A Growing Boy

Take This Job and Shove It

2007-02-28T22:21:00.000-05:00

Note: new pictures are up, finally. And he now weighs 20 lbs.

Hey. Remember me? I'm the one that brought the Y chromosome to this party. OK, so I've been a little derelict in my posting duties. To say that school's been a little consuming would be a monumental understatement. But that's all done now - my undergraduate degree is complete. Whew!
But hey, that's boring news. You came to hear about Jeffrey, right? Of course you did.
Last week we met with Judy, an occupational therapist. Despite the fancy job title, she will not be helping us to find gainful employment for Jeffrey. That's too bad, it would sure be nice to have two steady paychecks again. In fact, an occupational therapist works with developing fine motor skills. Jeffrey may carry cuteness in spades, but his cup does not necessarily overfloweth with fine motor acuity. We met at RIT because it was convenient for all of us. In one of the meeting rooms, Judy conducted a series of tests to evaluate how well Jeffrey could perform certain tasks with his hands, feet and... get this... his tongue. Yup. Who knew being able to roll your tongue at 12 months is an important milestone? He can, by the way. According to the evaluation, she was supposed to stop after Jeffrey was unable to perform more than 3 tasks. It was a good thing that she didn't, because he surprised us by showing us more advanced skills. Overall, Jeffrey scored just shy of being age appropriate. That's nothing to be concerned about, though. He's not going to catch up overnight, or over... year. Most preemies catch up between the ages of 2 and 5.
The end result of all this is that Jeffrey will be seeing an occupational therapist bi-monthly, just like he's currently doing with his physical therapist, Monica. And speaking of Monica, she came to visit Jeffrey this week. It's always funny when see works with him. We could be working diligently with him all week on some new exercise to no avail, but the moment she shows up he turns on the performance art. She asked us if he's making any deliberative sounds that correspond with an action. We turned to Jeffrey as he tries to place a puzzle piece into the wrong shape... and he replied, "uh oh!". Well, maybe it was more like "UUUUHhhhh..... ahhhhhhh". "How's he doing with standing?" she asks. From his stool, he stands up and then leans forward to the couch. Previously he had been doing that in the wrong order.
By this point, I'm convinced that she could ask us, "So, how's he doing with riding a unicycle while spinning dictionaries on poles and singing the French national anthem?" and he would dutifully perform it with a smile. He's such a flirt.
Today's post title is a triple-entendre. Now that my studies at RIT are drawing to a close, it's time for me to rejoin the work force. I mean, if Jeffrey's not getting a job then it's probably up to me. So today I attended the Digital Rochester job fair. Rather, I mean "we attended". Jeffrey was sent home from daycare yesterday with a low grade fever, and that means he's not allowed back until he's been fever free for 24 hours. While he was busy waiting out his sentence, he rode front seat in a Baby Bjorn at the job fair. "I'm looking for 1.5 full time positions." All the recruiters got a kick out of it. Let's hope that he brings me some luck. There's another career fair at the end of next month at RIT. If I can't land a job between the two of them, then I'm just not trying hard enough.

Song link

Jive Talking

2007-02-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

Today is an amazing day, for I have finally learned how to post videos on the blog. Unfortunately, only on wordpress so far.
So...head over to phonemom and checkout Jeffrey in all his video goodness. If you think he looks cute in pictures; he's even better on film.

In other news, Jeffrey got his sixth tooth this week. He is definitively dangerous to get your fingers near. Therefore, he's well on his way to self feeding at least with finger foods. We're still working on spoons and forks. He gets about one mouthful and then he throws the spoon. Jeffrey has an appointment with an occupational therapist on Tuesday to discuss self feeding, drinking from a sippy cup and other developmental milestones. Hopefully she'll be able to help us or tell us that Jeffrey is okay and doesn't need help. Either outcome is alright with me.

The other GIANT update is that Jeffrey sorta said a word. Not for us of course. He only shows off for Miss Monica, his physical therapist. On Tuesday, we were working with sorting toys and Jeffrey dropped a few blocks. This lead to Monica and I saying Uh Oh, several times. Jeffrey was repeating us and he said "Uh Oh!" It was pretty disjointed but still clear. Yay!! I realize that it isn't the greatest utterance of all time but we are so excited that he's started down the track to talking.

Until the next time, don't forget to check out the video and we'll keep you updated.

Song Link: Jive Talking performed by the Soultans and composed by Barry Gibb

Comin' Home

2007-02-12T23:07:00.000-05:00

We took the long trip out to Minerva to visit the Meehan clan. It's been a while since everyone had seen Jeffrey and I think everyone was surprised by how much he has grown.
We left from home late in the evening as I was not feeling well. I felt quite dizzy and was extremely nauseous. I ended up taking a muscle relaxant on the way out. Eventually I realized that I had forgotten to take my medication for a few days and these were the side effects. We arrived late at the homestead and went to sleep.
We got up Saturday morning and had a relaxing day with Brian's parents. It's been a long time since it was just us visiting and it was nice to just visit with the 'rents for awhile. We had a low key exchanging of Christmas gifts. Jeffrey played with his new toys and ran around Meme and Poppy's house. For dinner we traveled down to Glens Falls to meet with Kelly, Joe and Victoria at Outback. We had a pleasant dinner and stopped by their apartment after. Jeffrey had fun visiting with his cousin Tory and with Kelly and Joe's dog Spud. Tory is a fabulous child, she's so happy and vibrant. Kelly and Joe seem like they're doing pretty well at home and with Tory.

On Sunday we went to Meme and Poppy Sharrow's house for a birthday party for Jeffrey. Almost all of the cousins, aunts and uncles were there for Jeffrey. He received a ton of great gifts and had fun visiting with all of the family. When it came time for cake he did what we thought he was going to do at his original birthday party. He played in it for a few minutes, dragged his fingers through the icing and then promptly threw the cake on the floor. Luckily there were dogs at this party and Jeffrey was thinking of them. After tossing the cake on the floor, he smeared it through his eyes and hair. Needless to say he got a bath at Meme's house.
After the party I ran over with all the girls to see Dee's wedding dress. The dress was beautiful and I was glad that I was able to be there to see it.

We left late from Meme's house. Brian stayed to help with Meme's computer and just to gab for a bit. We got home late tumbled into bed. The baby slept the whole way home. He's a good sleeper and he travels pretty well. I guess he kinda has to with all the long trips we take.

All in all it was a really nice visit. We got to visit with most of Brian's family and got to relax a little. Everyone was really generous for Jeffrey and we had fun at his party. Thanks everyone! Can't wait to visit again!

Song Link: Comin' Home by Kiss

Bigger Cars

2007-02-09T11:29:00.000-05:00

Alright, alright I've been awful about posting over here. I have been quite prolific over at phonemom though. However we do have things to talk about.

First, Brian put up some new pictures but not nearly all of the new pictures. This quarter ends at the end of February, expect tons of new pictures at that time.

Second, did we mention new car seats? Jeffrey purchased (thanks to all who have given him money) two Britax decathalon car seats. Shortly after his birthday we noticed that he wasn't quite fitting into his infant carrier anymore and it was time to upgrade. Since everyone has given him money this past year, we thought it was only right that he pay for them. (The boy needs to learn the value of a dollar sometime). The car seats still need to be rear-facing, until he reaches 20 lbs. Hopefully that will be soon because it would be nice to be able to turn and see him to soothe him.

Lastly, Thank you everyone for the generous gift-giving from Christmas and Jeffrey's birthday. I have been a horrible person and have not sent thank you cards yet. Trust me, they are coming. Thank you.

Song Link: Bigger Cars by The Buzzrats

Bad Medicine

2007-01-26T14:21:00.000-05:00

Update: I forgot to let everyone know about Jeffrey's reflux medications. They are history!!Yup, at the last pediatrician appointment, we let her know that we didn't think he needed them anymore and she agreed. Our son is no longer a druggie!

Song Link: Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi

Sickness on the Wind

2007-01-26T13:50:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a messy week at the Meehan house. We knew that there was a GI bug going around, but I was hoping it would miss Jeffrey. He wasn't feeling 100% on Friday and then on Saturday, he threw up on his Move and Groove Table. It was so disgusting. Brian had to take it apart and clean out all the little plastic pieces. If he hadn't gotten it clean I think we would have thrown it out. It smelled so bad, it could gag a maggot. (All thanks to my mother for that lovely saying). He seemed to be a little better on Sunday and Monday. He wasn't eating like he normally does but I thought, maybe he's just slowing down.
On Tuesday he went to daycare and fell apart. Poor little guy, he had diarrhea and a fever of 102. He was refusing food and didn't want any milk. Brian brought him home and tried to get him to take some plain pasta and unflavored Pedialyte. After spitting Pedialyte everywhere, I drove to Big M and got him some flavored ones. Luckily, he liked the fruit flavor and polished off five ounces.
Brian took him to the pediatrician on Wednesday and they said we were doing all the right stuff. They said keep him hydrated, let him rest and give him Motrin every six hours and then three hours later start Tylenol every six hours. That way when the Motrin wears off, the Tylenol will be there to keep the fever down. Bri dropped him with me at work so he could go to school and then I took a half day. Little boy and I snuggled on the couch and watched movies. I finally got him to eat some oatmeal in the afternoon and fell asleep in the high chair. I took pictures (of course)!
Thursday his fever was down to 99 and his stomach seemed more settled but we kept him home from school just to be sure. He spent the day with dad and Uncle Kevin, playing at home. His fever was gone completely in the evening and we decided to put him to bed without meds.
Today we sent him to daycare and (so far) I haven't heard from them. Hopefully he's recovered. We're going to visit Brian's family this weekend to celebrate Christmas and Jeffrey's birthday.
Hope everyone else is healthy and hale. Love to you all!
Song Link: Sickness on the Wind by Tor Lundvall & Tony Wakeford

Growing Up

2007-01-17T11:41:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey is officially on the charts! He had his one year visit to the pediatrician yesterday and all was well. For the first time his measurements were on the growth chart and not below it. He is 18 lbs 6 oz. (5th percentile for 1 year olds), 28 1/2 inches tall (10th percentile), and has a head circumference of 27 1/2 (15 percentile). Our little guy is growing up!!
In addition to his amazing growth, Jeffrey needed two vaccinations. He received the combination measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox as well as the first of the hepatitis A series. Otherwise Dr. Smith-Burke pronounced Jeffrey healthy and hale.
Later on in the evening Monica dropped by for Jeffrey's physical therapy session. Unfortunately he was in a fussy (and hungry) mood making him quite uncooperative. We are going to continue to work with him on cruising the furniture, drinking from a sippy or a regular cup and working on release skills (releasing toys out of his hands). Monica decided that we are finally ready for the occupational therapist appointment. We got approval for it in September but we waiting for Monica to feel that he was ready.
Link for Song: Growing Up by Peter Gabriel

New Blog

2007-01-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note. Momma aka Dani has created her own blawg over at wordpress. Please check it out. I plan on blogging about things other than Jeffery although I'm sure he'll have his own share of stories. Please read! Make me feel cool!! http://phonemom.wordpress.com
Cheers!
Dani

Fergilicious

2007-01-16T22:51:00.001-05:00

In case you’ve ever wondered if 30+ people could fit into our humble abode, the answer is an astounding yes! Brian borrowed some chairs from the ambulance, I cleaned up the house, Jeffrey took a two hour nap; we were ready.At two o’clock everyone started showing up and it was a little bit disorganized until everyone settled in. We broke out the wine and started serving drinks and food. Everyone mingled for awhile and I must say we have really fabulous friends. Everyone got along well, the kids played together, and Jeffrey was a spectacular little guy. He was in a wonderful mood, crawling through the crowd, smiling and laughing. We are truly blessed with a pleasant little guy.

After everyone settled in and we finished eating, we decided to open gifts. WOW! Our friends are really generous! Jeffrey received a number of sorting toys, a rocking horse, his first fire truck(!), some beautiful clothing , books, his first xylophone, and … a vibrating rocket ship! It seems that once a child reaches 1, they should definitely be into sorting shapes. Thanks to our guests, he is now very well equipped. He has a new dinosaur to play with and of course some new stuffed animals and handsome clothes. He's even ready to play his first video game... er, Interactive Video Learning System. Everything was a big hit and we’ve been playing with all of our new toys in the days since the party. It was amazing to watch all of the older kids play with toys designed for a one year old.

Once the gifts were opened, it was time for cake. For Jeffrey, instead of a cupcake, I bought a “perfect” cake from Wegmans. It’s a cake designed for one person, and it's about 4" x 6" x 1.5". I figured that Jeffrey would smear some on his face and eat a bit and we would save the rest for later. I completely underestimated my child. He ate the entire cake and did not drop a single crumb. He was all about the sugar! All the other parents in attendance were amazed, to say the least, at Jeffrey’s appetite. Not to mention that he was hungry two hours later and eating stew. As an aside, he did not get sick, did not get fussy, or suffer any ill effects from the cake eating. He simply has a hollow leg.

Thank you everyone that was in attendance for Jeffrey’s one year celebration. As usual the generosity of our friends simply amazes us. We are lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives and we’re proud to have their help and advice as we raise Jeffrey.

Pictures will be forthcoming. Brian is extremely busy with school and knows that you are all anxiously awaiting. For those that couldn't make it, hopefully these pictures will suffice until we get a chance to get together.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

2007-01-10T16:01:00.000-05:00

We spent Christmas 2006 at the Sheppard household. It was quite a sight to behold. Brian and I almost drove past my parents house. It had… lights in the windows. Those of you that do not know my parents have no idea how unheard of this is. Normally there is one green light and one red light on either side of the front door. That’s as Christmassy as they get. But this year was different, this year little boy was coming and Mom celebrated by lighting the windows, buying a beautiful new tree and baking cookies.

It was a short holiday, we drove down Friday night and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. Jeffrey is doing better and better in the van. We try to leave at about five in the evening, that way he plays and talks to us for a few hours and then settles down to sleep. As usual with my family, it was a relaxed fare. Dad had to work on Saturday so we just hung around the house and visited with the various relatives that wandered by. Sunday we drove down to visit Uncle Stu. We do our best to stop by and see him whenever we are down. It was Jeffrey’s second meeting and he was quite the sight crawling down the hall of the nursing home. We finished visiting and were off to pick up Aunt Ann from her home and bring her back with us for Christmas. We spent the evening reading to Jeffrey and arguing about when to open gifts. Finally agreeing on opening the gifts to and from my parents on Christmas Eve (after the boy was in bed) and opening the Meehan gifts in the morning. Brian wouldn’t budge about opening his gifts the night before, he didn’t care if it was our tradition or not. The big hit of the night was when my father received his GPS. We’re all hoping he’ll know where he’s going from now on.

Christmas day dawned bright and early the following day and we commenced the opening of Jeffrey’s gifts. He got a ton of books and several CD’s of children’s songs from my parents. Brian and I got Jeffrey a LeapFrog Moove and Groove Table. It plays music and he just loves it! Mom also got him a mat that makes farm animal noises for the back of the seat in the car. When he kicks it, it makes the noise of whatever particular animal. When we drive now, it sounds like we’re being chased by a crazed barnyard. Jeffrey thinks it is hysterical. We like it because it has an off switch. J

Hope everyone else had a fantastic Christmas. Saturday is Jeffrey’s birthday party and I’ll posting news as soon as I can.
Cheers!

Happy Birthday

2007-01-08T10:59:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey is one! Yeah!! We all finally made it J Jeffrey's birthday passed with little fanfare. We sang happy birthday to him about fifteen times and I danced like a moron for him, luckily he found it humorous. We gave him his first birthday gift, a Ride to Stride Learning Walker. Jeffrey's physical therapist thinks that it will help him on the road to walking upright. After a relaxing morning at home we went to visit friends Angela and Marc. Brian gave them a demo on the Rainbow and we hung out for a bit. Their kids, Luke and Zoe were a great source of entertainment for Jeffrey. After we visited, Brian and Jeffrey cheered the Red Dog volleyball team to victory as I played my weekly volleyball match. It was a good day, not too much fuss. Lots of friends called to wish our little guy a happy day. The real fun will come next Saturday at his birthday party. We're having people over, cake and Dibella's subs (yum). Kurt and Steph are coming out from Albany (and hopefully Nichole and Tiff too!) Jeffrey will be surrounded by friends and they can help us celebrate our little miracle.

Speaking of miracles, Jeffrey got another birthday buddy yesterday. Victoria Brugger was welcomed into the world by her proud parents yesterday. Check them out at their blog, and see how their doing. It was a little crazy for them as well, but all three appear to be doing well. We especially want to thank them for having her on Jeffrey's birthday, so that we never forget the date! Congrats guys, can't wait to meet your beautiful girl. Jeffrey's getting his flirty smiles all ready for her.

As a side note, I know I've been slacking but I'll post something about Christmas later this week.

Grateful

2006-12-30T21:00:00.001-05:00

Well 2006 is winding down and we have a lot to be grateful for this year. Jeffrey is truly a gift and I feel so blessed to have him. He’s such a pleasant guy, so full of smiles and giggles. I truly can’t image our life without him anymore. He’s just such an amazing creature. It’s a joy to watch him learn and discover the world around him. In a few short weeks he’ll be a year old. It’s amazing how quickly this year has flown by. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers this year. I don’t know how we would have made it without everyone’s support.

