Fingers

We got some video of Simon sucking on his fingers. He manages to get the whole side of his fist in his mouth, including his thumb and his first finger. The volume is really quite incredible!

Fingers from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Pictures from Grandpa Tom

My dad sent the photos from his camera, that were taken during his trip here. A few are a little blurry but they're super-cute, so I'm posting them anyway!

With a very excited Grandpa Tom:

Again with Grandpa:

This is the funny face he makes right before he poops - what you can't see is his tongue sticking out slightly:

After a bath with Daddy:

Closeup - too cute!

Tummy time

Here's another video, this one of Simon during some tummy time yesterday! It includes lots of squeaky noises, one pretty big scream, a switch of head position from one side to the other, and his favorite tummy time activity - sucking on his fingers.

Tummy time from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

Victory is mine!

Simon has this adorable way of waking up that I really wanted to capture on video. He sleeps swaddled up in one of his swaddle blankets, with his arms down. (We've found that he wakes himself up otherwise.) When he does wake up, we loosen the swaddle, and he usually shoots his arms straight over his head and does this huge full-body stretch. We call it the "Victory is Mine!" stretch, which you'll appreciate if you've ever watched "Family Guy."

This was my attempt to capture it on video, but he seemed a bit perplexed by the camera in his face and didn't really do the stretch justice. But it's still pretty cute! (I still don't know how he managed to loosen one shoulder during this nap - he's quite the little Houdini.)

Victory is mine! from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

A great day

Simon and I had a great day today! He slept for a few hours after his early-morning bottle from Daddy (who has taking one of the middle-of-the-night feedings by giving him a bottle of pumped milk each night, which has been great!), and took not one but TWO great naps during the day. I even got about an hour nap in while he slept during the afternoon, which was wonderful! Simon has been more of a cat-napper during the day up until now, so hopefully this continues!

Then, it was finally nice enough out that we could take a walk around the neighborhood. The weather has been so HOT and sticky lately that it's been nearly impossible to do anything outside - we were cooped up in the apartment with the air conditioners on for my dad's entire visit, which was too bad. I'd had all these grand plans of going for walks around the neighborhood and taking Simon to the park, but we weren't able to do any of that. But today it was beautiful outside!

A little while after we got back, Daddy came home from work and we all had dinner. The boys are now getting some quality time together, which they both love in the evenings!

Photo from our walk, where Simon clearly looks skeptical of my "driving" skills:

new pictures

A few new photos!

First, Simon in his crib, looking up at his mobile. Note the lack of the oxygen - he was in the middle of his two-hour block without it:

Next, during some tummy time this morning. He's definitely working on figuring out how to get his fingers in his mouth to suck on them, whenever he finds his hand near his face:

Also this morning, hanging out in the swing:

And yesterday, when Daddy was reading him a story!

Video!

I took this video of Simon playing in his activity gym this morning. Don't know if it was intentional, but he definitely kept hitting the toy repeatedly and seemed to enjoy it! I also love his little collared outfit - the "golf onesie", as we call it. It came from Grandma Barb and Grandpa Jim, and is definitely still a little big for him. So we'll get some more use out of it!

Play time! from Anne Reynolds on Vimeo.

One month

Simon turned one month old yesterday! With everything that's happened, this past month has seemed like a lifetime. But we couldn't be happier or more proud of our little boy!

Things are continuing to go well at home. I hesitate to say that we've settled in to a "routine," because nothing about caring for a newborn seems to be routine. Simon is sleeping fairly well for us at night - in the beginning he was reliably giving us two 3-4 hour stretches, followed by a 1-2 hour sleep, which was fantastic! But the last two nights have not been nearly so nice - we're getting a few 2-hour stretches, where he is awake for more than an hour in between. Oh well - it was nice while it lasted, and the "routine" will most likely change in a few days anyway.

My dad has been here for the past week, which has been really wonderful. He's kept Simon entertained, changed many a diaper, and even been pooped on twice in one day! He also babysat yesterday for a few hours while I got together for lunch with a very good friend to discuss nanny-sharing. (More on that later.)

