On Thursday, Davis had his first visit to the pediatrician since leaving the hospital. He weighed in at 8 pounds, and now measures 20 1/2 inches long! Dr. Dutton said he checked out just great, and is “perfect.”
Later that evening, Davis went on his first outing as he accompanied Mom & Dad while they sought out Mexican for dinner. He was, of course, no trouble at all. (Yes, he slept the entire time…)
Yesterday, Mom and Dad took Davis on his first stroller walk. Just a quick walk down the trail in our greenbelt, about half an hour’s worth.
Today, Davis’s first bath at home. He was not a happy camper at all, but settled down once he was wrapped in a towel and cuddled in to Mom’s arms.
DAVIS IS HOME!!!
All three Turners arrived home around 9:30 PM this evening, and our little one is tired, tired, tired. We roomed in with Davis last night; this is where you are set up in one of the hospital rooms, and they bring in your baby for your first night of care. No monitors, no wires, just Davis in his bassinet between two hospital beds where Mom & Dad crashed. We handled everything that the nurses normally handled, because, well, that’s what it’s like when you go home.
This process continued throughout the day, with the nurse on duty checking in occasionally to note Davis’s progress. Since he was still in the hospital, she still had to keep up with feeding times, how much he ate (drank), how long it took, when his last bowel movement was, etc. A little before 5 PM they took Davis down to be circumcised, and he was back in the room before six. Dr. Vines, Kelly’s OB, performed the procedure, and did a marvelous job.
After making sure that Davis had a normal urinary movement post-circumcision, the last few visits by nursing staff and one of the NICU doctors were made, and Davis was released.
As we drove home, Kelly made calls to Davis’s grandparents and one great-grandmother to let them know who we had in the car with us. The car seat is already a place of deep sleep for our little guy, and he stayed put in said seat, which Dad placed in the living room, while we unloaded the car.
Leia has already checked Davis out, while he was still in the car seat. Zane hasn’t gotten too close. We want them to be interested enough to know that this is a little person, but not interested enough that they want to cuddle with said little person. They haven’t been back in his bed since the aluminum foil was put down and they were placed in it by Dad, so hopefully this won’t be something we have to worry about.
That’s it for now, time for bed, next feeding is at 2 AM.
Photos from Davis’s second week after birth are now online. As before, click on a thumbnail to bring up the larger version.
Also as before, note that these are scaled-down pics, and family members wishing for full-resolution ones for printing purposes should contact Dad.
What a fantastic weekend for Mom, Dad, and Davis! He is now 7 pounds 2 ounces! His feeding tube is out! This means he is now getting all 8 feedings per day from a bottle or breast. Mom had back-to-back breast feedings with Davis yesterday, and her overall milk production is inching upwards as well.
While there has been no official word from the docs, the weekend nurse was saying that Davis will be home Wednesday or Thursday. She thought it might be as early as tomorrow, but we’re leaning toward mid-week.
Davis is gestationally 37 weeks today.
Davis is making steady and wonderful progress. His two days of 5 nipple feedings have been very successful with very few or no Brady or apnea episodes. He was moved to 6 feedings per day beginning this evening.
Speaking of this evening, Mom had, in her words, “an awesome visit!” She breast-fed Davis for his 8 o’clock night feeding, and he did incredible, pacing himself, breathing when he should, and he actually got a good bit of milk, though he did have to get some supplemented afterward. No drops in pulse or breathing at all!
If he keeps this up, he could be at 8 feedings by Monday, which would mean his coming home as early as next Wednesday, or next Friday latest. Keep those prayers coming for our little guy!
As of his weigh-in overnight, he was 6 pounds, 4 ounces. We’re going to get a height/length measurement on him tomorrow.
So Davis had a little setback on Sunday. He couldn’t handle all 6 bottle feedings, and began having Brady and apnea episodes. It was just too tiring for his little system. So the docs cut him back to 4 bottles, and when they up it again in the next day or so, they’ll just go to 5 bottles instead of a big leap to 6.
All in all, he’s still doing very well, and should be home relatively soon; it just may be delayed a couple of more days while he gets weaned off the feeding tube and his brain matures to where he can feed all 8 times during a 24-hour period from the bottle or breast.
DAVIS MAY BE HOME BY NEXT WEEKEND!!
Our little guy has been taking 4 bottles a day, and tomorrow they’re kicking him up to 6! His weight is up as well, just over 5 pounds, 8 ounces. Mom did a little breastfeeding today, with a formula chaser. The doctors are pleased with his progress, and if he does well with 6 bottle feedings, they will remove his feeding tube when they boost up to all 8 feedings by bottle/breast.
“Final hour” preparations have begun for Davis’s departure from the hospital. After a semi-successful installation of his car seat, Dad took the Volvo to Dr. Baby Proofer, which offers a car seat inspection and installation service. They have fully certified child seat inspectors/installers on staff, and for a nominal fee, our installation was inspected, modifications were made to secure the seat thoroughly, and we’re ready for Davis’s first car trip!
A photo gallery of Davis’s birthday and first week is now online. Click on a thumbnail to bring up the larger version.
Please note that these are scaled-down pics, and family members wishing full-resolution ones for printing purposes should contact Dad.
Yesterday after work I met up with Kelly at the hospital, and got there in time for Davis’s 5 PM feeding. This was important, because this feeding was to be done by bottle. Not only that, this was the second feeding in a row that day by bottle! Best of all, I got to feed him.
After being properly instructed by the nurse and Mom, I held Davis and fed him his bottled breast milk, 50 ccs in about 15 minutes. Midway through we paused for some burping, and little D let out a major B! Even when he belches it’s cute (I know, that will change before we know it).
He stayed awake the entire time, and seemed to get a wee bit tired at the end, but he finished the bottle, had some burping, and then stayed awake a little more after we put him back in his bassinet. They were going to start him on 3 times a day from the bottle. Mom may try to breastfeed him for one of his feedings today.
Great progress from our little guy!
So either we misunderstood the nurse, or someone muffed their metric conversion, but Davis has not reached 5 pounds, 5 ounces. We think the measurement was 5 pounds, .5 ounces. As of yesterday, he is up to 5 pounds, 2.5 ounces.
Dad got to hold him for two hours yesterday. Davis was quite alert before and during his feeding, looking around and taking everything in. His eyes even locked in on Dad’s face, as well as Mom’s. He is still being feisty and squirmey, so much so that the nurse had to replace his monitor leads, as the old ones had come unstuck and been restuck so many times, there was little adhesive left.
Davis crossed over the 5-pound barrier Sunday night/Monday morning. Blew through it, is more like it. He now weighs in at 5 pounds, 5 ounces. Since Friday, his doctor has been slowly adding the ounces to his feedings, and our little guy has been taking it all in, with little or no residuals.
Another nipple test takes place tomorrow later this morning. Feeding from a nipple, whether breast or bottle, is the last barrier before Davis can come home. His current doctor (they rotate hospitals) is hoping for Davis to catch on to this and be ready to head home within the next ten to fourteen days!