Tyler is 1 Month Old!

Today Tyler is officially one month old! Time flies... even though some of those days seemed to just drag with learning everything there is to know about taking care of a newborn... and I'm still learning and making mistakes, but that comes with the job!

Jon is finally home from all of his training which is great. It will be nice to have him around all the time and Tyler will finally get to spend quality time with his Daddy and get to know him better. I told Jon he is now a real father because he's been peed on and puked on... the true badges of parenthood. He's doing great though, in a way he reminds me of myself the first couple weeks I was alone with Tyler and would freak out at his first cries, or wonder why he did certain things. I tried to take a nap yesterday and I didn't even get to because after about 20 minutes Jon came in with a crying Tyler who needed to be changed... then another 15 minutes later Tyler was crying again and Jon wasn't sure what to do (he needed to be fed) so finally I just got up to help him out. I wonder what was harder... Jon's combat training, or learning how to be a new Daddy?? :oP

We had a good weekend though. I enjoyed spending time with the boys and Tyler is getting more of a personality every day which is so fun to watch. He's a great little guy!

I'm 1 month old... and still taking lots of naps!

I look just like my Daddy in this picture

Anyone need napping advice? Just ask me!

A week alone with Tyler

Whoever coined the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child" wasn't kidding. It's not an easy job being a single parent (temporarily until Jon gets back on Friday, anyway). I'm trying to type this with one hand while I hold Tyler who is not easily consoled it seems. He's just having a sort of grouchy afternoon. I thought he would be okay taking a nap as I got this all set up, but he started crying so I had to pick him up and hold him.

Yes, I will be so glad when Jon is home! It will be nice to have a few minutes to myself and not have to worry about how Tyler is doing even if he's a foot away from me and fast asleep. I worry about him a lot!

The past week has been crazy. It's a learning experience every day with him, from figuring out all of his different cries, to feeding him, to trying to get through the nights (he's been pretty good in that department but I'd like more than 2 hours of sleep at a time...) and sponge baths, and going out in the car... but I love all of it. I love him! It's the one thing in my life I couldn't really study for, like a test in school or trying to work out and lose weight to join the Navy. It's true challenge! And you can never be selfish with a baby. He comes first... no matter how badly I have to pee, how hungry or tired I may get, Tyler is the priority.

In the meantime, here are a few more pictures I took with my phone (I barely have time to get the camera ready but hopefully soon!) He's doing great. He's wonderful!

Naptime with Boots the Monkey
I'm cute and I know it!

The napping is good!

Handsome boy :o)

Laying with mommy

TYLER IS HOME!!!

Tyler finally got to come home yesterday! It's the best thing in the world!!!

I have a few spare minutes since he's taking a nap to write really quick, but I probably won't be online for the next few days or so, at least until I figure out some kind of routine. But always expect the unexpected, right?

It's so good to have him here. It's weird adjusting, but I'm so glad to have my boy here with us and just to be able to spend as much time with him as possible. I'm trying to figure out everything, from feeding to changing to giving him a bath (he had his first sponge bath today... I don't think he had been washed at all since he was born, so now he smells lovely and is fresh n' clean!) But I'm doing everything one step at a time. Jon will be back in 2 weeks from his training and then it will be nice to have that extra parent here for help, and so I can take an occasional break. :o)

Yesterday he spent some quality time hanging out on the couch while Daddy played Xbox, and I took a few pictures... I'll be taking plenty more now that he's home, and I'll probably post them over the weekend. For now, here's my little cutie!

YESSSSSS!!!

I got the greatest news in the world today... Tyler is coming home!!! This Saturday!!!

I called the NICU early this morning just to check on him and ask if I could bring in his car seat (he has to do a "car seat challenge", since he was a preemie he needs to sit in the car seat for a half hour and maintain stable vitals so he can be discharged) and the girl I spoke to said to wait, but he was doing great on his feedings and they were thinking of taking out his feeding tube today. So when I went in, the nurse was just finishing a feeding on him and she said she was going to take out his tube when he was all done... and now it's finally out!

He also got his frenulum snipped... the frenulum is that little piece of skin/membrane that holds your tongue to the bottom of your mouth, and they had said that could have been keeping him from eating properly since he was "tongue-tied", aka his frenulum was more attached than the average. He wasn't too thrilled about that but he only cried for a couple minutes and then it was over. They numbed him up before they did it so I *hope* it didn't hurt him too much. We also did more breastfeeding today with the lactation consultant, and Tyler is getting better at it... he stayed on for about 10 minutes this time without freaking out so we're making lots of progress!