I wanted to do this for Thanksgiving but somehow the time escaped me. I just wanted to make a list of the important people in my life and thank them, albeit belatedly for helping us make it through this tumultuous year, and also to let everyone else know how great you are. To start with our fabulous friends:

Marc and Heidi helped us make it through the pregnancy and even letting me crash family events when I had bad days and Brian wasn’t home. They also were a great source of support and knowledge for the NICU, helping us understand all the ins and outs of preemie life.
Kevin and Kimberly not only brought me Pepsi when it’s all I craved through the pregnancy but helped during the hospital and after when brought our little miracle home.
Kurt and Steph drove all the way out here too many times to count to give us counsel and friendship and the knowledge that you don’t have to be next door to be great friends. They also continue to let us use them and their home as a way station as we travel for parts unknown.
Liane has been our master babysitter. Letting us sleep at her house before Jeffrey’s MRI, watching him so we can clean our house, get out to dinner, and consistently making Jeffrey laugh like no one else. She also lets me vent on bad days and doesn’t get mad when we don’t de-cat our house very well.
Jen and Michael have lent their support online and over the phone throughout the pregnancy and beyond. We wish them luck with their (almost here) peanut and can hopefully continue beta testing parenting techniques for them.
Alicia came out and spent a week creating Jeffrey’s gorgeous mural and visiting the NICU with us. Thanks to her he has the coolest room in the world. We all wish we had this when we were kids. She has incredible talent and a beautiful heart. Support her art and buy some of her stuff, people!
Mike and Wendy drove to our place at two in the morning to get us clothing and camera when we found out we’d be having a baby that night. It’s tough to find better friends.
Adam & Joanne and Angela & Mark, the editors-en-absentia of our parenting guidebook, volume 2.
Sue, the dispatcher from Hilton Fire Department, made preemie-sized clothes for Jeffrey while he was in the hospital and has been a great source of advice along the way.
Monica (Jeffrey’s Physical Therapist), Jennifer (Jeffrey’s Vision Therapist) and Michelle (Jeffrey’s Early Intervention Coordinator) for being the closest thing to a manual for “Why did my kid do that?” and “When should we … ?”.
Al Davis, the former president of RIT who setup the Sarah Patterson/Louise Hall scholarship in honor of his late wife’s sister which has greatly helped us to afford Jeffrey’s childcare expenses.
My coworkers went out of their way to be accommodating to me during this entire year. They let me pump fifty times a day when Jeffrey was still in the hospital and understood why my mind wasn’t completely on the job. It’s a pleasure to go to work every day with such good people.
The following people, in no particular order: Fred & Maria, Nichole, Tiffany, “Aunt” Cindy, Kitty, Barbara, the entire staff at Premier Abstract & Title/Gates Ambulance (for keeping Jeffrey entertained while Brian fixed computers!), the blog readers from misc.kids.pregnancy and misc.kids.breastfeeding, Mary, the staff of the Golisano Children’s Hospital NICU, amalah.com (there’s a humor-side to this, after all), Ben & Shipley, Rich & Lisa, Margaret’s House (especially Ana, Julie and Roberta)

A special note to our families:

Thank you so much. Thank you for my showers and for driving out to see us, for listening to our rules about the baby and not getting angry or demanding with us. I wish we were able to see you all more often and that I was able to adequately express my profound joy in having such a giving family. Thank you for the hours you’ve spent with us on the phone assuring us that it would all work out. Mom & Dads Meehan & Sheppard, Meme & Poppy, Grandma & Grandpap Sheppard, Bonnie & Roger all spent countless hours with us in person and in spirit – and sometimes just to remind us to update the blog!

Especially thanks to my mom. She drove back and forth with me daily to the NICU, gave up two months to come and stay with Jeffrey and respected our house and our rules without any complaint. She made me proud to be her daughter and I can only hope that I can be half as good to Jeffrey as she is to me.

I am simply so amazed at the love and care that people poured out for us. Thank you everyone for your generosity (of both gifts and spirit) and if I didn’t mention you specifically it is not because you didn’t touch our lives but because there are too many people to mention. Looking back, this was one of the most heart wrenching and yet fulfilling years of my life. We found our Jeffrey and he is life-affirming and spectacular. We discovered that life can be tough with your family far away, but that friends are the family you pick out yourselves. All in all, I’m looking forward to next year and new memories and more time with our precious little boy. Have a wonderful New Year and may all your wishes come true and your lives be full of blessings.

Danielle (and Brian)

Song Link

Can’t Get Enough

2006-11-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

What do you get when you add a half plate of lasagna, a bowl of spaghetti, 2 cheese ravioli, and various croutons and assorted snack foods? If you guessed "a very full little boy", you'd be wrong. But don't be too hard on yourself… we thought the same thing, and yet his mouth opened and he cried for more. If this is a growth spurt, then we're going to need a bigger house!

That was the scene at Meloni's restaurant in Uniontown, PA last Friday night. Grandma & Grandpa Sheppard took us out to dinner with Aunt Ann. Everyone was amazed by our bottomless-pit-in-a-highchair. I, for one, see the silver lining on this cloud of insurmountable grocery bills. As he eats more off my plate, the oversized portions that restaurants give you don't end up going into my belly. Think of it as a sort of baby food diet.

We had a nice time spending Thanksgiving with the family. Folks that hadn't seen Jeffrey in a while were amazed at how much he'd grown, and those that met him for the first time and had only seen his early preemie pictures were very surprised. He's life sized!

And what does this baby, clearly a fussy eater with no appetite, eat for Thanksgiving? 4 slices of turkey, 2 scoops of mashed potatoes, 1 scoop of stuffing, 1 scoop of sweet potatoes, some broccoli & cheese and a slice of pumpkin pie. What's even more amazing was that he kept it all down. All told, it made for some monumental after-Thanksgiving diapers. I guess that's why they call it Black Friday.

Song Link

Teeth

2006-10-08T15:55:00.000-04:00

The last 6 weeks of drool has finally paid off. Jeffrey's first two teeth came. We were feeding him and he chomped down on my finger. Imagine my surprise finding two small razor-like protrusions coming out of his lower gums. Danielle was excited too, but hers is more of a mixed emotion. Sure, it's great that he can start to eat more solid food, but he's still nursing and that poses its own set of concerns.

Monica, our physical therapist came to visit along with Jeffrey's Early Intervention service coordinator, Michelle. They met with us to discuss his progress in the program. They were very pleased with his progress, but based on the recommendation from the NICU follow-up clinic, his visits from Monica have been increased from monthly to bi-weekly. That's fine with us, because we really like her and it's like having our own personal user's manual for Jeffrey.

Although every doctor in the world will swear that it's just not true, Jeffrey got his first ear infection to coincide with his shiny new mouth scimitars. We took him to the pediatrician (our awesome pediatrician with late evening and weekend hours, I might add!) and they prescribed amoxicillin. It got better for a bit, but came back en force. He really handled it quite well. At his weight check, Dr. Smith-Burke noticed that he still had an ear infection. She gave him a stronger medicine this time. That was all it took, and 15 days later he was cured.

Now if only the next two top teeth would come in, our son/drool fountain might finally dry up. In the meantime, he's enjoying the many uses of his new pearly whites… tastier table food, crunchy snacks, cats, blocks, my arm… oh, anything that fits in his mouth, really.

Song Title

Splish Splash

2006-09-17T10:52:00.000-04:00

It's fun to swim at the Y-M-C-A! Jeffrey started swim classes today at the local YMCA. We were unsure how he was going to react. Over the summer, we took him to Six Flags Darien Lake for the Gates Ambulance picnic and he certainly did not like the kiddie pools there. But in his defense, they were very cold and full of obnoxious children.

Armed with towels, a camera and a bag of swimmie diapers, we ventured forth to the pool where the class was held. At first, he was a little concerned by the water. Thankfully, it was pretty warm. Soon, he was splashing and kicking with the other babies.

As you can see from the picture, it's not really swimming lessons. To my dismay, Jeffrey will not be able to do the 400m Butterfly after this. The whole class consists of parents walking around the pool while singing to the babies as they hold them. Sometimes they get to sit on a floating mat in the middle of the pool – that's when we sing "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". Sometimes we put the mat on the edge of the pool and "slide" the babies into the pool.

Jeffrey especially likes singing "Pop Goes the Weasel". Mom & Dad have had a tough time, forcefully pushing out the words "Pop pop goes the Weasel, the weasel… pop goes the weasel cause the weasel goes pop" in favor of the more traditional verses. This has posed the toughest time for Danielle, as we're not sure she ever really knew the real words. Her verse sounds like this:

Round and round the mulberry bush,
The monkey chases the weasel.
Something happened, I don't know what,
Pop Goes the Weasel!

We have hope for Jeffrey that he may yet learn the real words to nursery rhymes. After a half-hour, we said good bye to our class instructors and brought him home for a well deserved nap.

Down With the Sickness

2006-09-09T10:28:00.000-04:00

It only took Jeffrey 3 days to get kicked out of daycare. He's been having a lot of fun with his friends, squealing, sharing toys and swapping viruses. I received a call from Miss Ana while I was in class to come get Jeffrey, he's got a fever of 102.

Thank goodness we have such an awesome pediatrician. They've got weekday hours until 8PM and weekend hours both Saturday and Sunday. Dr. Smith-Burke took a look at our little boiling boy and told us that his ears look fine. His throat, while it always sounds junky, was clear and there was nothing in his lungs. Therefore, he most likely had some sort of virus and it would be gone on its own in about 6-9 days. Then she shared with us the magic of baby Motrin.

Even though he was sick, Jeffrey was fairly playful the next day. I didn't have any classes until afternoon, so our friend Heidi helped us out by babysitting for Jeffrey. She's a pediatric nurse and she shared with us some advice on keeping him comfortable while he gets better.

By Monday, Jeffrey was ready to go back to school and play with his friends.

Wheels

2006-09-04T00:42:00.000-04:00

Jeffrey got a new car this week. More accurately, we got Jeffrey a new car this week. Most accurately, Jeffrey’s parents got a new car in which Jeffrey will actively participate as a passenger.

In the past 8 months (can you believe it’s been that long already?), there’ve been a lot of times I’m amazed that I’m a parent. How can this be?

I wearing jeans and a t-shirt from Pearl Jam’s “Ten” album.
I play video games.
I still like cartoons.

This is the point where my wife reminds me that:

Pearl Jam released “Ten” in 1991.
I use my Xbox to run emulators for video games systems from the late 80’s.
My favorite cartoons are The Simpsons (c. 1989) and The Transformers (c. 1984)

So, if I’m not feeling like a parent all the time, at least I’m feeling old. My wife used to write me love letters. Now she writes me shopping lists. But nothing makes you feel more like a bona fide parent than driving a minivan.

Danielle and I spent the last few weeks researching vehicles. Minivans seemed out of our price range, so we initially looked at a wagon or compact SUV on a lease until I got out of school. The short list included the Chevy HHR, Pontiac Vibe, Saturn Vue and the Subaru Outback. We did test drive a nicely equipped ’06 Kia Sedona (the safest minivan on the road!), but at $27,000 it was unreasonable. But one by one, as we tried to fit Jeffrey’s car seat into the back seat of each vehicle, our options grew slimmer. It wouldn’t even fit in the Vibe and was pretty tight on the HHR. Neither allowed the passenger seat to recline, a must for the long trips to visit our parents. And most wouldn’t allow the car seat to be placed anywhere but the center, which is good for now but bad if another child ever travels with us.

Fortune shined upon us when we found a used ’06 Sedona at a local dealership. It had been a rental car previously and was in great shape. We were so close to buying it until Danielle began to get worried about finances. So I searched online to show what current Sedonas were going for on some auto-sales websites. That’s when I found another one for sale in Victor at Heritage Motors. With only 1100 miles on it, it was practically new! I called the dealer. Dave offered me a fair trade for my ’98 Dodge Neon (118K miles) and that night we drove our new minivan home. I like the comfortable ride and storage. Mom likes the seat recline and numerous cup holders. Jeffrey likes sleeping in it.

We put our first tank of gas in it tonight. That’s going to continue to be a shocker for a former compact coupe driver. We can’t wait to take a trip for visit the family!

I’m proud to be a minivan Dad.

Song Link

Working For The Weekend

2006-08-25T11:30:00.000-04:00

These past two weeks have been like a volley of Aunts and Grandparents around here! Everybody just wants to come and visit Jeffrey, and how can you blame them? He gets bigger, longer and cuter everyday!

The first visitors this month were Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Bill. Along for the ride, my sister Kelly and her daughter Tory joined them. The four of them packed into my Mom’s new Toyota Yaris. It was worth them driving all the way out here just to see my Dad packed into that little car! Tory’s grown so much since our last visit, and she’s almost walking on her own now, just using tables and furniture around the room for balance. She’s still got a bit of baby fat to shed – she’s the only 1 year old I know that shops at the Big & Tall baby’s shop. She and Jeffrey played so well together. Tory liked rubbing his head, kissing him and offering him toys. At one point she picked up a coil of Cat 5 Ethernet cable I had laying in the living room, stuck one end in her mouth and offered the other end to Jeffrey. Hey, she’s got the concept down! Social networking?

My parents and I had a good visit together over the long weekend. They were excited to go to our Rochester favorite, the Dinosaur BBQ. Dad helped me around the house with some projects I needed advice on – leaky toilet, kitchen remodeling and a new storm door. In addition to being a firefighter, he’s also got years of experience in electrical, plumbing and carpentry. He and my Mom helped us renovate our family room in our old house, and they also built their own log cabin in the Adirondacks (it’s really nice). Of course, he’s a bit of a workhorse, so it was nice for Dad to have a weekend where he didn’t have to build anything.

Grandma Lelah and Grandpap Jim came up the following weekend. They had some serious drive in them! Their goal was to help us finish off the checklist of things we needed to fix in the house over the summer. In my naivety, I made a checklist of things I thought I could get done being home with the baby over the summer. He sleeps a lot, shouldn’t that afford me plenty of time to get some projects done at home? No, not really, as I learned. He’s pretty all-consuming.

On Sunday we visited the Upstate Watercraft Promotions Jetski race at Charlotte Beach in Rochester. It’s been almost a year since we’ve talked to AJ & Jennifer, the owners. I’ve worked the races as a course marshal for 8 years, and I brought Danielle on the first Summer we dated. This summer, we decided that the racing circuit (as far as Wildwood, NJ) was just too much travel for us with a newborn. So instead we visited and saw all of our old pals, racers and staff alike. Grandma and Grandpap got to see what we did, and learned that (in their eyes) it was just as horrible as they imagined. It’s a labor of love, I suppose.

Monday morning came swiftly. Jim and I started with a trip to Lowes for a new storm door. We re-framed the front door on the porch to fit our purchase, and Lee painted the trim when we were done. While we were banging nails and installing storm doors, Lelah and her sister Marilyn were furiously ripping out the overgrown shrubs and bushes around our yard. It was like the team from “While You Were Out” descended upon our home. The next day, Jim and I installed the trim in the kitchen from the flooring project I started last Summer. We also fixed the concrete steps out back which were wobbly and mis-aligned, cleaned out the garage, chopped up and threw out all the scrap wood in the yard and organized the workshop in the basement. I can actually find my tools now! And of course, what would a visit from Grandma be without her bringing more outfits for Jeffrey that she got “such a good deal on!”?

It’s always sad to see your loved ones go home after a nice visit. It’s doubly tough for us, with our parents living so far away in completely opposite directions from each Rochester. How does retirement near Rochester sound, everyone?

We can’t wait for their next visit!

Song Link

Travelin’ Man

2006-08-10T02:42:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our first post in quite some time! It’s been a busy summer for Jeffrey & Co. He’s been quite the little traveler. In July we made a trip to visit Grandma & Grandpa Sheppard for an extended weekend. During the trip, we celebrated Great-Grandpa Jack’s 80^th Birthday, and bid “Bon Voyage” to Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Roger who just moved to Colorado for a new job with Seagate. Of course, everyone was excited to meet Jeffrey, as it was the first time he’d traveled to Pittsburgh. In general, he’s a really well-behaved car baby. He made the trip with relatively little fussiness and only one quick stop in Zellienople (not Istanbul) for a snack.

Just before we headed home, Grandma & Grandpap (and Aunt Marilyn) spent the day with us at Ohio Pyle State Park. Danielle and I took advantage of the babysitting to go for a bike ride on the rails-to-trails paths. The 11.6 miles along the scenic Youghiogheny (yak-uh-GAY-nee) river was a new record for the Mrs., and the canopy of trees to shade us from the summer sun while we rode was a nice touch.

On the 31^st of July, Monica (Jeffrey’s physical therapist) visited us and was blown away by his progress. He’s making great strides at sitting up and following objects. We hope that by her next visit, he’ll be able to sit up on his own. The next day was a check-up with Dr. Smith-Burke and our little chunk tipped the scales at 13.8 lbs! She encouraged us to increase his intake of baby food and decrease his dependency on breast milk. As you may remember, we started rice cereal (not so successful) and oatmeal (wildly successful) after the last visit. Since we had no other indications, we kept giving him just the oatmeal… for nearly a month. We now have official word that he can move on to other fruits and veggies. Her recommendations included: breakfast of oatmeal cereal + 1 veggie/fruit; lunch of 1 veggie or fruit; dinner of oatmeal cereal plus puree’d form of whatever we’re eating. Try to include meats, hard cheeses, yogurt or ice cream.

Wasn’t Jeffrey pleased when Kurt & Steph came to visit in August? We all went together to Six Flags Darien Lake as part of the Gates Ambulance annual appreciation picnic. There were many firsts, including his first time in a pool (didn’t enjoy), first Ferris Wheel ride (didn’t care), first Merry-Go-Round (Whoa!) and first ice cream (enjoyed immensely).

After weeks of trying to make a date of it, we finally made it to Mark & Angela’s house for dinner. They’re one of the virtual authors of our imaginary guide to parenting (along with Marc & Heidi and Adam & Joanne). Mark had a fun time playing with Jeffrey on the floor, and their two children, Zöe & Luke, were amazed by his ability to roll over. Luke (5) got rather concerned while Dani was discreetly nursing Jeffrey in the living room. Not understanding the concept of nursing or the relationship between Danielle and I, he informed me, “your baby is eating your Mom’s boob.” Kids say the funniest things!

On August 9^th, we got a visit from the early intervention program’s vision specialist. Her job is to evaluate his visual acuity and determine whether he needs services from early intervention, and what type. Jeanie worked with Jeffrey for nearly an hour, using all manner and sizes of shiny toys and rattles. She told us that most of his vision seemed age-appropriate for his adjusted dates – with the exception of things directly in front of him. Although his MRI in June came back with results that claimed “no PVL” and a clean bill of health, his initial grade II intra-ventricular hemorrhage and subsequent PVL have been shown to lead to Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI), she explained. Jeanie recommended a few visits by a teacher of the visually-impaired, just as a safeguard. We should be having our first visit with them in September.

For all of you anxious Grandparents out there... we've posted new pictures!

Song Link

This Is How We Do It

2006-07-24T23:50:00.000-04:00

After spending this weekend with the family, many people have told us how much they love to see the pictures we post on here every… so often. But they all say that they want to print them. Don’t print them on your inkjet printers! It’s just a waste of money and a way to line HP’s pockets. Instead, use a local grocery or drug store with a digital photo lab or an online picture provider like Kodak Picture Gallery (aka Ofoto), Snapfish, Shutterfly or WalMart. Actually, don’t use Wal-Mart… they print on Fuji paper.

Here’s how to save pictures from our blog and print them at the online.

Post a comment in the blog about which picture you’d like printed, so I can re-post it at a higher resolution. In order to save space, I post pictures at 1024 pixels by 768 pixels. That’s not enough resolution to print a nice 4x6. At a minimum, a 4x6 should be printed from a digital image no less than 1200 x 1800 – and the more, the better
Click the picture you like from the thumbnails to view it large on your screen
Right click on the picture. Choose “Save Image As…” (Firefox) or “Save Target As” (Internet Explorer).
Save the picture someplace on your computer, preferably in the My Pictures folder. Make a new folder within My Pictures to facilitate sorting later.
Repeat steps 1-4 until you’ve got all the pictures you’d like.

Now you have all of these digital pictures saved on your computer. What to do with them?

