Week Eleven: Dec 2nd - Dec 8th

Dec 2^nd

After having brought you into our bed the past few nights due to your fussiness, Mumma and Daddy decided to try out the co-sleeper we had been given.  Last night was a success!  Today you went with Mumma to visit Nana.  Her friend Laura came over and we all went out to lunch.  Aunty Hanna also was able to hold you after school.

Dec 3^rd

You had an appointment at Children’s today, so we stopped at Brandeis on the way in so that everyone could see you again.  Children’s, as always, took quite some time.  You met very briefly with a new doctor who assessed a flat spot on your head from laying too much on one side.  (We try to move you and you just roll back.)  You were then fit for a molding cup- a special device that is designed to relieve pressure on your head so that it can grow more evenly.  After that was done (about three hours after we arrived) we headed home in rush hour traffic.  Mumma took you to Granpa and Nana’s for a few hours so that Mumma and Daddy could do some basement organizing- including building some shelves.

Dec 4^th

Mumma and Daddy’s friend Kristin is painting Big Ben on your bedroom wall.  She started while you were in the hospital and came over today to finish.  We also had a new fridge delivered for the basement.  Mumma transferred 489 ounces of frozen breast milk into the freezer.  That’s a lot of milk!  We then went out for dinner and a visit with Santa.

Dec 5^th

Daddy spent the morning at Brandeis (being in the building while an outside group does The Nutcracker) so you hung out at home with Mumma.  When Daddy came home we all went out to BJ’s and Stop & Shop.  Then it was a quiet evening at home.  You’re not a huge fan of the molding cup that you got on Friday, but you’re doing better than expected.

Dec 6^th

Today was the start of your last week at home with Mumma before she goes back to work.  We went to the Burlington Mall to get some reindeer plates that Mumma has wanted for a few years, and we also picked up some Christmas gifts for you and Daddy.  In the evening, on a whim, Mumma tried to breastfeed you.  Major success!

Dec 7^th

This morning you went with Mumma and Nana to MIT to a sale that the glass lab was having.  (Mumma and Daddy have gone to many of their pumpkin sales in the past.)  We also stopped at Diaper Lab to get you some more cloth diapers for overnight use.  Mumma tried breastfeeding again.  1^st try- nope.  2^nd try- success.  3^rd try- success but then you spit it all up on Mumma.

Dec 8^th

I think we had our quickest visit to Children’s!  We were in and out in less than two hours, and that included Mumma taking time to pump.  Dr. B continues to think that you’re looking great.  He also gave you an Rx for some reflux issues you’re having.  Hopefully this will mean less spitting up and fighting while eating.

Week Ten: Nov 25th - Dec 1st

Nov 25^th

Happy Thanksgiving!  We left at 6:30am to go to Aunt Cathrine and Uncle Bob’s house in NJ.  We stopped to feed you on the war, and we arrived at 10:30.  Everyone was very excited to get to meet you.  Michael and Eric were surprisingly enamored with you.  We weren’t sure how you would do overnight, but you slept well in your Pack n Play.

Nov 26^th

The drive home from NJ took a bit longer because the GPS sent us back a weird way and we also made a few stops.  We got back early enough to have a leisurely evening at home.  I had ordered the next size of prefold cloth diapers for you (your 3^rd size) and they arrived in the mail.  You’re not ready for them yet, but you will be soon.

Nov 27^th

Daddy had to work at the store today so you and Mumma had the house to ourselves.  We were at home in the morning but then did some shopping in the afternoon.  Surprisingly places weren’t as busy as expected for the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Nov 28^th

This morning Daddy raked our leaves.  We only have two small trees, but leaves from the neighbor’s trees fall in our yard.  He raked about 34 bags of leaves!  In the evening we dressed you up again in your fancy clothes (you also wore this for Thanksgiving) and we went to dinner at Daddy’s co-worker’s Leslie Chiu’s house for authentic Chinese food.

