I can't believe I've been home for almost 2 weeks. The days are going by so incredibly fast, which as fantastic on the one hand (closer to baby coming home) and frustrating on the other (how will I get everything done???).
The average day goes like this:
Wake up at 6:00 am to big John's report on little John after he makes his morning call to the NICU. After that I work for 2 hours while making sure the kids get ready for school. Then I get showered, dressed, and pack my bags and lunch for a day at the hospital before dropping the kids off...thankfully the little weirdos really like to eat school breakfast. I get to the NICU at around 9:30, and don't leave until around 2:30. While I'm there, I sit at his bedside, hold him, do his cares, eat my lunch, listen to the doctor's rounds, and work and answer emails from my phone (or pull out my laptop in a nearby parent respite room if my little Droid can't handle the task). Sitting next to a sleepy baby is the most exhausting thing in the world!!! Then at 2:30 I head out so I can pick the kids up from school, and then run any errands around town that need to be done. I then work from home and do chores until John gets home from his evening visit to the NICU at around 6:00. Then we eat dinner--we've been blessed with meals from our neighbors and people from our church (Grace Community Bible Church, which is fantastic!). We hang out with the kids until 7:30 when we start bedtime routines. Once they're in bed, I finish up any pressing items for work while John does his homework. Then we call the NICU for our night update, shower, get ready for the next day, and fall asleep to some Netflix streaming. This week we've been watching old Buster Keaton flicks, which is the very best way to fall asleep, in my opinion. To make things more complicated, I have to pump milk for little John EVERY 3 HOURS!! GAAAAH!
Needless to say, I'm freaking exhausted. I like that I have so much to keep me busy, but sometimes I forget that this is all temporary and I start to panic. I fear that I'm never going to have time to relax and do something just for me. I have to stop and remember that in a few months I'll look back on all of this like it was a strange dream and life will be fun again!
So I'm done whining, on to the real reason why you're here--Baby Update! Little John is getting cuter, bigger, stronger, and smarter every day. Other than a small electrolyte imbalance, his health is fantastic. He's up to 2 lb 3 oz. He is way up on his feedings to 13 ml of milk, every 3 hours, and he is now pooping regularly. He's really starting to plump up, and once they start fortifying his milk, he'll grow even faster. He has been very alert during my recent visits. I think he gets excited to see me and doesn't want to sleep. I had to threaten to leave the room this morning because he wouldn't close his eyes, but he knows I couldn't really do it. Big John and I get to do skin-to-skin every day, but we take turns because he can only do it with one parent per day for the time being. His nurses are fantastic and have been letting me hold him for longer than an hour at a time. Though the nurses said he probably wouldn't be ready to start learning to eat until 33-34 weeks, I think he's trying to get started right now. He has become interested in sucking, and is starting to develop his rooting reflex--he kept turning his face to my neck while I held him today, looking for something to eat. Too bad his mouth is too tiny to try eating yet! I gave him a binky today and he sucked it for a whole hour, without having any breathing problems. I was so proud!
Well, time to get on with my evening. I'm way to busy to be updating this blog. Shame on me!
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