Gain Weight Otis!

Ingrid and I made a sign that said that while Otis was in the NICU.  And it has worked!  Otis is home with us again, weighing about 5lbs 8oz and gaining steadily.  Or at least we hope so...I found that nursing him doesn't give the calories he needs because he can't suck hard enough yet.  So, we are back to bottles of fortified breast milk.  He's sucking them down like a champ and will hopefully have gained enough weight when the visiting nurse comes back tomorrow. 

Ingrid is pretty cool with having a little brother.  He is now officially "Bub" and she has to kiss him and say goodnight to him.  I love seeing her as a big sister! 

I tried out our XS Bum Genius today, it totally fits!  I have smalls in other brands, but they still look pretty huge.  And I have some prefolds but they need to be washed still, so we're still using the disposables the hospital sent home with us.  Today I had the BG on, though, and it looked so enormous and cute I had to take pictures.  Can't wait to be strictly cloth diapering again!

Dehydration

Whew!  After all the tests they ran on my little 5lb baby, it turns out that he was just dehydrated.  Good that it's nothing serious, but horrible because he had to get so much done to him when all he needed was a heat lamp and a bottle...

I feel bad now that I was so against bottles.  Truth is, I still am.  The drs. kept saying he needed formula to supplement the breast milk, as it has more calories and that's what he needs right now.  But I think that's a lot of crap.  Breast milk is made specifically for him, isn't it?  I get that he needs to eat more often, but it can still be my milk.  I am not paying for formula when my body is overflowing with free milk made just for babies...Anyway, we are now going to do breast feeding and then top it off with a bottle of expressed milk, to make sure he's getting enough.  As long as it's my milk I'm okay with it.  Still hate pumping but I'll do it so I don't have to go through another night at the ER!!

Otis was doing really well last night when I went to visit, hopefully he'll be able to come home Saturday after his antibiotics are done.  And this time I will make sure he gets his feedings and gets enough!!  Poor kid just doesn't realize how small he is, and we keep forgetting how early he was. 

So here's to a better 2011!!  Happy New Year everyone!

The NICU. Again.

Well, life is not easy with our little man.  I will forgive him, though.  Yesterday we went to our doctor's appointment and found that his temperature was dangerously low.  And he had only gained an ounce, not the five ounces they had hoped for.  And he was really lethargic and wouldn't feed much during the day.  So, back to the hospital we went.  It was really hard this time because it was so unexpected!! 

Otis got another IV put in, his blood sugar was low so they gave him some sugar water and more antibiotics.  He had to get spinal fluid drawn, which was the hardest thing to watch, I'm not sure why I did.  I wanted to hold him so bad!!  And I had to just sit there and listen to him cry.  It sucked.  He got a bunch of blood drawn, a chest xray, a urine sample.  Poor kid had every nook and cranny checked!

He got moved up to the NICU again, and I swear to god, it was a thousand times harder to leave him this time than it was after he was born.  I was just sobbing, not wanting to leave him, but it was midnight and there wasn't anything I could do for him.  And I was hormonal and exhausted and every time the doctors said something I burst into tears.  The nurse was awesome and hugged me and told me it was okay to cry, to let it out, but know he was being taken care of. 

I had to leave Otis there, all tiny and full of wires again.  Brendan called this morning and he's doing fine, he ate through the night and I think his IV is out again.  Hopefully we'll get some test results back today and figure out what is going on.  I'm crossing fingers it's nothing major, just a little bump in the road.  I miss my little man, he's already such a part of our family.  He needs to get better and come home!!

We're All Home!

Otis was released from the NICU on Monday afternoon!  That little guy did so well he was only in there for four days!  It was quite the shock to get that call that we could come get him and take him home.  Of course we still didn't have the car seat installed, so I had to struggle with that before I could even leave to go pick up Brendan from work.  No fun.  Our next car is definitely going to have the LATCH system, this using seat belts is for the birds...

Once home, it was a little stressful.  Getting into that routine of feeding, diaper changes, dealing with Ingrid, sleeping, changing lots of dirty clothes, pumping milk...it's hard!  I went to pick up some groceries and my hormones hit and I just started crying in the middle of the store.  I felt so overwhelmed and my mom wanted to go home--who could blame her?  Her whole month has been crazy because of us.  But she saw me crying as I brought in the groceries and decided to stay.  Bless her, I needed my mommy another day or two!

Yesterday was much better.  I have the hang of pumping and feeding now, and Otis is a sleeper.  Thank god!  He sleeps in four hour stretches at night so we really only have to wake up once.  It's great.  Ingrid loves her brother, I think the hardest part for her was me being away for so long.  Now that she sees I'm here to stay she's been way better.

Otis is doing well.  He had his doctor appointment yesterday and is only one ounce away from his birth weight.  He's a little on the cold side, though, so last night we did skin to skin.  It was SO comfortable!  We sat on the couch with blankets on us and he cuddled right up to me and warmed up.  I can't get over how much I love him already :) 

Today my mom is going home and Brendan is getting his hair cut, so it's the first time I'll have both my kids by myself!!  I can do it.  Right?

New Pictures of the Bub

This weekend we've gotten to spend a lot of time at the NICU with Otis.  He is doing so well, his IV is out, he doesn't have any infection, he's eating and growing.  They're checking his biliruben levels again tonight so we'll find out tomorrow if he needs phototherapy for jaundice, but other than that he's doing really well.  The doctors were pleasantly surprised, as most boys 34 weeks don't do as well.  I guess it's a hard thing to learn how to suck/swallow/breathe.  Not our guy!  He even latched on a couple times and my milk has started to trickle in so he may have even gotten something.  Hooray for that.

This morning Ingrid came with us and got to hold her brother for the first time.  She was so funny, oohing and aahing but grabbing his hands and poking her fingers in his eyes.  Good thing babies are tough.  He didn't even really open his eyes.

Later on Brendan and I went back to spend some time without a squirmy two year old.  We spent hours just looking at him and marveling over how tiny he is, how perfect he is, how he's already here, and how excited we are to take him home!  Here is my all time fave picture of Mr. Crosseyes:

And here's a picture of his fuzzy face.  He has this blond hair all over, which is so strange since Ingrid was all dark hair and both Brendan and I have brown hair.  Genes are funny.

Today he was quite alert and actually had his eyes open for awhile.  He just amazes me every time we go see him.  I know people say that another child just fits right into your life, but I didn't get how that could be.  I was really worried about how I would feel about another kid besides Ingrid but man, that love came right away.  I feel so happy we decided to have another one!!