Day 38

Hi folks!

Zachary spent most of yesterday snoozing from his lung workout on Saturday. Today he was doing great and we both got to hold him for an hour today. It was wonderful. Oh how we have missed holding him!

Here is what the doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists have planned for Zachary this week.

- The CPAP was turned back down to 6 today and we are hoping to try the nasal cannula again later this week.

- Starting on Tuesday, they will be slowly changing him from continuous feeds to getting a certain amount at one time. They will do this by giving him his milk over two hours, then an hour and a half, then an hour, then forty-five minutes, then a half hour, or something like this. This is because he needs to be eating once every three hours in order to be able to bottle feed (thank goodness no continuous bottle feeding, ha ha!).

- They increased the amount of his milk intake again today so he is at full feeds for his weight, which is 3 pounds even (can you believe it!!). He measures 14 and 3/4 inches.

Sounds like a busy week for our little boy, doesn't it?

This week Mommy and Daddy are starting to cut back a bit on their visits (not by choice!). In a couple of weeks both of us are going back to work (until he gets to come home) and we don't want him to all of a sudden not have us there. Therefore we are slowly weaning our visits to match our work schedules. So instead of visiting for a few hours three times a day, we are visiting for a few hours in the morning and then for a few hours after dinner. We figure it will take ALL of us awhile to get used to this, but it will probably be much easier for Zachary than it is for us. We miss him so much when we aren't with him. The good thing is that he sleeps a lot and us not being there gives him a good chance to catch up on his zzzz's.

That's about all for us. We hope that all of you are doing well. Love to all!

It's Picture Time!

Here's Stephen holding Zachary, skin-to-skin.



Erica, one of the nighttime NICU nurses, made Zachary this sign for his baby condo. She is one of three nurses that makes signs for all the babies in NICU III. Notice that it matches the theme of his room!



Do you see the position of Zachary's feet while he is sleeping on his back? This is a Horn family trait! Kim, her brothers and her father all do this from time to time. We think it is so cute that Zachary is keeping up the family trait!



The gray glove is to make Zachary feel like he is being touched by someone. He sleeps well with the glove on him.



Here's Kim holding Zachary. Our NICU parenting classes have taught us that Zachary can only see blobs. Here he is looking at the "Mommy Blob".



This is Kim's nurse, Phyllis. She took great care of Kim both before and after she had Zachary. She was present when Zachary was born, but hasn't seen him since he was born (this picture was taken on 3/29). She was amazed how big he had gotten in five weeks!



Here's our sweet boy relaxing while off the CPAP. He's so amazing and so cute!



Here's Stephen working on Zachary's nursery. We're only spending a few hours a week at our house so we are making those hours count!



Our sweet baby, fast asleep!

Video - Zachary without the CPAP

Here's a video of Zachary yesterday with the nasal cannula. He's alert, active and it shows him "playing possum" which seems to be his favorite game. We love this video and thought all of you would enjoy it too!

Days 35, 36 and 37

Hi folks -

It's been quite busy for us over the past few days. Zachary had another head ultrasound which looks great! The Grade 3 bleed is getting smaller and the Grade 1 bleed continues to resolve. This is very good news. He won't have another ultrasound of his head for two weeks. We'll pray for more good news.

On Saturday morning they took his CPAP off and put on the nasal cannula which delivers a much lower pressure of oxygen. Zachary seemed happy and we took lots of pictures (which I am working on so I can post them soon). Zachary gave it his all, but sadly, he isn't quite ready to be off the CPAP yet. Last night, the doctor called us and told us she was going to put him back on the CPAP as he was not sating as high as she would like and he had been breathing fast most of the day. So he is back on the CPAP at a pressure of 8 (he was at a pressure of 6 when he went off of it) and they have the oxygen is set at 40%. They are leaving him kind of high on pressure to make sure his lungs don't have to work too hard after all the hard work they had to do yesterday. We continue to be amazed at Zachary and his NICU team. We are very proud of Zachary for doing such a good job without his CPAP for so long and are very glad that his doctor recognized that he was working hard and gave him some help.

We called this morning and he is doing well and is fast asleep, so we giving him some time to have some good rest before we go to see him. Rest is definitely what he needs. Pod D has been a sea of activity over the past few days (not relating to him) and his nurse tells us it's quiet in there today so we want him to sleep and recover from all of his efforts yesterday.