Download and install Picasa to manage your photos. Do it now. It’s free and offers very basic, easy to use photo editing and cropping.
Picasa will automatically find your pictures and display them from your My Pictures folder. You did save them there, right?
Browse the pictures in Picasa, and click the “Hold” button at the bottom of the screen when you find a picture you’d like printed. Repeat until you’ve located all the picture you want.
Online or Store?

Online: Click the Order Prints button. Picasa will give you a choice of Online print providers. Chose anyone that makes you happy. Snapfish, Shutterfly and Kodak Picture Gallery often have coupons for free prints or enlargements.
Store: Click the Export button, and then click Browse to save them in a convenient location. If you have a removable USB drive or a camera card inserted directly into your computer, that would be a good choice. If not, put them somewhere you’ll remember and then burn the images to a CD-R and take that to your local store to use the Kodak Picture Station. Find one here and try the demo.

While you’re at it, if you’re still using Internet Explorer to view this page, consider switching to the Firefox web browser.

That’s all for now. More on Great-Grandpa’s 80^th birthday later this week. I leave you with a cute picture…

Song link

Double Vision

2006-07-15T23:45:00.000-04:00

Well hello everyone. I just have a few little notes about the past week or so. First off, we’re trying to monitor Jeffrey’s vision and tracking progress. The last time the physical therapist came we mentioned that he doesn’t seem very interested in toys or tracking objects. She agreed that he’s a little behind in that arena and that it’s possible he may be having trouble focusing on objects. It is fairly common for preemies to be near or farsighted so we’re just watching him. We know that he can see because he does focus occasionally and Monica (his physical therapist) says that babies that are blind will not coo, laugh or smile until later. So we’re not too worried because he is a little cooing machine now. Everyone morning he wakes up and just babbles at the ceiling for ten or fifteen minutes. We made an appt with his eye doctor and after the exam they said his left eye has some atrophy of the optic nerve but that children’s eyes don’t fully mature until their about two, so he could just be a little late developing it. We have another appointment in September and a vision therapist is coming to the house at the end of the month. Monica said she should be able to help us figure out where his vision is best and work from there.

He is now rolling over consistently from his back to his tummy. It’s pretty humorous to watch because he still hates tummy time and once he realizes that he’s on his belly he gets pretty mad.

He’s going like gangbusters in the eating department. The boy is a pig. Brian is routinely giving him a ¼ cup of oatmeal at a time and he is wolfing it down. This is especially good because (as I mentioned earlier) I’m running low on the milk supply, even with the reglan. However, the cool part is we still haven’t run out of frozen milk yet. (See I was a good cow!)

Also, something I’ve been wanting to do. I wanted to recommend a few other parenting blogs that I’ve been visiting when I have time. First check out metrodad. He’s the father in NYC. Very funny. I really enjoy his posts about peanut and boss lady. I also really enjoy It’s not all Mary Poppins. She is a childcare provider in Canada. She has good advice and her descriptions of her kids are hysterical. Check them out if you have time.

Two other notes for the week. In case you haven’t noticed Brian forces me to name the posts as titles to songs. So if your ever interested google the post title and check out our song choices. (They all come from the depths of Brian’s brain, so be careful!)

Lastly, just a quick hi to anyone reading from Wilson! I saw we made the spring quarterly and wanted to encourage everyone to post a comment and tell me how you’re doing. I’m always excited to hear how everyone from Wilson is.

Love you everyone! We’ll post more soon!

Obey the Cow God

2006-07-15T22:57:00.000-04:00

Breastfeeding is so awesome and yet the most aggravating part of my life now. I swear I spend more time and energy concerned about my milk supply that it’s sickening. My OB gave me a reglan prescription the last time I was in and it has helped so much. Unfortunately, the script is running out and I’m going to have to call and beg for more. I feel like a breast milk junkie. I’ve been complaining for months that I feel like a cow, and now I’m upset because I’m not a good enough cow. Who knew this is what my life would revolve around post baby? I really will be upset when we have to quit nursing. It’s so sweet in the mornings to cuddle him in my arms. I usually wrap grandma’s afghan around us and his little hands play with the fringe while he eats… He really is the sweetest little boy. I am so screwed. I’m already planning on making him into a momma’s boy. He’s only six months old and already I’m wrapped around his little finger. Have a great weekend everyone!

Bicycle Races

2006-07-09T14:16:00.000-04:00

Quite a bit of catching up to do! Let’s jump into our (not-so) way-back machine. Some mini posts:

Just The Two Of Us

Jeffrey enjoyed a play date with his birthday buddy, Morgan. She entered the world just a few hours after our son, but with a full-term head start, the size difference gave all of us a chuckle. Morgan is also a big fan of the Fisher-Price Nature’s Sounds papasan cradle swing, and her Mom even taught us a new trick with it. That evening, our friends Kurt & Steph got their first taste of babysitting.

Solid As A Rock development for our little star. Even though he’s below the

Solid food has also been a new

recommended weight for starting solid foods, our pediatrician recommended starting him on rice cereal because if we don’t start soon, it may be more difficult down the road. For those of our

readers without children, let me clarify a bit. When I first heard “rice cereal”, I thought of this. It’s actually more like this. But unfortunately, rice cereal didn’t digest so well with Jeffrey, so our pediatrician switched him to oatmeal cereal… mmm, more fiber! He’s doing pretty well with that.

License To Ill

We dealt with our son’s first illness this past week. He began coughing and sounding generally pretty raspy over the weekend, so I took him to the pediatrician. Dr. Tomek told me that his lungs sound fine, and that he probably has an upper airway infection. Since it’s viral, there really aren’t any medications you can take to fight it, but that it would probably go away after about 7-10 days. He was right. But those were some very cranky 7-10 days. Oh, and did I mention that we think he may be starting to get a tooth?

Jeffrey and I spent this week watching the Tour De France on our MythTV system. He’s rooting for Floyd Landis on Team Phonak. I’d like to see George Hincapie or maybe Iban Mayo make it to Paris in Yellow. Neither one of us is rooting for Robbie McEwen, that cocky little Aussie, to win the green jersey, but it looks pretty well locked in at this point.

Oh, and there's new pictures (lots) on the right!

All That Jazz

2006-06-23T12:56:00.000-04:00

Jeffrey is finally sleeping through the night consistently. And we have 2 things to attribute this wonderful event to: Danielle’s idea to put blankets up over his windows to keep the bright morning sunshine out of his windows and the smooth jazz sounds of our new local radio station, 90.1 WGMC. Although his room is as dark as midnight when we get him out of bed in the morning – at 9:00 AM!!! – it’s allowed him to sleep for about 12 hours uninterrupted for the past week.

All of this helps us to develop a consistent schedule for the young lad. He goes to bed now between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM, and we do our best to make sure we hold to that. Babies need a schedule. And Danielle appreciates it, because she’s getting a full night’s sleep.

We’re just glad that this post isn’t named “3AM Eternal”. Jeffrey’s right on track with this milestone, since most resources say that a baby should be able to sleep through the night by the time they reach about 12 pounds or 3 months.

Check Your Head

2006-06-19T23:00:00.000-04:00

The board book on the table was called “How Can I Make My Insides Smile for the Camera?” and it explained what an MRI was for those who still got their information from… well, board books. Unfortunately, Jeffrey doesn’t read yet, so we just glossed over the details with him. Mostly we were surprised that he wasn’t screaming for food, since a requirement of the anesthesia was no feeding after 3 AM. We got to the hospital at 6:30 AM and got redirected a few times before finally finding the correct registration desk.

Our little heavyweight tipped the scales at 12 pounds at check-in. The nurses had a little difficulty getting an O₂ sat on him, but he’s always been that way. “Transportation” came down to bring us into the MRI room, where we met with the doctors who would be administering the anesthesia and performing the diagnostic imaging. Jeffrey had to remove his onesie (it had metal buttons) and put on an unbelievably small hospital gown. They advised us about the risks of anesthesia, told us that he’s probably be tired all day and might have a sore throat from being intubated. Mom and I each gave him a kiss and went to family waiting room where they would contact us when he was finished. There really wasn’t much fanfare to write about. That’s pretty much as exciting as it got.

The nurse in the recovery suite called us at about 10:15 AM to let us know that he was just waking up. They gave him 3oz of sugar water, because it’s pretty easy to digest. Jeffrey was admitted to the pediatric floor for observation. Aside from being on the shortest leash he’s had in 3 months, there didn’t seem to be any change in this temperament.

We spent the rest of the day at the hospital. It was strange to be back on the 4^th floor after spending so much time around the corner in the PICU annex of the NICU. While we were in the pediatric department, our nurses Trish and Amanda kept us very comfortable, and even made accommodations for both Dani and I to stay the night, which was very nice of them. Dr. Kita came to visit us, but really had no news to tell us.

It was hard to adjust to Jeffrey being on heart and breathing monitors again. During the day when he was excited, his heart rate was 150-170, but during deep sleep it dropped to a disconcerting 99 BPM! Although his alarms went off regularly through the night, none of it was any cause for concern since it was just normal fluctuations and movement and all were self-correcting. We’re sure glad he didn’t have to come home on any monitors!

Jeffrey was discharged from Golisano Children’s Hospital the next morning and Dr. Weddig came to see us off, but the results of the MRI were not available yet. We’d have to wait 5 more days. On Monday afternoon, Dr. Smith-Burke called me at home to say that Jeffrey’s brain looks perfectly normal, and that the cysts found on his previous ultrasounds were absent on this MRI. The only finding was a thin Corpus Callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain, but she assured me that it will have no affect on him whatsoever. Hooray! We’ll see her Tuesday for his next checkup!

Welcome Back

2006-06-11T22:46:00.000-04:00

Alright now that Brian is finished with school, my Mom has gone home and life has settled down a bit, I’m ready to start posting again. I apologize for the length of time between posts, but hey people we have a new baby and we’re not exactly experts at this whole parenting thing!

So that being said, I have some unfinished business to take care of. I want to send out a huge thank you to Sue’s friend Sue. She wrote a beautiful comment on one of our earlier posts and it just really made my day and I wanted to say thanks.

Next, I wanted to share some thoughts about my first Mother’s Day as a mom. To start with, Jeffrey rocks at gifts, he got me a binary shirt that said Mom and a chemistry shirt. (It’s good that he knows I’m geeky from an early age!) He also gave me a clock that runs on water. It is very cool. I felt very appreciated as a mom. I was really unprepared for how all encompassing motherhood is, but in a good way. I can barely imagine life anymore without Jeffrey. I spend everyday at work, waiting not so patiently for it to go by so that I can get back home to my little boy. He is so amazing. Everyone tells you how much being a parent will change your life and how much you’ll love them, but you just don’t understand until you get here. I feel so privileged to have this special boy to wrap my life around. Anyway, I just wanted to share how honored I am to be his mother and a little bit of what it means to me.

Next point. He’s huge now! Our last doctor’s visit was on May 24^th and Jeffrey was 10lbs. 10oz. Dr Smith-Burke says everything looks like it’s going perfectly for him, and that he may reach the (low end) of the normal growth chart by 6 months. Yay for Jeffrey! We scheduled his MRI for June 14^th to look at his PVL and see how it’s doing. He has to stay overnight at the hospital for it since he’s getting anesthesia and is under 6 months of age. I’ll post the results and findings as soon as we get them next week. I’m a little nervous about it but we’ll be there with him the whole time and hopefully everything will be fine. I’ll calm down once it is over and he’s back home with us again.

In other news, Jeffrey is spending his first night with a babysitter next Tuesday. Brian and I are going to see Phil Woods at the Eastman Theatre and will be dropping him off with Liane so that we can take in the show. (Thanks Liane!) I also have started playing volleyball again at the beach this summer. I figured that Brian can bring the baby to the beach and we can spend some time together. We’ve only had one game so far but it’s worked well so far. Also Brian has started hosting a weekly radio show on WITR called ITSO Tech from 10pm until midnight on Wednesday evenings. He and a few other geeks host it and they talk about techie things. You can listen from WITR’s web site. That’s what Jeffrey and I do from home.

So that’s about it for now. I’ll post more later this week. I’m going to try and be more regular from now on. Hope everyone is doing well and keep a look out for thank you notes. Coming soon to a mailbox near you! Be sure to check out all of the new pictures we’ve posted.

Another Brick In The Wall

2006-05-22T02:23:00.000-04:00

Before Jeffrey starts his educational career at the Brick City this fall, it seemed appropriate for him to do a freshman tour, just like everyone else. Though instead of taking him to Margaret’s House, RIT’s onsite day care, I brought him to class with me.

Fridays are the easiest day of the week for me. I don’t have any classes, just meetings. And since it’s the last week of school before finals, there really isn’t a lot going on at the campus, so it seemed like a good time to visit.

Stroller? Check! Diaper bag with extra bottles of milk? Check! Bjorn? Check! Laptop? Check! Baby… um, check!

Jeffrey was very well behaved. He sat in the front pocket of the Baby Bjorn during my whole presentation on “Customer and Developer Perspective for the Adoption of Hardware Security Tokens”, just rocking back and forth while I talked about device drivers, installer modules and API sample code. (HASPERS! CHA-CHA-CHA!) He took a bottle while our team devoured 2 sheet pizzas. Since RIT doesn’t have baby changing stations in the rest rooms, I used an unoccupied classroom when he needed new pants.

During his visit, Jeffrey got to visit with Prof. Barido, Prof. Beaton, Prof. McQuade, Prof. Stackpole and graduate assistant Tim May. My professors have all been aware of the stressfulness of Jeffrey being born prematurely and have been very supportive. It was nice for them to finally get to meet him after talking so much and sharing pictures with them. Also, many of my professors and research team members contributed to our March Of Dimes WalkAmerica fund raising.

Jeffrey fell asleep in his stroller next to a bench of computers while my lab partner and I did some experiments with the hardware keys. Mom showed up about 5:00 pm and we all went home together. I think some of my classmates may now have a different perspective on me. Hopefully, meeting Jeffrey will have shaped, in a good way, their perspective on potential parenthood. And hopefully Jeffrey has gained something from the experience too. Oh no, he's already wearing an MP3 player. I guess he'll fit right in.

PS: Jeffrey's next pediatrician visit is Wednesday. We're betting on 11 pounds!

Purple Rain

2006-05-15T01:25:00.000-04:00

We had another great visit from our friends Kurt and Steph over Mother’s Day weekend. They live near Albany, so it’s a big trek for them to visit, but we always have a good time. Last year at about this time, we were just leaving to go on vacation with them to the North Carolina Outer Banks. We stayed in a big vacation home on the bay and flew stunt kites.

They picked a great weekend to come visit, since the Rochester Annual Lilac Festival started this weekend. Every year, artisans and vendors crowd Highland Park while throngs of visitors come to eat the carnival food, listen to the free outdoor concerts and smell the beautiful lilacs. This year was one of the best in recent years, due to warm temperatures, adequate rainfall and an unusually mild winter.

We arrived at the festival with sunshine overhead, despite calls for rain over the weekend. Oh, if we had only listened! Parking was at Monroe Community College and RTS provided shuttle services to the event for $1. We piled on the bus with all of Jeffrey’s necessities in tow. Liane met us on the festival grounds and we all had some good ol’ fashioned healthy carnival food before wandering around the attractions. Heading up the hill to the reservoir we saw a campoeira mandinga group practicing – or doing a demo, we couldn’t tell. Dani and Kurt got snow cones and popcorn from the vendors once we reached the top of the reservoir. From there, you could see the whole festival. How did we miss those impending rain clouds?

Surely, the skies opened up when we were furthest from the bus pickup. We heard the thunder and tried to take a shortcut around the park, but we foiled by… well, we took a wrong turn, really. Yeah, that’s when the hail started. We made a mad dash through the festival grounds until we found shelter under a tent from the vendor of Hammock Chairs of Death. To be fair, his weren’t the Chairs of Death variety, just the standard overpriced hammock chairs that you can buy here and here. Being the well-prepared, resourceful newbie parents that we are, our son knew none of this as his stroller comes equipped with a force field-like rain shield that we (remembered) immediately threw over the stroller and carseat gestalt once the hint of rain began. And if it began with a hint, it made to “clubbing you over the head with the obvious stick” of thunder, lightening and hail before it finally subdued to an incessant drizzle for the rest of the afternoon. Thoroughly soaked, but with a dry baby, our soggy party headed back to the bus stop.

Cue graphics for Stephen Colbert’s Tip O’ The Hat/Wag O’ The Finger segment. And now a Wag O’ The Finger to the RTS bus driver for our return trip. We boarded the bus, and we were immediately told that the stroller had to be collapsed. No problem, I thought, and I unclipped with carseat and proceeded to fold the stroller up. “Where does the carseat anchor to?” I asked the bus driver. Surely there are latch points or a seat belt… No. There wasn’t. I told them then I would be putting Jeffrey back into the stroller, locking the wheels and securing it with the wheel chair tethers (he was very concerned about the stroller careening off and taking someone’s eye out!). That’s when the bus driver began screaming at us and making quite a commotion. He told me that our stroller cannot go on the bus, and I told him that I’d find another damn bus! And that we did. An RTS representative was standing by and overheard the row made by the driver. She secured us a spot on the next bus, which had no qualm with our transportation system.

The next morning we had breakfast at what is quickly becoming a new Kurt & Steph tradition, James Brown’s Place. Mmm… the Atlanta Heap is so yummy! Some lady came up and asked us how old our little girl was. I told Danielle that they shouldn’t have dressed him up in that damn cow outfit!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms out there!

The Monster Mash

2006-05-10T18:53:00.000-04:00

Behold Frankenbaby! I, as a mom, am anxiously awaiting the sweet coos and babbles that I have been promised. We seem to be on the receiving end of Frankenstein’s monster. Jeffrey knows how to cry, grunt occasionally and sort of growl. He sounds like a Frankenbaby! Mom continues to tell me that coo’s are coming but I’m not sure.

Walk This Way

2006-05-07T18:43:00.000-04:00

I would first like to say that I know these things happened a while ago, but I’m backdating them and posting anyway. It’s been busy (big surprise, like I expect it to change!)

Today we did the March of Dimes Walk America. It was a 3.5 mile walk starting at the Dome Center in Henrietta NY. We walked through a suburban neighborhood and it was a lot of fun. According to the newspaper there were about 1200 people walking and the event raised aver $200,000 for premature babies. It was a fun walk with lots of children and many former preemies. We took Jeffrey with us. He slept peacefully through the chaos and noise of the Dome Center and I had high hopes that he would sleep through the walk. Alas, about ten feet into the walk he decided that he was starving, uncomfortable, and did NOT want to be in the stroller. So… Dad carried him the three and a half miles. It’s a good thing he’s still small enough to carry with one arm. It was a good walk, the weather was beautiful and Jeffrey even got to hang out with the Hooters girls. When we were done we fed the boy, hung out for a bit, and met grandma and grandpap for lunch at Dinosaur BBQ. Next year we want to try and get some more people to walk with us. We saw a couple of people we knew from the NICU and it was nice to catch up with them. Brian and I collected almost $450 for March of Dimes. We would really like to thank everyone who donated to us. Thanks so much for supporting our little guy!!

