Gold Star

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

One Week Old!

Jimmy received his first Gold Star today from the doctors! Ok, so it wasn’t a real gold star, but they did comment on how well he’s been doing the last few days. The other exciting news is that baby James made it back up to 3lbs 10oz, so it appears as though he’s starting to put on some weight 🙂

With today being a Wednesday and Jim having class, Angie got to spend a lot of time hanging out with her son. Angie had a great day because she scheduled an appointment with a pediatrician for a consultation/interview. The meeting went superb, the doctor spent an hour with Angie, and was very re-assuring with Jimmy’s care plan and where things are headed. It was also re-assuring that the doctor’s office arranged the appointment last minute to “fit Angie into the schedule”. They’re affiliated with Abington hospital (he actually leads the pediatrics department at the hospital), and they have a branch office in Norristown. We were excited to hear that the nurse tonight uses the same doctors office, and had nothing but great things to say :).

After class, Jim made it back over to visit with Jimmy. During our photo shoot, the nurse was terrific with coming up with “cute” poses including one with my wedding ring (sorry for the chest hair) and another one where Jimmy is next to his scale weight. It will be neat to see how Jimmy grows over the next few weeks. I’m still amazed to see how he changes day-to-day.

On our way out, we were sure to say goodnight to our little boy, to which he waved goodbye to his mommy (really!) 🙂

Lights Out :)

Posted on September 20, 2011 by

Lights out for Jimmy! He scored a good bilirubin count and after his 9:30 care session, the lights were removed! Great Job Jimmy! Since the lights were removed, we were able to tuck him in with the new quilt that mommy made him. It fit perfectly over his isolette. The darkness will help him sleep and work towards his feed and gain game plan.

The best part of the night was an hour and half cuddle session with his daddy while his food digested. He was nestled in his daddy’s arms. It was a great father-son bonding. Little Jimmy was so comfortable and slept soundly — even with the crying babies in the background. Gwen and Liv made Jimmy several hats for him to keep warm. In the pictures, you can see him with his Mickey hat.

Feeding & Growing

Posted on September 19, 2011 by

Today was quite the exhausting day for Jimmy’s dad with him getting back into the work and teaching groove. On the way to teach class, Jim picked up Angie so she would be able to hang out with the Little Man for his dinner. The nurse informed her that he slept the entire day with no fussing — which is great, we don’t want him to have a workout burning calories. He didn’t even budge when Angie came. It was quite peaceful watching him gently breathe and get some rest before Daddy arrived. Jim arrived just in time for the 9:30 diaper duty! Yes, our little boy was sure to leave another hidden treasure 🙂

With the IVs gone, antibiotics completed, and steady breathing, the strategy for Jim’s roadmap home is “feeding and growing.” This phase was said several times today by the doctor and multiple nurses. It was interesting to learn that once he starts gaining weight, he could gain one to three ounces each day! He currently is receiving a little more than one ounce per feeding (6 times/day).

Wow Day

Posted on September 18, 2011 by

WOW! What a great day! Today was an all around great day for Jimmy’s mommy and daddy. On route to the hospital after church, Angie called the NICU to let them know that we would be arriving right around 1:30. We were ecstatic to find our little boy without his IV’s! This was a great accomplishment for Jimmy. Our timing was perfect, in that the nurse had Jimmy all bundled up and ready for feeding time. Before feeding time, Angie was excited to have the chance to give “Kangaroo Care” a try with her Jimmy.

Jimmy was also excited to have visits from his PopPop and Aunt Meghan. Pop was at the hospital right in time to have the chance to hold Jimmy.

During Jimmy’s 5:00 care session, daddy was on duty for taking his temperature and changing his diaper while mommy watched. This time, Jimmy left a surprise for his Daddy! While cleaning up Jimmy, he went on to shower his daddy, which happened to surprise both of us – – that left for a little extra clean-up. Jimmy’s mom had quite a laugh watching this series of events 🙂 It’s a good thing he’s scheduled for his first bath tonight 🙂

Today, the NICU seemed a bit more quiet then normal, which provided Angie and Jim some extra time to talk with his nurse, Donna. Donna was very informative in providing us some re-assurance with how well Jimmy is doing – – yet again, she’s reminded us “what a big baby” he is for his gestational age. In addition, we learned a bit more about Jimmy’s roadmap for what is in store for the weeks to come. Depending on how Jimmy progresses (we’re told that boys can be a little more lazy/stubborn than girls), he may be upgraded to a big boy crib and aim for bottle feeding. Also, there is another section in the NICU that Jimmy is technically “eligible” to move to, but he’ll remain in his current home unless the area becomes busy.

To close out a great day, we had a great dinner out on the town. We were shocked when the musician opened his night with Sweet Baby James as his first song – what are the odds of that?

Happy Baby

Posted on September 17, 2011 by

After a ‘good’ night rest at home in our own bed, Angie and Jim were excited to kickoff the day with a visit to Jimmy this morning. This visit was just in time for his 9:00 care session (diaper, temperature, and food). We were lucky enough to have spent an hour with the little guy outside of his bed one-on-one. The exciting news from today is that the doctor said that Jimmy has been breathing very well over the last 24 hours with no episodes to report, and they turned off the air tube that was used to remind him to breath. Upon returning to see our son this evening, we were elated to see that the breathing tube was removed from his isolette.

The other cute thing about Jimmy is that he enjoy’s sleeping like his mommy and daddy – – on his side :). At one point during the day, he rolled over from his belly to his side to get a little more comfortable :).

Yesterday, we mentioned that Jimmy was doing very well with his food input, so much so that he was at 14cc’s of food. Our little boy continued to do well with his food supply, that they have now increased to 25cc’s, which was administered during tonight’s visit — Great Job Jimmy! If things continue to progress this way, they hope to increase food, and slowly decrease the use of fluids. It’s possible in the next couple of days, he will be 100% on milk. Along those lines, since he’s getting great nutrition from his food, there’s a great chance that his IV will be removed — as early as within the next 48 hours possibly.

Finally, one of the more memorable moments from today was seeing a distinct smile on his face. While we sit and admire our son for hours, we often say how happy he looks. Tonight, he smiled at his mom during feeding time — it was priceless!

Oh yea, one more thing, today James hit 31 gestational weeks.