4 Weeks Old!

Oliver turned 4 weeks old today. The time he was in the NICU was such a stressful blur that it feels like he's 2 days old rather than 4 weeks old, especially considering his corrected age will be 36 weeks tomorrow. One blessing of being in the NICU (which is a very noisy place with all the alarms going off all the time - the car seat test alarm is by far the most painful to hear) is that Oliver doesn't need to be in a quiet room to be able to sleep. There have been times the kids (particularly Ian) have awakened Oliver, but he can sleep through quite a bit of noise as long as he's swaddled (although he likes to have his arms free). A few times a day he cries because he's hungry, but most of the time his intake of milk is at my initiative rather than his. The one exception would be from 9pm- midnight. He is really hungry then, which doesn't go over too well with me as I'm wanting to get some sleep during that time span! I get more sleep from midnight to 7am (although I do nurse and pump at least twice during that time span).

I spoke with someone at the local social security office, and they said Oliver hasn't been assigned a number yet. We received the social security card and birth certificate much faster with Nadia and Ian. I hope Pinnacle didn't goof up the paperwork! I submitted the health insurance form to HR this morning and explained I didn't have his SS number or birth certificate (both are supposed to be included). Thankfully she said she could add him to our policy without those. I'll submit them as soon as I receive them!

I asked Paul to move the car bed to his car this morning in preparation for Oliver's doctor appointment. Earlier he had put an infant car seat, a booster seat, and a toddler car seat in the back of his car to make sure they fit (yes). Today we discovered that a car bed takes up far more room than a car seat. There was NO way all three kids could be transported in the back of his car. I had planned to drop Nadia and Ian off at Sarah's house en route to the pediatrican, and I had planned to take Nadia to ballet/tap later in the afternoon. Paul called his parents, and they were willing to come up at 1:30 this afternoon to watch Nadia and Ian while we took Oliver to his appointment and also went shopping for a van. They also agreed to take Nadia to her dance class.

We were at the pediatrician for 90 minutes. I wish there wasn't so much waiting involved, but it was very manageable with two adults and one baby, although that one baby was connected to an oxygen tank and apnea monitor. My favorite part of the day was being in the waiting room because of all the sweet comments we got. It was fun to have so much positive attention directed our way. It was his first trip somewhere aside from a hospital. They said he weighed 4lb 6.5 oz, which would put him at the 5th percentile. He was wearing a wet/poopy diaper at the time, and they weighed him with a dry diaper in the NICU (and then subtracted the weight of the diaper). Also, he was wearing the band for the heartrate and respiratory rate leads, which he wasn't wearing in the NICU. So he definitely didn't really gain 4.7 ounces in 2 days, but hopefully it means he did gain SOME weight. I need to start weighing him at home. The doctor said normally a baby wouldn't come back until he was 2 months old, but since he was so premature, his next appointment (primarily a weight check) is scheduled for the 21st of this month. They said he was 17.5 inches (which is quite a bit less than the NICU measurements), which would put him at the 10th percentile, and they said his head circumference was 32cm (10th percentile).

Paul, Nadia, and Ian seem to have some sort of respiratory bug so we made a quick stop at Walmart so I could run in and buy some hand sanitizer. I also tried to buy some storage bags for my milk, but they didn't have any. On our way to the Toyota dealership we also stopped at a Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Paul and Oliver stayed in the car (as they had while I went into Walmart), and I ran in and bought a gift for Paul's cousin's bridal shower, which will be this weekend as I could give the gift to Paul's mom to take to the shower for me. Paul and I took turns test driving a Sienna (while Oliver stayed in the car). We made an offer for a 2012 Sienna that the dealership had used as a loaner vehicle. It had about 10K miles on it. Unfortunately they wouldn't come down very much. We then went to the Honda dealership, but they only had one used Odyssey, and it had 80K miles it (too many in my opinion). The Toyota dealership was offering 0% APR for 48 months on their new vehicles. Honda wasn't offering that, and their vans were about the same price. We went back to the Toyota dealership. My instinct was to buy the "slightly used" 2012 Sienna because it was a bit cheaper and also because I liked the color better, but Paul's instinct was to buy a new 2012 Sienna in light of the 0% financing since his job situation is uncertain starting in January.

We drove home in a dark grey 2012 Sienna. It has a couple of features that I have enjoyed in my Prius - a camera that shows you what's behind you when you're in reverse and keyless entry (which is very handy with young children). Two things I'm guessing won't be my favorite features are #1 how much it will cost to fill the tank at the gas station and #2 it will be a lot harder to park. We traded in Paul's Civic. My Prius is now Paul's car. I wish we didn't have to rush into this major purchase. I would have liked to be able to do more research and have more flexibility as to when we bought a van, but I didn't want to be home alone without a vehicle in which I could transport all three children at the same time. Hopefully this van will last for many years. We bought Paul's 2002 Civic in April 2003 with 10K miles on it, and we traded it in with $182K miles on it. This was my very first time buying a new vehicle. I've always bought used cars in the past. It's the fourth vehicle we've bought over the past 11 years (a Civic, Corolla, Prius, and Sienna). It will be nice when we're doing something with Paul's parents that we'll all fit in one vehicle now. We were gone for a total of 8 hours today. Considering how sleep deprived I am, this was very taxing, but now I have a way of taking all three kids somewhere when necessary. I won't be going out much until the Weego carrier arrives, but it's helpful to know I'm not stranded at home.