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It’s been a week now since they let us bring little Eli home from the NICU. And what a week. I can honestly say I’ve never taken so many naps before. Granted I’ve also never got so few consecutive hours of sleep per night before either.

Eli seems to be adjusting well to being home. He’s gained 9oz in 7 days which is actually a little more than the average of 1oz per day. He no longer has any trouble with his bottle feeds and we’ve even had to increase the amount we give him because he is so hungry! His hair seems to be getting more and more red each day – he’s definitely Nicole’s baby. His eyes are still dark so it’s too soon to tell what color they will be.

So far we’ve only ventured out of the house with him twice, once to the doctor and the other to the lactation consultants (he’s still learning to breastfeed). But he’s had a bunch of visitors and Nicole and I are eager to show him off. If Uncle Brian is lucky we might even stop by and see him on his birthday!

Nicole and I are doing as well as can be expected. We’re both a little sleep-deprived but it’s not terrible. Nicole is recovering well from the c-section and IMO she looks fantastic (and other people have said the same). I have persistent back-ache which I’ve had for 3 weeks (my GP referred me to a spinal orthopedist who I am seeing next week) but otherwise we are in high spirits (not having to go to work for 2 weeks helps – thanks Bob!).

Thanks again to everyone for their support and well-wishes. Here are some pictures of the bouncing baby boy:

Last night we got to take little Eli home from the hospital finally (exactly two weeks after we first were admitted). We had an uneventful ride home while Eli slept the whole way. Eli is definitely a night person: he takes his bottles very well at night but he sleeps only about 60-90 minutes at a stretch. So Nicole and I didn’t get too much sleep last night between feeding and changing diapers and pumping. But this morning he’s been sleeping close to 3 hours at a time which is his feeding cycle, so we’ve been able to relax a little between feedings. We even had time to shower!

Overall he seems very happy to be home and we hope he is enjoying his new surroundings and all his new outfits.

The cats have sensed that they are no longer the focus of our attention and have been a little extra whiny today. But they seem to slowly be accepting their new reduced importance in the house.

Yesterday the nurses in the NICU moved Eli out of the incubator and into an open crib. He’s gotten healthy enough to regulate his own temperature. Now his main challenge is to get strong enough to be able to handle 45mL of milk by bottle every 3 hours.

In the span of a few days they had increased his feedings from 5mL to 45mL but he had problems above ~35mL – he would basically fall asleep towards the end of his feeding. So currently he has a “gavage tube” through his nose into his stomach which the nurses use to give him his full amount of milk if he gets too tired sucking on the bottle to get it all. But this is very normal for his gestational age (almost 36 weeks) and the doctor says that he’s doing very well.

His bilirubin levels have gone back up so he’s also under the blue light but the doctors hope they can discontinue that after 24-48 hrs. He doesn’t like it too much because he has to wear little baby sunglasses to protect his eyes from the light. Also, his skin must be exposed to the light so he can’t be swaddled, which makes him a little more fussy than normal. But hopefully by mid-week he’ll be back to his normal baby-burrito self.

I’ve gone back to work full time but I usually go home for lunch and drive Nicole to the NICU where she spends the afternoon with Eli. Then I meet her there after work and we spend a little more time with our baby. I miss getting to see him as much as before and I’m very much looking forward to bringing him home.

Life is good after being moved to the crib:

Eli’s last day in the incubator:

Video of Eli in the crib:

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Little Eli is getting a little better each day. He got the CPAP machine out on Wednesday and yesterday they removed the nasal cannula which was giving him just a little bit of extra breathing help. So now he’s breathing totally on his own. He still has the IV but they’ve also started giving him ~10ml of breastmilk every 3 hours. The goal is to get him up to ~25ml every 3 hours, but that could take a while. But we’re just really excited that all tubes are off his face and he’s only connected to an IV now. He’s also been given a BiliBlanket on which to sleep which is the source of the blue light behind him in the pics and video. It helps him break down the bilirubin in his blood, preventing Jaundice.

On a related note, Nicole is also doing a little better after the doctors finally diagnosed her with a spinal headache as a side effect of the spinal tap or epidural used before the Caesarean. We’re a little annoyed how long it took them to recognize the signs and the rinky-dink manner in which they handled the procedure to resolve it. And awesomely enough, the procedure to remedy the problem itself causes a few days of back pain. But hopefully Nicole will feel better soon.

We’re home from the hospital now and I am doing my best to keep Nicole comfortable and well nourished and get the house in order. Appian has been very understanding and lots of people from work even stopped by the hospital on the last night to say hi and see Eli.

Pictures:

Video:

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Baby Eli has been in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) since he was born Sunday morning. Since he was 3 weeks premature (6 weeks early), his lungs weren’t fully matured and he needed help keeping them fully inflated. He was on a Constant Positive Applied Pressure (CPAP) machine until noon on Tuesday when he had gotten strong enough to no longer need it (in the pictures the CPAP is the big tube connected to his nose). He is still getting additional oxygen through his nose but that’s much more comfortable for him than the CPAP.

And the best part is that since he doesn’t need the CPAP or the arterial line (for checking blood gas levels), we can hold him now! Both Nicole and I were able to hold little Eli and he seemed to love it – he was quiet and peaceful and he opened his eyes for the first time and was looking all around. Check out the pictures.