As always, thanks for all the comments, prayers, thoughts, calls and cards. We are unable to chat with everyone we'd like to as we spend so much time with Zachary and of course, no cell phones are allowed in the NICU. Thanks for your patience with us.

Love to all!

P.S.: He is now weighing in at 2 pounds, 13.9 ounces!! We cannot believe he is almost three pounds!

Day 34

Look at us, posting three days in a row!!

It's been a busy day for little Zachary. He got his blood drawn and his anemia is getting a bit worse so tonight he is getting a series of three transfusions. Here's the process: he's given blood over two hours, then he gets a six hour break, then more blood over two hours, then another six hour break, then he gets the last bit of blood he needs, then a four hour break, then they are going to check his blood levels to make sure he's doing okay with the new blood.

The good news is that he is doing so well with the weaning off the CPAP and with all his new blood, they expect to get him off the CPAP on Saturday!!! WHOO HOO! He will still get oxygen through his nose via a tiny tube (like the clear ones you see on ER and Grey's Anatomy), but not the pressure of the CPAP. This is awesome news!

We also found out he is not moving to a different pod here in NICU III. With him being weaned off the CPAP, he may "graduate" to NICU II as early as Tuesday of next week, which is a step closer to him coming home! He will be in NICU II for quite awhile, but this is definitely a step in the right direction! In NICU II, he will have more stimulation and in a few weeks they will start to try to get him to drink his milk via a bottle. We'll tell you all more about NICU II once he moves there. In the meantime we are still in noisy pod D, but thankfully he is in his baby condo so he is sheltered a bit from the noise and the hustle and bustle that is going on around him.

Well, that's about all the news around here today. Thanks for remembering us in your thoughts and prayers and please also say a little prayer for sweet Brinson. She had a rough day today and could use some prayers for healing and strength. For more details about Brinson, here's the link to her blog again, http://brinsons-buzz.blogspot.com/.

Thanks and love to all!

Day 33

Well folks after much waiting, we have all sorts of good news today!

1. Many preemies develop problems with their retinas due to their prematurity (ROP). The pediatric opthamologist came by yesterday and so far so good...no ROP! They will check him again in two weeks.

2. He has been sating well so far this week (his oxygen levels have been much more stable and staying up without having to go up and down on the CPAP oxygen). So, they are turning his pressure on the CPAP down to six in an effort to wean him off of it.

3. Yesterday he had a follow up echo cardiogram. No change in the little hole in his heart (which means it hasn't gotten bigger) and no change in the pulmonary stenosis - which is a narrowing of a valve (no change means it hasn't gotten worse, it is staying at "mild"). This is very good news.

4. We are now allowed to hold him twice a day!! No more alternating days to hold him, we'll each be able to hold him, every day!

Now isn't that all wonderful news!

We do have some other news, he's moving into a different pod within NICU III. The pod where he is in the NICU is very noisy and they are moving him and a couple other babies into a quieter pod. They are also moving little Brinson to another pod, so she'll be across the hall from us, just in a different pod. We'll still be able to see her and her Mommy and Daddy, but this will be much better for both babies to not have the noise to contend with. Brinson will be moved first, then Zachary will move later tonight or maybe tomorrow.

Just wanted to share all the news! Love to all!

Days 29 - 32 (today)

Hi Folks!

Our sweet little boy is now a month old and he is doing so well! He now weighs 2 pounds, 9.3 ounces, which means he's over 2.5 pounds!! Whoo hoo!! His team of doctors decided to skip the head ultrasound this week because he has been improving so he'll have another one next week. They have added an additional medicine, Reglan, to help his reflux, but other than the reflux, we have nothing new to report, medically. On the fun side, over the weekend Stephen got his chance to give Zachary a bath and Zachary didn't like it anymore than when Kim gave him one. Thankfully we still have a way to soothe him afterwards, by letting him hold our fingers. We're still holding him every day, we alternate on which one of us gets to hold him, and we hold him from anywhere between a half hour and an hour, depending on how his sats (oxygen levels) are. It's all three of our favorite time each day.

Now, for what you have all be waiting for, new pictures!!

Holding Mommy's fingers, it was a double finger hold kind of a night!