Can't Cry Anymore

2006-04-14T03:33:00.000-04:00

What a fussy baby!
Maybe he’s having another growth spurt. I’m not sure, but Grandma told me that he’s been staying awake for the better part of the day while Dani and I are at work/school. Personally, I think that he’s learning to push Grandma’s buttons so that she’ll hold him. Oh, he’s a sharp cookie alright! It’s a good life getting carried everywhere.
A new milestone this week: tears. For those of you without children (see all the neat things we’re learning together?), apparently babies don’t make tears when they cry until about a month or two of age. They also don’t sweat for some time either. So imagine our surprise to see him cry real tears this week. And the excitement for that lasted... about 1 day. The next morning he woke up with a very puffy, goopy eye. Dani took him to the pediatrician on Tuesday, where we learned that he had a blocked duct. So coat some stale bread in Pepto Bismo and… oh! D-u-c-t! Never mind… The doctor told us to keep it clean but really didn’t have any other special treatment. It went away on its own and has been fine today.
Tonight I tried out the Baby Bjorn for a fit, and Jeffrey went right to sleep in it after I gave him a pacifier. Danielle and her Mom are anxious to give it a shot too. It worked out well for me, since I was working on fixing/installing two MythTV systems at the dining room table. Jeffrey, can you say “ifconfig eth0?”
And the official tally from Dr. Smith-Burke? 3.26 Kg! (7 lbs, 3 ounces). Yea!

PS: Our friends, Kurt & Steph Higgins, will be walking in the March of Dimes “WalkAmerica” on April 30th, 2006 in honor of Jeffrey. The March of Dimes is an organization that works to prevent the causes of birth defects and prematurity through research, education and advocacy. If you’d like to contribute, click here.

She Works Hard for The Money

2006-04-10T12:55:00.000-04:00

Mom went back to work today. It was an emotional day yesterday as Danielle realized that it would be her last day of her FMLA absence and she’d have to start spending 9 hours a day away from Jeffrey every weekday. On the other hand, Grandma has been here since last weekend and is really enjoying spending time with her new grandson. She’s also been a great help around the house – heck, she already made new curtains for the dining room and she’s been talking about re-painting the porch and building a garden. She may not be a spring chicken anymore, but that girl sure has a lot of energy! Ah, we’ll just see how much energy she has after her first week alone with the boy! By the way, we’re also very proud of her… after smoking for many years, she’s cut down her cigarettes to just 2 in the morning and 2 at night in the interest of quitting, and she takes a shower after the morning ones – all for our little boy. It really means a lot to us.
Last night was a little nostalgic for Danielle and me for another reason. While we were folding laundry and putting away the baby clothes, we came to the first big wave of clothing that won’t fit anymore. Sure, he’s grown out of a few things here and there, but this time we took almost a whole laundry basket full of preemie clothes and put them away in a Rubbermaid tote labeled “Outgrown clothing”. Even some of his newborn 5-8 lbs clothing made it into the tote. I held his “I love my mommy” outfit in my hand, remembering it as the first outfit I was allowed to dress him in at the NICU, and how enormous it was on him. Even his purple pacifiers are too small and fall out of his mouth.
But this is reason to be excited, isn’t it? Sure! The last two visits to Dr. Smith-Burke have him at ¾ lbs per week. We’re expecting him to be closing in on 8 lbs at his next visit on Wednesday. And as he grows, he’s really starting to observe the world around him. Toys are starting to catch his interest. He’s doing well at lifting his head and shoulder – his head/neck control is awesome. The most noticeable difference is that he’s beginning to stay awake longer. He was up for almost 5 hours yesterday, because he never went to sleep after lunch.
It’s been really busy for me this past week, so updates have been scarce. It’s week 5 of the 10 week quarter here at RIT, and midterms are this week. Last week was the due date for some of our major assignments. This gives the professors an opportunity to grade a substantial assignment before the drop/add deadline expires, in case a student decides that a class is not in their best interest. So I apologize to all the avid readers that check here on a regular basis for updates. Maybe we can get Grandma to post a blog entry while she’s visiting!

Steppin' Out (With My Baby)

2006-04-04T00:54:00.000-04:00

It’s growing time!
We had a great week with Jeffrey. Rochester has been graced with nice weather this past week, reaching into the mid 60’s. With his progress, we decided that it was time to enjoy the big wide world. Fire up the Zooper, we’re going for a walk!
We headed down Lake Ave., enjoying the sunshine, and Jeffrey went right to sleep. The bumps in the sidewalk must’ve soothed him. Once we got to the center of town, we decided to visit the firehouse. It’s quiet and there likely wasn’t going to be a lot of people there; plus we’d get to visit with Sue.
At the firehouse, we had fun posing the boy in a fire helmet, on the ambulance and on the firetruck. He’s still tiny enough to actually fit into the helmet – but not for much longer! Sue told us that she was proud of us for not falling into many of the new parent paranoia traps until today – arriving at the firehouse with him in a onesie, pajamas, a jacket and 3 blankets.
The good weather continued, and with the blessing of our pediatrician we went for another walk on Thursday. Once around the block and a quick run through the aisles at the local Ben Franklin. His stroller really seems to induce narcolepsy. We even got a chance to say “hello” to some of our neighbors, whom we haven’t seen in several months!
On Friday morning we got a visit, bright and early, from the Early Intervention counselor with her teacher and physical therapist colleagues. They were very impressed with his progress. The therapist applauded our attention to tummy time and was impressed about how well he could lift his head and upper body, as well as his gaze. She told us that it may only be a few weeks before he’ll start to smile – a real smile! All in all, he’s right where he should be, and in some ways even ahead of where a 10 day old should be.
Finally we went to visit Dr. Smith-Burke for his weekly checkup. Get this – 12 ounces since last visit! His cheeks are filling out and his legs are getting bigger. And certainly he’s getting stronger. Most noticeably he’s getting louder. He showed us that when he got his Synagis booster.
Danielle’s going to finish off the rest of this week with her own post about Jeffrey’s first visit at home from Grandma and Grandpap Sheppard… to be continued!

Hungry Eyes

2006-03-28T00:08:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey learned a new trick this weekend. He can look at things now. Oh sure, he’s had eyes all this time (they’re blue), and they’ve been open too. But just this week, he’s begun to make a visual connection. He’ll look at thing around him. He’ll study our faces when we pick him up. It’s hard to explain how we even noticed this new activity. It’s not like he wasn’t looking at us before – it’s just that he looks at us now instead of through or around us. His pupils seem to react to light more and I think he can focus better now.
And why not? He’s now officially born, adjusted-wise. Happy Birthday! Although he’s 2½ months old, he’s starting to act like a newborn more and more everyday, and that’s pretty exciting for us. This also means that he’s growing, which means he’s eating a lot more and that keeps Danielle quite busy as his sole source of cuisine. She’s so busy in fact, that we had to start outsourcing his breast milk storage when we ran out of room in our two freezers!
Tummy time is getting a little more active. He can lift his head, shoulders and upper body on a consistent basis now. He’s begun to watch toys as we move them around his head. He notices when we move suddenly if we’re within his visual range.
Another big change around here is… changing him. He’s outgrowing preemie outfits and he’s graduated out of preemie diapers. That means that it’s a rush for Danielle and I to get him into all of his cool outfits from everyone at least once before they’re too small for him.
As each day passes, we’re having more and more fun with him. He tags along around the house with us – from sorting laundry, vacuuming or making dinner to configuring network equipment and writing scripts – we’re learning to do these one-handed.
Uh oh… gotta wrap this up. He’s ready to eat again!

PS: New pictures (45) posted today. And for reference, compare this picture to the one in the post titled "Emperor's New Clothes". It's the same outfit.

Eat It

2006-03-23T00:59:00.000-05:00

Week #3 at home is underway and it is going pretty well. Jeffrey appears to be having a growth spurt because he ate for almost four hours last night and for about two hours tonight. He nibbles for ten or fifteen minutes, sleeps for ten and then fusses for food again. It’s a little frustrating but I do think that it has helped my milk supply and I know he’ll be growing bigger because of it. He’s sleeping pretty well at night; he’s going for about four hours at a stretch. Brian and I are splitting the night feedings so that we can both get some sleep.
We had a doctor’s appointment yesterday and Dr. Burke said that he looks really good and he’s growing like a tiny weed. He is up to 5lbs 10oz. and is measuring at 19½ inches!! He’s still having some issues with his reflux but Dr. Burke thinks that we’ll continue his medications at their current levels. Hopefully, he’ll just grow out of the meds and we won’t have to worry about them anymore.
Next week, he gets his Synagis shot for RSV along with his weight check. This is the last one he’ll need this year since the flu season is over in May. We asked Dr. Burke about making sure that he gets the shots next year since he’ll be in daycare and at high risk for RSV. She let us know that she doesn’t foresee having any problems getting it in the future. We were worried because it’s very expensive (about $1000 per dose) and it needs to be given every 30 days during cold and flu season. With our doctor’s backing it will make it easier to convince the insurance company to pay for it.
In other news, I’m getting a little more used to the idea that I’m a Mom and that we get to keep him. We’re starting to get into a routine and I’ve actually been able to get a few things done in the house. We ordered baby announcements the other day and although most everyone knows that he’s been born, I want to send pictures of him and celebrate our little guy.
Anyway, I’m going to toddle off to bed now. It’s late, since the boy wouldn’t stop eating for most of the evening and may wake again at anytime. I wanted to let everyone know how our boy has grown and that we’re so proud of him. Goodnight.

Hungry Like The Wolf

2006-03-17T00:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, apparently I gave birth to a wolverine. This kid is hungry, and does he ever let you know it! The noises and expressions that he throws at us are quite entertaining. He is primarily breastfeeding now but Brian is giving him at least one bottle per day with a little Neosure added for a few extra calories. He’s eating about every 2-3 hours but has been going for about 5 hours at night. Sadly, some nights he only goes for about 2 hours. We call those “Weekdays”. He likes sleeping in his bouncer, play pen and crib, but mostly on Mom or Dad’s chest.
It’s been almost two weeks at home and we’re doing pretty well. Jeffrey is truly a joy to behold. We’ve been spending our days eating, sleeping and snuggling together on the couch. I even get to sleep and eat occasionally. Jeff has moved into the crib in his bedroom at night. And while that sounds like an incredibly calm new parent move, we have the video monitor trained on him so that I can observe his every move at night. It’s JeffreyCam, all night long, and the microphone is so sensitive that we hear every noise he makes. I am amazed at the amount of noises that come out of him in his sleep. He seems to laugh at us a lot. I’d imagine that we’re pretty laughable as new parents.
We have been faithfully giving him five minutes of tummy time each day. He hates it so much!! It is obviously the most devastating torture that we could devise. He’s doing well though – he’s moving his head back and forth and lifting himself up a little on one arm. Brian tries to make him climb things like the Boppy pillow, couch cushions and the cats. He’s getting bigger by the day. We went to the doctor for a weight check on Wednesday and the boy is officially five pounds!!! Yeah Jeffrey! He’ll be growing out of the preemie clothes any day now.
Jeffrey’s becoming a very well read baby. At the hospital, we read The Little Prince and a book of Eric Carle stories. Once he came home we finished off Charlie & the Chocolate Factory during his first week. I came back from the book store with a Where the Wild Things Are, Are You My Mother, Grimm’s Faerie Tales, Greek Gods, and Jazz ABZ. Even if he doesn’t understand them, at least his grandfather should appreciate that last one.

Rythym of the Night

2006-03-12T06:46:00.000-05:00

After reading Thursday’s post, some of our readers expressed concern about the environment where we were raising our child. They pointed out that our selection of songs and movies showed a “clear Biggie-sized neo-growth partisan agenda”. Well, Mr. Colbert, let me set the record straight!
We do everything we can to encourage Jeffrey to be as well-rounded as possible. In fact, if you look at the pictures (yes, Grandma Lelah, I posted new ones yesterday!), he’s getting rounder by the day. So in addition to the songs and movies mentioned before, rest assured that he’s also enjoying a cornucopia of sights and sounds including Little Richard, Little Shop of Horrors and Little Women. And if that weren’t balanced enough, we drive right down the center line by watching Big Trouble in Little China, Malcolm in the Middle, and of course, Medium.
So, here it is, 4:48 AM. Jeffrey’s up, so I’m up. You see, raising a baby is ~~tricky~~ trick work, and today he’s working the night shift. And being only 17 inches tall, his mode of transportation to work is Mom & Dad. What does a 38 week old baby do? He’s a sucker. Bottle or breast, he sucks on it and fills up his belly (more or less) with the yummy juice inside. P.T. Barnum is credited (incorrectly) with the quote, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” According the US Census Bureau, there are about 8 born in the US every second.
The lactation consultants and the NICU blame (or credit, you choose) his more frequent feeding schedule with a “growth spurt”. Babies at his age and older have short periods of intense growth, usually marked by increased feeding amounts at closer intervals and general fussiness. And I was surprised to find out just how much difference a teaspoon of NeoSure in his breast milk bottles makes – the extra calories can give him up to an hour longer nap!

A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other. - Ronald Reagan

Amazing

2006-03-09T23:49:00.000-05:00

The question I’ve been asked more than any other this week: What’s it like finally having the baby home?
It’s amazing!
This whole week has just been a journey of joy and happiness. Each sound, each movement just makes us smile. And as much as we’ve loved their care and support, it’s been nice to be able to enjoy our child outside of the walls of the NICU.
I’m actually typing this post with Jeffrey sleeping on my chest. He’s drunk on breast milk. It happens.
We’ve been taking it easy and trying to get things organized around the house while Jeffrey sleeps. To our good fortune, that’s something he does quite a lot, and very well I might add. We don’t make a lot of effort to be especially quiet, and he’s used to sleeping through all the bells and buzzers in the hospital. According to our charts (did you expect anything else from us?), he’s been sleeping about 3.5 hrs on average and taking about 3 ounces per feeding from me and about 15 minutes of nursing from Danielle. We were told to expect some of his eating and sleeping habits to change when he came home, until he adjusts to his new environment. And to top all of that, Jeffrey moved into his own room after just two nights home with us. We tried it to see how he would do, and he aced it! Of course, we keep the baby monitor glued on him all night long, but this was one more step in making it feel like things are becoming a little more normal.
Wednesday was our big day. At 9:00 AM, Tery Waterhouse from Monroe County’s Early Intervention Program came to visit him. She explained how the program worked. Because Jeffrey was a preemie and diagnosed with PVL, he has a higher potential than full term babies to have a learning disorder or developmental disability. The EIP works to minimize the impact that has on the child’s life. They have teachers, social workers, physical therapists, nurses and more! Best of all, the program is funded through the taxes we already pay and Federal Grants. And since they understand the situation that newborn preemies are in, they come to your house for all visits! Jeffrey will remain in this voluntary program until age 3.
After Tery left, we packed up the boy and headed to his pediatrician’s office. It was a quick visit with Dr. Gretchen Smith-Burke to learn that he’s gained 4 ounces since discharge and 2 inches since birth – 4 lbs 14 ounces and 17 inches long. We’ll be seeing her every week to monitor his weight. We scheduled his follow-up boosters and made sure that we were all on the same page with his care and well-being.
Our last stop of the day was Rochester Eye Associates. The eyes are one of the last things to fully develop in a newborn. Because of this, Jeffrey had two eye exams while in the NICU. In the back of the eye is the part known as the retina. It apparently grows from the inside towards the outer edge of the eye. After his 2nd exam, they declared his eyes “zone 2, immature”, which means that the retina has grown into the 2nd of 3 zones on the back of the eye. The zones appeared to be ring shaped on the drawing they showed me, like a bullseye. The immature simply means that they’re not done growing yet. More importantly, they didn’t find any signs of eye disease like ROP or scaring of the retina. During this exam, Dr. Assilan found Jeffrey’s eyes to now be “zone 3, immature”. This is perfectly acceptable for a child that is still two week before his due date. We grabbed some burgers at Zebb’s and headed home after a very long day. Jeffrey had gone 7 hours without a feed (normal for all the stress he’d had) and we knew that any moment he was going to explode into fits of “Feed Me Now. Jeffrey Smash!”
Once the boy was fed, we took the opportunity to sort through all of his clothing and make piles for different sizes, and finally put it away in his dressers. I tell you, we’re going to get organized… just you wait! Thanks to everyone’s great gifts, our boy will be wearing clothes for a long time!
The last development of this first week home is Tummy Time. We started this with Jeffrey on Sunday, for only 5 minutes, and managed to increase it to several times a day for a few minutes each time. His doctors and development specialists recommend placing a rolled up receiving blanket under his arms to encourage his movement around. We’ve also propped him up on the Boppy pillow so that he could feel the movement in his legs making his upper body move up and down. So far, he’s been able to lift his head up and move it from left to right, as well as lifting both of his legs. On one occasion, he used his right arm to push himself up for just a few seconds. While he doesn’t grab at things, he does clutch things when he knows where they are: his pacifier, the collar of my shirt, my finger, etc.
Danielle’s already trying to hook up Jeffrey with a certain young Newberry girl. Ms. MacKenzie Jane is a petite young lady, especially next to her brother. I told Dani that he’s got his work cut out for him… she’s an older woman, by almost 20 months!
Not that I want Jeffrey to think that he’s small. On the contrary. Heck, he’s still negative 2 weeks old, considering that his due date was March 22nd. We refer to him as “big guy”, but sometimes that’s not enough. So we play Big Time by Peter Gabriel, and put on CDs by Big & Rich and Mr. Big. We watched Big Fish, The Big Lebowski and of course, Tom Hanks in Big. I wonder if it’s getting through?

