NICU Day #8

On their way home last night, Paul's parents made a second trip to the grocery store for me. Paul's dad brought up Ian's carseat, another pair of pants for me, and the food they had just purchased. The reason for the second trip to the store was that I found out that of the three places in the hospital that serve food during the week, only one is open on Saturday or Sunday. It's the one that is REALLY far away from where we are. I am not up to walking that far, and I have a hard time pushing myself in a wheelchair that far also. So they got me some Hot Pockets and two sandwiches from the deli. I don't plan to leave the NICU today or tomorrow. I also don't expect to have any visitors today in light of the snow we're forecasted to receive. Paul might come down tomorrow for a visit as over the past 5 days I've only seen him once (Thursday). He's going to see if the girls (neighbors) would watch Nadia while he came down to see me. We don't feel like a family of four. I feel like a family of two - just Ian and me, and I only have contact with him about 4 hours a day. I try not to think about Nadia as doing so just brings on the tears.

Sheila - your comment on the last post was VERY, VERY encouraging to me. I hope my experience is the same as yours!!! How long does it take for stretch marks to go away? I did get some this time. :-(

Ian wasn't wearing the outfit shown in these photos (from Paul's mom) very long. Aren't the feet so cute? (last picture) They have him change clothes prior to his 2am weigh-in. He lost a few grams but basically has held steady at 5lb 10oz for 3 days. Once he had a full feeding (50ml), but all the other supplemental feedings were 25-30ml. He had just a very tiny bit of formula yesterday. Most of his supplemental feedings were 100% my milk. I pump after nursing him, and I get 20-35ml each time. These photos were taken after his 2am feeding. He was a lot more alert between 2am-8am than he has been lately. This also meant he cried more than he did yesterday. When I went to change his diaper at 5am it was only wet. I didn't wipe him, but just the act of removing the wet diaper caused him to start pooping everywhere. What a mess! His bilirubin was just down a tiny bit this morning, but that blood was drawn right before that big bowel movement. The hurse said that probably his bilirubin is down even lower now. He's just wearing a hospital outfit now as I only have one other sleeper with me - a preemie size one that Paul got for Nadia. I can't use that one because the Wallaby blanket wouldn't fit inside it. When I was at JcP buying him the two newborn size outfits, I almost got him something that said Baby's First Christmas. I really wish I had done so!! I was hoping his first Christmas wouldn't be until 2010, but it will be special to be a family of four this Christmas.

I should take a photo of the back of Ian's head so you can see how long his hair is. Nadia will be 18 months old this week, and she hasn't had her first haircut yet. I am positive Ian will have his first haircut (at least to trim the back) at a MUCH younger age than Nadia will be when she has her first haircut! I'm not going to have my boy's hair go past the collar of his shirts, LOL! Nadia was born at 36 weeks without any eyelashes. Ian has some short, very light eyelashes even though he came at 34 weeks. Hers were light at first so I am expecting his to change in not only length but color. Time will tell regarding the color of his eyes and hair. He also doesn't have much in the way of eyebrows yet, but I know in time that will change.

Last night I finally found a position that was comfortable enough for me to get some good sleep (albeit the longest I can sleep in a row is 2 hours). Or maybe it was just a case of my body finally crashing as I've gotten very little sleep over the past week.

My whole family was planning to come up to our house for our gift exchange and turkey dinner this Wednesday (morning of Christmas Eve). My sisters and I were going to be going to our in-laws on Christmas Day (for two of us that means in Pennsylvania and for the other, Virginia). Normally we all gather at my parents (Maryland), but I didn't want to travel that far at 36w. Little did I know that Ian would come at 34w! My mom took the gifts I had wrapped back with her as now the celebration will be in MD, but we'll be unable to come. I was excited at the prospect of all 18 of us being together (9 kids age 7 and under and 9 adults), but usually there are several kiddos that are sick, and I don't feel it is wise to expose Ian to germs at this early stage of his life. I am grateful we were all together in August, but I feel sad to miss out on this gathering as it might be years until we are all together again. My parents and brother are going to come up at some point to visit us next week. We will still plan to get together with Paul's family on Christmas Day, but that trip only involves a 1 hour drive, and we've never gotten sick after spending time with his family (whereas Nadia has yet to get rid of the cold that she caught when we were in MD in October).

This morning I should have been at my church participating in our choir's dress rehearsal. Tomorrow morning they are presenting the cantata. It's a really nice one, and I am a bit bummed that I'm missing it. The funny thing is that last year it snowed the day they had their Christmas cantata. I joined the choir in January 2009. I also had a really pretty Christmas dress for Nadia to wear to church tomorrow, but she won't be going to church after all. Well she still might fit 2T dresses next winter so maybe she can wear it next year. I do love dressing my girl up, and Christmas dresses are especially beautiful in my opinion!