07/29/09 Feeding time

Noah is now 6 months and he’s beginning to eat with a spoon.  We started with single colored veggies like squash, carrots and sweet potato for 3-5 days.  Then we went through single fruits like the fruits like bananas.  Up next is single green veggies followed by combination foods like peaches and pears, carrots and peas, etc.  But before the green veggies, magazine articles recommend returning back to colored veggies before the green veggies.  Its makes for a smoother sweetness transition instead of sweet fruits straight to not so sweet green veggies.  Maybe that’s why no one really likes green veggies, we’ve learned to differentiate them from sweets at such an early age.

Feeding a baby with a spoon is quite difficult.  At Noah’s age, he doesn’t really open his mouth to eat.  It’s more like inserting a spoonful of food in an open mouth.  With that said, the hardest part is getting Noah to open his mouth.  The good thing is that he doesn’t have teeth yet so a smile is just enough room to sneak in a spoonful of food.

Sometimes, it can be really messy feeding Noah.  We take our time to load the front part of the spoon with food.  We do all we can to make him smile.  We make noises, tell him stories, tickle him, etc, anything for a smile.  When he smiles, the spoon goes in but Noah doesn’t close his mouth on the spoon to eat.  We use the inside of his upper lip to take the food off the spoon as we pull the spoon out of his mouth leaving the food on his tongue.  Then we hope he closes his mouth and eats it instead of spitting it out.

That is the process and I haven’t even mentioned that he flays his arms, turns his head to dodge the spoon and even begins crying continuously… while the food is sitting on his tongue.  Oh the challenges.

That’s carrot and its our first time feeding him.

More carrots

Carrot side view

07/29/08 Then and Now

Somewhere during the first year of marriage (2005), we decided that we wanted children.  As to how many, I’ll just say that I was able to talk Wil down to only having 4.  She grew up with a very large family that is growing larger with its next generation.  Noah currently has over 10 cousins, only on his mom’s side.

But I digress, as newlyweds enjoying the honeymoon stage, we began to subtly plan for our family.  It may be silly from an outside perspective as we didn’t have kids and at that moment, didn’t plan on having kids for at least 2 years.  But when we made purchases, we bought as if we had our chicken nugget (that was our predetermined term of endearment as we imagined that we would have a baby so plump with lines of overlapping baby fat – regardless we are very happy with our chicken strip).  So we purchased a Cal King bed.  It’s big, too big.  So big that we both can sleep across it without hanging over the edge, correction, Wil can.  Why did we buy it?  We knew that someday we wanted our children to sleep there between us.  Whether it be because we put them there or they squeezed and squirmed their way separating us.  We decided to plan ahead and keep that space available.

Then, my car decided to call it quits and Wil and I purchased a 2005 Rav4.  It touted 40% more space than the previous Rav’s.  Our justification for that large of a vehicle, space for our baby and ALL his baby gear… with the potential to support a 2^nd child (twins runs in Wil’s family and it’s currently her generation that should have them – when we found out Wil was pregnant, our fingers were crossed).

And now, after 4 years of marriage, we have baby Noah.  Even though he has his crib in our bedroom, every now and then he sleeps on a pillow in the middle of that huge bed.  He isn’t chunky with overlapping fat and isn’t a twin but he fits just right in between us on that bed… that we bought for our family years ago.  We planned ahead and now, ever so slowly, our dream is growing.

At 6 months (3 months corrected) baby Noah is 11lbs and 7.5 oz.

Announcements

We decided to get professional pictures for announcements.

This post is out of chronological order as these pictures were taken about the time of his “expected” birthday, April 24th.  We wanted some time to pass before we “released” these pictures.  Apparently I let too much time pass.

The announcement has his birth date (01/29/09) and his birth weight (1lb and 5oz) even though he’s already weighing about 4-5 pounds in the picture.

At the photo shoot, Noah cried and cried.  The studio was so cold and he was there only his diaper.  But the photographer, who had a tattoo of a skull… with a red bow… did an amazing job rolling her “R’s” and making fun noises.  In the end, he posed like a pro.

Enjoy!

05/08/09 My turn

Wil’s 6 weeks are coming to a close and that means I get to play Mr. Mom for the next 6 weeks.  I have to say that I’m really excited, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise for anyone.  I get to responsibly not go to work (and still get paid).  I get to take care of (play with) my son.  My only schedule is his schedule and then I can squeeze in all the things an eccentric (sounds better then crazy) father wants to do with his son in between.  I haven’t had a vacation like this since freshman year in college.

Not to say that taking care of a newborn is easy or a vacation.  There are times when Wil and I are struggling due to lack of sleep, not enough time in the day for laundry, cooking, cleaning or just even quiet time.  There are times we are totally terrified when he’s not eating all of his food, gassy and irritable, or when he vomits.  I’ve actually seen it come out of his nose twice.  We go to the doctor to recommend over the counter products but his pediatrician is hesitant since Noah is a preemie.  Everything builds up and it really challenges our patience.