I'm so happy though. Tomorrow night I'll be having a "sleepover" at the hospital with him and then we'll be coming home Saturday morning... and then life can really begin :o) I am blessed to have such an amazing son... and for great friends and family who stuck with us and hoped and prayed for Tyler's big improvements! Thank you everyone!

It's going to be such a long wait til he gets home... I can feel the hours dragging already...!

Wednesday Update

I had probably the greatest afternoon so far with Tyler today! We made big progress on the breastfeeding... a lactation consultant came to help me get things going, and Tyler did well. We still need some more practice, but he didn't freak out like he did the first time we tried which was a good thing. However, he was having a grouchy afternoon... he cried a lot, even with all of the rocking and patting he just wasn't having a happy day. Mostly it was because he was hungry one time, then a second time because he had a dirty diaper, and the rest of the crying was just no reason grouchy baby crying. Not a big deal, he did calm down after a while!

The lactation consultant also had me hold Tyler close to my chest for skin to skin contact, it's supposed to help babies self-regulate their temperatures and breathing and they can hear their Mommy's heartbeat. That was nice, it felt good to bond with him and hold him like that. He curled right up into my chest and fell asleep drooling :o) it made me smile and made my day! There is nothing like holding a warm, sleepy baby next to your heart. Nothing in the world can compare.

I also got to put on one of his little outfits... Nona sent me some cute clothes for him so I put him in his "Little Squirt" jammies and he looked like more of a normal baby and less naked haha. I took a couple pictures today, tomorrow I'm bringing him another outfit so we can do more photo shoots :o) As for his feedings, they've been alternating every other feeding with bottle or tube, but now they're going to go 1 tube feeding and then 2 bottle feedings since he is doing great. I'm hoping he will be home by the weekend so his Daddy can spend more time with him rather than having to drive up to the hospital and visit, since Daddy won't be home again until the 27th when all of his training is finished.

Other than that... it was a wonderful day spent with Tyler, my heart feels so full and I can't wait to see him again tomorrow!

Snuggled up in Mommy's arms
Hi everyone! I finally have clothes on!

Tuesday Update

Another lovely day spent with my awesome son... Tyler is taking more of his bottle feedings, which is awesome. He spent most of the whole afternoon asleep though, which I didn't mind... I could sit there for hours in that rocking chair just staring at him and it never gets old. The good news is, tomorrow the nurse said I may be able to try breastfeeding again, and they're going to have a lactation consultant on hand to help me out, so I'm hoping Tyler will give it a try again this time too. We need practice!

I'm trying to get lots of last minute things done around the house before he gets here... I mowed the lawn today, which was weird because the last time I mowed a lawn was when I lived in NY and I was maybe 15 or 16 years old haha. It wasn't bad though, it only took a half hour and I probably sweat off some more of that baby weight, who can complain about that? I need to get some grocery shopping done tomorrow and put the finishing touches on Tyler's room and then I'll be all ready for his arrival. I know I won't want to leave the house when he's home, I'll be spending lots of time here just hanging out with him!

He is improving though. Little baby steps at a time, but I just wish for a miracle every day too. I love that child so much, he is my whole world!

Monday Update

There isn't a lot to report today... I just got off the phone with the NICU pediatrician and she said basically the only thing we are waiting on Tyler to do is eat his entire feedings by mouth as opposed to how he's been eating lately... for example, when I went to visit him this afternoon, he ate about half of his bottle and then fell asleep, so he had to be fed the rest by his nose tube. Once he masters that skill, he will be able to head home! It's so frustrating to have to keep waiting, but I know he needs to take his time and hopefully he will pick up the eating habits soon. Please keep sending Tyler all of your positive thoughts and prayers... we want him home as soon as we can have him!

In the meantime, here are a few photos from the past couple days:

Daddy feeding Tyler for the first time

Grammy giving Tyler kisses

Daddy holding his little man

Daddy loves his buddy!

