Mmmm Squash

Devin started his first solid foods about 3 weeks ago now.  His first taste was rice cereal mixed with breastmilk.  He sucked it down diving for the spoon and complained if we didn't get more to him fast enough.  The occupational therapist wanted us to let him play with his food to feel the textures and be more part of the feeding.  As you can see he had no problem complying with that direction.

Dad is much better at feeding Devin than I am.  It is the large lack of hand eye coordination that makes it difficult.  Jeff is good at aiming and getting a spoon full of food into an unpredictable weaving target.

So far he has mastered butternut squash, sweet potato, sweet potato/broccoli mix and carrots.  He doesn't really like the rice cereal (mix with water) and oatmeal.  I think it is because they have no flavor.  We have to mix them with something else for him to eat them.  In the middle of our food adventure Devin came down with a cold and an ear infection.  That slowed down the food eating for a handful of days but we back up and running full speed now.  He got the "pink stuff" (amoxicillin) that I remember from when I was little.  It still tastes the same (yummy) and Devin takes it pretty easily.  

We are going to physical therapy every other week.  Devin likes the the new therapist; which makes me happy.  We are working hard on getting his arms and abs strong.  They need some encouragement.  Lot of creative tummy time during the day.  He can almost sit up by himself.  He is his own worst enemy by making himself fall over.  Just a couple weeks and I'll think that he'll have it.  But we have exercises for that too.  :)

Downey Family Gathering

About a month ago (I know I'm behind) the Downey's descended on Boulder for a gathering to celebrate Mark and Kelly's wedding and for many to meet Julian and Devin for the first time.  Lot of fun was had by all.  The cousins got to meet each other for the first time.  Devin got "patted" a lot by Julian.  I think that they hit it off.  Before we know it they'll be running around together at gatherings getting into trouble.


Devin got to meet his Uncle Mark and Aunt Kelly in Seattle earlier and took to them again.  Loves laughing at Mark and flirting with Kelly.  He got to meet Uncle Chris and Aunt Mel for the first time.  But thought that Cousin Julian was more interesting most of the time.  I just think that he was trying to figure out how J does that crawling thing.  Both Uncles were hilarious they almost just had to look at Devin and he was in giggles.  Dad has the same effect - so I'm saying it is the Downey hand waving that is so funny.

Devin got to meet both Great Grandmas.

And be part of four generations of Downey men picture.  So many boys - aren't they cute!  There were tons of other relatives to meet and be passed around to.  Devin currently loves anyone that will hold him and try to make him laugh.  Especially the ladies he loves flirting with the ladies.

We spent some days up in Estes Park in a condo/cabin.  It was a lot of fun just hanging out with the family and the boys.  Lots of baby passing and Downeys cooking good food.  Jeff and I even got a night out while Grandma and Grandpa babysat Devin.  It was really nice to eat in a good restaurant without having to entertain a baby.

Lots of pictures are out on Picasa: Cindy, Chris, Amy 1 and Amy 2.  (I hope the links work for everyone...)

Here We Go Rockies!

Devin went to his first Rockies game a couple weeks back.  We were surprised and pleased that he actually lasted the entire game.  He slept through the first 4 innings or so and was away for the very exciting walk off home run.  This was the second Rockies game that I have been to when they have actually won.  While they were in the play offs a couple of years ago I was banned from going I was such bad luck.  The first game I went to where they won they were actually playing the Mariners so we wanted them to loose.  Go figure.  Devin's good luck apparently out weighted my bad luck cause we won!  We bought him a Rockies hat and he was completely decked out in Rockies gear.  Granted he wanted to only chew on the hat...

We also went to the zoo again and saw the cutest baby tigers and giraffes.  We hung out by the Seamag monkeys and Devin got an up close and personal look at them.  I think he was slightly confused.  But watching the monkeys were neat.  One had only a finger on a hand and it didn't slow him down one bit.