Homeward Bound

2006-03-04T17:31:00.000-05:00

My apologies to all of you walking around on Thursday with 80’s tunes stuck in your head. Here’s a Paul Simon one for you today. Homeward bound. Home, where my thought’s escaping. Home, where my music’s playing…
Jeffrey’s countdown ended without any interventions, and we were able to bring home our boy yesterday afternoon. He had his battery of vaccinations over the past two days: Pneumococcal Conjugate (Prevnar), Haemophilus Influenzae B (Hib), Polio, DPT, Hepatitis B, and RSV (Synagis). Vaccines are one of the few things that premature babies can get at the same time as their full term counterparts, despite their “corrected” age. Nurse Cindy was doing everything she could to help us get out the door, but was quite burdened by a whopping 4 babies in her room! Nevertheless, she got our supplies, clothes and food packed for the trip home while Mom fed him and I got his car seat ready. We were a team with a mission!
One of the strangest feelings I had when I got there was being able to pick up and hold my son, and walk across the room. For so long, he’s had a 6 foot leash to his bedside monitors. I was so excited to pick him up and walk to the other side of the room and shout, “Look, there’s your bed all the way over there!”
As we got ready to leave, we presented the NICU staff with a cookie cake for the day staff and one for the night staff, in appreciation of their hard work, care and support for our soon (and us) over the past 56 days. We signed a card with each one, addressed to all of the doctors, nurses and specialists that have been part of Jeffrey’s team for the past 2 months. To the best of our memory, thanks go to: Barb, Betty, Carol, Cathy, Cheri, Cheryl, Chris Tryon, Cindy, Colin, Daynell, Hyacinth, Jeanne, Judith, Judy, Julie (Annex), Julie (C2), Kathy, Kelly, Sister Mary Fran, Marnie, Nan, Nancy, Sandy, Shannon, Sonya, Sue, Thembi, Dr. Ben-Saad, Dr. Carl D’Angio, Dr. Erik Thingvoll, Dr. Mark Lavender, Dr. Rob Sinkin, Dr. Theresa Murray, and Dr. Woodward.
Our trip home was uneventful. We stopped at DiBella’s and got some subs for dinner. Dani stayed in the backseat with Jeff for the ride home, and I watched him in the mirror.
When we finally arrived home, I recorded his grand entrance with the camera and then unloaded the bags from the car while Danielle got him settled. For a tiny baby, he sure packs a lot of stuff! We opted to let him adjust to his new surroundings before feeding him, since the whole ordeal can be very stressful.
We laid him down in the play pen crib after his meal so that we could eat our sandwiches. From the couch, we couldn’t see into his crib. Being your typical, first night, neurotic parents, we put the baby video monitor in there, aimed at his face, and then set screen in front of us. Sure he was only 8 feet away, but it kept us from checking on him every 10 seconds.
The rest of the night helped us to calm down a little more. We took Jeffrey around the house and showed him rooms (though he can’t see them yet, his eyes aren’t ready). Cisco showed much interest in the sleeping tot, and watched him for about 45 minutes. Later, as he was being fed upstairs, Cisco stopped by again to brush up against the boy. Jeffrey didn’t seem to mind.
He slept fairly well for his first night. We set up his bassinet next to Danielle’s night stand, for easy access. He got up at midnight, 3 AM and 6:30 AM for milk and medicine. That’s not too bad, especially since Danielle and I traded off, and we both got about 6 hours of decent sleep.
Three changes of clothes later (prune juice stains clothing very easily!) and several diapers later… here we are. Dani’s in the living room paying our bills online, and I’m posting on the blog. The boy’s sleeping in his new bouncer. Things are just right.
And baby makes three.
Vitals: This part will become scarcer, since we don’t have a scale at home. I did consider buying a USB one that you can use for postage too, but why worry about it? That’s what our Pediatrician is for. We’ll be seeing Dr. Smith-Burke on Wednesday at 11 AM for his first visit. Oh boy, another car ride!
And the winner is: Grandma Lelah! Her guess of 2086.52 was just 3.48g from his official discharge weight. This is his weight as of Thursday, 3/2/06 at 6:00 PM, and recorded on his discharge paperwork. He was not weighed on Friday, since he was discharged before nightly weighing. Congratulations, your Amazon gift certificate is on its way. May I make a suggestion?

The Final Countdown!

2006-03-01T17:01:00.000-05:00

OK, admit it. Upon reading that headline, you’ve got synthesizer intro from the 80’s hit by Europe going through your head, don’t you?
Today is day 52 in NICU land. He had a tremendous feeding with me last night – 75mL without any incident! He repeated that performance twice with his overnight nurse last night and again with me at lunch time today. For reference, 1oz is about 30mL. So it was no surprise when his nurse, Carol, said to me that the doctors have completed their rounds this morning and feel comfortable discharging Jeffrey on Friday evening. That will be 1 week without incident, and also give him time for his RSV vaccine, Synagis. We also had to make a circumcision decision today, in order to give enough recovery time before he comes home.
So the question you may be asking yourself is… where do I stand in the contest? Well, here are the standings so far:

Difference Name Guess
173.94 Jen & Mike 1871.06
132 Connie 1913.00
70 Meme 1975.00
69.1 K 1975.90
57 Sheila 1988.00
41.52 Mom 2086.52
107 Roger & Bonnie 2152.00
155 Sue Fisk 2200.00
166.26 Nikki Johnson 2211.26
175 Amanda from Ohio 2220.00
320 Heidi Newberry 2365.00
320 Professor Beaton 2365.00
336 Joanne Macek 2381.00
365 Kurt 2410.00
384 Marc Newberry 2429.00
423 Aunt Kate 2468.00
456 Liane Welsh 2501.00

Latest Measurement 2045 (3/1/2006)
Current Leader: Mom

If Jeffrey were coming home today, Grandma Lelah would be the winner. But his trip home isn’t until Friday. He may even lose a few grams as they’re discontinuing his calorie supplement today. It’s still anybody’s game. Except for Liane… you’re just way out there!
Tomorrow afternoon we’ll conduct his car seat test. Britax sent us a Low Birth Weight insert for his Companion infant car seat. It allows his body to lay a little more reclined than usual, and it can be removed from under the fabric once he is over 7 pounds (3.175 Kg). The folks at Britax were very helpful over the phone and getting the insert to us quickly. And of course, I had the seat professionally installed and checked by a Certified Child Passenger Seat Technician while I was on duty at the ambulance last night. Thanks, Diana. This is a (usually free) service offered by many ambulance agencies, fire departments, police departments and even some baby specialty stores, and I encourage every parent out there to take full advantage of it. As many as 82% of car seats are installed incorrectly!
What will parenthood hold for us once our son is home with us? We’ll soon find out. It sure is looking like baby around here, though! His feline siblings are eagerly awaiting… not really. They’re cats and frankly they don’t care about very much at all.
Vitals: 2045g today at 6 PM. I’ll update this post when I get home tonight. Ad lib feeds continue and intake increases daily. He’s starting to show signs of being able to stare are Dani and I, which is pretty good for 37 weeks…

Thank You!

2006-02-26T23:44:00.000-05:00

Clearly, I’ve been negligent in my duties, having not updated the blog in so many days! Well, I can tell you, it’s been a heckuva few days, for sure! So here’s a big post to cover this past week.
First of all…thank you! Jeffrey’s baby shower was yesterday and there were a lot of people there. Mary and Liane did a spectacular job organizing the event, and the Hilton Fire Dept allowed us to use the multi-purpose room at the Exempts Hall. It all came together beautifully, and only Mother Nature saw fit to throw some flurries our direction. Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes, cookies and M&Ms while Danielle opened up gifts on his behalf. He received so many wonderful toys, clothes and baby gear. A great time was had by all, and it showed us what we already knew… we have really great friends! We can’t wait for you all to meet Jeffrey!
Now we back track to earlier this week. The boy’s done so well gaining and growing since he’s moved to an open crib. On Tuesday, Nurse Judy informed us, “The only reason he’s still here is because he has trouble drinking from a bottle,” Yes folks, the doctors have decided that they want to fast track our boy on outta there! During rounds that morning, they discussed that Jeffrey has not had a single issue outside of feeding in 5 days. They are considering, if they can get his feeds under control, of just having a 3 day countdown instead of the traditional 7 day. In fact, at his “advanced” preemie stage, they wave the car seat test after 37 weeks (Monday, Feb 27) – but we’re going to do it anyway.
Judy told us that we need to find a nipple for bottle feeding that will make him not de-sat or stop breathing. So that night we went to Wal-Mart and bought one of every type of baby bottle they had, save for the few we already had at home. Nurse Julie tried a few of them, but in the end he prefers the Haberman nipple provided by the hospital. Wouldn’t it figure that the one that works best is the one that $20 each?
Meanwhile, Mom hasn’t had a very robust week. She came down with the same upper respiratory junk that I had last week, except worse. Even still, she managed to drag herself into work each day, and up to the floor to see our son and nurse him. By Thursday, she was about at the end of her rope and only stayed long enough to manage the CAP inspection of her lab before calling me to take her home. Friday was the peak of it, and fortunately she started on the mend for her baby shower.
But let’s talk about Friday. I went into school for my Networking final practical exam. Just before the start of the exam, I got a call from Danielle. She had just gotten off the phone with Kathy. Kathy is the discharge coordinator at the NICU. She asked Danielle how she’d feel about sending Jeffrey home on a monitor. Dani told her that she was home sick, and she’d like to talk it over with me. Apparently they need our permission to do that, or something. Kathy was kinda pushy about when I might be home so we could call back with an answer. Dani told her I was in class until 4:00 PM, and Kathy said we’d have to leave it until Monday.
I went to the hospital after my exam (piece of cake, by the way!) to talk with his nurse and find out what’s going on. Julie had just finished administering oxygen to him following a pretty significant apnea spell. She was surprised that we had gotten a phone call and told me that Jeffrey was not ready to go home – heck, the doctor’s hadn’t even rounded yet for that day until just before I’d arrived. I told her that I was concerned that Jeffrey was being pushed out. She took the time to listen to my concerns, especially the fact that we’d been told all along that he wasn’t going home on a monitor. Julie told me that Jeffrey definitely was not ready to come home – breathing and eating are two very important things and he really needs to get the hang of both of them simultaneously.
Jeffrey had a pulmonary consult on Saturday. We’ll have a chance to talk to the attending doctor on Monday about it. But when it comes down to it, Dani and I do not want Jeffrey to come home on a monitor or before he’s ready. I know that the NICU is teeming at the brim. I know that there are lots of sick babies who need good doctors and nurses. But I also know this: our baby needs good doctors and nurses too. I know that when I’m on the ambulance, I don’t tell a less critical patient “I have another call… are you alright to make it to the hospital yourself?”
Until he’s really ready to come home… we’ll just take it one day at a time.
Vitals: 1940g (4 lbs 4.4 oz) today, which is a gain of 10g today and 50g yesterday. He’s still having a little trouble remembering to breathe, and he had another dip tonight where his nurse had to rub his chest to get him started again. He’s in a new room today as of 6 PM, and it’s a little crowded with 4 babies to a room. Because room is tight, he had to move into a smaller crib, and his night nurse Thembi is going to see if she can get his mobile to fit. Hopefully they will open another room in the morning so the nurses aren’t overwhelmed.

21st Century Digital Boy

2006-02-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey's first Tablet PC

I don’t have too much to say right now, since I haven’t been to the hospital yet today, but I wanted everyone to know that he finally made it to 4 lbs! I’ll add more to this later, but for now I leave you with these pictures from yesterday when Grandma visited.

The Future is Now

2006-02-20T00:10:00.000-05:00

When last we left our loyal readers, Jeffrey had just broken 1700g and was eating without the assistance of a feeding tube. Oh, that is sooo last week!
So where to begin? I found out on Wednesday morning that Dr. Thingvoll and some of the other fellows have been reading the blog, and that they enjoy the parent’s perspective on “Life in the NICU”. Hello!
Nurse Cindy has kept Jeffrey on the straight and narrow with his feedings, and he’s being given 2 oz. at each feeding, though he doesn’t necessarily consume it all. I can still remember his first 2 cc. feeding only a few weeks ago – oh how the time flies! It’s been wonderful to see how he’s been able to grow. Just 2 weeks ago, he could barely breastfeed without dropping his heart rate and going apneic after just a few swallows. Now we hardly hear the alarm on his monitor go off during a feed for more than just a quick “blip”. Everyday is a new discovery; a new milestone.
On Friday, Danielle came in to feed Jeffrey and noticed a pleasant surprise – no more nasal cannula! It was so obvious that she nearly missed it. Of course, with babies in an isolette, you can’t very well say, “Hmm… there’s something different about you! New glasses? Are you parting your hair different?” But there it was, as plain as the lack of tubing on his face… his face! It really means a lot to see and hold him with fewer wires and tubes and tape on his body. I took a lot of pictures. When I came up, Cindy had just called to tell us that the PICU was kicking us out of our room because they needed it (the NICU “rents” the rooms from the PICU as vacancy warrants and need merits). Kathy came up to help us in our migratory path across the PICU to the cardiac care suite – the new home of the NICU annex. We had fun packing up an entire room’s contents plus all three babies and setting up shop. Kathy even let us pick which spot we wanted. It’s a corner with a nice view out the window. Finally, when we were done moving, we were able to give Jeffrey his first bath. He tolerated it well and only cried a little as we wiped him clean. You have to wash them very methodically and most importantly, quickly, since his tiny body doesn't maintain heat very well. We wrapped him up in towels, dressed him up in layers and put a cute hat on him before we fed him. What an ordeal!
My Mom and sisters arrived at our house just after we got home on Friday. Each sister had a daughter in tow: my nieces Brianna, 7 and Tori, 6 months. Since Jeffrey’s not home yet, we had perfect accommodations for the baby. Danielle’s Mom graciously offered to come up for the weekend and help us get the house in order for the baby shower, so by the time my family showed up, the house was looking better than it had… well, since Dani’s Mom left 4 weeks ago!
The remainder of the party guests arrived Saturday at around Noon. After a quick tour of the house, we headed to Olive Garden for a relaxing meal and a fun time for all the ladies. I got to tag along, probably because I’m the only one who brought a camera. We got back to the house by 4:30 pm and watched pictures and movies of the boy on our Xbox with Xbox Media Center. Then Danielle opened gifts. Jeffrey received so many wonderful toys, baby care items, bedding, outfits and decorations. Everyone was very thoughtful. I’ve posted pictures of the shower here. It was so nice to be able to see everyone and share this exciting time in our life with them. Normally, being so far away, we really only get to see the entire family like this at Christmas, and then it’s so busy with trying to run to everyone’s house in time, get food ready for 40 people and hold a conversation with so many that it’s hard to get to visit with everyone.
Today we went to see our son and were in for a new surprise. Nurse Judy told us that she’d just ordered an open crib for Jeffrey, and it should be up soon because today was his last day in an isolette. How exciting is that? If you’ve been following along, you’ll recall that an open crib is another check box on his Candy-Land route to coming home. Like Nurse Cindy told us on Friday, things are going to move much faster now. He’s eating more, gaining weight faster and will be whipping through the paces so fast that before we realize it, he’ll be home! And, of course, she’s right.
As each day passes, my alternate lyrics to the song I’ve been singing him are becoming more and more inaccurate.

[To the tune of Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy”]
Change his diaper when he gets wet
Spends his days in an isolette
He just thinks breast milk’s fantastic
Through a feeding tube that’s nasogastric

Chorus:
He’s so tiny, he’s so tiny

Oh, come on… you try to come up with a song that rhymes “Nasogastric”!

Vitals: So close today! With a 60g gain on Thursday, we thought for sure that he’d be 4 lbs (1812g) on Friday. Nope. Saturday? Nope. OK, Sunday then! Nope. Holding at 1795g, just a half an ounce shy. Tomorrow for certain! Follow up vision test tomorrow at 2:00 PM. We’ll be following up with the nurses to be sure that he holds his temperature in the open crib, but we’re not too worried. Cindy and Judy are pretty determined nurses, so I’m sure that if they think Jeffrey’s ready for the open crib, then he’s ready.

103 new pictures this week! Click the link "Pictures and Videos of Me" in the sidebar on the right to view them!

So Very Tired

2006-02-15T23:31:00.000-05:00

It’s time for a post from Mom. Brian and I are having a breakdown week. It seems like the stress of running and worrying has finally caught up with us. We’ve been trying to put a good face on for everyone but the truth is, this is a lot harder to deal with than we expected. Don’t get me wrong, Jeffrey is doing well and he’s making progress every day but it’s just taking its toll on us. I’m tired. Brian is tired. We could use a day off. Since that isn’t possible we’re trying our best. Our boy is worth it.
Mom offered to come up and help us out for a few days this weekend and we pretty much leapt at the offer. Not having to deal with some of the normal daily duties is a gift greater than gold right now. Hopefully as he gets closer to home we’ll morph into some type of routine and at least get used to the exhaustion. The nurses assure us that it will be easier when Jeff gets home. At least then, I’ll get to wake up to a baby instead of an alarm to pump. The sound of Jeffrey crying will be music to my ears when compared to the voice of Brother Wease on WCMF which graces my alarm every morning at six.
Stats for Jeffrey: He’s up 15g to 1715g (3 lb 12.5 oz) today. They pulled his nasogastric tube yesterday and he is eating all on his own. Yeah!! Today he started ad lib feeding at 45cc’s. That means that we feed him when he gets hungry and cries, instead of exactly every three hours. It’s great. He’s getting a little more social now, he stays awake for longer after eating and we get to do more than gaze at him with adoration in his fort. They upped his medications today. They have been giving him Reglan and Pepcid to help with his reflux and they are going to increase his dosages with his weight. The nurses say that he may go home on these medications and that he should hopefully grow out of the reflux by the time he’s about a year old.

Don't forget... there's still 2 more days to enter the "Guess His Weight" contest! Post a comment in the story below!

Contest #1

2006-02-11T15:59:00.000-05:00

With such support and continued readership, we wanted to find a way to show our gratitude. So we’re having a contest. Here’s how it works:
Each time I post on the blog, I try to give the most updated vitals for the day. Most of these are measured around 5-6 PM each night, give or take depending on his mood. For the contest, we’re looking for you to submit your guess (as a post on the blog) of what Jeffrey’s discharge weight will be (in grams, since that’s how he’s measured at the hospital). The winner will be the closest, either over or under, to his actual weight on the day he leaves the hospital. In the event of a tie, the winner will be the one who posted first, so if you see someone has already posted the same entry as you, you might want to change it +/- 1 gram or so.
The prize? A $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com. In order to be fair, entries must be posted by 2/18/06.
OK, on to the boy! Today is a great day for food! He had all of his feedings since 9 AM by bottle, and Danielle is going to nurse him tonight at 6 PM and 9 PM. That’s a half day’s feedings without the tube. Of course, if he gets tired (it’s a lot of work!), he’ll have to go back to an NG feed, but we’ve got our fingers crossed. Once he gets to all feedings “PO” – that’s latin for “we stick it in his mouth” – then we get another check mark on our discharge laundry list!
Danielle and I are getting ready to host her baby shower with my family. They’re coming out from Northeastern NY, near Glens Falls. I’m certain it will be a motley caravan, filled with sisters, aunts, nieces, nephews, Mom & Meme. It’s only a 4 hour trip across I-90 from there to here, but with bathroom breaks and stops for snacks, I’m guessing, oh… 10 hours. (Hint: take Route 67 from Ballston Spa, 87 Exit 13N, all the way Amsterdam!) My sister-in-law will be traveling that lonely stretch of Lake Ontario liner known as Route 104 with my nephews Skyler and Hunter. The two groups are converging on our house for the day/weekend to welcome the boy, see the new house and share in the Rochester goodness. Bon Voyage!
We’re just sitting here at home now, waiting. And waiting. For the furniture delivery guys. Don’t get me wrong, we’re waiting for Jeffrey too, but chances are his dressers will be here first… though staring down the road as their 11-2 delivery window passes, I’m starting to wonder. Mike and Kevin came over today to help get a ceiling fan installed in Jeffrey’s room, and it looks great. I was excited that I got to use my new saws for the first time.
Vitals: Two feedings in a row yesterday without any heart rate or breathing difficulties.
1.625 Kg as of last night or 3 lbs 9.3 ounces for the non-metric world. By the way, that’s also 8125 carats, a little over a quarter stone, 25,000 grains, or about 52 troy ounces. Did I leave anyone out?