Nov 29^th

Monday was a day at home with nothing to do.  During one of your fussy periods we tried you in the swing again.  This was the third time that Mumma has tried it, and this time you seem to have liked it.  And a little on the TMI (too much information) side, but today you pooped for the first time since Friday morning.  We were starting to get worried.

Nov 30^th

They say that the third time’s the charm.  That’s how many photo shoots you had (with 119 pictures) to get the perfect shot for your birth announcements.  Other than having your picture taken, it was a pretty quiet day with trips to the pharmacy and Wal-mart.

Dec 1^st

Today was a busy day.  You visited Mimi with Mumma in the morning.  We came home for a bit and then Daddy surprised us by coming home early from work.  We set up the co-sleeper in our room- hopefully you’ll like it.  Then we went out and looked at options to have you go biking with us this spring/ summer.

Week Nine: Nov 18th - Nov 24th

Nov 18^th

Happy Birthday Mumma!  The day started with a visit from Nurse Lora.  You’re doing so well that this was her last visit.  Then it was off to the Publick House in Sturbridge to pick up a cake.  While there we had lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon food shopping.  In the evening you helped Mumma blow out the candles on her cake.

This is the position we often find you in- turned sideways in your crib- arms up.

Nov 19^th

You’re getting so big!  Yesterday you weighed 8lbs, 13oz for Nurse Lora, but today at the pediatrician you weighed 8lbs, 11oz.  You also got a vaccine for RSV.  In the afternoon we had a visit from Donna from Early Intervention.  But the most fun was at night when Mumma and Daddy’s friends came over for Game Night.

Nov 20^th

Today was the first time since you came home from the hospital that both Mumma and Daddy left you for a while.  You spent some time with Granpa and Nana while Mumma and Daddy went to see the new Harry Potter movie.  I think you slept during most of your visit.  Then we went to Daddy’s store to pick up a puzzle he sold elsewhere and to see how his sales were doing.

Nov 21^st

After an exciting (you slept the entire time) trip to Home Depot to buy a fridge- there’s so much frozen breast milk that we needed a larger fridge, plus an extra for the basement- Daddy went to work, but Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry came over for an evening of games with Mumma and doting on their favorite nephew.

Nov 22^nd

Happy 2 month Birthday!  You spent a couple of hours this afternoon running errands with Mumma, but other than that, it was a quiet day at home.  In the evening you started to get really fussy wanting to be held.  Hopefully this night won’t be as bad as Saturday night, where you fussed all night long- or at least until about 5 or 6 am.

 

Nov 23^rd

After a quiet morning at home, we headed out to a local yarn store so that Mumma could get yarn for a hat for you to wear in December and also yarn for something that Grandma is going to knit for you.  Next stop was the cloth diaper store in Somerville for a larger wet bag.  We headed home and you continued your trend of being cranky in the evening and needing to be held.

Nov 24^th

You went to the pediatrician today for your 2 months check-up.  You now weigh 9lbs, 3.2oz (5^th %) and are 21 inches long (1^st %).  You got two shots plus an oral vaccine.  You must be getting big- you’re now wearing 0-3 month clothes.  On the way home we stopped to get knitting needles and a prescription filled.

Week Eight: Nov 11th - Nov 17th

Nov 11^th

It was a busy day for Bennett and Mumma.  Nana came over and we all went for a walk on the bike path near the house since the weather was nice.  When we got back you had a visit from Donna from Early Intervention.  Then it was off to the opening of Daddy’s store.  Mumma’s friend Leslie stopped by and she remarked on how cute you are.

Nov 12^th

You went for a walk again today with Mumma, although it was much chillier than yesterday.  In the spring we’ll have to take more advantage of the bike path.  When Daddy came home we went out and bought you some 3-6 month clothes since Mumma had a coupon.  We also picked up some books which Daddy read to you at bedtime- and it even put Mumma to sleep.  :)

Nov 13^th

The weather was lovely today (low 60s) so the three of us went for a walk on the bike path.  In the evening, Daddy stayed at home with you while Mumma went out to do some Christmas shopping.

Nov 14^th

You spent the morning with Daddy while Mumma slept in, but then you went with Mumma to visit Mimi while Daddy stayed home to work on making puzzles.  Mimi loves it when we visit her- she definitely loves her grandson.

