6 down...

...240 to go. That's according to Uncle Craig regarding Aaron's new weight. As of yesterday, Aaron is officially a 6lb baby. He weighed in at 6lb 0.8oz at the doctor's office, which is exactly 1lb more than his discharge weight on July 10th. He is caught up to what the doctors think is "ideal" weight gain at 1oz/day. They also checked on his inguinal hernia and said it was doing well (since I was getting worried about it on Sunday). There is no immediate need for repair though it is definitely needed in the future. Once Aaron's at a better weight it will be done, since he will need to be put under general anesthesia to fix it.

Aaron also had is first real bath today. We've been sponge bathing him like we did at the hospital but he just getting too big and it is taking too long. So, we filled up the sink and put him in! After his first initial jump, he seemed to really enjoy it. Of course he pooped on my shirt as soon as I took his diaper off! It also got him pretty tired and, after taking his bottle, took a nice long nap.

He is also getting very good at sleeping longer through the night. When we first got him home, we tried to hard to get him up every 3 hours to eat, as instructed by the NICU. But Aaron, just like his mommy, absolutely loves to sleep and would do miserably and choke at his night feedings. So, we just let him sleep. Although this initially had me very worried about his weight gain, yesterday's doctor visit showed me that he/we are doing just fine!

Clayton and I are still busy finishing up a few things down here in NJ while setting up some appointments up in VT. Aaron's got a few more people to meet before we leave this weekend and we're excited about that. Oh, what a bittersweet week this is turning out to be.

For Marty...

Needless to say, it's been a very busy week and a half since I last blogged. Although I apologize for not updating everyone more frequently, I am thoroughly enjoying every waking minute with my son at home! He is just so wonderful and amazing and after 2 weeks I still cannot believe he is home with us!

Aaron's been doing the usual baby thing: eat, sleep, poop, repeat. He has been staying awake more and more lately in between feeds. This gives us the opportunity to try some tummy time with Aaron. Even from very early on in the NICU, during kangaroo care, Aaron would lift his head and move it from side to side and he continues to do well with that. Last Tuesday night (07/14/09), Aaron actually rolled from his tummy to his back! Since then he has been a pro at it, mostly just rolling to his side. We've also caught him smiling at us randomly. It is nice to see that he is already catching up to some things for his actual age of 4 months (can you believe it? I can't...) but he's still got some stuff to work on, since he is only almost 1 month adjusted.

Clayton and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary this past Tuesday (07/21/09) and we decided to go out to dinner as a family. Aaron did really well. He slept most of the time and it was really nice to take him out. We've been trying to do that since the weather has been really nice. The good thing about him coming home in the summer is that we don't have to worry about RSV or other people being sick.

Aaron had a follow up with the eye doctor today. Everything is healing very well from the surgery and he is very pleased. The blood vessels in his left eye are still a little engorged but there is improvement from last time so no major concern yet. Aaron even had pictures of the back of his eyes taken with a real fancy machine. We got to see his optic nerves. The doctor was surprised to see how good they were, even with the laser surgery. He actually laughed and said, "Aaron's got a lot of nerve!". Must be an opthamology joke...

This is going to be a busy weekend coming up for us. Aaron is visiting his Aunt Loretta and Uncle Eddie on Sunday for a going away picnic. This will officially be our last weekend in NJ. Although we are very sad about leaving our family and friends, we are very excited at the prospect our finally starting our new life up there and the opportunities that will be available for our whole family. Aaron will be receiving medical care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, one of the best hospitals around. His care will always be of utmost importance and it is comforting to know that he will be taken care of. Clayton will be continuing his work/education in VT's electrical union, Local 300, and I will start working in September at a private practice in Hanover, NH. So much is going on but we are thankful for all the doors that have opened up for us.

Thanks for being faithful and checking this blog, although I've become a slacker at updating it. All I need is some prodding every once in a while! As always, here's some pictures from the past week for your enjoyment.

Naked nap time (07/17/09):

Playing with his best friend, Hurley (07/17/09):


Sleeping like a big boy (07/22/09):

Fun in the bouncy chair (07/23/09):

Thanks for checking in!

We're Home!

What a long-awaited weekend it's been!!

Aaron came home on Friday (07/10/09) after being in the NICU for 118 days - just 11 days after his original due date (06/29/09). We couldn't believe they let us walk out of the hospital with the most amazing and precious thing ever! They took off all the wires to his monitors, cut off his and my ID bands (that I've had on since being admitted on this birthdate), I signed some papers and that was it. Aaron was ready to come home. Fortunatley, he didn't need to come home with any oxygen or monitors (as initially thought).

Of course, Friday night was sleepless. Aside from being nervous about him being home, we just couldn't stop staring at his handsome little face. For so long I've had to go to bed without Aaron next to me...I wasn't going to let his first night go by without enjoying every minute of being able to look at him.

Aaron did make it home in time for my shower/his welcome home party on Saturday (07/11/09). It was a very nice thing to come home to. Aaron received lots of really nice gifts and toys that he can't wait to use! It was wonderful for him to meet just some of the people that have been praying and thinking of him for so long.
The next couple of nights went better for Clayton and me. We were able to get more sleep as we adjusted to the late night feedings. Thankfully there are plenty of helpful hands at home to make things easier, especially Nana and Grandpop who also can't stop putting Aaron down!

