Baths, Visits and Cuddles

Yesterday was a busy day for both me and Andrew. I ended up visiting him three times, which is unusual for me, but they were all good visits.

We started the day with bath time! I got to the hospital earlier than usual, to help his nurse with his bath. (This was a Nurse K too - we determined that he has three Nurse K's...all different names, same initial. So much for keeping them straight in our blog!) Andrew was awake, and on his best behavior.

Right now, he is just getting a sponge bath, because he has those blisters on his foot, which is wrapped and has medicine on it. Soon, we'll be able to give him a bath in a basin, which will be more fun! We think he might has some curly hair - when it was wet it had a bit of a curl to it. We'll see, I guess!

I also got to see him for the first time without a ventilator or any breathing gear on - for a few seconds at least! We snapped some pictures, and were laughing about his square head. The cap from the CPAP puts pressure on the head, and so he has a flat spot on the top, and some on the sides too. His cheeks are puffed out from the pressure too. It will all go back to normal once he is off CPAP and on a high-flow cannula for awhile.

I think he looks like an old man here - receding hairline, square face, and puffy red cheeks from too much booze...sort of Nixon-esque. I also threw out Frankenstein, but my mom said those are too mean for our cutie. She thinks his head looks like SpongeBob Square Pants. You decide!

After his bath, Andrew crashed for several hours into a deep sleep. I can tell baths are going to become part of our night time routine once I bring him home!

In other news, Andrew was up to 1080 gms (2lb 6oz) today, which means he's gained about a pound since birth! Doctor A came by and said he was doing "beautifully" and decided to lower his CPAP settings again to a pressure of 6. She also decided to remove the replogle - the second tube into his stomach. It was causing lots of secretions that caused him to blow bubbles, but also disrupted his breathing at times. Another few steps forward!

In my second visit of the day, I brought my mom with me. She is down again for a few days to help out and see the little guy. She can't believe how big he has gotten - she's seen him about 4 times now, but the last time was 2 weeks ago. We were comparing photos, and here you can see how much he's changed. Photo on left was at about 6 days old, one on right was yesterday at 45 days old.

In the evening, J got to cuddle with Andrew for about half an hour. I got to hold him the other night too. He's still so little, and we don't really know what to do, how to hold him, etc. The nurses have been so helpful and will hopefully continue to boost our confidence in handling him. We so happy that he is tolerating us holding him, and cherish each minute of it!

In sad news of the day, we found out that our friend's daughter Sienna had passed yesterday, at 2 weeks, 2 days old. It just crushes us that she fought so hard for those two weeks and still was taken. We haven't seen R & Q yet, but they are in our thoughts, and so is their other daughter Avery who is still hanging in there. We know her sister is looking over her now. Just a reminder how fragile our little ones still are. Keep the prayers and positive vibes coming!