Sunday Update (on Monday)

Tyler had a big day yesterday! He finally has all his oxygen tubes off... so he's down to one tube left, and it might not even be in him today after last night! :o) While I was changing his diaper, he decided he wanted to pull the feeding tube out of his nose... I didn't even notice until after the fresh diaper was on, and he was crying, and when I looked there was the tube all out! I think he definitely wants to come home now, he's tired of the hospital!

I'm so happy to see how great he's doing though. We attempted breastfeeding for the first time yesterday... not breastmilk in a bottle, but straight from the source! I admit I was scared out of my mind because I didn't think he would latch on or even want to try, but he did it for a little bit! I think he was freaked out by the size of the breast next to his face, since he's used to getting a bottle and he can see around it and look at everything, and then all of a sudden BAM! Can't see anything except Mommy's chest. But he did well, we only tried for about 10 minutes and then went back to the bottle. We'll both need some practice!

Tomorrow he might be able to come home... if not then Wednesday. I'm waiting on the results of his culture swabs he got over the weekend; Langley has a policy that when they get transferred babies from other hospitals that they need to be swabbed for MRSA and other "germs" and isolated until the results get back. The nurse yesterday said Tyler has been doing so well though and eating better and off the air flow that he probably won't be in much longer. We can't wait to have him home!

I'll update more this afternoon, there is lots to do today in case he does get to come home within the next day or so!

Saturday Update

Tyler went on his first road trip today! He got transferred from the Portsmouth Naval Hospital NICU to the Langley AFB Hospital NICU. And he's doing even better than yesterday! Today he got all of his IV lines out so he doesn't need them anymore and he will only be eating pumped breastmilk (until he gets better enough to actually breastfeed) and all he has on is the little nose air tubing, which he might not even need for much longer anyway. It looks like he will be coming home soon!

Daddy got to hold him and spend some quality cuddle time with him... it seems that Daddy's got the magic touch to make Tyler fall asleep as soon as he gets in his arms :o) I took pictures but left the camera in my car, so I'll post them tomorrow...

All in all it was a great day though. A little sad because Tyler's Grammy and Poppop had to fly back home to Tampa, but we will see them again at Christmas (or maybe sooner!) It was great to have them visit and get to spend time with our little man. Hopefully tomorrow we get even more great news on his progress!

Tyler is 1 Week Old!

We got some news on Friday that Tyler will be being transported to the NICU at Langley AFB hospital today (Saturday), as the NICU at Portsmouth is becoming overcrowded. They're moving him because he is one of the healthier babies there to make room for the newest arrivals. The somewhat frustrating part is that the pediatrician said he may need another week... BUT he could improve overnight so not to count out anything!

He looked really great yesterday though. He is eating a lot more now and will soon be off his IVs, and he is on a very low air flow through the nose tubes (no oxygen at all, and they turned the air flow down to 1%, so it's pretty much like he almost needs nothing at all) and it was great to look into his eyes... he is very alert and he can follow voices, like when I would talk to him he'd look at me, or when his Poppop would talk he'd look over at him. Smart boy! :o) We even arm wrestled and Tyler beat me haha. He's such a strong little guy, even his nurse yesterday said she was impressed by having read over his charts and seeing how much in bad shape he was when he first came in to how far he's come in one week. I know he wants to get out as much as we want him home!

Here are some more pictures we took of him yesterday... he got lots of kisses from his Grammy, Poppop, and me... and I am in love with his adorable chubby cheeks!!!

Thursday update- 6 days old!

Tyler is having a great day today! He's finally taking a bottle more so they moved his feeding tube out of his mouth and into his nose (just in case he's too lazy to take the bottle) and he only has to be under his "tanning lamp" probably for just tonight... but he's not yellow anymore :o) He's completely off the oxygen feed now, but still has the little tubes in his nose with regular air flow to help encourage him to keep breathing. By Saturday he should be off his IV's and antibiotics and we can look at possibly bringing him home this weekend! I'm so thrilled!

It's still so amazing that he's making improvements by leaps and bounds... I don't expect anything crazy from him, I know he has to heal and grow on his own time, but each day he still surprises me when he surpasses all of my expectations. I couldn't ask for anything more from him, and even something as simple as being able to finally look into his eyes today meant the world to me. He's been sleeping pretty much the whole time he's been in the NICU but today he was wide awake and actually looking at me, and it stole my heart. I never get tired of just sitting there and looking at him...

Tomorrow he will officially be one week old! Again, I can't thank everyone enough for all of the support and love you've all shown for Tyler, Jon, and myself. It means everything to us and you are all appreciated!

