1 week old

Our little boy is a week old today. Overall, he's doing great - since he was born he dropped a bit of weight (which is typical), but is now 5 pounds 1 ounce (he was born at 4 lb 12 ounces). So he's gaining weight (which is one criteria for going home).

He had a bit of jaundice over the past few days so he had to wear those cool shades over his eyes and had to be under the lamps - the only hard thing was I wasn't able to hold him as much - which was only hard for mom. Yesterday, his blood tests came back and he no longer needs the lamps. This morning, if his blood tests come back good again, he'll actually move from his tanning bed to a regular crib. He'll still stay in NICU, but it's a good sign.

His infection looked a lot better yesterday - the first time I've seen a big improvement. He has 3 more days of antibiotics and maybe his infection will join jaundice in being things of the past.

He also had a good 15 minutes of breast feeding - which for a 34 weeker is great. My goal is to spend as much time with him during his feeding times as possible. His OT says if we can get 3 good sessions in a row, we could give him a bottle without any nipple confusion. So that's our next job. 3 good breast feeding sessions in a row.

I modified my schedule a bit. He basically eats at 8, 11, 2, 5 (both am and pm) and I try to be there for as many of those feeding sessions as I can. He has never eaten at 8am, so I am going in about 10am now which gives me a couple of hours at home to get some things done. It's great to have those couple of hours, but it's not nearly enough time. We still have yet to put the nursery together...

I'm also still on percoset (sp?) so I can't drive yet. My mom (my taxi among a million other things) flew home yesterday so we're arranging rides for me in the morning so Tony can get as much work done in the morning as possible - he's working 1/2 days right now). Tony comes to the hospital in the afternoon, we stay through the 5pm feeding and then go home for a couple of hours (we can't be there during nursing shift change from 6:45 to 7:45) and then go back in time for the 8pm feeding. It's a lot of back and forth and will be MUCH easier once I can drive myself.

Once again, we feel so blessed to have family helping us get around. We also feel blessed to live so close to the U. There are families there from other states, from long distances within Utah, etc. The mother of the baby next to us is staying in an RV so she can be near her baby. So we can't complain about our 20 minute commute.

We still have no idea how long we'll be in the hospital - we've heard everything from "plan on being here until his due date (Sept 17th) to "he's progressing very well - he might not be here a long time". The doctors are hesitant to give us a time frame too. We do know that he has to 1) have 3 more days of antibiotics and fight the infection 2) kick the jaundice (which he might have done) 3) be able to feed 100% by mouth (right now he still has a feeding tube) - he breastfed yesterday for the first time - an estimated 5-6 ounces 4) continue to gain weight. The picture (not the one with mom) was from a few days ago - he already looks different and has put on a bit of weight in his cheeks - I'll try to take a picture today.

Thanks all for your love and support!
Natalie, Tony and Baby Smart (still no name yet, but we're getting close...)