Devin's six month well check up went well.  He is in the 85% for weight and 85th for height (adjusted).  We also did a physical therapy appointment to start working on getting him caught up to his chronological age.  The biggest different when comparing him to a term baby is the lack of flexibility that Devin has.  Bringing his toes to his nose is a work out where most babies can tuck their feet behind their head with ease.  We are just continuing to do the stretches and strengthening exercises that they give us and every time we go they are really pleased with is progress.  In two weeks we see the occupational therapist and they will help determine when Devin can start to have solid foods.  First step is making sure that he can sit up with help but not slumping.  He is not there yet, but soon hopefully!  He is so interested when anyone is eating that I can't help but think that he'll gulp up what ever we give him.

The Downey clan was here this last week...  That is going to be a whole other post so stay tuned.

Seattle Vacation Success

We got back from Seattle a couple days ago and the visit was an overall success.  Devin was mellow as ever.  Slept or nursed the entire plane ride both there and back hardly making a peep.  We stayed with friends Brian and Bridget (thanks guys!) and their almost 4 month son Owen.  Devin and Owen hit it off from the start.  They even held hands.  Owen let Devin borrow his stuff and how did Devin repay him?  By spitting up on it.  

We got to see a lot of people while out in Seattle.  Thanks for everyone who came out to Lynnwood to see us and Devin.  We miss you all and hope to go back before Devin gets too big.  On Monday while everyone went to work Jeff and I took Devin to Golden Gardens for a view of the sound.  As you see Devin was so excited that he fell asleep.  For more pictures of the weekend click HERE.    

In other news Devin, just this past couple of days since we got back, has honed his hand coordination skills.  I walked into the nursery yesterday to see Devin holding his own bottle sitting on Jeff's lap.  He also has been putting in his own pacifier; but this only works sometimes.  

In pre-children news Logan accomplished a life long goal today.  We were eating dinner in the back yard when he got up and was very very interested in something in the grass.   He sniffed and sniffed and suddenly started to pounce.  A couple of pounces later a black rodant like critter was thrown up into the air - Logan had caught a bunny-like-creature.  (Jeff's theory is that all prey animals are bunnies to Logan.  For example birds are flying bunnies and voles are tiny bunnies.) We think it was a vole but we don't know for sure.   Congratulations to Logan and his first catch.  Of course this means that there are voles in the yard - ewwww.   

Six Months Old!

Six months have flown by and Devin has continued to grow like a weed.  He is almost 15 pounds carrying most of the chub in his legs and cheeks.  He had a physical therapy appointment where they assessed his development; all preemies have these assessment to make sure that they aren't falling behind of their adjusted age.  The good news is that Devin is on par for his four month milestones.  He is currently 3.5 months from his due date.  There are somethings that they want us to work on and see them for but they are all minor.  The strength of his mouth and tongue is a little weak - which is why he drools all the time.  So they gave us exercises and we'll go back and get more in a week or so.  This will also help us determine when to start solid foods.  The recommendation is to not to start food until 6 or even 7 adjusted months; so Devin will have to wait a little while longer.

He is really strong - and likes to stand on his feet (note the cubby legs).  He can almost sit up, almost.  He grabbing and holding on to objects now and trying to put them in his mouth.  So all in all a normal four month old.

Devin is starting to smile and laugh a lot now.  Dad is the best for making him laugh.  Dad gets big belly laughs and Mom gets little giggles.  The laughing is the best sound ever.  Makes everything worth it to hear him laugh.

Next weekend we are off on our first plane ride to Seattle.  If you live there we are so excited to see you.  Wish us luck!

Summer Smiles

A lot has happened since the last post.  Devin is almost five months old and adjusted 10 weeks.  He smiles a lot now and goo and boo are his favorite coos.  He has figured out that the hands that flail around in front of him are good for sucking on.  Not quite sure if he knows that he controls them yet.  We went to the doctor for last week and he got good marks almost all the way around.  He still needs to get his red blood cell count up so we are still on the iron supplements but other than that things are good to go.  He is 12.5lbs now.  My arms get so sore holding him - he's so big!  He is 90th percentile for height and weight for a 10 weeker.  4th percentile for a five month old but he's on the charts now.  He is trying really hard to catch up with his chronological age.


