The Amazing Inflatable Baby

October 24, 2007

This picture was taken yesterday. He is taking up much more room in the bassinet. Just look at his arms and head. He is gaining weight at a pretty good clip right now, and he is starting to mature. Now, when he fusses, he kicks his legs. Sucks for his parents, but funny to you. He is also spending more time awake - some of it even during daytime. Of course, he doesn't really get to sleep until between 11 and midnight, and all the old rules are out the window. In the past, feed him till he's full and he takes a nap. Last night I fed him 7 ounces at 9 pm and he yawned. In the past he would only cry when something was wrong. Last night, he just wanted some attention at 10 pm. His parents had to tag team every 15 minutes just holding him. I try to appreciate everyday and I know that having kids isn't easy until they become parents themselves, but I really am looking forward to him showing interest in toys. Right now his favorite toy is my chest hair.

Giving Thanks

My 13 pound butterball

My 9 pound butterball

Some tummy time before the big meal of milk and rice cereal. He gets some of the rice cereal mixed with the formula about 3 times a day. In a few months we will make the stuff by the directions and it will look like grits. I wonder what it will taste like. I don't know if it's the new formula or maturity, but he has been able to go 4 hours at night lately instead of 3. That means we get to skip a whole feeding. 10pm, 2am, and 6am. We are no longer tired all of the time. It's pretty cool.

If you watch a lot of sitcoms, when the main character has a baby they always do an episode about the new baby not sleeping and the parents have to do all sorts of weird stuff to get the baby to sleep. You can bet money on it. I will never laugh at those episodes again. Last night Jordan was up from 3 am until 5:30 am. Of course we fed him until he was fighting us off. We changed him. We gave him a bath. We burped him. We changed his clothes. We held him. We even checked for rashes and fever. Finally, we just put him in the car seat. My only regret is that it took 2 hours to figure it out.

Stage 1, Take 2

Jordan now weighs 9 pounds 2 ounces. He has outgrown most of his preemie clothes and we are trying to get him into the others one last time. That Paddington bear outfit from the summer? The pants don’t fit anymore. My sister came to visit us in the summer and bought size 1 diapers and I thought he would never fit into diapers that big. He now fits. I remember the first bottle he took was just over an ounce. Last night, he took 6 ounces at 4am. I’m so glad that wasn’t my turn to feed him. Of course, I got it coming out the other end at 7 am. We visited the pediatrician today where he had a checkup and shots. The shots were so funny. The nurse and grandma were in a lot of pain. Jordan cryed as long as the needle was in, then he immediately stopped. He even slept the entire 45 minute ride home. I know it will be worse when he gets older, but he gets fussier when he’s hungry. We also have a little thanksgiving present. Starting tomorrow, we will try putting a little rice cereal in with his formula. That will actually give him even more calories. At this rate, we’ll have to stop calling him Ali and start calling him meatloaf.

Yesterday he visited the eye doctor forwhat we hoped would be the last time. It turns out that his eyes have gotten a little worse. He is now at stage 1 ROP again. It isn’t a worry, but of course needs to be closely monitored. The eye doctor initially thought we turned up the oxygen because it was so unexpected. Well, we had to go back to the clinic for the pulmonologist anyway. The next appointments for the specialists are on Pearl Harbor day. He should be about 30 pounds by then if my calculations are right.

Baby Games

This was actually a pretty good weekend. We have started to feed him on demand a little more than before. For instance, last night. The schedule was supposed to be 9, 12, 3, and 6 o’clock. We fed him at 11, he was quiet until 2:30, and then again at 5:30. That’s only 3 feedings. I’m not even as tired as I used to be. The main problem is that he truly is bass ackwards on his sleeping schedule. Do you know the last 3 consecutive days this little boy fell asleep at sunrise? I work from 7 am until 5 pm and he may be awake less than an hour during that time. Everyone says that babies tend to get better after 2 months or so. I don’t know how that’s going to work with him, but I don’t see how we can make him do that. We can’t wake him other than giving him a bath and he sleeps when he wants.