We couldn't decide if he was saying "no photos please" or "hold my fingers please"...they were changing out the prongs to his CPAP so you can see his cheeks!




Zachary's Easter picture, thanks going out to Brinson and her folks for the pretty eggs!



Zachary loves being held. Here he is being held by Daddy. Hard to say which one looks happier!



Zachary loves holding Mommy's finger.



Recuperating after a bath...they are so traumatic!



Hold my finger...someone, anyone!!



Can you find Zachary in his baby condo?



Mother and son.



Just a cute picture that we wanted to share.



Awww....look at the happy family!



Relaxing while holding Daddy's finger.



Totally worth waiting for weren't they? We thought so! Until next time...love to all!

Days 26, 27 and 28

Hi Folks!

We are sorry for the delay in posting, sometime time just seems to get away from us! The three of us are doing well and have been spending lots and lots of time together.

Here's the medical stuff about our sweet boy. Zachary now weighs two pounds six ounces, he was weighing two pounds, seven ounces last night, but he has been on Lasiks the past three days and has lost the excess water weight that the doctors wanted him to lose. He was put on Lasiks because his lungs "looked wet" when he had a chest x-ray on Wednesday. After his "touch me not" day (Tuesday) and all the de-sats he had the next morning, they decided to sneak a peek at his lungs and his lungs looked wet so Lasiks was the solution. He has done really well on it and they may keep him on a milder diuretic (Lasiks can be hard on the kidneys) to keep his lungs as they should be. They also started him on iron to help him make more red blood cells as he is still anemic and they are wanting him to grow his own red blood cells instead of giving him another transfusion. They are checking his blood twice a week to make sure he's doing okay. The other thing they started him on today was Zantac for his reflux. We are all hoping that the Zantac will help so he will have less de-sats and be more comfortable.

Here's the fun stuff about our sweet boy. Zachary knows his Mommy and Daddy's voices and LOVES to hold our fingers. Holding our fingers almost instantly calms him, no matter how upset he is. He often falls asleep holding our fingers. It's so sweet. Hmm, what else...Kim was making kissing sounds at him yesterday and he was loving it. She was holding him at the time and he was opening his eyes really wide and just staring and just seemed happy. Today was Stephen's turn to hold him and he stayed awake quite awhile listening to Daddy and Mommy talk to him. He just loves being held. Tonight Kim gave him the bath that we talked about a couple of days ago. He did NOT love his bath, but he tolerated it and afterwards was immediately calmed when he held Kim's finger with not one but both hands. It was so cute! Tonight was the first time that Kim turned him over from his back to his tummy. The nurses usually do that, but tonight they taught Kim how to do it. OH! Last night he lifted his head off the mattress and it looked like he was trying to turn his head to face the other way. We mentioned it to his nurse last night, Caitlin, and she told us that actually, he HAD done that before! What a big strong boy! He can already lift and turn his head. He's so amazing! Caitlin also told us that before long he will figure out that he is able to pull out his feeding tube. We're hoping he skips that phase...ha ha ha! His nurse tonight, Barbara had brought him a new blanket for his bed and also brought him a bright yellow blanket that she had crocheted. Isn't that the sweetest! Those NICU nurses and the doctors are just so great. Zachary really is in the best possible place.

For those of you that are keeping up with our podmate Brinson, she is doing well. Here's the link to her blog if you want more details, http://brinsons-buzz.blogspot.com/ she really is such a cutie pie! Tomorrow night we are having dinner with her folks, Ned and Lisa. We spend a lot of time talking with them and we keep a look out on Brinson if they aren't in the NICU and they watch out for Zachary when we aren't in the NICU. They are such great people, as are their parents, most of whom we have already met.

There's not much else going on with us. We're spending most of our time at the NICU being with Zachary since he has learned who we are and is comforted by us. He may be holding on to our fingers, but he also has us wrapped around his (and we love it!)! We hope life is treating all of you well and we send our love to all!

Day 25

Howdy folks!

We got some really good news today. Zachary had another ultrasound of his brain yesterday to check on the bleeding. While the side with the grade three bleed remains the same (which is good news), the side that had the grade two bleed has been downgraded to a grade one! WHOO HOO! Yeay little Zachary!

Zachary had one of those days that we all have when we just don't want to be messed with. We totally understood and tried our best to watch him, but not touch him (too much) as it just seemed to make him upset. By the end of the evening he was back to allowing us to hold his hand (with a finger) and when we left this evening, he was sleeping comfortably.