A couple weeks back Jeff took a couple of days off work to hang out with Devin and me.  One of the days we went to the zoo.  Dev had a lot of fun looking at everything from his stroller.  I think that the trees were the biggest hit.  The animals will come into focus at a later date.  Mom and Dad enjoyed seeing the animals.  The baby giraffe was really cute.  We found a grassy area to stop and hang out for a little bit and a couple of peacocks had the same idea.  They were coming way to close for my liking acting like we had something that they wanted - I made Jeff chase them away.  They were huge and peck crazy and wanted to steal the baby.  Really they did.

Sara came to visit and Devin love her, and the extra attention.  Took him a good couple of days to realize that he isn't going to be held every moment and get used to his bouncy seat again.  We spoiled him with cuddles, walks, and just hanging out.  Aren't they cute?

Devin and I are getting out of the house more and more.  We are finally getting not so bad at it.  We go to the library to sing songs, to Boulder for Zumba class.  He loves Zumba class.  He lays on some blankets wiggles to the music and watches all of the moms dance with wide eyes.  He's going to have rhythm - I see a musical future.  

Good Bye Preemie

Devin has left preemie behind and is growing really fast to make up for lost time.  He is almost four months old or adjusted age five weeks.  Two days ago he weighed in at 10lbs 9oz.  He has been gaining about 1.5oz a day for the last month.  I'm not sure that my arm strength is going to be able to keep up.  I'm wondering how long this rapid weight gain is supposed to last.  But I'm very happy that he is having such an easy time gaining weight.

Devin has done a lot of development from the last blog.  He is sleeping horizontal and swaddled in his pack and play next to Jeff and my bed.  He does pretty well sometimes going for five hour stretches.  I've thrown the wake him up after four hours out the window since he is gaining weight so well.  He is holding up his head up and looking around at things.  Not quite sure what he looks at sometimes but is very curious.  His first real smile was about two weeks ago for Dad.  Dad is pretty silly and also got the first laugh.  I can't compete and know it.  I'm just happy that I was in the room to witness both firsts.  Since then he has been smiling for both of us and some other lucky people such as Grandma Downey that visited last week.  While Grandma D was in town Devin got to meet the Great Grandma and Grandpa Downey.  He was very good during our visit.

Devin loves the baby Bjorn.  We go for walks with Logan, exercise, do chores and post to blogs with him strapped in and most likely asleep.   We are both more comfortable getting out more, although he did have an epic breakdown at Babies R Us.  He doesn't like that store any more that I do.

I'm sure I'm missing some milestone that he has hit, so more later.  See the blog for more pictures on the right hand side of the page.

Happy Due Date Kiddo!

April 28th, 2010 - Devin's due date.  We can no longer say how many weeks gestational age - he's all grown up!  Devin continues to do well at home.  He is 6 lbs 14 oz doubling his born weight of 3 lbs 7 oz.  We have more or less a routine going.  We still have to have him eat every three hours even over night so much sleep is not had by anyone.  Devin during the day often decides that three hours is way too long between feedings and damands more.  With all of this food I don't understand how his little arms are still so skinny.

Grandma Rueckert is here this week helping out.  This is greatly appreciated for the extra naps that Mom gets to take.

Due to reflux and never really being flat at the hospital Devin doesn't like to sleep in his crib yet.  But he loves his bouncy seat.  For right now we'll let him sleep in his bouncy seat.  Sooner or later the crib will be in his future.

We are not authorized for many outings get but we do get to walk around the block.  Logan is a big fan of this.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll get the ok to expose Devin to more people, and therefore have some guests over too!

Jabba (as Jeff refers to the baby) is hungry.  More later.

Home Sweet Home

Status:

59 Days Old

38 Weeks  

6lbs 7oz

Went Home Wireless 4/13/2010!