Now that I'm a little more used to him being home, hopefully more updates will be available. Although, I make no promises about tearing myself away from the cutest little thing ever! Here is just a little glimpse of his cuteness after bath time!

Oh, ROP...

Well, it's been quite a hectic few days since I last posted. Things had been going very well since being moved to the intermediate nursery on Sunday afternoon. In an effort to get Aaron discharged as quickly as possible, they moved his scheduled eye exam from Thursday to Tuesday (07/07/09), which we didn't even find out about until that morning. As usual, he gets nothing to eat before the exam because of the eye drops they put in, which was around 3:30pm. Anyway, the exam didn't get started until 7pm and once finished the he pretty much said, "We need to treat Aaron tonight." Aaron had been borderline for stage 3 ROP since last week and this week he just crossed the line. So, they wanted to treat him as soon as possible to prevent it from progressing any further. They transferred him back to the NICU where the laser surgery was to take place under conscious sedation. As a result, they wanted to intubate him just in case. After leaving him on the warmer before the surgery started, seeing him intubated and with an IV line was the hardest part. It pretty much just brought back memories of the beginning when he needed all that support all the time. I didn't realize how quickly we would "get over" all that once he started doing better.

The surgery was done by 10pm. They actually ended up starting later than we thought because it took 3 doses of the medicine to get our little fighter to calm down! And then, on top of that, it took the neonatologist 30 minutes to intubate him because Aaron was just NOT having it!! One of these days, this little kid has to tell me where he gets all this fight from. They were trying to wean him off the ventilator while the meds wore off but Aaron extubated himself around 4:30am and did wonderfully. He looked so sad but cute with his puffy little eyes. It has now been over 48 hours since the surgery and his eyes have healed so much already! We will find out in a couple weeks how well the surgery went.

Aaron then had his circumcision in the morning (07/08/09). No need to delve into detail here, but Aaron was so achy all over after both these procedures. Again, he had to have nothing to eat before it so his schedule was all messed up. All of this wad done in hopes of bringing him home today.

Last night, Aaron had his car seat test which is done to all preemies before discharge. They pretty much just want to make sure that he breathes well sitting up for an hour in the car seat. Technically Aaron "failed" the first time he took the test. But, today when we tried again we noticed that the night nurse who administered the test didn't take out the extra headrest and neglected to adjust the straps, because we could NOT get Aaron into the seat at all. So he was pretty much sitting hunched over on top of the straps for an hour! It took Clayton almost 15 minutes to adjust everything properly to Aaron's size. Once all of that was done, Aaron didn't go below 95% saturations for the whole hour he was sitting there! He was good to go home.
We talked to the doctor, the resident, the case manager and discharge nurse. We were all set to take Aaron home. But, although doing better than before, he still seemed a little loopy at his 3pm feeding. Clayton and I just felt it best to keep him there overnight and get him back on his feeding schedule and even more recuperated from his procedures. After 117 days, what's one more night. When we called to check in on him tonight, he was officially over 5lbs (2290g), which was surprising considering how much he hasn't eaten in the past 48 hours. He was also back on his eating schedule of waking up half an hour early for each feed!

Tomorrow, Aaron has a follow up with his eye doctor at 8:30am and then we're homebound. At least, that's the plan, though nothing's ever gone as planned with Aaron! Clayton and I can't even begin to tell you how we feel tonight. It's like Christmas Eve, but even better! Finally, we can have a night of (hopefully) sleep with our son next to us!

It's been a long journey and there is absolutely no way the three of us could have made it this far without the grace of God and all of the love and support we have received from our family, friends and others who have been following our story. Thank you a million times over. The journey is actually just beginning and we will definitely be keeping everyone up to date!

Stepping Down

Aaron's second attempt at no cannula began again on Thursday (07/02/09) and is still going strong!! He had been down to 0.1L for a couple days and taking him off was a piece of cake. He even seemed to do better without it since it had been annoying him so much! It was so wonderful to see him with NOTHING on his face and to be able to pick him up out of the crib with nothing holding him down! The cannula was pretty much his last big hurdle, since he had already been taking 100% of feeds by mouth for almost a week at that point. So, the countdown to home began! Here's a picture from that day: no cannula and ready to eat. I just absolutely love his big brown eyes!
On Friday morning, Aaron actually became a big cousin for the first time. Baby Micah was born at 3:22 am and weighed in at 8lb 10oz and was 19.5in long! One day, Aaron will be as big as his baby cousin.

Saturday was pretty uneventful, which is always a good thing in the NICU. Aaron continued to do well without his oxygen support and we continued to ask when he is coming home!

This morning, after his noon feeding, Aaron was transferred to the intermediate nursery, which is a step down from the NICU. He can actually be discharged from this nursery. It's a little quieter here and he is getting less attention from the nurses. It's good because he no longer needs it but I know he misses all the love he received from the nurses he's been with for the past 113 days. For Clayton and me, it's nice to feel more free with Aaron. And, we know we are one step closer to him coming home.

Tonight, he was unofficially 5lbs, weighing in at 4lbs 15.5oz. He actually fit into his first "newborn" onsie that his aunt Kathy got for him. It will never cease to amaze me how big he is getting compared to where he started from.
Hopefully tomorrow we will be getting a more firm discharge date. Although he is actually 3.5 months old, he is only 1 week old adjusted since his due date was last Monday (06/29/09). Not too bad of a hospital stay when you're born 15 weeks early!