Nov 15^th

Although they don’t seem to happen that often, today was a day spent at home with nothing else to do.  Days like this can either be relaxing or stressful, depending on your temperament for the day.  This was a day where you had to be held.

Nov 16^th

Mumma had to go to Unica so you came along for a visit.  Then Daddy came to get you while Mumma had her meeting.

Nov 17^th

What?  You’re 8 weeks old already?  Today Mumma’s disability ran out at work, so now she’s using vacation and sick time to stay home with you.  If you hadn’t been born by c-section, it would have only been 6 weeks.  I can’t imagine going back to work already.  Today you went with Mumma while she had a doctor’s appointment and then we had a quick stop at Target.

Week Seven: Nov 4th - 10th

Nov 4^th

Today was a lazy day at home.  Sometimes those are really nice.  In fact, we were still in our pajamas when Daddy came home from work.  After dinner Daddy had to go out again so that he could take his wooden puzzles to a store in the Chestnut Hill Mall.

Nov 5^th

Remember, remember the 5^th of November…

In honour of Guy Fawkes Day/ Bonfire Night Mumma made you this Union Jack onesie.  Unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to show it off anywhere, but we had a photo shoot at home.  Next year, a bonfire and fireworks?

Nov 6^th

Yesterday Nurse Lora came and you weighed 7lbs, 5oz.  You also went with Mumma to Diaper Lab, the mall, and Babies r Us.  Today you went with Mumma and Daddy to Ikea for a bookcase for your room as well as the lumber yard for Daddy.  We came home for a bit and then out again to Target, Stop & Shop, Best Buy and Bob’s.

Nov 7^th

What a busy day!  Daddy is selling his wooden puzzles in a store this year.  You went with Mumma to help him get set up.  Many of the other people there oohed and aahed over you.  When that was done you went with Mumma to Mimi’s to help her pay bills.  I guess you were tired, because that evening you tried to nurse on Daddy’s nose.  Silly boy.  :)

Nov 8^th

Today was a day spent mostly at home, although you did go out for a little while to run a couple of errands.

Nov 9^th

You started off the day with a visit to the pediatrician.  You weigh 7lbs, 12 oz which puts you on the growth curve in the 1.91%.  We then went off to drop some more puzzles off at the store.  Some of the people there must not be fans of babies because I heard someone mutter, “that stroller doesn’t belong in a store like this.”  If the stroller doesn’t fit, will a wheelchair?  On the way home we did some shopping for 0-3 month clothes.

Nov 10^th

Happy 7 weeks!  You had a follow-up appointment today with Dr. B, your cardiologist.  Even just seeing you wrapped up in a blanket he was impressed with how you look.  “He looks great.  Keep doing what you’re doing.”  You now weigh 7lbs, 14oz.

Week Six: Oct 28th - Nov 3rd

Oct 28^th

Because you were a preemie and also because of your cardiac issues you are eligible for Early Intervention services.  Today was their first visit.  Three women came.  Two of them assessed you while another sat with Mumma to fill out paperwork.  They will be coming every other week to help you meet your milestones.

Oct 29^th

You went out to lunch today with Mumma and some of her co-workers from Unica.  Like every time you go out, you were the star attraction.  After lunch you went home for a nap and then spent the evening with Daddy while Mumma ran some errands.

Oct 30^th and 31^st

Happy Halloween!

On the 30^th you went with Mumma to her hair appointment.  After her hairdresser got to meet you, Daddy took you on some errands.  Then it was off to Lydia and DJ Bryant’s Halloween/Birthday party. 

Grandma knit you a pumpkin in honour of your first Halloween.  In the evening we went to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry’s to pass out candy.

Nov 1^st

Wow, it’s November already.  Saturday had been one of your original due dates, yet here you are, five and a half weeks old.  Crazy!  Not much of anything happened today.  Just a quiet day at home with Mumma- no errands and no appointments.