Here's a picture of Zachary holding Mommy's finger (taken some other night...I can't remember which one, all the days are starting to run together...)



Little does he know that the nurse told us that if she is his nurse tomorrow night, she's going to let Mommy give him another bath...stay tuned!!

In the meantime, love to all!!!

Days 23 and 24

Hi folks!

Happy St. Paddy's Day! The Baldwin family is doing well today. Our sweet boy now weighs two pounds, 4.6 ounces and measures 14 and 5/8 in length. For those of you that are counting, he has grown an inch and a quarter in three weeks, that's the Baldwin genes working there, not the Horn genes. Here's where we have noticed the Horn genes kicking in, we have spotted a wave or two (or even a curl or two) in his hair and he has chubby cheeks, kinda like Grandpa Ted. We haven't been able to tell if he has dimples in those cheeks yet.

Last night Zachary's nurse, Barbara, let Mommy give Zachary a bath. Zachary was not happy at all! Also, Prince Poop A Lot struck again! There much be something very freeing to our sweet boy once the diaper comes off! Here's a picture of Zachary after his bath when Mommy is comforting Zachary and letting him hold her fingers. He sure calmed down quickly!



Also, Barbara gave him a new knitted cap, it's very cute, almost rastafarian. Here's a picture of him with Daddy during Daddy's very first skin-to-skin holding. Daddy loved holding him skin-to-skin and was lucky enough to hold Zachary this way for an hour. You can see Zachary modeling his new cap in the picture.



Here's Zachary exploring the furry stuff on Daddy's chest.



The Baldwin Family



Granny (Marie) got Zachary his first Easter bunny. Isn't it cute?



Brinson and her family brought Zachary a friend for his Baby Condo, what great neighbors!!



Zachary loves to stay awake and play "peek a boo" while being held.



He sometimes falls asleep before the holding is over though.



Mommy loves holding Zachary, it's just so great!





Here is a picture of Zachary when his nurse was changing his CPAP and feeding tube. I don't think he was very happy in this picture.

That's about all the news for us. As always, thanks for all the prayers, comments, calls, cards and love. Love to all!

Day 22 - Three Weeks Old!!

Today Zachary turned three weeks old!!! He is such an amazing little boy. We just love to spend time with him and watch him. At tonight's weigh in, he topped the scales at a mighty two pounds, 3.6 ounces. He's doing so well. Today he switched back to breastmilk and so far (knocking on wood here), he hasn't spit up and has not had an episode where his heart rate and oxygen levels go down. In fact, when we left tonight, he was only getting 31% oxygen, which is quite an improvement over the 42% he was getting when we arrived this morning.

Zachary is starting to stay awake more and more, especially when we hold him. The time when he is awake and we can see little snippets of his personality are just so precious to us. He has this thing, we call it "playing possum" where he opens his eyes and after a couple of seconds of us watching him, it seems like he closes his eyes extra tight, like he is pretending to sleep. We are too far away for him to see us watching him, but it sure seems like he is playing games with us. It's so cute. This next tidbit may fall under the category of TMI, but it's too cute not to share. One of his nurses has dubbed him "Prince Poop A Lot." Boys will be boys!!! Tonight he thought his nurse would appreciate it if he pooped while she was giving him a bath. She didn't seem to mind too much though.

Zachary's little NICU neighbor, Brinson, is doing well. Yes folks, she peed!!! Thanks so much for adding her to your prayers. She still has much healing and growing to do, but her peeing was the much needed first step. Stephen and I had a nice dinner with her folks, Ned and Lisa, tonight. It was after Brinson's good news and Zachary was doing so well so it was a nice night to get out and enjoy chatting with our new friends. After dinner we all came back to the NICU to good reports which was nice.

We really appreciate Marie and David for letting us stay with them, it makes it so easy to travel the few minutes it takes to go visit Zachary. We visit him two or three times a day. We go for a few hours in the morning (which is when we get to hold him), sometimes an hour or two in the afternoon and then we go for a couple hours after dinner in the evening. We try to give him lots of time to rest too. Stephen is starting back to work on Monday, so I'll go visit him in the afternoons while Stephen works. I'm off for at least a few more weeks while I continue to recover from the c-section and the difficulties I had being pregnant.