Wednesday update (on Thursday)

Yesterday we went for our daily visit and Tyler was back under his "tanning lamp". He was getting a little yellow/jaundice but nothing major, he is still improving like a champ and he's just hooked up to the oxygen and one IV line but otherwise great! I got to feed him from a bottle again and change his diaper... still trying to work on my diaper changing skills since I think that was the 5th diaper total I've changed on him so far :o) maybe one day I can get it done one-handed!

There isn't a whole lot to report from yesterday, but hopefully today he will be more alert and open his eyes for us and won't be under the tanning lamp anymore. I took a few more pictures yesterday but they're in black & white since the blue LED lights of the lamp made the color photos look weird :o) And he IS the biggest baby in the NICU right now... which has earned him the new nickname "Big Bruiser" lol!

Awesome news!

We got a huge surprise today! I had called the NICU first thing this morning and the nurse I spoke to said Tyler's oxygen level had been turned down to 30% and he was doing well. I was fully expecting to see him still hooked up to the ventilator this afternoon but possibly at only 20%, I was being as "minimally optimistic" as possible.

However... when I walked up to his little bassinet, the breathing tubes were out! I had no idea he had made so much progress in a matter of 6 hours, it definitely made my day! The nurse said he was doing excellent and they had taken out the ventilator tubes and were getting ready to remove another one of his many IV lines. The best part of the day was that we finally got to hold him! I changed 2 of his diapers while we were there (and didn't get peed on hehe) and I even got to feed him a little bit of pumped breastmilk from a bottle. They weren't sure if he would actually take the bottle, he still has the feeding tube in his mouth just in case, but he drank some like a champ! He even has clothes on now... he's got on a little hat and a t-shirt, and his socks... and we can bring him in some of his own clothes to wear also. I'm still amazed at how much he's improving, it's like he's trying super hard to get better so he can come home soon!

All of the positive energy is helping... keep Tyler in your thoughts!

Hopefully tomorrow he'll open his eyes... he was sleeping the whole time we visited but at the rate he's going, he might be running laps around the NICU tomorrow! :o)

Mommy and Tyler getting some quality cuddle time!

Tyler and his Poppop first picture together!

Grammy and Tyler, snuggle buddies!

More good news

I called the NICU at 8:30 this morning to check in on Tyler, and the nurse said overnight they turned down his oxygen level gradually so he's gone from 40% when we saw him yesterday afternoon to 30% this morning... and he's still tolerating it very well, so they will continue to turn the levels down slowly. He may be fully off the ventilator by the end of the day, I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Maybe tomorrow I will finally get to hold him!!!

Just wanted to post a short little update, Tyler's Grammy, Poppop, and I are heading back to the hospital again this afternoon to spend some time with him, I'll try to actually take some more pictures of him too. I can't wait to see him, and I'm so happy he's getting better and better!

Getting better and better

We finally have some good news! I called over to the NICU before we headed out this afternoon, and they said that overnight Tyler had improved quite a bit... he was on a 75% oxygen feed and as they were gradually lowering the amount, he was tolerating it well... by the time we got there this afternoon he was at 40% and they want to get him down to at least 35% by tonight... maybe tomorrow he will be off his ventilator! All my fingers and toes are crossed!

He looks so much better though... I'm so amazed at the improvement. They did have a tiny tube going in through his belly button to monitor some things but the nurse I spoke to today said that tube was actually irritating him and causing him more harm than good... as soon as they took that tube out was when he started to show a big improvement. I'm beyond thrilled... it wasn't as hard to leave him today when I came home... still tough but I managed to not cry this time :o) and I was able to kiss him on the cheek before I left.

As of right now, the bare minimum length he is staying will be until this Saturday... they have to give him some antibiotics and other fluids and whatnot to get him all up to par and it's going to take until then. But the NICU doctor said most likely he will DEFINITELY be home on Monday of next week... at least it's something to look forward to! I hated not knowing, and going in every day thinking one day at a time... but now we have a little goal. I'm still insanely impatient though. Saturday would be great if he keeps up this awesome improvement!

Thank you to everyone keeping Tyler in your thoughts and prayers and sending him all the good positive vibes... I think it's truly helping him... he's quite the fighter, he's our little champ!!!

More updates to come tomorrow...