12.8.15

This was a week we lifted our hands slightly from the death grip of this roller coaster ride.  Dare I say, we even threw our hands in the air for a moment and enjoyed the wind in our face?  We know the ups and downs will be ongoing but when you’re up, man it feels good.

6 weeks (30 weeks gestational) Update:

weight: 1,305 (2 lb 14 oz)| height: 14 inches

Brain Bleed– Nothing new to report. Boom.

Ventilator– Jack had his five day steroid treatment and drumroll please, on the third night was extubated off the ventilator and put onto CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) – CAN I GET AN AMEN!!! Now, we know this could be fleeting as babies tend to be in a ‘honeymoon phase’ while on the steroids and their true abilities show up after the dosage wears off.  Some need to go back onto the ventilator after a little bit due to the fact they get tired and need a break.  Developing lungs + putting them to use all while under three pounds–not as easy feat.  For now though, WE ARE ON CPAP and we are high fiving each other (yup, all three of us) each day we get under our belt without a tube down his throat taking the breaths for him.  In the wise words of Eddie Vedder, just breathe.

Feeds– Jack continues to tolerate feeds well and now it’s chunking season – winter is coming and we can smell 3 pounds on the horizon.  Mom & Dad will sympathy eat right along with you little man.  If one of us gets fat in this family, we all do.  There are rules.  Summer bodies are made in the winter is not a sign in our house.  Mangia.

NICU + Real Life–

Date Night– In an earlier post this week (Titled: ‘We Were Promised Jetpacks’) we shared our first night back out since the baby was born.  We had concert tickets to a band we see anytime they’re in town and we struggled with the idea of going to the show and actually letting our guard down for a brief moment to have some fun.  We didn’t know if it was appropriate while our baby laid in his isolette for those hours without us.  We ended up going and I’m a believer in signs, especially these last six weeks, and the band opened with a song I’ve heard and sang along to hundreds of times.  The title is ‘Keeping Warm’ and the lyrics are for Jack.  It was the sign we both needed from Jack that it was OK that life happens around him and that we can still be a part of it.  We cried our way through that song and our hearts grew just a little bit more for our baby boy.

Christmas- We have always loved Christmas time in our family, from the teeny trees we bought on the sidewalk outside our NYC apartment for years to the eight footer that now hangs over our couch because why measure?!  We love this time of year and we have longed for the day to celebrate our baby’s first Christmas.  That day didn’t include a NICU stay but here we are.  If you think for a second we aren’t going to make this the most special Christmas for us all, you clearly haven’t met this Mom and Dad duo.  This week we have started our NICU Elf on the Shelf adventure and to say we love the nurses at Winthrop is an understatement.  Love is too small a word.  When they saw us setting up ‘Nic’ our Elf around the floor and in various photo shoots they immediately started helping stage the shoots and are thinking of future funny things we can do.  Love is too small a word.  We also decorated a mini Charlie Brown type Christmas tree that sits next to Jack’s isolette.  More decor to come but it was a wonderful start to the holiday season.

Tiny Superheroes- Thanks to dear friends Jack is now part of the Tiny Superheroes squad equipped with his very own cape!  This company’s mission is extraordinary, just like the kids they’re cloaking.  Jack’s cape will be draped bedside in case anyone in the hospital is in need of super micro preemie strength with a mighty large heart.  tinysuperheroes

Cheers to 6 weeks little man!