But finally, he will get comfortable and will nestle in your arms.  You feel him breathing and his warmth against your body.  Then there is an overwhelming sense of peace and you can literally feel your blood pressure getting lower.

Suddenly the serenity is abruptly broken as you are overwhelmed by a foul milky burp or baby poopy (the smell is concentrated since its not floating in water).  Your patience is gone, your blood pressure spikes, a headache creeps in since you haven’t been sleeping and so you’ve had enough and you turn toward your son…

Love me daddy!

and realize its all worth it.

04/27/09 6 pound milestone

He’s officially 6 lbs and 6 oz.  The 6 lb mark is when he’s taken off his preemie formula and put on regular formula.  Preemie formula contains more calories per mL for more sustenance in a smaller volume.  Perfect concoction for those in need of calories but just don’t have the tummy volume.

Wil and I have been told that babies will react to a new formula by having different poo color, diarrhea, won’t eat (doesn’t like taste) or possibly allergic.  I was aiming for discoloration of poo as it wasn’t really a negative consequence, it was more of “that’s the color it comes out.”  For me, everything he does is novel;  “ha ha ha, he farted and that one lingered/smelled/rolled on for 3 seconds/disappeared like a ninja only to assassinate me when my guard was down” to “wow, that throw up had to have gone 6 inches.”  Needless to say, I wanted to add “oh wow, yellow poo” but the yellow poo never came to fruition.

He’s been feeding on it for a day now and has no problem with taste or any allergic reaction.  We observe for gas or diarrhea.  He often farts intermittently in short periods of time.  The good news is that he doesn’t have the constipated discomfort coupled with the frustrated constipation look.  I think we can say the gas discomfort has gone down, even though there is still gas.  We think he could be getting used to the pressure or its mildly discomforting instead of just painful.  As for the poo consistency, its a tad bit on the wetter side.  It doesn’t look too watery.  Okay, a perfect description of newborn baby poo is (insert color) light fluffy mashed potatoes from those powdered mixtures.   That is pretty much right on when you talk about texture.

I know I’ve created a terrible image for those of you who love mashed potatoes but I can imagine a junior food technician trying to make a mashed potato powder mix for a client turning to a senior food scientist asking, “what kind of consistency should I make this mashed potato mix?”  And the senior food scientist pauses thinking of her premature newborn son Noah and smilingly says, “I know just the consistency.”   (Any likenesses or similarities are merely coincidental)

04/24/09 Today was the day

Noah is supposed to be born today.  Yup, today.  As of yesterday, he was 12 weeks old.

Whenever Wil and I see a baby, just any newborn, we think that the baby is huge, which is to truly say that Noah was that small.  Even though 3 months has already passed its hard to remember that he was born 1lb and 5 oz at 12.5 inches.

Noah right now is a giant compared to when he was born.  He should be shooting around 6 lbs and was last measured at 17 inches.  At this weight, he’s off his 4 hour feeding schedule and on an as needed basis; we feed him whenever he’s hungry.

Now at this weight and age, he’s getting “fussy.”  Noah will cry.  Then his face gets flushed followed by a strained face of constipation and then… he passes gas.  Then our little milk baby will smile.  The relief is short lived as this repeats quite often and generally it happens more at night.  So he seems to sleep all day and stay awake at night (like college life), which results in very little sleep for Wil and I.  Wil and I needed to find a way to relieve his gas build up. We went out and bought an expensive fancy bottles with their “venting” systems stating that use is “proven” to reduce colic (or gas).

In the end of it all, we reverted him back to the hospital nipples (Abbott brand), which we can purchase through our company.  Good thing was that those nipples could fit on other bottles (evenflow).

Here is a picture I took of him.  Wow, he’s a giant now!

03/29/09 Welcome home!

Noah had his second sleep study test, his pnemocardiogram.  The test uses a more sensitive monitor and records data accumulated in his sleep, about 12 hours.  This will record any incidents, decelerations of his heart or a reduction of oxygen in his lungs, and will determine if Noah will need to come home with a monitor.  The home monitor connects to a band with a sensor.  The band will go around the baby’s chest.  If there is a negative change, it will alarm distinctively and loudly, similarly to a fire alarm.  This is a situation that we didn’t want to be in, unless of course Noah needed it.      

His first pnemocardiogram, performed on 03/22/09, showed that he was still “immature” and the doctor’s recommended that he stay at the hospital longer.  Even though Wil and I were very eager to have him home we understood that he wasn’t “mature” enough .  We didn’t want to take him away from the care and attention that he currently needed. 

The results of his second pnemocardiogram were passing and Noah was discharged from Sharp Mary Birch hosipital.  He was paraded around the NICU, neonatal intensive care unit, and all the nurses who participated in his care said their goodbye’s. 