We also owe our friends Suzy and Sarah a HUGE thanks for taking in and watching our sweet boys (the cats, Luke and Magellan) while we have been at the hospital and while we are staying at Marie and David's house. They have taken in our sweet boys and given them the attention they require. We stopped by for a visit today and they were happy to see us and doing just fine. Another thanks goes to Marsha for bringing in our mail and giving me a heads up that a big fat jury summons was waiting for me. Oh fun.

Stephen and I are both doing well. My big news this weekend is that I have been able to go back to wearing my "real pants" as in no more maternity pants!! Whoo hoo! I can't tell you how excited I am about that. I can't remember if I ever mentioned this, but I actually lost weight while being pregnant. I lost 15 pounds during the first trimester with the horrendous morning sickness and other issues I had and then I gained 7 pounds during the second trimester before the hospital and 6 pounds during the 5 weeks I was pregnant in the hospital. If my math is correct, overall I lost two pounds. Since having him I've lost even more. That's another good thing about giving him breastmilk, I seem to be losing weight. YEAY!

Well, that's about all that's going on in our world. We'll try to upload more pictures or videos soon. In the meantime, love to all!

Day 21

Hi folks, here's an update for you! Zachary is doing well, he is been switched to continuous feeds in an effort to reduce his episodes of reflux. He will be getting 20 cc's of fluid every three hours, but it will be pumped into him via his OG tube at 6.7 cc's per hour. He continues to have a bit of problem keeping his heartrate up, espcially when having reflux issues so we are hoping and praying the continuous feedings will help, along with him switching back to breastmilk tomorrow.

We did get some good news today, they are going to try to wean him off his CPAP over the next week. After the CPAP comes off he will go to recieving oxygen via small nasal prongs that are MUCH lighter and harder for him to get out of, meaning less de-sats for him! We are very encouraged by this news even though we realize that he may go back and forth a bit between the CPAP and the oxygen nasal prongs, this is common in preemies.

Please, please, please continue to keep Zachary's little neighbor, Brinson in your prayers. She's having some kidney problems and her folks have asked for prayers for her to be able to pee. It's so hard to watch these sweet babies have any troubles. If you want to read about Brinson's journey, her website is: http://brinsons-buzz.blogspot.com/.

Thanks so much everyone. We appreciate all of you, as always, love to all!

You want 'em .... You got 'em .....

Okay people,
Here is what you all have been waiting patiently for ...



... Pictures !!!

Little Zachary and Grandma Marla

Mommy and Me doing Kangaroo Care

Little Zachary and Granny Marie

Daddy's Little Boy

Mommy's Little Boy

Snuggling up to Mommy

A sneak peak at my little cheeks

Days 18, 19 and 20

Hi folks!

As I write this, Stephen is working on pictures...we just can't wait for you guys to see our amazing guy!

Zachary is doing great. He's up to full feeds, which is 20 cc's of formula, every eight hours. Starting Saturday he will go back to breastmilk (yep, I'm off the antibiotics!!). He has a problem with reflux and we are all hoping that his switching back to breastmilk will help since it is much easier for babies to digest, plus they digest it quicker. In the meantime, they have extended his feeding time to take an hour to feed him.

Last night he got new, larger prongs for his CPAP. He was giving Mommy, Daddy and all of his nurses a rough time with finding new and inventive ways to get out of his old prongs and then de-sating (losing oxygen). He can even lift his head if he wants to in order to get out of them! The new prongs fit him better, even though they are for babies weighing 1000 grams and he now weighs 965 grams (which is a whopping 2.2 pounds!!)

Over the last few days we have really gotten to know Ned and Lisa, the parents of Brinson (who shares a "cul de sac" with our little Zachary). She has her own little blog at http://brinsons-buzz.blogspot.com. Little Brinson is a sweet and beautiful week old baby girl that has had a busy 24 hours, she too is quite the fighter! Please say a little prayer for her as she is recovering from surgery.

We went to our first NICU parenting meeting yesterday afternoon. It was very good to meet other parents of NICU babies and learn about feeding a NICU baby. Right now Zachary is being fed through a tube and won't be bottle fed until at least he's 32 weeks (adjusted) and right now he is only 29 weeks (adjusted). Most likely, he won't be bottle fed until he's closer to 33 or 34 (adjusted) weeks. NICU nurses and doctors use the adjusted weeks until the baby is full term, which is 40 (adjusted) weeks.