Update: 9 PM - 1.655 Kg.

That depends on your definition of “Good”

2006-02-09T14:00:00.000-05:00

When you have a new baby, you can’t help but have it be the focus of most of your conversations. Almost everyone will greet you with “Oh, Hi! How’s the baby?” Usually, we respond with “He’s doing well/good/great”, because to us, he is. It all comes down to how you define “good”.
If you were to see me in the hallway and say “Hey, Brian! How’s ya doin’?”, “good” might be interpreted as “I’m feeling well, just ate a ham sandwich, and think I’ll go for a walk now.” When we answer about Jeffrey, we really mean that he’s doing well – for a 34 week gestational age preemie. What that means for him is that, maybe he only stopped breathing 6 times today, or his heart rate dropped over 100 beats per minute just once during a feeding. When we found out that he passed his vision test, it means that things were still growing into place, but there weren’t any defects observed.
I talked to my Mom this week about the upcoming family baby shower. We’re really looking forward to seeing everybody and showing off our new home; especially the new nursery. But I felt really bad when I told her that we wouldn’t be able to bring everyone up to see the baby. I know how much everyone loves to hold babies – they’re just so damn cute! (Ours especially – not biased at all!) I’m sure that my family was looking forward to seeing our boy, and he’s “good”, but not good enough to handle that many visitors. Golisano Children’s Hospital is a level III NICU and the Regional Perinatal Center, and as such has very strict policies about visitors. The policy stands that Mom & Dad and both grandparents have access 24/7. Then, depending on his condition and that of the other babies in the room, we can have 2 support people per day, and only in our company. I hope everyone understands.
My geek solution to this is a webcam. During the shower, I’m going to go into the hospital with my laptop and my webcam, and set it up to look at Jeffrey. We’ll be able to see and hear him (though not the other way, it’s too much stimuli for him). I hope that will make do until he’s home and healthy enough to have visitors. His doctors tell us that will be a few months after he’s discharged.
While we’re on the topic of misinterpretations, I thought I’d mention something I overheard in the waiting area of the NICU last night. Two NICU mothers were talking about their pregnancies and one mentioned that she was really disappointed about not being able to carry her baby the full 9 months. So many people had told her that she was so lucky not to have to carry the baby during those “brutal” 8th and 9th months (she delivered at 27 weeks). While she understood the kind intentions of the comment, she was looking forward to looking down at her growing belly, feeling the forceful kicks of the baby as her daughter grew older, and seeing her hand or foot pushing out against her abdomen. While there’s any number of horrible physical things that a woman’s body goes through during those last 13 weeks, she would have traded it in a heart beat for not having to go through the ups and downs of having a child in the NICU.
The other mother countered that with a comment made by a checkout clerk. Apparently this clerk had a few children of her own. “If you think you’re tired now, just wait until you get your baby home!” This is horribly discouraging! I can attest to the fact that it’s a lot of work having a baby in the NICU. Danielle only just began nursing the baby, and until that point had to rely solely on a breast pump to maintain her milk supply which is so important to the baby’s growth. Every two hours, hooked up to a machine, is very different than the human emotional response of feeding your child when they cry for milk. In our case, we’re very fortunate to have friends and family who’ve volunteered to make meals, provide transportation and help out with projects around the house to keep us from going insane. For this, we’re very grateful. There are many other parents who are in more difficult situations.
We hope that things will get easier when Jeffrey comes home. We won’t have to drive to the hospital 2-3 times per day, 7 days a week. We won’t have alarms and monitors going off all around us. Jeffrey will be able to maintain his temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate all on his own (more or less).
Now all we have to worry about is sickness, hazards around the home, riding a bike, the freaky dates he’ll bring home, borrowing the car… oh, I hope it gets easier!

Vitals: Our boy is growin’! His weight is up to 1575g. He’s been taking most of his 31cc (about 1 oz) feedings orally, either by bottle or by jug, and with fewer and fewer “events”. His vision test came back with no anomalies, and he’s scheduled for another test before he goes home to check out the rest of his development, sometime around week 36. Another head ultrasound revealed that the IVH on the left is nearly gone, and slightly decreased on the right. They did find a periventricular leucomalacia cyst on the right side, and they’re unsure how that will affect him. It may possibly affect motor movement or right brain learning, or it may be completely benign. We’re hoping for the latter. Chris Tryon, the child development specialist fed him on Wednesday and told us that he’s reacting exactly as a 34 week neonate should, and his neck muscle development is quite good.
And on the topic of heads, he out-grew his first set of clothes: 2 hats.

Open Mouth, Insert Feed

2006-02-06T01:14:00.000-05:00

Last night we had a great time at the Gates Ambulance 42nd annual banquet. On either side of the banquet, we hung out at the NICU and gave Jeffrey his feedings. It was really nice to see all of our friends from GVAS and to catch up with everyone. Of course, we brought pictures to share. Danielle was in a great mood because Jeffrey had his first complete feed from nursing. It sure tired him out, but he dined at Café Mom for almost 25 minutes.

Today I had a chance to give him a feed from a bottle, which is how he’s getting more and more of his feeds when Danielle is not around. One of his goals is to be completely orally fed and off the feeding tube before he can go home. The success of his feedings is being reflected in a steady weight gain. He’s up to 1.53 Kg (3 lbs 5.8 oz).
As far as meds go, he’s still on Reglan and Pepcid for GI motility and reflux. Tomorrow he’ll be 34 weeks old and will get an eye exam. From what I hear, it’s a pretty scary ordeal to watch, and Jeffrey will need eye drops to dilate his pupils. It’s another check box on his way to coming home.

Alicia finished his bedroom on Saturday. The pictures are all online now, and the mural is so beautiful… even better than we imagined. This morning I set up the crib and a bookshelf in there, along with Deb’s mobile. It’s very cute.
Finally… a plug for our local baby store, Simon’s. We stopped in there today at 4:03 (not realizing that they close at 4:00 PM). Our same salesman, Joseph, was there. We told him that we wouldn’t be long, we knew exactly what we wanted – just the Peg Perego SIP car seat. His co-worker went into the store room and grabbed one for us. That’s when he told us – the Britax infant seat is better, and $40 less expensive. Even though the store was closed, he took us into the car seat area and gave us a quick breakdown of the two 2006 seats, side by side. We were convinced, and now we have our new car seat sitting atop the stroller and ready for Jeffrey’s NICU car seat test.
Now, all we need here is the boy…

PS: (Thanks for the reminder, Sue) Jeffrey was wrapped in his Terrible Towel tonight while his Pittsburgh Steelers won their 5th Super Bowl, 21-10 against the Seattle Seahawks. Jeffrey says "One for the Wrist"!

State of the Isolette Address

2006-02-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

State of the Isolette Messages to the Blog reading public are mandated by Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution which states,"Babies shall from time to time give to the Bloggers information of the state of the isolette, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."
Senior NICU analyst here with some in-depth coverage of last night’s State of the Isolette Address. Jeffrey drew applause from both sides of the NICU pods in his bi-partisan address. He stated in his speech that, “Inside the isolette, I’m warm, and together we can make me warmer.” He also called for an end to dependence on supplemental oxygen, which he called, “an airway addiction.” Healthcare was, of course, a large focus of his address. He called for a ban on nasal cannulas, medical tape and quarterly belly measurements.
Jeffrey also detailed new energy initiatives. These include increasing his feedings to 27cc eight times per day, increasing the caloric intake with HMF and conserving his energy for when he’s ready to move to an open crib. Expressing concern over home heating costs, Jeffrey announced that he would be lowering the temperature on the isolette on a gradual basis until it reached room temperature. And while hydrogen power has been a very popular topic of discussion, Jeffrey appears to be conducting his own research into “natural gas”, despite other members of the pod's concerns about its related toxic emissions.
Jeffrey spoke briefly on his exit strategy for the NICU, which he called “a clear plan for victory.” He avoided specifics in favor of broad themes that included building an inclusive family unit, forging ahead with breastfeeding and striking at infections. He characteristically declined to offer a timetable for NICU withdrawal, despite calls from Rep. Meehan (Dad, Hilton) and Sen. Meehan (Mom, Hilton). He pointed out the increasing role that Mom & Dad were taking with feedings, changings and playtime, and hoped that over the next few days “we should be able to further decrease our medication levels.”
Vitals: Up 30g today to 1455g (about 3 lbs 3.5 oz). He’s maintaining his temperature well and tolerating being dressed and undressed several times per day. His belly circumference measurements have been fine, as have his head circumference measurements. Dr. Murray told us today that the IVH on one side of his brain has receded to a level 1, while the other still remains a level 2 – though that’s likely to decrease with his next head ultrasound next week. His nasal cannula has been cut down to room air at 0.5 lpm. And finally, his attempts at nursing are getting more successful every day.
Jeffrey says… vote Quimby!

Over the Lips and Past the Gums...

2006-02-01T01:12:00.000-05:00

Today Nurse Cindy taught Jeffrey a new trick: drinking from a bottle. She told us today that she noticed some rooting reflex going on, so she tried his 9 AM feeding with a bottle. He took about 10 oz cc from the bottle before he got tired out. Hey, it’s a lot of work! The rest of the feed was done with his tube. For the 12 PM feed, he got the bottle again and did over half of his feeding with it! To complete his feeding trifecta, Dani thinks that he was able to latch on for his attempt at nursing tonight.
Dr. D’Angio stopped by today and told me again that he’s pleased with Jeffrey’s progress. He and Nurse Cindy explained the discharge checklist to me. He’s got 2.5 things completed on it… and like 10 more to go. Mostly, Jeffrey needs more meat on his bones! But oral feedings are on that list, so today’s milestone is an important one.
Vitals: Up 20g today to 1410g. That’s another ¾ oz! His feedings have been increased to 26cc (8x/day). He’s still on just a puff of oxygen at 0.5 lpm and varying concentrations of 20-25%. All of his events today have been self-corrected. That’s great!
Interesting fact: Compared to this girl, Jeffrey is a moose! The world’s smallest surviving neonate, Rumaisa Rahman, was born in 2004 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood at just 8.6 ounces.

3 Pounds! (And one ounce)

2006-01-30T17:57:00.000-05:00

A post before dinner? Nope, it’s just me putting up new pictures! While I’m here, I should post a quick update.
Vitals: 1390g, up 55g from yesterday! They’ve increased his food to breast milk plus 4 packets of HMF, which adds an extra calorie per ounce, per packet. He’s so wiggly, it’s almost like he’s trying to crawl out of the isolette when we open the door. Temperature is holding well. The staff is still holding him to 0.5 lpm of room air, because he’s kinda forgetful about things like, oh… breathing.
Last night we decorated for Valentine’s day with hearts and gel stickers. Alicia's here today to start painting his bedroom mural. He's one lucky boy!

No News and Good News

2006-01-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Jeffrey’s doing fine. There really hasn’t been anything remarkable over the past day or so. Danielle and I are relaxing here in the NICU-annex while he sleeps. I’m finishing homework and surfing the net while she works on a cross stitch piece for him. It’s just about time for his 9 PM changing and feeding, so I’ll have to keep this quick.
It’s really nice to have ‘net access now. I can post updates and keep up with school work while being by his side. We can even set up the webcam – maybe tomorrow. There are more chairs to sit on, and it’s pretty quiet. We’ve been able to adhere to the “2 visitors to a bedside” while still being able to hang right outside the window.
Last night we had a new milestone… sort of. As Dani and I drove home, we thought about it and realized that yesterday was the first day we were really able to “play” with him. He wiggled all over, was wide awake, and we made silly faces. We had fun dressing him up in his “I Love My Daddy” outfit. He’s getting bigger and able to turn his head left and right when he’s on his back. He kicks and throws his arms about wildly. In short (no pun intended)… he’s getting to be fun! And louder!
(Short pause)
OK, I’m done feeding the boy. He fell asleep on me and was curled up into a little ball. Normally that would cause him to drop his oxygen saturation levels, but he did really well tonight. We made it all the way through the feeding, and then his monitor ran low on batteries. It turns out that the power cord was broke and kept falling out of the unit. Enter MacGyver Dad… Jeffrey in one hand and a roll of medical tape in the other. A few minutes later, we had a working monitor back on AC power, and all the cables secured in place with enough medical tape to withstand a minor earthquake. Hey, I like to feel useful.
Mom’s hanging out with the boy for a few minutes before we head home for the night to our other neglected children: Pixel, Berkeley, Cisco and perl.
Vitals: Nurse Sonya on duty tonight. 1325g (down 15g since last measurement. That’s OK). He’s feeding at 25cc, 8x per day. He had to stop for a little bit last night because of a slight residual (7cc), but x-rays showed no concerns. It was a cool x-ray machine, painted like a giraffe! He really doesn’t like having to wear a nasal cannula. Perhaps tonight during rounds the doctors will suggest trying him on room air.

Movin' On Up!

2006-01-26T23:58:00.000-05:00

One thing that you don’t want to hear when you come to visit your baby in the NICU: “Let’s see if we can find your baby.” Jeffrey’s been moved once, from B2 pod to C2 pod. We’ve come to know and enjoy the nurses in our pod, so it came as some disappointment when I learned that Jeffrey had been moved out of the NICU and into a NICU-annex in the Pediatric Critical Care Unit. But that didn’t last long. As much as we’ll miss our old nurses, the new “suite” is very nice. It’s quiet, there’s a private bathroom and sink, you can pump at the baby’s bedside, there’s a live Ethernet port with Internet access and they play soft music in the room. Jeff’s sharing a room with two other babies and one Nurse Sandy. All in all, it’s quite nice and has a lovely view from the window.
We’ve been told that this means that he’s doing well enough to be in the annex, and that he’ll likely stay up here unless he gets another infection or some other condition. But that’s not going to happen!
I was feeding the boy during doctor’s rounds this morning. Their plan for him right now is to:

Slowly wean him off nasal cannula. He’s currently on room air at 0.5-1.0 lpm.

Introduce him to breast feeding everyday. He’ll catch on eventually. Literally.

Begin adding Human Milk Fortifier (HMF) to his feeds for extra calories.

Move him to an open crib once they’re convinced that he’s capable of holding his body temperature without expending too many calories to do it.

Continue “dressing him up” so that he’s used the stimulus of clothing touching him. The developmental specialist says that’s a sign of a maturing nervous system.

Vitals: Head circumference holding fast – ultrasound officially revealed no expansion or dissolution of the IVH. Dr. Murray suspects that it will dissolve all on its own soon, and they scheduled a follow-up u/s next week. Weight up to 1345g. For reference, 1361g is 3 lbs. His belly was a little bit big after his 6 PM feeding, but it’s likely that it was just from air or needing to have another movement.
That’s our boy!

The Emperor's New Clothes

2006-01-25T23:59:00.000-05:00

When I arrived at the NICU this morning, I found Jeffrey wearing a cute blue outfit. It’s the first day that his breathing has been stable enough to allow him to wear clothes. Even as size Preemie XXS 0-5lbs, he’s too tiny to even get his feet all the way down to the bottom of the outfit! Nurse Julie let me take him out for his 9 AM feeding and hold him. The doctors came and did rounds while the boy and I hung out. They’ve brought his feedings back up to the full amount, but stretched them out to 50 minutes for 24cc to help minimize reflux. Besides a diagnosis of “very cute”, they’ve decided to finish off his antibiotics and remove his IV access too. Dr. D’Angio says that his next step is to get him off the nasal cannula… when he’s ready.
The follow-up ultrasound was performed last night, and unofficially it looks fine. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get an official diagnosis from Dr. D’Angio or Dr. Murray. He’s doing well on weight, another 20g today to bring him up to 1310g. He held his body temperature well when Danielle had him out in the evening for almost an hour and a half.
That’s all for tonight. I need to finish off homework and catch some sleep. Oh, I posted new pictures… 41 to be exact… at the link on the right.

Developments on Development

2006-01-24T23:38:00.000-05:00

I’m taking a break from working on the boy’s room for a few minutes, and I thought I’d catch up with all of Jeffrey’s loyal readers out there. Looking at the counter over there, it looks like there are a lot of you. So here’s a big hello to all the doctors and nurses checking in from the NICU. Hey to NexPress, Kodak and Tissue Typing! Hello to the misc.kids.* newsgroups (a lot of traffic from those Google groups. Thanks for stopping by!). Hello to Gates EMS and Hilton FD. And of course, were would we be without the loving support of all our friends and family? It’s been inspiring to see how many people check in on our little guy, and reading your responses is one of the highlights of our day!
Vital Stats: Today’s looking up again. After a bout this weekend with no feedings for 3½ days due to intestinal inflammation (probably residual from the staph infection), Jeffrey started back on breast milk this morning. He’s back up to full feedings already – 23cc (almost an ounce)! Nurse Practioner Jeannie was working with him yesterday to try and wean him completely off of any airway apparatus, and he went for almost 16 hours with no nasal cannula, but he’s back on just a wee puff of room air to help him a long. I’m learning to be patient, even though I’m really excited and can’t wait to get him home. He gained a lot of weight yesterday… 45 grams! So it was OK that he lost a little (10g) today to round out at 1290g at 5 PM. That’s 2.84 lbs for the metrically challenged. Head circumference is stable, and we’ll have some more info about the IVH tomorrow after his 1 week follow-up head ultrasound. The doctors are also going to discuss feeding again during morning rounds to see if we can interest him in nursing with Mom.
What we learned today: Jeffrey passed his NYS hearing test. That’s good; because I’m pretty sure he didn’t study at all. I think it was a pop-quiz, because I didn’t even know they tested babies’ hearing in the hospital. But they do. There’s even a brochure about it, taped to his isolette.
We spoke with Chris Tryon today. She’s the Child Development specialist in the NICU. She’s going to help us with Jeffrey while he’s in the NICU and teach us how to interact with our little preemie. Because of his size, weight and cognitive capacity, he gets stressed out pretty easily. She told us how important it is that he have uninterrupted deep sleep, but also to sing and talk to him when he’s awake. Take him out and hold him close against your skin. If he does get stressed while he’s out (she taught us what to look for), hold him closer and tightly, just as if he was in the womb. It’s really neat to see things just “click” on. For instance, last week the boy was barely interested in a pacifier. He just couldn’t get the hang of it and it fell out of his mouth almost every time. Now he can’t get enough of it! The next “click” will be eye-movement tracking. Right now he just looks at me (I think) and sometimes his eyes cross. That’s because he doesn’t have control over them well enough to stare or follow things. That will come in the next 2 weeks. She’s got a whole plan for him.
Speaking of plans, I better get back to finishing the nursery. Grandma and Grandpa Sheppard came out this weekend and did patching and painting (Thanks!), and it looks great. I’m stippling the ceiling tonight, and Alicia Nabozny will be out next week to paint a jungle mural on the wall.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading.

