

Andrew ate enough breastmilk through the night to significantly decrease the sugar solution they were feeding him through the IV, so he met Goal 2! However, his billirubin level was 15.2 this morning (he needs to be below 10), indicating he's still struggling with jaundice. So he won't be released today and they'll move him under the big lights in his own incubator. This is the "baby club med" that his brother Sam also visited in the NICU in his early days. The good news is I can start breastfeeding him in addition to the bottles and they'll take his billirubin levels again tomorrow and hopefully they are low enough they can release him.
-Christine