I went to the doctor yesterday and Dr. Pinell is pleased with how I am healing. I have one troublesome portion of the incision that isn't healing as well, but the rest looks good and thankfully all the infections are gone!! Barring nothing new, I go back to see him in two weeks.

We've been spending most of our days (and evenings) at the hospital. It's so great to come back and have comments, and emails to read and voicemails to listen too. We are sorry that we aren't as available as we usually are, but our cell phones are off when we are at the hospital.

That's about all that is going on with us. We hope that life is treating all of you well and, as always, love to all!

Days 16 and 17

Hi folks!

This blog is being written at our new digs, Stephen's folks' house. Marie and David have graciously allowed Stephen and I to stay here with them as they are less than ten minutes from Zachary, as opposed to our house which is 45 minutes away. Thanks Granny and Grandpa David!! Onto the news about our sweet boy!

Zachary is doing well. He is doing so well that both Stephen and I BOTH got to hold him today. I held him this morning, skin-to-skin. It was so amazing to feel his heart beating against mine. He stayed awake for awhile and then fell asleep against me. I was able to hold him for 45 or so minutes, and he didn't de-sat (lose significant amounts of oxygen) once! Stephen held him this afternoon. He held him in his arms for over an hour and again, no de-sats! Yeay Zachary! Zachary had a busy couple of days getting to know his Grandma Marla and spending lots of time with Granny (Stephen's mom). Grandma Lynne and Grandpa Ted will be out here in May to hold and spoil him.

He had another ultrasound of his head today. We got the best news possible, no change! Since blood takes awhile (often months) to reabsorb, this was great news as it means the bleed didn't get any bigger. Thank goodness! He had an echo cardiogram this afternoon to see how his heart is doing and we expect the results from that in the morning.

Zachary continues to show how tough he is. He continues to fight the prongs that are in his nose from the CPAP. He and the nurses are continuously having a contest of wills over whether or not he can keep the prongs out. While we completely understand why he wants the prongs out (who wants humid air going up their nose?), unfortunately he needs the oxygen, as when the prongs are out, he de-sats and back comes the nurse to put them back in. The good news is that they decreased the pressure of the CPAP from 12 down to 10. This is the initial step in weaning him off the CPAP. Again, YEAY ZACHARY!! They also increased his feeds from 12 cc's to 14 cc's and decreased the liquids ("baby gatorade"). He's doing so well!

As for Stephen and I, we're doing great. We are going to the hospital two or three times a day to see our sweet baby boy. We're enjoying being out of the hospital (remember, he was living in my hospital room with me!) and are enjoying real (not hospital) food.

Again, sorry about the lack of pictures, we are still taking them, but just haven't found the time to get them off the camera, resized and uploaded. Tomorrow's task is to go through seven weeks worth of mail that came in while we were in the hospital and then hopefully we can start back on posting the daily pictures. Please continue to be patient with us.

Thanks again for all the comments, we love reading them and hearing from you. Until next time, love to all!

Days 14 and 15

Sorry for the delay in posts, it's been a busy couple of days...

News about our sweet baby Zachary...he's now two pounds, one ounce!! WHOO HOO!! He's having a bit of trouble with reflux when he eats, but we're going to talk to the neonatoligist about it tomorrow and he may get some medicines to help him. As he matures, many of these preemie problems will go away. In the meantime, we just pray and love him (and worry a little bit too, but that's our job).

I (Kim) am doing well. My mom came in this weekend to meet her grandson and we've been busy, busy, busy. I'm getting used to life "on the outside" and am enjoying wearing clothes and not nighties. We see my good friends the nurses that took such good care of me every time we go to visit Zachary and it's nice to see them while not being horizontal! I have to hand out kudos to all the nurses that took care of me at Women's Hospital and the nurses that are taking care of Zachary, they are amazing and I love them all. Zachary and I would not be doing as well as we are if not for them and Dr. Pinell and all the neonatoligsts. Seriously, kudos to them!

We're still struggling to find time to do everything so again folks, sorry for the delay in getting new pictures up. Stephen's going to teach me how to do it so look for them soon! Until then, love to all!!!

