Has it been 3 weeks already?

Parker slept the whole way to Wichita Falls today. The car was loaded with his stroller, bouncer, boppy, nap nanny, dog Jack, my clothes, his clothes, diaper bag, etc. It's a good thing Benton brought his own car because we didn't have room in the car for him and his golf clubs. I guess we'll be bringing the Tahoe in town from now on.

I also made my first "I'm a paranoid new mother call" to the pediatrician this morning. Almost every night this last week Parker has gone mad munchkin on us between 5-8pm screaming and crying every 30 mins for no reason. Benton is paranoid that he has acid reflux like some other babies we know. I don't know any more than he does, but I would think if it's AR that he would be fussy and spit up all day and night. Nurse said it sounds like gas and to give him Mylicon drops before his evening feedings. He was a precious angel tonight, but I'm not sure if it was the drops or doting grandmothers that did the trick - I hope it continues to work.

Tomorrow we're taking Parker to meet his two great grandmothers for the first time and if I get my wish we'll also introduce him to Sevi's in the morning. I figure if I'm up before 8am on a Saturday in the Falls, then I at least ought to eat well!

Mom's Photography

I dressed Parker up in the outfit he was supposed to wear home from the hospital (we chose a different outfit when he came home nine days later). It is a white sack made by Polo with long sleeves and an elastic bottom. Then I propped him up on his boppy covered in a white sheet. He was really patient and let me take pictures until he got sleepy and grumpy.

Unsolicited Advice

Remember when you were engaged and everyone wanted to tell you about their wedding or their tips on where you should take your honeymoon? Then after you got married, everyone wanted to tell you how great the first few years of marriage are before you really live your life together. When you're pregnant, its like you're wearing a billboard that says, "Please tell me how great having a baby is..." or "Please tell me why I should have waited to have a baby..." or "Please tell me I should enjoy life without kids now...".

I was naive when I thought the unsolicited advice would stop after having Parker. Yesterday at Dillard's, the saleswoman must have been bored because she followed me around for over 45 minutes trying to make chit chat with me and not taking my social cues that I didn't want to talk to her. I planned my trip so that Parker would be asleep while I was shopping, but the saleswoman was concerned that he had been asleep the whole time I was looking around. She felt the need to say, "I'm not sure how old your baby is, but I sure hope he doesn't have his nighttime and daytime mixed up." To which I replied, "No, I think he's got figured out." I mean seriously, he's 2 and half weeks old, so he's going to take afternoon naps! Do you really want him awake and hungry screaming in the middle of ladies fashions?

Second stupid comment from yesterday was from the checker at Target. She asked how old my baby was and I told her that it was his first trip to Target. She said he needed to wake up and I said you're crazy, he needs to stay asleep for another 20 minutes so we can make it home. Then she gave the best quote of all - "Well he needs to wake up so he'll remember his first trip here". I promise you she was serious. I told her that he'd be visiting Target alot so I'm sure he'll be awake for one visit or another.

Happy 2 Week Birthday!

We went to Southlake for our first shopping outing yesterday. Parker got some sunglasses and an outfit for our neighbor's crawfish party in a couple of weeks. Mom got a new dress and sandals - super exciting not to be so swollen since all I've been able to wear for the last six weeks are reef flip flops.

Parker still has his umbilical cord and is recovering from being circumsized, so we're not able to take a full bath yet. He did, however, have some super greasy hair since I rub on his head all the time to put him to sleep. This is a picture of his first mini bath on the kitchen counter - he was not a fan of having his hair washed.

Day 5 at Home

Some have asked how our Westie, Jack, is doing with Parker at home. Jack didn't notice the first few days, but I think he's now realized that Parker may be sticking around for awhile. He's been quite clingy towards me and Benton, but he has been leaving Parker alone. Last night when I got up to feed Parker, Jack was sleeping on the floor in Parker's room, rather than in our bed. I hope he becomes a "Marley" and decides to love and protect his new little brother.

We took our first walk in the stroller yesterday afternoon around the ponds by our house. The sun was pretty bright and made Parker squint, so after we pulled the sun shade over him he went right to sleep. Parker also met our neighbors across the street and our next door neighbor.

