sweet baby

I just love watching him take in the world around him and how he is learning to interact with it. please ignore the annoying mommy talk :)


I love the little noises he makes when he eats! so sweet


also...I got the 1st smile yesterday...it didn't last too long, but boy did it melt me!

christmas videos

here are a few videos from our family get together (late Christmas gatering). we were very happy that Jonah was healthy enough to meet everyone! This was also his first visit to grandma & grandpa's house

GROSS!

Jonah had his 1st 'blow-out' today and all I can say is YUK!

funny

if you can't see it, the shirt says will cry for food :)

home again

We got discharged from the hospital at about 4 pm yesterday. Jonah is doing much better, had been off oxygen for about 24 hours and was eating better. So they decided it would be a-ok to send us home! We are still sucking out his nose before he eats, and as a RT I am still pounding on his chest to clear out any remaining areas of pneumonia. It felt GREAT to sleep in my own bed last night! The dogs were sure glad to ave me home, although I am not sure I could say the same about Jonah. Bella would just love to step over him to get to me. We gotta watch that girl!

We had the chance to spend a little bit of time with relatives from my mom's side last night and this morning. We had planned a late "christmas" get-together at my parents house, so we went over there for a little bit. We didn't want to over do it with Jonah and his health. But it was great to see all those guys!

Otherwise not too much else to report...just really glad to be home again, and getting back to normal. Of course I have 800 loads of laundry to do. Even though Jonah was in the hospital we had to bring his clothes because they really don't have much for newborn sized clothes in PEDS. So we brought a few of his outfits that he generally doesn't wear much and donated them to the hospital. It will be fun to see if I ever see those outfits on any of my future patients. Also I was interviewed on the radio for the children's hospital telethon.

the crud

Jonah is sick...not a big suprise as Dean was sick. But what can you do? When a parent is sick the kid is bound to get sick :( So Monday we went to the clinic and it was all in his upper airways. Tuesday, he was looking worse to me so I called to see if we could give him a little Tylenol. They wanted us to hold off so it wouldn't "mask" an increased temp. In the afternoon he started to sound more crackly and way more nasal congestion and retractions everywhere. I was starting to get kind of concerned because I have seen too many kids this age get REALLY sick so fast. So I brought him back to his doctor and he got an xray. The xray showed an "patchy" area in his right lung that could be a pneumonia, so they started him on antibiotics. I went home feeling better, but Jonah still looked kind of tough. That night he started wheezing. By then I had Dean run to the hospital to get my stethscope. I was worried we were going to end up in the ER that night, but we made it through without needing to. But the next morning he was still wheezing and just really sleepy. Not himself. He was still eating, but only about 1/2 of the usual amount. He also still did not have a temp. but my mommy instincts (and RT instincts) told me to take him back again. So we went to the clinic for the 3rd day in a row. This time his sats were 89-90% and he was working harder to breathe. The doctor said we should try a breathing treatment and if it didn't help we would admit him to the hospital. After the treatment his sats were actually lower 85%. So that was it, we drove straight to the hospital, and got him into the room.

Basically they admited him so they could monitor him, and put him on oxygen. He has been weaned down to just a "sniff" of oxygen, they tried it off but, he still needed it for now. They have been suctioning his nose out, and that seems to be helping too. One of my fellow respiratory therapists made the point that being as he refluxes after each feeding and spits up some after each feeding, that he could have some element of aspiration. The doctor said that it very well could be that too, so they started him on some prilosec too.

Other than that, I have not much else to report...just hoping to get home soon to return to normal. But I don't want him to come home before he is totally ready.

jon succumbs to peer pressure!

gross Jon!