(There Sue… I posted before midnight. This counts!)

When NICU Babies Attack

2006-01-23T00:08:00.000-05:00

Danielle and I took a class offered by the NICU on the Monday after our boy was born. It was called “Your baby in the NICU” or “So you’ve got a kid in the NICU” or “When NICU babies attack”… something like that. It was a nice class that taught us a lot about how to interact with our child-in-an-incubator. We learned about the visiting hours for the parents, grandparents, and extended support members (friends and close relatives… not your mailman, your hair dresser and that one friend you had in high school that liked to stick things up his nose).
What we didn’t learn at the class was how much of an emotional drain it can be surviving on the outside while your little one is struggling on the inside. So, we have formed our own little alliance, Danielle and I, to deal with this. And here’s our creed:

Jeffrey will come home at 40 weeks gestational age, give or take a few weeks. When he comes home, he will be healthy enough for us to bring him home, or else the doctors wouldn’t allow it. During his extended stay in the NICU, he’s going to have some banner days where he’s gain weight, have good vitals, eat food and kick back in the afternoon for some solid naptime. He’s also going to have some really lousy days where his vitals will be in the toilet and the doctors or nurses will have to deliver some bad news du jour. We understand that a) many babies (and parents) before Jeffrey have gone through the same trials and tribulations as we have and b) he’s got the best care available to attend to his every medical, developmental and emotional need.

It’s human nature for us, as his parents (and more so as new parents) to jump up and down on his good days and freak out on his bad days. But we can’t. No more than the veteran Wall Street trader can jump at every fluctuation of his stocks. It’s not healthy for us. While Jeffrey’s at the hospital, it’s our job to be his support team, and it’s hard for us to do when we’re worried ourselves. Therefore, we’ll let the doctors worry for us. And frankly, they don’t seem all that worried very often. That Dr. Murray is one cool cucumber. And Drs. Thingvoll’s & D’Angio seem pretty confident about our boy too.
So you know what I’m going to do? Sing lousy 80’s new wave songs to him, change his diaper every few hours, feed him when I can, and just enjoy every minute I get to spend with my son.

Vitals for today: Up 20g to 1280, stable vitals throughout the afternoon with a few bradycardic events in the morning. He’s still not able to take feeds due to a distended abdomen since 6pm on 1/21/06. IV nutrition has been re-established. X-rays every 12 hours to diagnose what might be going on in his intestines. Hopefully we’ll have more information tomorrow morning.

On a funny note… Danielle tried breastfeeding yesterday. That’s not the funny part. He wasn’t that interested in latching on, and actually fell asleep in mid-attempt. A good effort, and the nurse (Barb) told us not too worry if he didn’t get the hang of it on the first try… he’s not even 32 weeks yet! Later on, he got to lie on my chest while we fed him his evening feed by tube. Wouldn’t you know it that then he was much more interested in trying breastfeeding? He made a valiant effort. Too bad he was on the wrong chest.

The Comeback Kid

2006-01-20T18:45:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey says, “Infection? What infection?” Barb was his nurse today, and she told us that they will be discontinuing his IV fluids (Hyperalimentation and interlipids 20%) at midnight. They started him last night with 9cc feedings (1/2 of where he was at before) and now he’s all the way back to 23cc feedings! They refer to that as “full” feedings, which is 140cc per kilo daily. She also told Danielle that if no one mentions breast feeding to her by the end of this week, she should bring it up.
And to top it all off? He gained weight through all of this - 1260g! As of today, he has surpassed his birth weight. Still no change in head circumference, and we’ve got our fingers crossed.
Dani got a surprise tonight as she posted to her misc.kids.breastfeeding news group. One respondent told her that they just bought a new deep freezer, and if she needed any room for milk storage… Well, we’ve shared a lot on the blog, but that seemed really personal. And then she scrolled down and realized that it was our friend Joanne! (Mom to Nathan and Jeremy).
We’re passing on everyone’s well wishes and good thoughts to the boy. He’ll be home before we know it, and we’ll look forward to everyone getting to meet him.

One day at a time...

2006-01-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update. I popped out of the NICU while Jeffrey’s asleep to post this from Dani’s office at Strong.
Good news. He seems to be responding very well to the vancomycin, an anti-biotic used to treat staph epi and staph aureus. His color looks much better, and they’ve taken him off the ventilator and back to room air via nasal cannula. His hand is a little swollen because he had new IVs put in today. I’m going to head back upstairs to get his afternoon vitals. It’s possible that even with all of this chaos, he could still be gaining weight. Right now he’s getting a lot of sleep and enjoying his new purple vanilla pacifier (thanks Isabella!).
The nurses will be doing a head circumference measurement daily to check for any swelling. Normal growth is about 0.5 – 1.5cm per week. He’ll be due for another head ultrasound next Tuesday.
Thanks for everyone’s concern through phone calls and email. It’s all been very comforting to know that Jeffrey has such a large cheerleading section! We’ll do our best to keep everyone updated. New pictures available at the link on the right.
Vitals: 1240g, head circumference 27cm (no change).

Hooray for Staph!?

2006-01-18T23:20:00.000-05:00

Here’s a short post because we’re both very exhausted from today. Following yesterday’s news and setback, we were looking for any sort of good news from the NICU today. I called at 9:00 AM, before I left for my Sys Admin midterm. Jean told me that he was still stable from the overnight and comfortable on the ventilator. Unfortunately, none of his lab results had shown any signs of infection yet.
At 1:00 PM, we called again and talked to Dr. Theresa Murray, the attending fellow this month in the NICU. She told us more or less the same thing, Jeffrey was stable, and the ventilator was doing the bare minimum amount of work required to keep him breathing consistently. And hey, he even gained an ounce overnight!
When we came in to visit at 5:00, Dr. Murray asked to speak with us. She told us that, although it was rare with preemies that make it to 29 weeks, Jeffrey had developed an intraventricular hemorrhage in his brain. They found it this afternoon on a head ultrasound. His is a grade 2, and that means that there is little risk for further complications. They will monitor him very closely to see if his head swells at all this week and do a follow up ultrasound in seven days. They’re not sure when the bleed began – it could have been caused during birth, or could have been triggered by an infection. If it stays at a level 2, then within a week or two it will clot up and dissolve. It if progresses, there may be some surgical interventions that they can do to prevent permanent damage. Such a case would put him at higher risk for developmental complications and cerebral palsy.
Just as we were about to head home for the night, Jeffrey’s nurse Betty Vetter stopped us to let us know that the labs called and they found an infection. We immediately went to talk to Dr. Murray, and she confirmed that the lab cultures found Staphylococcus in his samples. They need to confirm which type: epidermidis or aureus. The later is more serious and harder to treat. However, this is good news because both can be treated by antibiotics very successfully. She said that this is a likely candidate for the cause of his lethargy yesterday, and it’s possible that the IVH is just there, and not causing any problems at all.
When is a staph infection a good thing? When it’s not a brain bleed.
We’re making friends with some of the other parents in the NICU, including a father of twins who’s been there for 51 days with 77 more to go. They’ve been very uplifting with their tales of endurance. Many of them have already been through the same highs and lows we’re taking, and it’s reassuring to hear how they’ve coped. Least of all, it’s forced the cold reality upon me that it’s an intensive care unit for a reason.

Roller Coasters Have Downhills Too

2006-01-18T00:18:00.000-05:00

Well, today has certainly been an exciting day to say the least. This morning Jeffrey was doing really well, the docs even suggested that we start looking toward releasing him. Unfortunately when Brian came back for the noon feeding Jeff seemed a little listless and was having some trouble breathing. His heart rate was elevated for about 15 minutes or so and the nursing staff suggested that he may have an infection. Apparently a lot of preemies have problems with infections around days 7 to 10. The nurse stopped his feeding and they put him in the isolette to keep an eye on him.
When I arrived at 3pm, there were a cluster of people around Jeff’s isolette and a doctor immediately came over to me and said they were just about to call me. They let me know that it is apparent that Jeff has an infection and that they believe that they caught it early. They were running a number of tests; they were collecting blood, urine and doing a spinal tap. Some of the results will be back tonight and some will take a few days to come back. They started him on antibiotics to be proactive and not to waste any time. They took an xray of his belly and chest to look for NEC. Those films came back showing that his belly was distended and his bowel walls were thick. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he has NEC but could mean that he was heading in that direction so it was a good idea to scale back on feedings.

While I was there he had a number of apenic episodes and the nurse told me that it was very likely that he would go back on some type of oxygen therapy. After a number of these episodes, his nurse Jeanne said that he would likely go back on the ventilator because the positive pressure of the CPAP would aggravate his belly and bowel. Before we went home, they intubated him and put him back on the ventilator. It was set for 30 breaths per minute and it basically breathes for him so that he can relax. After going back on the vent, he’s able to spend more of his energy fighting off his infection instead of worrying about his breathing.
We went home for the night at the urging of our nurse. She recommended that we go home and get some sleep. They said that he will probably go downhill for the first 24 hours before he starts to improve. He’s in the best hands possible and they caught this very early. We’re really hopeful and everyone says that this is something that every baby in the NICU goes through. Wish us luck and keep Jeffrey in your prayers.

Returning to Normalcy?

2006-01-16T15:49:00.000-05:00

(If you haven't checked it out yet, there's a picture gallery on the right under "Jeffrey's Bookmarks")
What a whirlwind ride these past days have been. Now that we’ve successfully navigated our first week as newbie parents, it’s time to get back in track. One piece of advice that everyone has given us is the importance of setting up a routine. Of course, he’s been added to our lives, not the other way around – but he really hasn’t learned the whole concept of “compromise” yet. Fortunately for us, since he is still in the NICU, an artificial routine has already been established. The NICU is one of the best babysitting services around, and they’ve got him on a feeding schedule every 3 hours. That’s going to be great once we get him home.
We’ve also got a good schedule going on. I can arrive at the hospital in time for his 9A feeding, and still be on time for my 10 A class at RIT. Danielle’s got a great pumping routine and is ahead of Jeffrey’s feedings by at least a few days. We look forward to each feeding that we attend and the opportunity to hold him.
Here’s his progress for the past few days:

Gaining weight. Born at 1255g, dropped down to 1090g and is back up to ~~1190g~~ 1210g!

Increasing feedings. Every 12 hours, the nurses increase the amount of breastmilk that he’s fed by NG gavage. This evening he was up to 17cc.

IV was removed in his hand, and the doctors are optimistic about removing his umbilical line tomorrow or Wednesday. That means no more fluids by IV.

Bilirubin levels down to 7.6 and off the light therapy. He’s been on and off the lights, and it’s not unheard of to bounce back and forth a few times before the liver is developed enough.

By the end of the week he may be able to try breast feeding. Since this will change his feeding volume and caloric intake (only 110 cal/kg!), the NICU will be adding a supplement called Human Milk Fortifier. It adds an additional calorie per ounce of milk. We'll need to watch his weight carefully, since there's no such thing as a breast milk nipple meter to determine how much he's getting.

Back on a nasal cannula of room air at 1% for a little while to reduce apneic events.

Update from mom

2006-01-13T11:10:00.000-05:00

Well the last few days have been quite a blur, but happily Jeffrey and I are doing well. Yesterday Jeffrey’s bili levels came down low enough that we could take him off the lights and he went up to 6cc feedings of breast milk. Brian called me at about noon to let me know the news and to tell me that they were waiting for me to start “kangaroo care.” Kangaroo care means that I get to hold him skin to skin and it’s supposed to help them bond and get well faster. Mom and I went into the NICU at about 2:30 and I got to hold Jeff for a whole hour! It was so wonderful; I would just cuddle him all day if I could. He’s got the softest skin and he felt perfect against my chest. Brian got to hold him at the 9:00 feeding for about 45 minutes. They were only supposed to allow Bri about 20 minutes but the staff got busy with a new baby and we got to hold him for longer. The nurse apologized to us but we certainly didn’t care. As long as we can hold his temperature it I okay for him to be out of the isolette. Mom still hasn’t held him because she still has a bit of a head cold but is in checking him out every day with me. I think today she may be able to handle him a little. It’s driving her crazy to come in and not be able to touch him.
I am doing pretty well, I’m still really tired and sore but it’s getting better every day. I’m trying to pump breast milk every three hours so its making sleep a little fractured at night. Mom is here for another week to help us out though, so at least I don’t have to really worry about anything else. We’ll be in to visit the boy today again. The car is finally working again, thanks to Kevin and Brian! Tonight we’re going to skip Jeffrey’s night feeding so that we can go interview a pediatrician. Sooner than we think, he’ll be ready to come home and he’ll need a doctor to take care of him.

Mom Comes Home

2006-01-10T22:45:00.000-05:00

Danielle was discharged from the hospital today. The doctors gave her some restrictions on activity (no driving for 10 days, no skydiving) and some nice prescriptions for pain. She’s happy to be out of the hospital and back into more familiar surroundings, but it’s hard to leave without Jeffrey.
Meanwhile, back at the NICU, Jeffrey is being a star pupil. I stopped in for his 6 AM feeding and here’s what the doctors told me…

Bilirubin levels have dropped from 11 to 9 and are still decreasing. Update 10 PM: bili is down to 8.4!

CPAP has been removed and nasal cannula supplemental oxygen dropped to 1.5 L/min, possibly removed or lowered more tomorrow.

He’s started on breast milk feedings. He has to handle eight 2cc syringes of milk before they’ll graduate him to 4cc syringes full. Update 10 PM – He had his first 4cc feeding tonight!

We were allowed to hold him outside of the fort today for about ½ hour. His temperature remained steady the whole time. His doctors and nurses are very pleased with his progress, and we’re so proud of him.

On Monday night we took a class from Daicia, and RN with the NICU. She taught us a few things about preemie babies. Since their nervous system is still very immature, they startle very easily. This means that you can’t stroke a preemie, they require a stable firm pressure type of touch instead of a feathering your fingers over their body. At their stage of development, they’d still be in the confines of the womb, so their used to being held very tightly. It’s best to simulate that environment in his fort as well. Also, NICU babies need to sleep as much as possible, since that’s when they heal and grow. So instead of touching and playing with your baby (which is good when they’re awake), try talking to them so that they hear your voice. You can talk about anything.
Today, Jeffrey and I talked about how nodes on a network detect collisions and the protocols used within that collision domain. Sure, he doesn’t seem to know an awful lot about CSMA/CD, but he could at least nod like he’s sorta interested. Oh well, at least he doesn’t argue with me!
Dani and I will be splitting up our time in the NICU to try and cover all of his daytime feedings. I’ll be doing the 9 AM and 12 PM, and Danielle will do the 3 PM and 6 PM ones. It’s the only place we want to be right now.

Welcome to Week 30

2006-01-09T12:10:00.000-05:00

Our boy is making great progress. I got up this morning to visit in the NICU after the nurses’ shift change at 7:45 AM. He was lying there, just as we left him the night before, under the “tanning lights”. Jeffrey has a very low tolerance for jaundice, so preemies are kept under these blue lights to help their bodies break down the higher levels of bilirubin that their young liver cannot.
He graduated off the ventilator yesterday afternoon. Dr. D’Angio tells us that his progress is very good. He’s still on the CPAP device (continuous positive airway pressure), as his lungs are still a little on the under-cooked side. But even that’s going well, and they’re considering removing the CPAP today or tomorrow. That’s good, because he finds it kinda irritating.
Danielle and I were able to take him out of his giraffe “fort” for about a half hour last night and hold him. For the first time, we were able to feel our baby against our bodies and kiss his teeny wrinkled forehead. It was amazing.
Just before I left for school, Danielle was able to express her first drops of breastmilk. It was enough for the NICU to freeze for his first feeding, coming up this week. They’ve warned us that feeding can be a very difficult time in the NICU with preemie babies. Often it’s “two steps forward, one step back”, and we’re not sure yet how developed his bowels are to handle non-IV food yet. But it’s a good sign that he had his first bowel movement yesterday (I changed his first diaper!).
Thank you for all the well wishes that have been pouring in over the weekend via the blog, email, phone and visits. We’re so glad to have such an amazing network for friends and family to share this experience with. Visitors are welcome at 3-1215 at Strong Hospital, though we can’t allow visitors into the NICU right now. Tomorrow (Tuesday), Dani goes home.

Jeffrey's First Night

2006-01-08T10:55:00.000-05:00

Here’s some picture’s from Jeffrey’s first night in the NICU. He looks like a bit of a lobster boy. They hope to be able to take the breathing tube out today, and maybe even let us hold him very soon. His prognosis is very good right now. If all goes well, we will try to give him breast milk through a feeding tube by the end of the week.
Grandma and Grandpap are going to bring in a Terrible Towel for his isolette so that he can cheer for the Steelers today.

Update: Jeffrey leads the Steelers to victory over the Bengals with his Terrible Towel. Grandpap says, "One for the thumb!"

Welcome to This World: 2.75 lbs.

2006-01-07T16:40:00.000-05:00

Danielle began having some cramps yesterday afternoon. We called her doctor and spoke to the nurse on duty. She said that the number of exam we’ve had this week correlates to some discomfort. We carried on the rest of the day, and the cramps got worse. We assumed that she was having Braxton Hicks contractions. But things continued to get a little more concerning, so upon the advice of our friend Joanne (who just delivered her second child a few months ago) we called our doctor again. Dr. Corale Surgeon told us to come into Highland Hospital.
Nurse Louise took good care of us at HH, but it soon became apparent that Danielle was running a fever from an infection and that the amniotic fluid was dangerously low… and possibly septic. Jeffrey’s heart rate was spiking to very high levels. The resident on duty told us that we needed to go to Strong Hospital’s Neonatal unit, because the baby needed to come out. Ohmygod! Did she just say that the baby was going to be born? Today?!
At 11:30 PM, Gates Ambulance arrived to transfer Danielle to Strong – Paramedic Bryan Gammill, Ed Verdouw and Ed & Nancy Mauro. Highland docs had already begun to give Dani some antibiotics to fight the infection and some steroids to help the baby’s lung development. When we arrived on Strong’s 3.1400, they began an oxytocin drip and some codeine for pain. I called Mike in a panic, as we hadn’t packed a hospital bag. He ran up to Hilton without hesitation and grabbed clothes and our camera at 3:00 AM. Dani struggled with contractions of increasing strength and frequency through the night. At about 7:30, Dr. Becks came in to administer an epidural. Third time’s a charm to get the numbness.
Her contractions progressed through the morning, in a little more comfort. Kevin & Kimberly arrived with cold Pepsi to celebrate after the pending delivery. At 10:15, I went to greet them. Within a few minutes, the nurse came to get me and said “Your wife is ready to deliver NOW.” They checked her cervix and realized that she was dilated fully and his head was on its way!
I gowned up and ran to the room. Dani got ready and began her first push. The head was already visible – or at least a small portion of it. The next push brought his head up to the ears. One more push and he was out! 10:30 AM. The pediatricians rushed him into another room and began administering oxygen, as his lungs were not fully developed. They invited me in within a few minutes. I said “hello” to my new son and shed tears of happiness.
Dani and I got situated after the birth as Jeffrey was whisked off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They transferred us to a new room as our friends and family showed up. Everyone was so incredibly helpful.
We’ve been in to see our son a few times today, and we’ve tried to bring everyone in to see him who’s shown up at the hospital. Hey, we’re proud of him! He’s on a ventilator now so they can apply surfactant to his developing lungs. Dr. Lavender hopes that he can be off the vent by tomorrow.
We’re very excited and very exhausted. Thank you to everyone who’s been there for us.