We tried tummy time for the first time yesterday. He turned his head a couple of times and was passed out asleep in less than 10 minutes. I let him spend the rest of his nap there and he was perfectly content to sleep on the floor.

Parker's friend Olivia is not into her lamb swing yet, but he likes to rock in his and look at the mobile that moves on it. It looks so soft and fuzzy - why don't they make these for adults?

We're Home!

We brought Parker home yesterday afternoon after our 2pm feeding. A different neonatologist was on call for the weekend, so we weren't sure if he would feel comfortable discharging Parker since he hadn't been there all week to see his progress. The nurses knew we were keeping our fingers crossed to get out of there and when we arrived at 1:45pm, we were disappointed to hear the doctor had not been by to see Parker yet. We fed him, they took his vitals, we spoke with the nurse practitioner, and then nervously waited. The doctor came in around 2:15pm and the nurses quickly told him that we had been waiting for him because we were hoping to bring Parker home.

He checked Parker's heartbeat, reviewed his chart, reviewed his monitors to check his oxygen saturation and breathing levels, and then had a hushed conversation with the nurse practitioner in another room. We tried our hardest to overhear their conversation and weren't convinced it was going to be good news when he came over to talk to us.

Thankfully, he said he felt confident that the water in Parker's lungs had been absorbed and that although he still has short periods of rapid breathing, this is normal for all infants. He does not have any restrictions such as delaying his vaccinations or keeping him out of public places - the doctor just said it would be a good idea to have everyone use hand sanitizer before holding him (duh). Parker's weight yesterday was 7 lbs, 15 oz and he's officially moved into size 1 diapers.

We had already decided that if we got to bring him home we would not tell our parents who were waiting for us at our house. We packed up all of his NICU gear and got some free diapers, wipes, vasoline, diaper rash ointment, etc. Then we had to figure out how to loosen the straps on the car seat. Hayley had warned me to try to loosen them before leaving the hospital and I should have taken her advice. We had to read the manual 4 times, the nurse wasn't any help, and the neonatologist was laughing at us. We finally got it figured out and got Parker locked and loaded to break out of baby jail.

It was great to walk in the front door of our house with Parker and surprise our parents - we took lots of pictures of him in his car seat and let him sleep in until he woke up for his next feeding. I sat in the backseat with Parker on the way home and Benton said he couldn't wait to his the Coppell city limits so we could be out of Irving. Parker quickly fell asleep and seemed completely content to be done with NICU.

We had a great night last night and things have gone well today. He's eating every four hours and staying awake about an hour each time. We are so grateful that he is home and healthy. We were in a wonderful hospital with caring doctors and nurses and they made our experience in NICU as positive as it could be. Sorry this was so long - I'll post pictures soon and I'm looking forward to settling in to a blah, blah, blah life as a mom!

Happy 1 Week Birthday Parker!

Parker was born one week ago at 10:14am, making this his 8th day in NICU. We went to visit him this morning at 10am, to find out that his feeding schedule has been shifted to 9am. Bummer that we didn't get to feed him
his morning, but good that we can now go visit at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, and 9pm. Before, we were only getting to visit 3 times a day because he was eating at 6pm which was during a shift change when no visitors are allowed.

The neonatologist was also there this morning so it was good to talk to him in person. Last night I nearly lost it when the nurse practioner said that if Parker had another episode that they would be ordering an echocardiogram to check the anatomy of his heart. I have been fine with fluid in the lungs that needs to be absorbed, but the thought that he could have a heart defect or a valve opening in his heart was too much to bear. I said lots of prayers last night and slept in this morning knowing I was reaching the point of emotional exhaustion.

Dr. T said there were no issues last night and no reason to do unwarranted tests on Parker. If all goes well today and tonight (all
of his episodes have been at night), then we can bring him home tomorrow. Grandparents are packing their bags and heading south as we speak! Our regular pediatrician asked us to meet her back up at the hospital at 1pm today to sign the consent forms for the circumscion. She plans to so the procedure at 1 today.

I'm so thankful for the prayers that have been going up on Parker's behalf - please keep them
coming so we can get him home. On a happy note - he's already outgrown the newborn size diapers and is in a size 1. His friend Olivia will
be getting his newborn diapers since she's still on the petite side!