Hi, Grandpa!

My parents drove up from Maryland to spend several hours with us. My dad hadn't met Oliver yet. He was the last of Oliver's four grandparents to meet him, and the first grandparent to hold him. My mom was the first one to meet Oliver (she saw him before I did on August 7), and she really, really wanted to hold him today, but she restrained herself because she has a sore throat. Nadia and Ian enjoyed some time at McDonalds's (one with a playland with my parents for lunch).

Emotionally it is wonderful to be home. Physically it's more exhausting. One perk of being home is we have much softer toilet paper than they do in hospitals! When I got home yesterday I felt the need to get into high gear with cleaning since I can't stand clutter and also because of the company I knew we were having (oxygen delivery, home nurse, and my parents). I did a load of dishes, two loads of laundry, swept the kitchen floor, made our bed (I'm sure it hadn't been made in 11 days), went through the mail, put away things that had been piling up here and there such as my recent consignment shop purchases, etc. It was also easier to take a nap at the hospital. I'm probably going to be ready to crash the minute Paul gets home from school this week since I'm up so much during the night. It will be so helpful if by some miracle I can get Ian and Oliver to sleep during Nadia's quiet time. I will definitely nap if that happens! I went to the grocery store with Nadia today. I bought two frozen pizzas to give myself until Wednesday to start cooking dinner again.

 

Yesterday Paul set up the pack 'n play in the family room. I've been using that as the place to change Oliver's diaper and let him sleep during the day. The medical supply company came by yesterday with two large oxygen tanks. We've been keeping the tank downstairs during the day and in his room at night. He slept in his crib in his bedroom last night, and I am happy to say he did MUCH better than Ian with adjusting to sleeping in a crib. I tried a few things, and the one that did the trick was the swaddling blankets. I have had two of those for four years. I put one in his crib and one in the pack 'n play, but then when I was changing his diaper once this evening he peed before I got the new diaper on him, and one of the swaddling blankets was one of the things that got peed on. I'm grateful we have two of them! Any time I have had trouble getting him to sleep, I've just put him under my shirt for a few minutes and that has done the trick. I'm supposed to encourage him to sleep as much as possible in between feedings to conserve his energy (in part so he doesn't burn as many calories).

 

A home health nurse came for a visit today. I declined that service with Nadia and Ian, but I thought it might be helpful this time around since Oliver has more needs. She said he weighed 4lb 5oz today, but that was with a wet/poopy diaper and the NICU weighs babies with a dry diaper and then subtracts the weight of the diaper (15 grams in his case). I would imagine though that he has gained SOME weight, as I doubt his diaper weighs 3 ounces. The only part of her visit that proved helpful was when she showed us how to use a strap (rather than stickies) to attach Oliver's respiration rate and heart rate probes. Paul and I tried to figure it out last night, to no avail.

I didn't realize until recently that so many things have minimum weights (ex. 5 lbs for a car seat). I had planned to "wear" Oliver when we went to the store, church, playground, etc. so that I would have free hands for Nadia and Ian. This seems even more important since Oliver is attached to a monitor and an oxygen tank. It turns out almost every baby carrier has a minimum weight that is much higher than 4 lbs. I have been searching and searching online to find something for preemies, as otherwise I won't be able to leave the house with all three children until he's much bigger. Today I ordered a weego. They have one for preemies (minimum weight of 3 lbs). It wasn't cheap, but I didn't think I really had a choice. One of my aunts gave me $100 as a baby gift so I am considering her gift to be what (mostly) paid for this item. I didn't have any choice in color. I wouldn't have picked light blue seersucker, but if it enables me to wear Oliver so my hands are free for Nadia and Ian, it will be well worth the money spent. I hope it comes asap although it's coming from Germany so I know it will take a few days.