He is starting to move a little better. He sometimes puts a hand on the bottle while feeding. When I kangaroo him while on my back, his mother likes to play with him when awake. Now, I have to be ready to catch him because he can work his way off. I do have one little game that I like to play with him. I put my finger in his hand, and make sure that it isn’t sticking out of his fist. Then I move it near his mouth. He tries to suck my finger, but he can’t open his hands. That means he ends up sucking his fist and trying to put the whole thing in his mouth. It is so adorable.

Granny Daycare

We don’t really feel comfortable taking him out to day care yet, so we leave him at home. Luckily, we have both sets of grandparents living nearby, so they come by and baby-sit during the day. One week is my parents, the next week is my in-laws. They are really helping us out and learning a lot about the baby. I mentioned it before on the blog, but they thought I was lying. Jordan prefers to stool when he’s naked. He knows when you are changing the diaper, and that’s when he starts to push. When I mention this, people think I’m talking about urine and how little boys will pee on you. He has done that a couple of times, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a baby who likes to poop. My mother in-law went through 4 diapers in one changing yesterday because she would clean the poop and put on a new diaper, and he wasn’t done. The trick to changing this boy is to unfasten his diaper and wait about 3 minutes. When he relaxes, he’s done.

Last night we got over 6 hours of sleep. That has become the new definition of a full night’s sleep during the week. Last night was special though. It was the first time his crying did not wake up his mother. She usually has that psychic mental thing were she wakes up before he even starts crying. He smacked his lips once and woke her up. Last night I think we both slept a good five minutes before I woke up. She never woke up. I am not enjoying the late night feedings, but he is absolutely worth it. I can’t wait until he starts spending more time awake.

Pictures

I know that a lot of the micro preemie moms who read this are from Boston and Philly, but yes we are Mets fans around here.

Bath Time!!!

My new screen saver.

My new All Star

The two dogs. They have been such troopers these last few months. Lue and Little Dog. It's easy to tell them apart. Little Dog is the bigger of the two.

ROP? Nope.

You know I forgot to mention that Jordan’s due date was this past Saturday. Happy birthday son! We went back into the city today to visit the children’s clinic, right next to the children’s hospital. It was a good day. Jordan came home exactly 2 weeks ago. He left the hospital at 6 pounds 1 ounce. Yesterday he was 7 pounds 13 ounces. The mama Ali was convinced that he was constipated and had about half a pound of formula in him. He already showed us that he was in no way constipated. We also saw our NICU friend from Daytona. She gave birth about 3 days before us in the hospital we were in at the time. I’ve always compared my baby with hers even though she was about a week further along in gestation. My baby is bigger, but hers is off the oxygen.

We then got to visit the eye doctor. With ROP, the risk is that the blood vessels don’t grow all the way across the retina, leading to vision problems. According to the doctor, the vessels have grown all the way across the retina and he doesn’t technically have ROP anymore. However, the blood vessels are still a bit immature, so he wants to see us again in two weeks. With a little luck, that might be the last time for that doctor.

The best part was the pulmonolgist. That’s the doctor in charge of the oxygen and the apnea monitor (or as we call it, the damn monitor). What she does is start measuring the oxygen saturation in his blood and then turn off the oxygen. If he can go 30 minutes without desatting, we can then wean him off. He lasted 5 minutes. That means at least one more month of oxygen at the current level (about a quart per hour). However, there is good news on the monitor. We had 134 alarms over the last 2 weeks. I think one of them wasn’t a false alarm. The doctor said that going forward when Jordan is awake and we are paying attention to him, we can turn off the damn monitor. Now we just need him to wake up. He slept all day long except for about 15 minutes during the eye exam. He made up for it last night. Of course I don’t have to work tomorrow, so he’ll sleep plenty tonight.

Patented Burping Solution

I just had the most amazing weekend! The funny thing is that the highlight of the weekend was a soiled diaper. He didn’t stool for about 3 days starting Thursday, but he’s fine now. The whole thing about being a parent is teaching your kid and getting them to the next milestone, and eventually, out of the house. We have started that road and are working of development, but you know what? We are at a pretty good place right now. The baby is too young to need a whole lot of stimulation, so he never asks for attention. He has no motor control yet, so he doesn’t throw toys or make messes. The only time he cries is when there is something currently wrong, fix it and he stops crying. He doesn’t want to watch cartoons or Disney yet, so we don’t have to stop him. We even get to control which direction he looks when he’s in bed. Remember, you spend a year teaching your baby to walk, and the first steps they take are away from you.