Nov 2^nd

This morning you went back to the pediatrician.  You’re up to 6lbs, 15oz- almost in the 1^st percentile.  Mumma left one of your prescriptions on the counter overnight (it’s supposed to be refrigerated) so we went to Hopkinton Drug to have it refilled.  We also went to vote since it was election day.  In the evening Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry came over to see you.

Nov 3^rd

You’re six weeks old already?  Time flies so quickly!  Mumma had a doctor’s appointment in the morning.  They said her cesarean scar is looking good.  Granpa and Nana came over in the evening so that Mumma and Daddy could get some work done in the basement.  This is the same reason Uncle Andrew and Aunt Gentry were over last night.

Catching up

It has come to my attention that there needs to be an update.  When I wrote the last post we were hopeful that we would be going home on Tuesday.  I didn't want to come right out and say that we were in case things changed, but we knew that was the goal.

Tuesday morning I made sure to convey that goal to the nurse.  It's a good thing that I did, because she thought we would be leaving on Wednesday.  But everything started to get going, and we got to go home!

Needless to say, Tuesday was a busy day at the hospital.  So many people came in and out of the room before we could be discharged- nutritionist to give us the recipe for the high calorie breast milk, someone to let us know about visiting nurses and early intervention, we had to finally pick a pediatrician (one of the nurse practicioners actually came in and referred us to the practice that we were thinking about using, so it was nice to be able to hear her opinion and get some user info on how the practice works), get the car bed installed, learn how to draw Bennett's medications, doctor for a final physical, we gave him a bath with a clinical assistant to explain to us what to do, two visits from lactation (I think I'm going to miss Kim stopping by to help- she was great!),  phlebotomy to do a blood draw to check his creatinine levels again (much better than Monday's levels)... I'm sure there were more people, but this is all I remember.  And that's not counting the regular activity from nurses, CAs, and the nurse practitioner.

We also got another roommate on Tuesday morning.  Their baby was just a little younger than Bennett and they had just gotten transferred from the Cardiac ICU.  They seemed like nice people.  Shortly after they got in I told them that we were going to be discharged and that they should ask to be moved to the other space in the room as the window side is much nicer than the one by the door- it's slightly larger and also more private.  Having been in both locations, we liked the window side much more!  We were talking with them later and they mentioned that they had already asked twice if they could be moved.  :)

So we finally were ready to go; Bennett was unhooked from the monitors, the leads were removed from him, and all we were  waiting on was some paperwork.  And in comes the CA wanting to check his vitals.  Are you kidding me?  Luckily that went pretty quickly.  We piled all of our stuff onto a cart (wow we had a lot of stuff!) and headed off to the elevator.  Chris got on the elevator, I'm holding Bennett, and all of a sudden I remembered we'd forgotten to get all of my expressed breast milk from the freezer.  It was too late for Chris to get off, so he went down to the lobby and I went with a CA to the room where they keep the milk.  There was quite a bit.

We went downstairs, met Chris, and he went off to get the car while I waited with our stuff.  Proof that we had too much stuff?  The back of my car was full and we had some stuff in the passenger seat.  I was riding in the back seat to keep an eye on Bennett.  Of course by this time it's rush hour.  We didn't care.  We were on our way home!!!

However, before we got home we had to make a stop at the pharmacy to pick up Bennett's medications.  Of course it's not the most convenient pharmacy as one of his meds had to be compounded, so we had to go to Hopkinton.  We finally got home, but then Chris had to run out to get diapers and formula.  We would have gotten them at the pharmacy, but they didn't have the right size diapers nor the right kind of formula.  It was very weird being at home alone with Bennett.  I definitely had a feeling of, "now what?"  I'd definitely gotten used to how things were at the hospital.  Not to mention we weren't quite ready at home so I didn't really have a place ready to put him.

Other than feeling really odd, our first night at home went well.  Except for the screaming fit that Bennett had from about midnight to 2am.  He had to be held.  As soon as we got him to sleep and put him back in the bassinet, he'd wake of screaming again.  Was it because it was too dark?  Too quiet?  He certainly hadn't been this way at the hospital.