Day 13

All in all, Day 13 was a good day!

Zachary is now up to 1 pound, 15.6 ounces and the doctor has increased his food intake to 9 ccs, every three hours. He sleeps a lot in his warm, dark baby condo. Today Daddy got to hold him while Mommy read him a Dr. Seuss story. He is starting to stay awake more of the time when Daddy and Mommy hold him, he loves to open his eyes when being held. Earlier this evening, Mommy sang him to sleep when he was a bit agitated while trying to get comfy. He really is soothed by hearing his parents' voices. He truly is just so amazing.

Today Mommy got some good news too, she got to go home! Since we live about 45 minutes away from the hospital, we have temporarily moved in with Stephen's folks, who live a mere 10 minutes away (thanks again to Granny and Grandpa David for letting us stay with you!). Mommy and Daddy had a hard time leaving the hospital without Zachary, but were excited about leaving too, it had been almost seven weeks since Kim had walked in on that scary day her water broke. Thinking back to how much has changed since we first checked in, we again thank God for how blessed we are. FYI, we've only called the hospital twice to check on him since leaving. ;)

Sorry for the lack of pictures today, but we'll try to get some up over the weekend. Thanks so much for all of the prayers, comments, emails and calls. We appreciate each and every one of you and send our love to all!

Stephen, Kim & Zachary

Day 12

Today was yet another good day for little Zachary. The Doctors took Zachary off the last antibiotic they had him on. Zachary is also doing very well with being fed the 7 ml. of formula every 3 hours and keeping everything down. They maintained the 7 ml. feedings because they didn't want to increase it too fast. He seems to be doing very well in the new condo, maintaining his temperatures and sleeping nice and quietly. He looked so cute earlier when we went to visit. When the nurse had placed him on his belly after feeding him, he was facing the back of the isolett ( the condo ) and had his little hat facing to the back. So when you look at him .... he had a little baby chicken face looking back at you. Kim and I thought it was cute.

Kim is doing good too. Her doctor said that the incision on her belly is healing, but he would like to have the infection clearing up a little more before she will be allowed to come home. The medicine they have her on is working, just not as fast as everyone would hope. So until he says that she will be released on such and such day ...... we're just going to maintain and going to see Zachary. We are dreading the idea that we will be going home without him. It will be hard, but we know that he is in the best place that he could be for now.

Anyway ..... now for what you really came to our blog to see .... Pictures of Zachary!

Day 12 - Video

Day 12 - Pictures

Day 11

Hello blog friends! Everyone is doing well!! I love it when I get such positive news from the Baldwin fam! Thanks to everyone for leaving such encouraging notes for the new mommy and daddy to read. They really appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Kim says all those prayers are the reason that Zachary is doing so well.

Speaking of Zachary doing so well.....

-They bumped his feedings up to 7cc's every three hours today.
-His bilirubin(Jaundice) levels have gone down so they turned off the lights in his new condo that he moved into today!
-He did have a little sleep apnea today after his feeding but the nurse said that this was common and not to be alarmed. They are just going to look for a pattern (hopefully there won't be one).

Kim...
Feeling better today. They think that she will hopefully be able to go home Thursday.

Day 11 - Video

Day 11 - Pictures

SHhh ..... Sound asleep ...

Listening to Daddy

Holding Mommy's finger

haha .... They think I'm sleeping .... I see you!

Day 10

Zachary.....
Zachary had a great day.
-He moved into his own baby condo(isolet) where it is darker and no more noisy neighbors!
_Here he will be able to get more rest and it will help him grow into a big, strong healthy boy!
-He is still eating 4cc's every 3 hours and he is loving it!

-A little bad news.. They found some bleeding in his brain(which is common in preemies).

_Kim asked for everyone to pray for reabsorbtion. They will do another scan next week to see that is going on.

-He is now 14 inches long and weighs 1lb 13.8 ozs!! He is gaining!! Mommy's milk is good!!
-It was Kim's day to hold him and again she said it was amazing!

Kim...
-Feeling better today, her antibiotics are beginning to work!!
-She may get to go home Wednesday if she continues to get better!

Day 10 - Pictures

Mommy and Zachary

Lunch time for Zachary - 4 ml. of formula

Zachary's new little "Baby Condo"

A cute litte crocheted hat made by one of the NICU nurses