“You should talk to the Moreau’s, they would be a good resource”

(Pan to the back of the nursery at us looking over our shoulders and around to see if there was another Moreau couple). 

The nurse couldn’t mean us?! Have we officially crossed over from meltdown city into functioning member of NICU town?! I guess 10 weeks will do that to you. Ten weeks! Wow. Here we are. It’s 2016, we made it through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in the NICU. We counted down the last seconds of 2015 holding Jack. The moment the clock hit midnight we whispered “this is our year” to our little man and to each other. To say the second half of 2015 was tough would be a slight understatement but with the unexpected ending came a lot of learnings and resolutions. And with that, here are our 2016 new year resolutions.

1- Give yourself a break. Let go of guilt, fear, and control of the things you cannot alter.

2- Keep your sense of humor. Laugh in between the hard times. Be silly.

3- Be present. Don’t overthink. Absorb and learn.

4- Allow yourself moments to cry. Breathe. And breathe some more.

5- Lean on loved ones when unstable. Ask for the help. Accept it.

6- Look back to see growth and progress. Look forward to follow that end tunnel light.

7- Cherish it all. Celebrate milestones. Acknowledge setbacks.

8- Trust your gut. Follow your instincts.

9- Fight harder. Grow stronger. Be flexible.

10- Be mightier than yesterday.

2016 we are ready for you. Throw us your curveballs. We will be waiting. We’re better equipped this year- we have this new up and comer. He’s tiny but man, is he tough!

10 weeks (34 weeks gestational) Update:

weight: 1,981 (4 lb 6 oz)| height: 17.5 inches

Health Updates:

Brain Bleed– Head ultrasounds have been dropped down to every other week as the bleed is receding how they’d like to see at this point and no further fluid build up.

Respiratory– Our biggest hurdle currently. Jack is still on CPAP, which is better than being intubated on the ventilator, but still need to get him off the high settings and breathing on his own.

Eyes– Jack has had three eye exams and this past week’s has shown he is developing ROP (described in earlier blog posts) due to the high level of oxygen for a long duration (2 months and counting). The doctor said at this point it’s just going to be monitored without intervention yet. If it worsens, they might need to do eye surgery (worse case scenario) but it’s likely as with most 24 weekers Jack will require glasses to help with his eyesight. And if so he will rock those baby boy glasses like no other!

Weight– The only person pumped to have gained nicely throughout the holiday season. They continue to increase his feeds. Eventually when he gets stronger and off the vent we can start doing bottle feeding to teach him how to breathe, suck, swallow without any episodes . Next level challenge! We have some time until then, so for now tube snorting it is!

As the weather starts to change into true winter cold we cannot help but flash back to the last change of seasons. We were six months pregnant and Fall had arrived. We are a full season later. We are seventy days past that scary season change. But there is a feeling of a change coming. A feeling that we are turning a corner and as we head into the harshest months weather wise, a little 4.6 pound ray of light will shine so bright we will all feel it. Winter is coming and so is Jack Thomas.