I got to do everything I ever wanted to do in the NICU, but the nurses were holding me back. Saturday morning, the baby was crying. I could have tried to figure out why he was crying, but instead I decided it was time for kangaroo care and a quick nap. Later on, we took him to the other side of the house for the 1st time. That’s a pain in the neck when you have to pack up an apnea monitor and portable oxygen tank. He even got to see his nursery! I even had a little fun burping him. I have tried every suggestion made to us thus far and even a few others. Do you know that if you tickle him he won’t burp? Same thing for sqeezing his belly. I did find a fool proof method of getting him to burp though. Hold him upside down. If you hold him upside down for about 10 seconds, his mother takes him away and does it herself. It works every time.

Two last groups to thank and then I’m done. First, the dogs. I know we haven’t been giving you enough attention these last few months and I’m sorry. Trust me, things will be much better from now on. Finally, a big thanks to the readers of this blog. I do this blog to keep everyone updated on the baby, but sometimes I don’t know how many people actually do check or how often they do. That’s why I put in that map on the left, so we could check to see who is checking on us. I know some people check this blog daily for updates, but the funny thing is I’m one of them. You guys look for new posts, I look for new comments. Thank you all for caring and supporting us.

Rules to Parenting

Jordan had a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday. He was 6 pounds 1 ounce last Wednesday night, and Tuesday of this week he was 6 pounds 13 ounces. He was also 20 inches long. The appointment was mostly getting to know each other. We met him for the first time, and he wanted to know about Jordan from our point of view. He already spoke to the neonatologist over the phone, but frankly she saw Jordan about 15 minutes a week. He did say some weird stuff though. He said, at least for right now, no water. I used to give him some water if he was hungry in between meal times. The doctor said no water, just feed him. We also asked him about solving the wrong problem and he solved it. As I mentioned last time, he doesn’t burp quickly sometimes. Sometimes it takes over 15 minutes – something that can be a pain in the butt at 3 am. We asked him about getting him to burp easier. The doctor said to sit him upright for 20 or 30 minutes and he’ll burp on his own. While he has been correct, the only reason I need him to burp faster is so I can get back to sleep sooner. Now, overnight feedings take up to an hour. I should have asked how to make the baby burp faster. I would like for all of us to now take a moment to consider the plight of parents of multiples. I honestly don’t know how you do it.

There are two rules to being a good parent. Rule 1 is have a plan. A baby needs to be bathed, clothes need to be washed, bottles sanitized, diapers changed, and a million other things. If you don’t have a plan or a schedule, you are lost. Rule 2 is that the entire reason the baby exists is to ruin your schedule. Last night Jordan had the nerve to get hungry at 2 am last night, a full hour early! We were supposed to do tummy time yesterday afternoon. He slept from noon until midnight! Outrageous! The time I was supposed to use to fix adult dinner I had to use to get diaper rash cream and we had to eat take out. Preposterous! No worries though. I included some of my caffeine pills in this morning’s bottle. He’ll certainly wake up today. I’m just kidding of course, I can’t afford to give away any of my caffeine pills. They are what is getting me through my day.

My dad made a video of the baby for those who are interested. If you want a copy of the video email a message to jordanvid@gmail.com. He’ll reply with a copy of the video. This isn’t spam and we aren’t trying to sell you anything. If you want to see to video though, you have to send the email.

I need to send a special thanks to my wife. She is the reason that Jordan is here today. She knew there was a problem and wouldn’t listen to my reassurances. She spent 11 days on bed rest in the hospital. She has endured countless injections and i.v.’s in order to have the baby. Anyone who has had to do it will tell you that giving birth at 23 weeks is a lot more painful than giving birth at 40 weeks. I know that she wouldn’t let me list half of the stuff she had to put up with over the last several years to get to this point. I know that some of the stuff she’s had to do has caused her to face some of her biggest fears. You have spent most of the last week worrying yourself with everything from apnea alarms, to bubbles in the formula, and how dirty the diapers are. Just know that I don’t worry about these things as much because I have total faith that you are and will forever be a great mommy. I don’t know any woman that has done more to become a mother, and no woman deserves it more. I know that with the sleep deprivation I haven’t shown it lately, but my love for you grows by the day. Thank you.