On Sunday March 28th, Noah finally came home after 8 weeks and 3 days.  He weighed 3 lbs and 13 oz and measuring 13.5 inches.  Noah was so small that he couldn’t go home in a car seat but only in a “car bed,” made specifically for preemies.  Noah lies down and is buckled flat into a small bassinet, which is strapped in by the car’s seat belt.  Even though he was fussy the entire ride home, Wilma and I were happily taking him home.       

It’s been quite a journey. 

The journey actually started long before Noah’s birth.  It started when we first saw our neonatal specialist for the possibility of a high risk pregnancy.  That is when we took a turn to a path less travelled.  The path so foreign began to change to something less daunting as friends and family joined us in support.  Those having been there before shared their personal stories and provided guidance.  And everyone knowing of our situation, prayed for Noah, Wil and myself. 

Thank you, for all of our prayers have been answered.

03/18/09 Noah’s Tests

“Noah’s doing really well.  He may even be able to come home early.”  A nurse said.

Wil and I took this news with joy and excitement and the anxiety and worry of first time parents… now add that Noah is still premature and not even 3 lbs.  Yikes!

Noah has to accomplish 4 things before he comes home:

1.  No events that require stimulation.  As a refresher, “events” are heart decelerations or apnea.  Noah can literally stop breathing or his heart can slow down and even stop.  These events happen randomly also.  Premature babies have these events and its not fully understood why.  As they grow up, they grow out of it.  The nurses monitor Noah to find out if he’s grown out of it or is able to get himself out of it; meaning that an event can happen but if he gets himself out of it, its not really an event.  If he does have an event that requires outside stimulation, a nurse touching his foot, rubbing his back, stimulating him so he “rememebers to breath or a heartbeat,” doctors will most likely add 5 more hospital days.  Even though we want Noah home, we agree that Noah really shouldn’t come home, if he’s not ready. 

2.  Bottle feeding.  His feeding tube in his nose has been taken out (and he’s so cute!).  Now that he’s bottle feeding, he’s actually “working” very hard at eating/sucking that he gets tired.  He even uses more calories by bottle feeding, resulting in a loss of weight.  Can you believe that?  The eating workout that makes you lose weight.  Sign me up! 

3.  Maintain temperature.  Noah’s still in his incubator and he will be in there for a while.  If he is able to maintain his temp, he’ll be set in an open crib.   

4.  Off the caffiene.  He’s been off the caffiene.  This caffiene was to stimulate the heart so it would decel less often.  

As of now, the nurses have given us the accelerated arrival time of the first week of April.  Prevoiusly it was “within two weeks of the expected due date (April 24th).”

03/17/09 Infant CPR

Wil and I signed up for infant CPR class.  It’s quite scary to have a premature baby and Wil and I wanted to be as best prepared as possible. 

Now for adult CPR, you train on life-like and life-size dummies.  You’d assume the same having infant dolls for infant CPR.  So I imagined Noah.  Now, the doll used for practice is supposedly the average typical size and weight for an infant.  In relation to Noah, this practice doll was huge!  Once again, Noah is smaller than the size of a loaf of bread and weighs about 3 loaves (2lb and 11 oz).  This infant doll was larger than my forearm and had to weight about 7-9 pounds. 

CPR is summed up as the ABCs, Airway, Breathing and Chest.  Airway is the most important but that didn’t get me.  Breathing is a no brainer, I’m ready to lock my lips over his nose and mouth if it means saving his life.  It’s the chest compressions that I have a hard time with. 

You put two fingers on his sternum and press (about an inch deep).  Now the mental picture that troubled me is that Noah is about 3 inches thick from his back to his chest.  That is one serious compression.  Even though I know this already, the nurses attempted to assure me that the sternum is connected to the ribs by connective tissue so its quite elastice.  So this depression should be okay.  So I trained to infant CPR pressing on this giant infant doll’s chest and the chest literally caves in and it looks like its doing more harm than help.  Chest compressions for an infant do not look pleasent at all. 

I’m glad that 99% of the issues that require CPR are due to blocked airways.  So if I take care of the airway, I’ll be done and never have to move on to the chest compressions.  If it ever happens, Wil and I are prepared and we know what to do.  If a situation ever happens, I’m sure we’d react and those thoughts wouldn’t slow us down. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

03/10/09 – Bath Time

Tonight Alex and I had the chance to give Noah a bath for the first time.  We wanted to record the event but it was a joint effort so weren’t able to take any pictures

The nurse taught us about the temperature of the water and she let us know what to do step by step.  I supported his head with one hand while my other hand cleaned the right side of his body and Alex cleaned his left side.  Let me just say that Noah did not like his bath at all!  He cried the whole time.  They were the loudest cries we have ever heard from him.  Once we got him into a warm blanket, he calmed down.  We put him back into the isolette and he fell asleep instantly.  

Today Noah is 2 pounds and 9.4 ounces.  He hasn’t gained weight in the past 3 days since they have been increasing his bottle feeds (every other feeding).  He burns more calories by bottle feeding so a flunctuation in weight is normal when bottle feeds are increased.