Throughout our first night stay at Carle, I was that mom who called up to the NICU every time I got up to pump. His nurse, Amber ,was so kind and thorough in telling me what was happening and how he was doing. At about 5am, I just couldn’t handle it anymore and asked to go upstairs while William
snored slept on. I got some great skin to skin time and it was wonderful to see him without a tube in his nose (he still had one in his mouth and about 4 attached other places).
After our snuggles, the nurse said she needed to change his IV line (can’t quite remember the reason why). She attempted 2 times to find a new vein. Then she called another nurse who tried twice. At this point I was pretty much in tears. Policy is if they try 4 times, they have to call the charge nurse (the lady in the middle in this picture). She warned me that if she couldn’t get it in they would likely have to put an IV in his head where babies have great veins the tubes don’t get in the way as much. I prayed and prayed and she was able to get a vein on her first attempt. Thank you Jesus!
By the time I got back after eating breakfast, my little guy was starting to look quite yellow. After talking with the nurse, his bilirubin was continuing to climb so it looked like some phototherapy was going to be in order for later in the day.
At about 10am, while William and I were both up there I FINALLY got my first chance to breastfeed him. Even with his little tub in his mouth, he latched on and nursed like a champ. Tears. (see a recurring theme?)
My mom came up around 1:30 to get some much deserved first-time Grandma snuggles.
Later in the day, William and my parents brought the kiddos to the hospital. Because it’s not flu season, they allowed children older than 3 into the NICU so I was able to see my sweet Owen! He was pretty overwhelmed with everything going on the NICU so he didn’t really want anything to do with Miles.
He just acted goofy and very clingy. So I took him back down to my room and got some good Ellie cuddles. It’s amazing how much I missed them through all of this! William stayed through dinner time and we enjoyed our special “new moms and dad” dinner which actually wasn’t too terrible for hospital steak. He headed back home since my parents needed to get on the road and I went back upstairs.
Because Miles proved that he could latch and drink and his cleft wasn’t going to prove a problem, after lunch his feeding tube was removed!
At 10:20pm, they got him prepped for his first time under the phototherapy lights. He HATED the mask but calmed down thankfully before I left him for the night.
Probably one of my biggest frustrations on Tuesday was seeing how little colostrum I was pumping. THIS IS TOTALLY NORMAL! But never had I seen it being pumped out. With Owen and Ellie I just nursed and trusted they were getting enough.
In the ounce-driven world of the NICU, I knew that he would be getting a little formula that night. Thankfully, the “seasoned” momma bear in me was able to be ok with this. My motto became – whatever gets him out of here the fastest!
We couldn’t get into Dr. Melvin, so we saw Dr. Tripathy. She was the pediatrician we switched from. The appointment confirmed my first thoughts on her – very thorough and knowledgeable, but all business.
He’s above his birth weight at 9lbs, 15oz! She said his everything looked great, even his circumcision. While checking his cleft palate, she could barely see it without pushing his tongue way down. We’re going to check in with Dr. Melvin at his one month and possibly get a referral to a specialist so we can know what the future possibly holds on that front. It has had ZERO impact on his eating/breathing right now. Thank you God!
We ran into Jeff, Holly, Keira, Caden, and their new sister Zoey! It was fun to quickly catch up on birth stories. Ellie and Owen were quite independent as we walked around the farm.
These 3 kiddos are mine. Whoa.
There was a snow cone truck parked close to the entrance and I’m a sucker for nostalgic thing like ice cream trucks, even when cups of ice are $3 a piece. Ellie was SO excited to get her cup. 
We had fun just sitting and letting these two be goofy! All in all, a great first family outing!
Around 11, a very nice doctor came and explained the procedure and I signed consent papers. The nurse gave me a meal ticket . I ran downstairs to the cafeteria and grabbed a quick bite and got back upstairs just as Miles was getting back. Now all we had to do was wait until he peed. Wouldn’t you know…my child would take 4 HOURS to simply pee. We nursed and nursed and checked his diaper again and again, nothing. The second he peed, the nurse swung into action and we were ready to leave in about 5 minutes!
We got loaded up and I thanked God as we drove away from our home away from home.
When I got home, Anne D was just leaving after dropping off a delicious meal and diapers! Owen and Ellie attacked the car seat the second we walked in the door.
Owen wasn’t too interested in holding him.
Daddy sure was though!
He finally got a little wash down and I tried my best to get all the little tape off him left from all his wires.
William had a hard time letting him go as he had barely seen the little man all week.
We are so thankful for the amazing care he received in the NICU. But we are even more thankful to be home!
Our view out the window. 
Wednesday was mostly spent looking at my sweet boy like this. They let me demand feed him whenever he got restless. We would nurse and snuggle and then he’d get furious as we put the mask back on and he went back under the lights.
One thing that I actually thanked God a lot for was this little week of time with just Miles and me. I got to snuggle and sit and stare at him for almost a whole week with no other children asking for my attention. When does that ever happen with kid #3?!
This day, I proudly wore the necklace I 
YAY for being one step closer to breaking free. We were praying it would be the day we got to go home. The doctors came around once in the morning around 10 and once in the evening around 9 to do rounds. It was neat to see several doctors, nurses, dieticians, and specialists work together and make decisions on each baby everyday. Dr. Stratton said he still needed to see his bili numbers be stable for 24 hours and see his ABO incompatibility numbers come down some more. Disappointing but getting closer!
Thursday was just a quiet day of nursing and cuddling. That afternoon, Miles was finally transferred to a crib! A volunteer made tons of little “name plates” and the nurses add the names and attach one to each baby’s area. When she attached his, I had to share with her how much Owen loves cows and how perfect it was that she had picked that one.
That night I went home a bit earlier (around 10) because I had finally started pumping enough milk to get him through 3 feedings. And he finally got to wear some real jammies to bed!
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