Monday, May 24, 2010

Our first snuggle : )

*Happy sigh*

I had a fabulous long weekend. I got to spend some great quality time with Abby, soaked up some sun and held Lochlan for the very first time!

When I arrived today, nurse Debbie said "have you held him yet?" and I said no. Then she asked if I wanted to. Uh...duh! Of course I said absolutely. Then I said "seriously?" I couldn't believe my ears! I really didn't think I'd be able to hold him for at least another 4 or 5 weeks. But since he's not on the oscillator, I could hold him! She said not to worry about the machines and the beeps or rings...but you know what --- they never went off!!! Just after I put on my gown and got ready to hold him, Megan one of my favourite nurses who was caring for another baby, said "I'm so excited for you!" Which was super sweet.

After a little bit of a wait while they shuffled tubes and wires, Debbie placed him on my chest and it was heaven. He is so incredibly tiny but it felt so right. I felt like I had a piece of me back. In the beginning he kept opening his eyes and peeking up at me, almost as if to say, hi mommy, is that really you? And then just to see if I was still there. Amazing. I held him for 45mins to an hour. I had this stupid grin on my face the entire time.You know when you're watching a movie and it's so good and stupidly romantic that you realize you have this silly grin on face and your cheeks hurt at the end of the movie - that was me. Only this was so much better!

Today was my mom's birthday, but as I told the nurse, I felt like it was my birthday and Christmas combined!

What a day! I still have a silly grin on my face as I type this. What a wonderful memory. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me as I didn't know I'd be holding Lochlan. I was planning on taking some pics on Wednesday since he'll be 3 weeks old. Debbie asked if I had a cell phone which I had left in the car since you aren't supposed to have them on in the NICU. But she said she would have make an exception. Oh well. It was a moment for just Lochlan and I. And it was perfect.

Yesterday, he had a blood transfusion - with Daddy's blood! His hemoglobin levels were down so that's why they decided to transfuse him. It's a regular occurance and is to be expected at the gestation that he's at. (28 weeks tomorrow) Last night he weighed 955 grams. (2 pounds and 1.69 ounces) He had gained 15 grams in a day. He is now up to 3cc of breastmilk every 2 hours and quite possibly up to 4cc every 2 hours. That was the plan when I left late this afternoon anyway. So exciting! Debbie also talked about the possibility of his being on the CPAP instead of the vent soon. But it will depend on how he's doing. He has a leak in his vent right now because the tube is too small but they don't want to re-intubate him with a bigger tube since just last week he had pulled out his tube....don't want to cause any more irritation then need be. That could be why he is requiring more oxygen right now. If they do the CPAP then he would have prongs up his nose rather that the full tube in his throat. Very exciting. A big step for sure. So I'm praying on that.

Anyway, that's the update from over the weekend. Hope you had a great long weekend and enjoyed the beautiful sunshiney warm weather. So beautiful. Matched how I felt!

Take care,
Jenn

3 comments:

  1. So very happy for you. I remember that feeling. So very happy.

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  2. Wow Jen, how exciting. Sounds like Lochlan is quite the little trooper. I continue to keep you and your family in my thoughhts and prayers. With all Lochlan's strides hopefully he will go home earlier then expected too. May God bless all of you. Take care hun!

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  3. It was indeed a very happy time. Thank you both for keeping us in your thoughts and following along on our journey.

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