6 weeks old

As of Wednesday Jonah will be 6 weeks old. In honor of that I will list some of his vital stats:

as of this morning he is 8 lbs, 6 oz (went to the clinic today)
he has
-had his first cold (currently, which is why we went to the clinic today)
-had 3 photo shoots
-been home for 3 weeks
-not slept longer than 4 hours at a time
-increased the amount he eats at a time from 2 ounces to usually 3-3.5 ounces
-graduated to Avent bottles (he was only able to tolerate the NICU bottles)
-is still in newborn diapers...speaking of, I need to go buy more
-he can still wear all the newborn clothes...so much for the people that said they were a waste of money (some of the 0-3 month stuff is still a little big)
-gone through almost 3 cans of formula
-been licked by all the dogs (bailey included)
-met 4 out of his 7 cousins
-has been to target 2 times, best buy once, the mall once, and the grocery store once
-he still can only tolerate being in his carseat for about 30 minutes before he has increased work of breathing...which makes it really hard to do the previously mentioned errands :)
-he is staying awake for longer periods of time...sometimes even staying awake between feedings.
-he is really good at making eye contact
-he can turn his head and likes to face to his right
-he loves his bouncy seat and is learning to like his swing
-he cried real tears 2 nights ago (which made me cry real tears!)
-he still is not socially smiling (the doctor said, don't be suprised if it takes him till 3 months)
-he loves to be swaddled, but somehow always gets his hands up by his face (not out, just up by his neck)
-he has a little reddish tint to his hair (especially in the sun)
-he can hold his head up for 5-10 seconds
-he is doing better at holding his paci in his mouth
-he hates getting his diaper changed (and always cries)
-he has pee'ed on almost every person that has changed his diaper since coming home from the nicu
*note: I write all this stuff so I can remember when I go to scrapbook his 1st year :)

here is the 1st video that we took of Jonah (he was 3 days old)


And here is a recent one from about a week ago

jonah gets sharky

not in the handbook

this morning I was giving Jonah a bath and when I was done I wrapped him up in a towel. He was pretty worked up from being cold. the little turkey pooped in the towel. So I brought him to his room to get him cleaned up (again!) When I was cleaning him up I noticed that he had gotten poop on his neck and in his hair!!! what the heck!?! poop in the hair...that is not in the handbook!!!

I am going to try this as a new photosharing system...
www.kellyjmeyer.shutterfly.com
I will post photos of Jonah and our daily lives on here.
snapfish was making me too mad...freezing up my stinkin computer!!! grrrr!

baby wearin' mama

just so you can see what I am talking about :)

"million" dollar baby

Jonah's cord finally fell off (it lasted a little longer than normal due to the IV's they had going through there at the beginning) so he finally got to have his first tub bath...even though you can't tell from this picture he really did seem to like it...he just didn't like to be cold.

"what the heck are you people thinking?!?"


"hmmm...not sure what to think about that, just glad they gave me my paci"


we got the first statements from the insurance company today for our little "million dollar baby", yikes!!! thank goodness for insurance. I can't even begin to imagine how much the bills are for babies that are there for several months!!!

I had another injection today. this one was pretty good, it hurt afterwards but not too terribly bad. My vision is about the same as it was when Jonah was born...there seems to be less bleeding, but the "membrane" is "more defined". Evidently this is to be expected and the treatments will help it to shrink or something. Of course we brought Jonah and all the ladies in the office had to have their turn to hold him. They were literally fighting each other. It was cute...he has alot of new girlfriends.

I have been "wearing him" in this awesome baby sling my friend borrowed to us. So, I guess that makes me a baby wearin' mama. It is so nice to have him close and know that he is safe and warm.

Jonah's due date

today is Jonah's original due date. so, today marks him being considered "full term." In the nicu they talk alot about corrected gestational age. I am not sure how long it takes to catch up to other babies, I am sure it depends on how early the baby is, but as of now...our little guy is at 40 weeks! We have really settled into being a family. The county health nurse came out today and weighed him again...he is up to 7 pounds 14.5 ounces! Some of the "preemie" clothes that we got as gifts no longer fit! also alot of the hats that we have for him are more snug on his little head. but I love hats on him!
I am working on editing the millions of photos I have taken of him so far! I am also trying to work on a birth announcement...but choosing the photo is the tough part! Shawn (a friend of ours) suggested taking a photo of Jonah each day for his 1st year and then making a cd of those for his 1st birthday party. I cannot wait to see how much he changes from now till then, but I want to hang on to this sweet baby stage as long as I can too!