Conor Christopher: One Month

That first month of your life feels like such a blur now! This month was truly a month of survival, for all of us, but especially for you. I didn't hold you in my arms until you were 12 days old and your dada didn't hold you till day 20. We would just visit you and sit in your room and just watch you and monitor all your stats on the machines. I just remember holding you for the first time and just thinking how tiny and frail you were, just skin and bones, truly. So filled with gratitude for the medical team that cared for you this first month! You had a rough start and you were just the tiniest little micropreemie. I still can't believe this is your story!

Growing // You weigh 1.426kg, so about 3 lbs 2 oz. So you've gained 1 lb 8 oz since you were first born. Still so tiny!

Eating + Sleeping // You are eating 26 ml over 90 minutes through your feeding tube every three hours. But for the first week, they were just giving you some sugary substance, and then they started you off on 1 ml of breastmilk. And then later they began fortifying your milk with a tiny bit of formula for the extra calories. And they definitely have you on a schedule, every three hours diaper change, feeding, sleep, repeat. Your care times are at 8, 11, 2 and 5, repeat. You eat 8 times a day, which means I spend a good chunk of time pumping! And you really don't have a ton of wake times. We rarely see you with your eyes open, and your isolette was covered by a blanket to block extra light from coming in. Toward the end of the month they swaddled you for the first time!!

Wearing // You wore micropreemie diapers for the majority of the month, and ended the month in preemie diapers! And they don't have you in clothes yet. 

Loving // You love being snuggled and you love to sleep and you love your pacifier, but other than that I'm not entirely sure yet!

Loathing // Probably being poked and prodded, I know I'd hate that! And I'd hate having a feed tube stuck up through my nose. 

Milestones// So many milestones this month. You started the month on a breathing tube and ended the month on NAVA on room air. You started the month with a low biliburin count, so they had you under the lights. You had blood transfusions, lots of ultrasounds for your heart because you have a PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosis), a brain scan, which came back clear! You had milk in your feeding tube for the first time. The first few days they had you on some sugary thing. They thought you had an infection a few times and gave you antibiotics while they waited on blood test results, and turns out you never had one. In regards to touch, we started the month by just being able to place our hands on you, by cupping your head and your feet, and ended the month holding you. After 12 days, I held you for the first time. And your dad held you on day 20. And I can't forget the milestone of you meeting your brothers!! Within the month, you began regulating your own temperature, so they were able to stop heating your isolette. And we began the month weighing your diapers, and ended the month not having to do that or take your temperature prior to diaper changes! And I celebrated my first mothers day of a mother to three babes - sad to not have you with us, but I know you're getting the best care possible. And you just look so much better and so much more stable than you did a month ago. It's so wild really!

We love you so much and we praise God for your life!!

And I thought it would be fun to include Jack and Ryan's monthly milestones on each of Conor's monthly posts.

Jack by month 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12

Ryan by month 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 

Ryan Alexander: One Month

Today marks one month of having you with us! I can't even believe it's been a month already. I better get on that birth story before I forget every single thing. I never imagined we'd be celebrating this milestone together in the hospital, but such is your life right now. I'll have to take your monkey photo when you get home.

What a month this has been for you mister! It has been filled with lots of sleeping, eating, pooping, peeing, and attempting to survive the antics of your brother. He has loved you since the moment we brought you home. He wants to know where baby is at ALL times! When he wakes up in the morning, you are the first one he greets and when he wakes up from his nap, you are the first person he looks for. After he eats breakfast, lunch, dinner, he goes looking for baby. I interpret it as him loving you and being curious about you, but it could be that he just wants to poke your eye out or pull your leg or attempt to sit on you. I suppose we'll never know what his true intentions are right now, however time will tell.

Growing // Today you weighed 7 lbs 13 oz. You have gained over 2 lbs in a month! That just seems crazy to me. And I know you have grown at least 1.5 inches, and possibly more by now. You are getting so big and as I type that I can't help but laugh because you are just going to get bigger from here on out. On my way into the hospital I saw a dad standing with his kids waiting for the bus, and I just thought soon enough that will be Peter (or me) waiting for the boys to catch the bus to school. I'm trying to cherish these moments, but they truly go so fast and you grow SO much in your first year! I know this now after living it with your brother.

Eating + sleeping // You are a huge eater! Hence the weight gain in a month. You latched on so easily and you can't seem to get that milk in your mouth and tummy fast enough. You are an extremely noisy eater, gulping down every little bit you can get. You eat 8 times a day, which means I spend a good chunk of my day feeding you! In regards to sleeping, you were sleeping alot before you landed yourself in the hospital and now you seem to sleep all the time. I can barely catch you with your eyes open. Since you were so skinny when you were born, we were waking you up every 3 hours in the middle of the night and once you got back to your birth weight we were able to just let you go however long you could go. But if I'm honest, you have never gone longer than 3.5 hours between feeds, maybe 4? 

Wearing // You are wearing newborn diapers and newborn clothes, but I'm thinking that you may have bumped yourself up to 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers by the time you get home from the hospital.

Loving // You love to eat and you love being all bundled up. I can say that your brother is loving having you around!! I'm not too sure how you feel about your brother yet.

Loathing // You are such an easy going baby, I can't even think about anything that you loathe. Maybe being cold? So diaper changes aren't your favorite thing, but once your clothes are buttoned or zipped up and you are wrapped with a blanket, you are happy as a clam.

Milestones// Well we took you to church for the first time at 6 days old. And you celebrated your first Christmas! You took your first bottle at 3 weeks - mama had a night out with grandma and auntie Brianna and you took a bottle like a champ. And you had your first stay in the hospital on your own! And they also introduced you to a pacifier there - so first experience with a pacifier at 4 weeks. You love it probably because you love sucking and it helps with your coughing fits.

Ryan, I can't even believe I'm a mom of two! You have only been in our lives a month, but let me tell you, we miss you and can't wait for you to come home to us. I feel like I have a little piece missing from my heart. I yearn to hold you in my arms and wake up to your cries of hunger at night. I yearn to snuggle you all day long and stroke your soft baby skin and smell your sweet smell without all the complications of the cords or a time constraint. And yes, I can do this at the hospital, but let's be honest, it's not the same.

We love you and we praise God for your life and the opportunity to have another little person in our home. 

And I thought it would be fun to include Jack's monthly milestones on each of Ryan's monthly posts.

 

   Jack by month 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12