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:

Our little boy

Simon James Reynolds Ryba

Born 7/17/2009, 11:59 p.m.

7 lb. 11 oz., 20 in.

Simon has been in the neonatal intensive care unit since shortly after birth. He aspirated meconium in to his lungs during delivery, and has needed assistance breathing and other support while he recovers from this. The first few days were a struggle to balance things like his oxygen saturation, blood pressure, heart rate, reaction to antibiotics and even sedation. He'll likely be in the NICU for another few weeks. But he is slowly but steadily improving, and we couldn't be prouder of our little boy for being such a fighter.

We will post more pictures soon. Thanks to everyone for their love, support and prayers over the past few days.

40 weeks

The waiting game

So... our due date is tomorrow. It's the ultrasound-calculated due date, which is pretty much what I thought the date should be from the beginning. But depending on which way you do the math, you can come up with anything from the 14th to the 17th. My doctor informs me that she thinks it should be the 17th.... BOO. But for obvious reasons, I like the 14th. Which means it's tomorrow.

Which means I'm officially impatient! We're ready to meet this kid already!

Not to mention the fact that there is family pressure - tomorrow is my sister's birthday AND my uncle's birthday. My mom reminded me early on that she managed to have my sister on her brother's birthday, so surely I can manage to have this kid on my sister's birthday. Believe me, there is nothing that I would love more than for that to happen! But I have this sinking feeling that this kid isn't going anywhere for another week or so. We'll keep you posted!

The baby's room

It was a great 3-day weekend that was both productive and relaxing. The biggest news is that we finished off the nursery set-up -- we only had little things left to do, but it is wonderful to finally have them done.

We'll hit the 39-week mark on Tuesday! So it's a good thing that I also got my hospital bag packed this weekend. Fingers crossed that we'll get to use it sooner rather than later... we're ready to meet our little man already!