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.  :)