New York-Presbyterian Hospital

2006-01-01T18:00:00.000-05:00

We had a small amount of drama today. This morning Dani woke up and thought that maybe her water might have broken. Bill helped us out and we hailed a taxi up to the hospital. The driver spoke broken English and was a little hesitant to drive up to the emergency entrance. Bill told him that today he could pretend he was an ambulance.
The nurse admitted Dani on the labor and delivery floor, which is standard practice for anyone over 20 weeks (see date above). They had her gown up and put on fetal monitors. Jeffrey kicked them. A lot. But his heart rate was good, and very consistent at 150 bpm. So was Mom’s. The doctor came in and did an exam, and the followed it up with an ultrasound (number 13 for the boy!).
We were discharged from NYPH about an hour later. Bill hung out in the waiting room during the whole ordeal and took good care of us on both arrival and departure. The doctor’s suggestion was that we return to Rochester and pay a visit to the perinatologist back home. So that’s what we’re doing… we decided to cut our trip short and see if Dr. Lim can tell us what happened this morning. The doctor did tell us that Jeffrey appears healthy, and all of the parts inside seem to be where they’re supposed to be.
We’ll be tracking this story as it progresses… it was a good practice run for us for the big day, at least!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T00:46:00.000-05:00

Only 80 days to go. Happy New Year from New York City. We’re down here staying with our friend Bill. He lives just a few blocks from Times Square, so we waited until about 11:30 PM and then walked out to the corner of 54th St. and 7th Ave. – that’s about half way between Times Sq. and Central Park. We were able to walk into a corral easily and it wasn’t even that crowded. The ball dropped, and the cheering was very loud. The weather was perfect! Jeffrey got to usher in the new year with a kick!

Here's Lookin' at You, Kid...

2005-12-29T11:32:00.000-05:00

I’m a little slow getting the pictures up from the last ultrasound. We had another appointment with the OB yesterday, and she informed us that everything looks healthy right now. Dani’s glucose test came back fine, so there’s no risk of gestational diabetes. In fact, pregnancy in general is agreeing with her – she can even enjoy milkshakes. Her favorite pregnancy snack by far has been fresh fruit by the pint. Blueberries, strawberries, bananas… you name it. If it’s not in season and outrageously priced, she’s craving it. But it could be a lot worse. She could be craving Häagen-Dazs® and Krispy Kremes.
The baby’s room is just about ready for a coat of paint. I hope to have it ready in time for the baby shower, for everyone to see. The crib is already set up in the spare bedroom and doing double duty as storage for quilts.
We start our childbirth classes at Highland Hospital on January 23rd. They will last us right up until March 8th… just a few days before the arrival.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-26T20:03:00.000-05:00

Jeffrey would like to say “Thanks” for a great Christmas… except that he really hasn’t learned how to talk yet. Or breathe, for that matter. Meme sent a cute blue jumper. Mom Nabozny sent a pack of creepers. Aunt Bonnie sent him a beanie baby lion. Grandma & Grandpa sent a few lullaby CDs… and I think those will be appreciated by us even more!
We hope everyone had a great weekend, and we’re looking forward to seeing you all at the shower(s).

A Geek Perspective on Pregnancy

2005-12-19T17:42:00.000-05:00

Part of being a geek is the fulfillment that comes with creating things. Save for the few items that adorned my parent’s fridge in my grade school days, most of the things that I create are not tangible. Some lines of code here… a script there… a database or a network installation. Nothing that you can really put your hands on. But nonetheless, I beam with pride when I see my handiwork in use on computer monitors or printouts.
This got me to thinking today as I sat in front of the computer, digitizing the in utero events of our son. I smiled as I watched his movements on the small LCD of my digital camcorder and organized the scans of his ultrasound pictures in Picasa. It gets more real everyday. Here’s a creation that Danielle and I made, documented in 1’s and 0’s on my computer’s hard drive. And in just a few short months, the face I see on the ultrasound will be able to be held in my arms.
I really can’t explain how it feels. The 5 GB of pictures I have on my computer are all of people I’ve met in person and places I’ve been to. I’ve never met a person through digital pictures before they were born! And yet, there he is, glowing back to me from my LCD. I can’t wait to meet him in person.

A Navel Discovery

2005-12-16T23:46:00.000-05:00

95 days, 8 hours and 20 minutes to go… OK, so nobody really knows, but it’s been fun to put a desktop count down on my computer screen. It’s counting towards 8:00 AM on March 22nd, but if the boy has inherited any of my punctuality, well we may extend that counter a bit.
In other belly-related news, Danielle made a fun discovery tonight. Her belly button is getting bigger. It’s actually changed shape. I wonder, how much longer before her biological turkey timer pops out? Many mothers (both online and in-person) tell us that “such and such” will get old after a while; the kicks, the looking down and seeing the belly, etc. It hasn’t. We hope it won’t.
Oh, and we had a craving tonight… Klondike bars during a snow squall. It’s OK Jeff, you’re worth it. So is your Mom.

2005-12-09T11:01:00.000-05:00

Well it seems as if the tides have shifted and all is going well for Jeffrey. We're able to feel a lot more movement now. It's so amazing to feel him kick and roll around. I'm starting to look a little more rounded. I think people can actually distinguish between pregnant and "is she just putting on weight?" I've almost completed my water aerobics class and I think I'm going to take the next session in January. It's fun to bob around and be weightless for a while. All in all, everything seems to be going well. I am feeling healthy and haven't been having any problems. We are having another ultrasound on December 19th to check out the boy. They want to confirm that the amniotic fluid level is okay. I'm sure everything is going to be fine and we're just going for another picture. He sure is a photogenic boy.

Share in the Blogging Goodness!

2005-11-30T01:56:00.000-05:00

I’m not sure how many regular or occasional readers this blog was getting, so I thought I’d find out by asking. For those of you who are new to the blogging scene, let me show you the comment button. A little bit down, and to the right. In the corner of each post is a way for you to communicate back to us. Blogs don’t necessarily have to be a one-way communication path.
So I invite you to post a comment. If you have children, give us an anecdote about your experiences during pregnancy. If you don’t have any children (or any interesting stories about them), feel free to share some other sage-like advice. Apparently there are no official users manuals for babies.
If you have trouble posting, feel free to send me an email.

Pregnancy + Google Maps

2005-11-29T00:17:00.000-05:00

It's more than just finding the fastest way to the hospital!

Here’s an interesting use of Google Maps technology… While browsing the forums at Pregnancy Weekly (bandwidth etiquette, ladies!!), I came across one user who started a map of all the March 2006 expectant mothers. So I added us. Here’s the link.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-26T14:55:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Brian, Dani and Jeffrey. We’re spending the holiday in Perryopolis, PA with the soon-to-be grandparents. At 24 weeks now, the belly is getting more round as the days go on. It’s neat to feel the baby move – for both of us. He’s been kicking Dani a lot, but I can feel a kick or a head-butt every now and then.
Today we took a drive into downtown Pittsburgh to look through some baby stores. We went to USA Baby and Babyland to look at strollers, specifically the Zooper Swing and Waltz. We only found a Waltz, but that was good because we saw the Swing at Simon’s in Rochester. After seeing how the infant car seat works (poorly) with the Waltz, we decided that we liked the Swing better.
We also saw some really cute bedding sets. Dani has a giraffe thing going on. Leash, I hope you’re reading this!

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Baby

2005-11-16T16:45:00.000-05:00

I’m sitting here in my living room surrounded by baby items. I had fun setting up the car seat and the play pen (Thanks Bill!!) this afternoon. We visited friends over the weekend that sent us home with a beautiful baby crib (Thanks Angela!!). Now I just have to get over this cold so I can finish up the baby’s room!
The excitement began last week, when Dani first started feeling the baby moving around inside her. The doctor kept telling her that she’d feel him “any day”. That day was about a week ago. Then a few days later, before we went to sleep, I put my hand on her belly. Jeffrey let out a good wallop. We both looked at each other and said, “Did you feel that?”
So the boy is trying to talk to us. That means one thing: it’s time to start reading software manuals to him.

2005-11-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

Baby shopping! Danielle and I went to Babies R Us this weekend. Contrary to thier name, they don't actually have any babies for sale. We did get some ideas for things to add to our baby registry. Dani and I decided on a infant car seat and a stroller. Considering safety ratings, weight, recommendations and our own tests, we opted for the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio car seat and the compatible stroller, the Aria MT. Unfortunately - they are $199 a piece.
Well, sleuth shopper to the rescue. I watched eBay and found alot of people reselling new Peg Perego items. I caught a car seat auction and swooped in at the last minute with a winning bid of $102.50. And then... I found a coupon for $15 off $100 or more on eBay. Total cost with shipping: $108.40 That's less than we would have paid if we'd bought the Graco SnugRideII at the store on Sunday.

So now Jeffrey has a ride home from the hospital. Now if I can only get my butt in gear and get his room finished...

Edit 11/16: We visited Simon's Baby Furniture this past Sunday and met with Joseph in the stroller & car seat department. He was very nice, and also let us know that they have free certified car seat installation. Anyway, he talked us out of the Aria MT stroller. It's overpriced for what it really offers and although it's very light - a 15lb stroller won't make that much of a difference. He showed us 2 by Zooper: the Waltz and the Swing. We're going to be in Pittsburgh next weekend and we'll stop by a baby store there to see if we can find one in stock that we like.

2005-11-08T21:31:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a good week so far. I finally felt the baby move!! It feels like little bubbles in my stomach. It's so cool to be able to feel what he's doing in there.
I started my water aerobics class today and it was pretty fun. I met another woman who is also pregnant. We kinda hung out while the rest of the class did the abdominal workout. It was nice to talk to someone else whose at the same place as I am. It's funny how nothing about pregnancy is the way I expected it to be. I don't even know what I really expected, but it's been so foreign and really wonderful so far. I'm finally getting to the point where I'm not constantly surprised that we're pregnant.

2005-11-03T12:51:00.000-05:00

"I'm ready for my close-up!"
Alas, the drama is now over, and we can enjoy a calm, normal pregnancy. So I thought I'd leave everyone with a picture from our last ultrasound (for a while, hopefully).
Now we can focus on the fun stuff, like decorating his room and filling out a baby registry!

2005-11-02T14:27:00.000-05:00

Good news continues this week. We had another ultrasound on Tuesday morning and all looked well. Peanut (now formally named Jeffrey), was all curled up sleepy-like. He finally woke up near the end and waved at us a bit and wiggled around. The technician said that the amniotic fluid is still low normal but that at this point, we should just realize that we're not 50th percentile people.
We saw Dr. Lim in the afternoon and she thinks that crisis mode has passed for the time being. She let us hear the heartbeat and answered the myriad of questions we kept forgetting to ask previously. She still wants to see us every two weeks, but just to make sure we don't miss anything. We have no more ultrasounds scheduled! Yeah! The staff on AC-5 was extremely nice, but I hope we don't have to see them anymore. We are going to try and take some time to enjoy being pregnant for a bit.

2005-10-27T11:26:00.000-04:00

It's a boy! The genetic counselor called us about 3 minutes ago!. Everything looks healthy and he has one of each: an X and Y chromosome! She said that there are no genetic abnormalities and everything looks perfect. According to our count, Jeffrey is about 19 weeks along. We're leaving for vacation to Toronto now, and that's the perfect way for us to start the weekend.

2005-10-24T09:49:00.000-04:00

Not a whole lot new going on. We're still waiting for the amnio results. We saw Dr. Lim on Thursday. She agrees that our due date may be off slightly, but still doesn't want to change it . She thinks that the blood clot may be the source of all problems, and now that it's gone things should start looking up. We have another ultrasound and doctor's appointment on Nov 1st. Dr. Lim also mentioned that due to the possibility of my having a heart shaped uterus that I may be more prone to pre-term labor. So, they want to keep a closer eye on me. (Big surprise, huh?) They never actually were able to determine whether I had it or not, but they just want to be on the safe side. So, we're still waiting to hear news and trying not to be worried. Dr. Lim said I should be able to feel the baby any day now. It's weird to see it moving all around on the ultrasound and not feel it on the outside. So I'm excited that I'll be able to feel when peanut decides to do backflips in there.

2005-10-18T11:26:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday was a busy day. We met with the genetic counselor and talked about our risks for Downs Syndrome. Normally, at our age you have a 1 in a 1000 chance. Because the long bones are measureing short, they up the chance to 1 in a 100. That being said, both of us have pretty clean genetic backgrounds. We don't have a family history of anything and that works in our favor. Also, the genetic counselor also agreed that our due date may be wrong and that would account for the long bones being short. I think we were both a little more relieved after meeting with her. It helps to put things in persepective that we have a 99% chance that everything will be fine.
After meeting with the counselor we went up and had a level 2 ultrasound done, where they check for 12 markers of Downs, and we had the amnio done. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. My belly's a bit sore, but no harm done really. They watch on ultrasound the whole time so you can see that the baby is okay. We should have results in about a week and a half. They have to culture cells from the amniotic fluid so it all depends on how fast the cells grow.
The doctor that did the amnio also mentioned that the fluid was low, but it wasn't drastic. They obviously weren't worried about taking some, so I'm looking at that as a good sign.
We see our doctor on Thursday, and hopefully we'll get some more of our questions answered. Until then we're just taking it one day at a time and being hopeful.

2005-10-14T13:49:00.000-04:00

It's been a rough week for baby news. When we visited the midwife last week (a loud, animated but friendly woman) she told us that the perinatologist was concerned that the amount of fluid around the baby was near the lower limit of where it should be. She told us that during our next regularly scheduled (every 2 weeks) ultrasound that they'd be checking the kidney and bladder functions.
So we had our ultrasound on Tuesday with Erin Lemke. She's sort of gotten to know us, and has done our last 3 or 4 visits. Peanut was being rather un-cooperative for the camera. We were hoping to find out gender this week, since we were supposedly at 16w6d. Erin had a new perinatologist come in that we hadn't met before. The two of them looked at the heart, kidneys, bladder and long bones. She told us that the long bones were a little short for the stage in pregnancy for where we were, but the kidneys and bladder seemed like they were functioning OK
We left the visit with a bit of concern. In our minds, we've been convinced the entire pregnancy that the dates the hospital and doctor's office has been using were off by about a week or so. By our math, we think we're about 15w5d along. Would that make a difference in the measurements? Were the fluid levels consistant with a pregnancy that was 1 week less developed?
We didn't get alot of answers to these questions - just referred to Dani's primary OB. We decided that we didn't want to wait until our next OB visit to get answers and we'd call Dr. Limm the next day. Well, Dr. Limm beat us to the punch. Her office called us at 8:30am on Thursday morning. The nurse practitioner told us that they had some concerns and would like us to meet with a genetic counselor and have an amniocentesis. Our appointment is for Monday morning at 8:30a. We have a friend who went through very similiar conditions about 20 weeks ago and is due to deliver this week or next. She's given us a very positive outlook on our baby's health... more on Monday.

2005-09-30T07:56:00.000-04:00

Here's the week 14 pictures of our baby. As Danielle said, I should have a video posted sometime over the weekend. We have a visit with the OB in about an hour. On each visit, we get to visit with a different person at the practice so that Dani's familiar with all of them come delivery time. I think it's the midwife today.

Smile!

2005-09-28T16:09:00.000-04:00

We had another ultrasound yesterday. We were able to see baby wiggling around and waving at us. Baby is now 3 oz. They no longer measure from head to rump, but by measuring the long bones now. Brian brought in video tape and we recorded most of the exam. Soon we'll have baby's first dvd! They measured the clot, but told us that we would get more information at our doctors visit on Friday. Hopefully, they'll say it's almost gone! They seem very optimistic and seem to think that we'll only need one more follow up in 2 weeks.

Children's Birthday Parties and the Pregnant Woman

2005-09-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

Danielle and I attended a birthday party for a friend of ours' 3 year old. He's really into firefighters this year, so we bought him a firefighter dress up kit. It wasn't a far cry from the gifts we bought for his 2nd and 1st birthday either - more fire and EMS related toys. I guess we were ahead of our time. Our friend Joanne who was organizing the party for her son and her husband is about 8 months pregnant and getting around quite well on her just-healed broken ankle. At a party full of very young children, most of the mothers still have very vivid memories of their recent pregnancies, and they can apparently spot a pregnant woman across the room at 15 paces. Dani relished the attention and advice. She's starting to show, ever so slightly, but the party goers noticed.
We also had a chance to try out a car seat. Adam & Joanne have the Britax Marathon car set. It installed like a breeze in our 2004 Dodge Stratus, since it has the LATCH system. Nathan got to ride in our car from the go-kart track to Powder Mill Park. He was hoping it was a race car - sadly, it is not :(
More pictures of Peanut tomorrow, 1PM.

2005-09-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

Alas! The blood clot has finally started to recede.

Hopefully this blog will prove as a good way to keep our family and friends updated on all things "new baby" related. Here's the most recent image of "peanut", taken on September 9th, 2005 in week 12. The baby measured 5.41cm. The next photoshoot is scheduled for Sept 27th.

2005-09-02T17:11:00.000-04:00

Today's first is the umbilical cord. It's easily visible in both images. The baby now has a decernable facial profile, as well as some arms and legs. Peanut's heart rate was about 160bpm.

2005-08-25T20:07:00.000-04:00

Third visit. This is the first time we could actually make out something that looked like a baby. In the 2nd picture, you can see the head (on the right), some limb buds, and the spinal column. The heart is the little dark spot on the bottom picture (it's too tough to see on the top picture).

2005-08-18T17:06:00.000-04:00

Second visit

2005-08-05T17:56:00.000-04:00

This is the first picture of our new blob. We visited Strong Memorial Hospital's ultrasound lab and met with the sonographer and an high-risk OB named Lorelei. She was very frank with us about the risk imposed by the bloodclot, and that we would have to continue ultrasound visits to monitor the baby's progress.
The blob, at about 6.5 weeks, measured about 3mm.