Other observations on Simon:
1) He does NOT like having a wet or dirty diaper.
2) He much prefers sleeping while curled up on someone's chest (preferably daddy's) to any other place.
3) Swaddling well is absolutely necessary for good sleep.
4) Smiles are a regular occurrence, but most are reserved for the living room ceiling fan.
5) He makes a certain face when he is getting ready for a big poop - it's hilarious! We caught it on Dad's camera this evening - will post it when he sends me the pictures!

In other news, Simon's appointment with his pulmonologist went very well on Friday. He was 8 lb. 10 oz.! They also did a 15-minute test where they took him off of the oxygen and measured his oxygen saturations. He did wonderfully! So we got the go-ahead to start weaning him from the oxygen. It starts with four days of taking him off the oxygen for an hour each day. So far he's done great, with his saturations never dipping below 95%. (He needs to stay above 90%.) He has one more day of that, and then we will up it to two one-hour stretches a day. We'll keep you posted!

A few photos:

The preferred sleeping position

How cute is this face????

Grandpa Tom is a little excited about getting to spend time with Simon

Smiley baby

We were lucky enough to catch one of his first real smiles on camera. I think our boy is happy to be home!

Home sweet home

Simon is home!

He was discharged from the hospital this past Wednesday. We couldn't be happier to finally have our little boy home with us! He is still, however, on oxygen.

We were first presented with the option of taking Simon home on oxygen a full week before we actually decided to do it. When the doctors first suggested it, he had only been off of a ventilator for seven days, and we just didn't feel he was ready for it. And we were really hopeful that they would be able to wean him off of the oxygen so that we could take him home with no issues. However, as the days passed, it became clear that Simon would need the oxygen for quite a while to come. (This is apparently not uncommon in babies with meconium aspiration syndrome.)

Then in his last few days in the hospital, he started becoming MUCH more interactive. He was sleeping less during the day, and wanting to be held and engaged a lot more. He wanted attention that the nurses, who had two other babies to care for, couldn't give him. And though we were at the hospital as much as we could be, we couldn't be there 24-7. He was ready to come home. The doctors and nurses assured us that as long as he had the oxygen, he would actually do better under our care at home, than he would in the hospital with all of the loud beeping machines and general chaos.

So we brought our little boy home! And we are thrilled beyond thrilled. We have an oxygen concentrator machine for use at home - it just concentrates the oxygen from the air and delivers it to Simon via a nasal canula. We also have three small oxygen tanks for use when we leave the house. He'll be seen weekly by a neonatologist at Children's Hospital, who is also a pulmonologist. They will guide us through the slow but steady process of weaning Simon from the oxygen.

We had our first appointment with Simon's regular pediatrician on Friday, where we found out that Simon was a full half pound above his birth weight (8 pounds 3 ounces)! And that other than the residual lung issues, he is perfectly healthy. We also had a visit from a home care nurse today, who weighed Simon again - now 8 pounds 6 ounces! Definitely seems to confirm that he's hit his 3-week growth spurt - he's eating like it, too!

More on life at home with Simon in another post. (I swear I'm going to get better at updating now that he's home.) For now, a few pics of life at home (or on our way home):

Update

Simon is still in the NICU, but has made a lot of progress in the last two weeks. He was taken off of the ventilator on Wednesday 7/22, and moved from his previous room to a "transitional" room on Monday 7/27. The only treatment he is receiving now is a small amount of oxygen, to keep his oxygen saturations at high enough levels. They actually did take him off oxygen completely this past Tuesday, and we were told that if he made it through 48 hours with stable vital signs, that we could take him home on Friday. He made it for 40 hours, but then had some spells where his oxygen saturations dipped too low, while he was sleeping. (When awake, he is always fine.) So he's back on oxygen for the time being.

In the transitional room, we can take a lot more initiative for his care. So we can feed him whenever he is hungry (and I can breastfeed him if I want to, or we can give him a bottle of pumped milk, which is what they do when I'm not there.) We can also change him, pick him up, read him stories, and rock him to sleep. So it feels like we are contributing a lot more, which is nice for us.

We absolutely cannot WAIT to have him home. He's not quite ready yet, as he was a really sick little boy those first few days. But we are very, very hopeful that he'll be well enough soon.

Lots o' pictures are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/reynolds.anne/SimonJamesReynoldsRyba#

A few of our favorites: