One Little Monkey

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Today was a nice day for Mommy and Jimmy.  Angie got to spend the better part of the day with her son.  The one thing that is really neat now is Jimmy wearing Premie outfits!  Today’s outfit was a monkey onesie, how cute 🙂  After spending the day with Jimmy, Angie ran home to wait for Jim so they could head out to the Hospital together.  Jim made it through a full week of work.  Yippee!

Our little guy is now up to 45cc’s of food and is weighing in at 3lbs 11oz.

As you can probably tell, these write-ups are going to be a little more brief, as the focus now is gaining and maintaining weight.  That’s a good thing… no news, is good news 🙂

Peace and Quiet

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Our Little Man moved to the quiet nursery today.  With the quiet environment, it will help Jimmy adjust to home life.  In addition to moving, James surprised us both with a weight of 3 pounds, 13 ounces.  HORRAY!  Upon our arrival, we were delighted to see Jimmy wearing a Premie outfit, but since Mom and Dad forgot their camera tonight, you will have to make due with the picture from the cell phone.

Gold Star

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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 :)

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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

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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).