Events went very quickly in the last 10 days.  Devin coordinated his suck, swallow, breath technique a little bit better and then all of sudden was awake for all of this feeds.  This led to him taking all of his feeds by mouth (with a combination of breastfeeding and bottle) for about 12 hours and the gavage feeding tube was pulled.  At the same time it was decided that he was really pulling his own weight on his blood oxygen level and the oxygen was taken away too to see how he would handle it.  48 hours later he was still high on the oxygen level and still doing good taking all of his feeds by mouth and the pediatrician declared him good to go home with no strings (or wires, hoses, etc) attached!

We packed up an amazing amount of stuff that we had acquired in the room over the last four weeks, put Devin in his car seat (which he loves his car seat) and headed out.  We walked the length of the NICU saying good bye to each of the nurses who told us that we have to come back and say hi when we have his pediatrician appointments.  Then out to the car and an uneventful ride home.  

All of the pre-children were waiting for us at home.  They missed us lots over the last 8 weeks.  Jeff and I couldn't have been happier with how they all have interacted with Devin.  Logan has been really gental and moved slowly around him giving him sniffs.  Cleo has been ok with sharing Dad's lap with him.  And Max (while terrified of the swing) has sniffed him and given him an approval.  

Jeff and I are so very happy to be home.  It'll take some time to get a routine going here that is different than the hospital.  I want to say one more thank you to everyone to has helped and supported us these last eight weeks.  We'll keep the blog updated as we learn how to parent away from the hospital!

Home Stretch

49 Days Old

36 Weeks and 5 days 

6lbs 1oz

Going Good!

I can't believe that so much time has passed, Devin will be considered full term on Wednesday.  What does that mean?  Not really much he still needs to hit the same criteria to go home.  The next big hurtle is breast and bottle feeding.  They are still feeding him mostly through a tube to his belly, in the picture it is the white tube going into his nose.  If he is awake and hungry I breast feed him but he doesn't have the stamina to eat every meal yet, nor the coordination to be very efficient at getting the milk out.  But we are on our way.  Everyone here tells us that one day it'll all just click for him and he'll get what he needs to do.  It is really testing the patience of Jeff and I.  :)  Once he is taking 70% of his feeds by breast or bottle the tube will come out.  Then he just needs to keep gaining weight for them to call it good.  

He also needs to be Brady and Apnea free for 5 days.  Before we were breast feeding he was doing excellent.  But the feeding is tasking his stamina and when he gets over tired he tends to Brady.  But that should go away when he gets better at feeding.  Yesterday he passed his room air challenge.  That is where he needs to keep his blood oxygen level above 75% for an hour.  This is one of the tests that they have to pass before they can go home.  The next one is an hour, with oxygen (if he still needs it) in the car seat.  We are on track to come home by his due date (April 28th) when is still up to Devin and his development.  

Devin now has a different bed that you can adjust the angle on.  This helps with his reflux.  We are slowly lowering it since he can't be on an incline at home.  The reflux is much better in the last couple of days.  Apparently they just grow out of these issues.  I'm really glad he is growing out of this one, it was hard to watch him be so uncomfortable.  

Since I posted last our friends Michele, Danielle and Amy threw Devin an awesome shower.  It was fun that his name was already known - we got really cool gifts with his name on it.  Jeff and I had a really good time seeing everyone and being away from the hospital for a little bit.  My mom (aka Grandma Rueckert) is putting the finishing touches on a forest animals quilt for Devin.  It will fit into the green forest animal theme that Devin's room is decorated with perfectly!  Both Grandmas and Grandpa Rueckert were able to attend the shower - it was great to have everyone there.  The grandmas both got a chance to hold Devin.  To see these pictures visit the blog - a slide show plays on the right with more pictures of Devin and visitors.  Jeff and I want to thank everyone who attended the shower and for all of the gifts.  I'm still trying to put them away... 

PS.  For all those who have asked - no it isn't a giant pacifier.  Devin is a small baby.  The pacifier is "normal" size.  :)

Happy Bday Dad - Love Bubble Boy

A big event passed this last Saturday - Jeff's 30th Birthday!  We celebrated by having pizza and ice cream cake at the hospital.  Even Devin came out of his room (for a total of one minute) for the occasion.  I'm not sure who is bigger the ice cream cake or Devin.  It is a toss up although Devin weighed in at 5 lbs 7 oz yesterday.  He is turning into a beef cake.

We get a cool view of Boulder creek out of our window.  We have had loads of fun watching the wild life of prey birds and coyotes.  They hang out right outside and pounce on something in the fields.  They seem to have no fear of people but don't approach them either.  Now I just need to find binoculars the next time I'm home to determine what they are pouncing on.

The NNP decided that Devin has way too many boogers.  And yes all of the medical staff call them boogers too.  This is partially due to the reflux that he has and that most preemies seem to get.  To loosen them up they decided to have a cool mist hood ordered.  I think it looks like a bubble - so I've been calling him Bubble Boy.  He is a pretty cute bubble boy though.  Every once in a while he'll get an arm stuck up in the hood.  Am I a bad mom that before I help him out that I take pictures?  Nah...

One Month Old

Status:

28 Days Old

33 Weeks and 5 days 

Looking Great!

This last week has been exciting for the Rueckert-Downey clan; if you haven't heard Devin was transferred back to the NICU in Foothills Hospital in Boulder.  Jeff and I couldn't be happier!  They decided that Devin was holding his temperature enough for an open crib and events started snowballing from there.  Flight for Life, the same transport company that took him to UCH, transferred him to Foothills on Friday afternoon after many hours of deliberation with the insurance company.  He handled the transfer very well and only needed a little more oxygen.  After all Boulder is a whole 100 feet higher.  :)  We are exited since Foothills is way closer to home, Jeff and I know Boulder a lot better and more friends are near by.  If you are one of those friends and want to stop by give me an email we would love to see you and for you to meet Devin.  The nurses, NNPs and doctors that first treated him are amazed with his improvement in the last month.  It is fun to get to see and work with them again.  We'll miss the team at UCH they did an amazing job and everyone at Foothills keeps saying that Jeff and I are well trained NICU parents.  We can be taught!  

Devin had his first bath and his second bath also in the last week.  After the first initial shock of being submerged in water he rather liked it.  Although you might not be able to tell by the pictures.  For his second bath Jeff got to carry him down to another room with a warmer.  This was Devin's first ride in one of our arms.  All of his moving has been a short lift or rolling in an isolette.  He seemed to love it.  

Progress on going home.  

Devin is now classified as a grower/feeder.  This is the last step before going home from the NICU - so good news.  This just means that he needs to grow and learn how to feed.  He still has some oxygen but is a very low flow rate and will probably be weaned off that in the next week.  The growing and learning to feed stage is a slow one as the skills to suck, swallow and breath just take time.  Since he no longer has IVs, PICC lines or anything attached to a vein it is much easier to hold him.  The routine is that the nurses wake him up every three hours for Cares.  Cares involve taking his temperature, changing his diaper, changing any clothes or blankets that are dirty, the nurse checking him over in general and then breast milk is feed to him through his gavage tube.  We are invited to do as much as they feel comfortable.  Jeff and I try to do anything that doesn't require a nursing degree.  Also durning his feeding, which takes an hour we can hold him.  In the morning I do skin to skin holding called Kangaroo Care with Devin which is supposed to help him relax and therefore get a more restful sleep.  Then Jeff and I hold him as much as we can for each feeding.  This is a huge improvement and a large boost for our morale.  It makes us feel more like parents.  :) 

NOTE:  I think that I fixed the not being able to view the pictures.  Let me know if you still can't see them.  

Devin Downey

Status:

21 Days Old

32 Weeks and 5 days

Devin is doing very well.  The doctors and staff tell us that most preemies go home around their due date; so we are counting down till April 28th.  Preemies can go home when they can hold their own temperature in an open crib, take all food from the breast or bottle and gaining weight, and have no Apnea (stop breathing) or Bradys (heart beat slows) for 5 days.  How does Devin stack up?

The first criteria for an open crib is greater than 1800 grams.  He weighs in at a whopping 2020 grams (~4.7 lbs) at last count.  No worry about the car seat now he'll be 5 pound easily by the time he goes home.  His primary nurse, Kelsey, raised the roof on his isolette and he is now living in open air and doing well.  If he continues to keep his temperature up and gain weight he'll be in a crib soon.

