11.17.15

Happy three weeks Jack!  Every day we look at you and are mesmerized.  We stare at you for hours on end.  We know every inch and each day we get through you fill up with more life and so do we.  This week started strong and quickly took a twist to keep Mommy and Daddy on their toes but we are here.  Twenty-One days into our NICU adventure and growing stronger by the minute.  Oh, and welcome to the 2 lb club big guy.

3 Weeks (27 week gestational) Update:

weight: 975 grams | length: 13.5 inches

–Brain Scan update– Picking up from last week’s update, we are now getting biweekly brain scans to watch his grade IV bleed and the last two scans from this week did not show any more bleeding or fluid building up.  So as of today, they will continue to monitor and not intervene.  No news is good news on the brain front.

–Ventilator– Jack was moved from an Oscillator ventilator to the Jet back to the Oscillator.  His blood gases and chest x-rays weren’t great early in the week, showing that it was taking him a tremendous amount of work to breathe and wasting precious calories and energy he needs for growth and development.  He didn’t like the change of ventilators and let us all know pretty quickly.  That was a little frightening to watch play out but what’s a week with Jack without a plot twist!

–Feeds– WE ARE 2 POUNDS, read it, 2 POUNDS!! He’s tolerating the increased amounts and still solely on breast milk.  No turning back Jackie baby, let’s go for 3 lbs by Christmas!

–Kangarooing– Unfortunately on the current ventilator Jack needs to lay very still for the tubes and we cannot do our skin to skin kangarooing and Mommy is desperate for this bonding time again.  We were spoiled the last two weeks when we got to hold Jack a total of four times and this week nothing.  The skin to skin really helps with pumping being that we have to pump exclusively for Jack to eat (through a tube in his nose that goes directly into his belly) so for now Mommy will just continue to take home Jack’s blankets from the day and inhale real deep every 2 hours while pumping.  We dream of the day that we can roll over and smell his skin whenever we want and then pick him up without a team of nurses detangling his wires to hug him.  We might never let go.

–NICU Life–  We attended our first Parents of Preemies Support group at our hospital and it was wonderful.  In the short amount of time we have been in the NICU, we have met couples that will be in our lives forever.  We cheer for their babies milestones and we ache alongside their setbacks.  It’s a family we would have never opted into if someone offered this three weeks ago but today it feels right.  It feels like we were always meant to know each other.

-Daddy went back to work this week and it’s been hard not going into the hospital first thing in the morning together and driving home at night recapping the day.  We realized quickly how much we need one another during this journey.  For better or worse. In sickness and in health.  Mommy will go back after Thanksgiving and will certainly have a tough time juggling waking up before heading into the city to see Jack (wonder what the LIRR policy is of on board pumping or just overall meltdowns).  Daddy will continue to visit after work at nights to make sure he reads Jack his one chapter a day of Harry Potter, can’t fall behind!

One day, hundreds of days from now, we will all be under one roof, we will be healthy and well rested, we will visit and read books without plastic walls between us, we will play with Frank in our backyard, in our home. The four of us in our home.