Currently he is taking his food (pumped breast milk) through a tube into his stomach.  Preemies don't really develop the suck, swallow, breath reflex until 34 weeks.  If you give Devin a pacifier you can see that he as the suck reflex but then forgets to breath.  The coordination isn't there yet.  The lactation nurse and I will start working on dry feeding with him to get him ready to breast feed and bottle feed in the next couple of weeks.  To make sure that he gets plump fast they put formula into the milk to up the calorie content, plus they add vitamins and iron.  He should be gaining baby fat quickly.

A's and B's are harder.  All preemies have them and they are thought to be the cause of most SID occurrences.  His brain stem and brain function just have to mature.  Most A's and B's they just come out of themselves but every once and a while the nurse will have to rub his back to remind him to breath.  The research shows that 5 days without any A's and B's that they will be good to go.  This is just a waiting game.

Interestingly enough breathing is a side note to when they get to go home.  Devin was taking off of his breathing mask, CPAP, and put on a high flow nose tube thing (yes it has a better name I just forget it).  You can see from the pictures that he is much more handsome and happier on the high flow.  He had tried this before but had issues when his PICC line that was giving him intravenous food was in the wrong place and caused a fluid build up.  This set him back a couple of days.  But we hope that this time with no PIC and no IV that he'll do OK on the high flow.

All in all Devin is being a brave little man and improving and growing better than we could have hoped. We get to hold him once or twice a day depending on his mood.  We jump at any chance to hold him - we miss being able to do "normal" parent stuff and the small moments we have with him are cherished.  

The Rueckert Grandparents were out last week and helped a lot with getting the nursery jump started with a crib and mattress, glider, and numerous chores.  The Downey Grandparents are coming next week.  Devin was so excited to meet his grandparents!

The Pre-Children

The animals of the Rueckert-Downey household - aka the Pre-Children are very curious about the behavior of the humans.  Especially my behavior.  You can see I'm starting to get big.  There is now no question that I'm pregnant.  As you can see in the picture Logan is trying to figure out why I'm standing in front of the door and not taking him for a walk.  He also can't figure out why I don't play tug, chase or other games with him.  I guess this is just a preview for him of the future.  He has been a very good boy over all.



Cleo loves all of the new furniture and has claimed it as hers.  We set up the pack n play (to prove that we were smarter than it) and Cleo love the bassinet, as you can see.



She also thought that the changing table was an awesome hiding place.  She has applauded my behavior as it is more quiet and I have tons of pillows on the bed now.  All hers.



Max is the only pet that has interacted with Junior.  He loves the tummy.  As soon as I sit on the couch he is there waiting to lay on it.  The other day Junior gave him a huge kick.  A second of airplane ears and no more kicking and he decided that he's comfortable and not moving.  We'll see if this symbiotic relationship holds.

Happy New Year!

I have hit the point that people are not afraid to declare I'm pregnant.  Maybe it is because the belly sticks out farther than other features or the roundness it is getting.  It is starting to get difficult to do some tasks, my arms are getting too short to reach the sink, my knees now hit my belly on the stationary bike, and my feet feel father away.  And I'm only going to get bigger!

Jeff and I have made progress on getting things ready.  My craft room is no more (which is a little sad) it is now an empty room ready for painting.  A lot of stuff went down to the basement and a huge pile for donation.  (We realized that we didn't need 20 duffel bags among other things.)  If you visit you will have to share the guest room with my sewing stuff now.  We have also picked out the theme (forest animals) and now are deciding on paint color.  Hopefully we can get that picked out without too much trouble.  Let us know if you want to help Jeff paint!  :)  I will be avoiding the fumes and not much help.

Jeff and I went to the DC area for Christmas with the Downey family and new cousin to Baby Rueckert-Downey, Julian.  Chris set up his camera to catch the entire crew.   We had a lot of fun in DC eating good food and getting to go down to the Mall to see a couple of museums and the Washington Monument.  See more pictures here.

Here's to a great 2010!