Callie's First Day of School

Today was Callie's first day of pre-k at the elementary school where I teach. She was so excited to go to "Big School" this morning! We walked her in and took some pictures, and when it was time for us to leave, she could have cared less.

She said she had a great day. She had macaroni and cheese with 3 apple slices for lunch. She also ate a snack, but she was starving when she got home. So her after school snack was 3 bowls of rice krispies and 1/2 of a blueberry poptart. Her favorite part was when they went to the gym and did an activity. I have no idea what the activity was because she hasn't told me that yet.

She was a little grouchy when we got home because she was really tired from getting up so early and having such a busy day with no nap. She went to sleep at 7:00. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon will bring less drama.

Here are some pictures from her first morning of big school . . .

Her cubby . . .

With Mrs. Hartin, her teacher

Home Sweet Home

Jack finally got to come home on Saturday, August 22! We were so excited and tried not to get our hopes up just in case something happened to change things. It's very hard to do both at the same time!! The day we left the hospital he weighed in at 6 lbs 6.5 oz and was 20 inches long. That's a 1 lb 3.5 weight gain and 3/4 of an inch in length in just 2 weeks. Not bad for a little guy. Tomorrow is his 3 week birthday. It's crazy how time flies. We're going for our first visit at the pediatrician on Wednesday, so I'll be sure to update you after that. Here are some pictures from our homecoming . . .

Grammy and Daddy ready to go!

Proud Daddy

Our family

Aunt Summer with her niece and nephew (and sister)

2 of Jack's AWESOME nurses . . . Jennifer and Desarae with Callie

On our way out of the hospital for the last time (we hope!)

In the truck for the first time . . .

We finally made it home!!

Our family of four . . . inside our house together for the first time.

Callie holding Jack at home for the first time (yes, that's cheese on her face).

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!

Grammy with both of her grandkids!

Summer and Jack

2 Weeks Old

Today is a double birthday for Jack. He is two weeks old and he is also 36 weeks gestation! WOO HOO! It seems like he's been on this earth for a lot longer than 2 weeks. I can't believe it.

He has made some major improvements in his eating since my last post. Yesterday the doc changed his order so that he could try a bottle 2-4 times a day. He ate most of his bottle at 9 am and again at 3. When Tim went up for the 9 pm bottle, Jack ate the whole thing! Of course we were so excited to hear that. BUT, when we went back this morning there was more to be excited about. He weighed 5 pounds 14 oz today. He took all of his bottle at 9 am in 17 minutes, and we were going to try him again at 3. The neonatologist happened to be in there when he finished and she was very excited and surprised that he did so well. She changed the order to read that he should have a bottle 4 times a day but could have more if he was awake and alert.

So when he woke up about 20 minutes before his noon feeding, he was sucking on his fingers so hard I thought he would suck them off! So the nurse let me try the bottle instead of the tube feeding. He ate all but 5 ml in 11 minutes. He was chowing! When I called to check on the 3:00 feeding, the nurse told me that he was awake and really going to town on his fingers again, so she gave him a bottle and he ate 45 (all but 10) in 15 minutes. When I left the NICU today, the nurse told me that she didn't think we'd be there much longer. That was music to my ears!

He is getting pretty tired from all of this eating, but I am so relieved that they are allowing him to try. How else do you learn than by doing? Tim is up there now giving him his bottle and getting an update on the 6:00. We will keep everyone posted on his progress.

A little progress

Jack has made a little progress in the last couple of days, thank goodness! Yesterday he took all of his morning bottle and 1/2 of the night bottle. That is a VAST improvement over what he's been doing. This morning when I fed him, he took 40 of 50 ml's (not too shabby).

Our nurse today was awesome. She and I talked a lot about his habits, and she felt like it was time to push him to do another bottle even though he wasn't finishing all of two yet. He is just so laid back that the tube feeding doesn't bother him. Also, he's been waking up 15-30 minutes before actual feeding time and has been ready to eat. But some of the nurses have been changing him, giving him is passifier and swaddling him until the "hour". Then by the time we get around to trying the bottle, he is passed out asleep again. So Michelle (our nurse today) said she would ask the dr to change the order so that they could feed him a few minutes early if he woke up and was alert.

So she tried him at 3:00 and he took the entire bottle in 20 minutes!!! That is so exciting. Tim is with him now for the 9 p.m. try. Hopefully he'll be as successful tonight as he was during the day. This is usually the hardest time to get him to eat cause he's not very awake. We'll see . . .

Keep up the prayers that he will have his lightbulb moment and we'll be able to bring him home very soon!

11 Days Old

Just a quick update from today . . . Jack weighed in at 5 lbs 6 oz this morning! He's slowly becoming a big boy. He is still on 50 ml's (that's almost 2 oz) of formula at each feeding. He's taking about 35 (a little over an oz) when they try it in the bottle. He has to finish those two bottles before they will add another one. He is growing so much, I am just ready for him to start eating from the bottle so we can bring him home. Callie held him for the first time today, I'm posting some pictures of them together. She did a great job! She only dropped his head once. :) Luckily he was laying on a pillow so it was uneventful.

Tim and I took Callie to the golf course this afternoon so that she could practice her putting skills. She has pretty good form and can hit it pretty accurately from a long distance. When she's close to the pin, she doesn't have much patience to actually get it in the hole. Here are some pics from that fun outing.

Walking to the putting green with Daddy

She was so excited!!

Here's how you do it . . .

Strike a pose . . . she was done by this point after about 30 minutes.

One Week Old

Mommy and Jack on Tuesday-One Week Old Today!

Waiting for Grammy to pick us up after visiting Mommy's doctor yesterday.

Callie and her baby brother

Grammy and her two grandkids . . . CRAZY!

Aunt Ginger holding Jack for the first time . . .

Grandma holding Jack for the first time

Jack is one week old today! That means he's 35 weeks gestation. He is still in the NICU but is improving each day. He's now in a "big boy bed" (that's NICU speak for an open air crib/bassinette). He is off of his IV and all other monitoring devices other than the ones monitoring his heart and breathing. He weighs 5 lbs 1.3 oz. He's eating 1 1/2 oz (45 ml) every 3 hours. Two of those feedings a day we attempt to give him by bottle, and the others all go through a feeding tube in his nose. He's getting stronger every day and is able to eat more from the bottle each time. Over the weekend he was only taking 5-10 ml's per feeding, but over the last couple of days he's eaten 25-35 ml's each feeding. Once he takes all 45 two times a day, they will attempt more.

He is also having 1-2 brady's per day. Bradychardia is when the heartrate goes below 80 (in Jack's case). He's only had one or two episodes where he stopped breathing, and he has recovered from all of the brady's by himself without needing stimulation. This is a common preemie problem. Fortunately babies develop the ability to maintain their heartrate around the same time that they are able to eat from a bottle.

The main reason that he's not eating it all yet is because he just can't stay awake long enough to get it all down. That will come with time. The neonatologist told me today that we are basically just waiting on development. He just needs to finish developing the reflexes to eat and breathe/maintain heartrate that he would have developed had he stayed in mommy's tummy to full term. We wll be able to bring him home when he can take 8 full feedings a day by bottle and has gone 5 days with no bradys. Hopefully he will have his "lightbulb moment" this week sometime so that we can work on coming home!

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. They are working because our little guy doesn't have any issues other than what is totally normal for being born at 34 weeks.

Pictures of Jack-They are backwards-ugh! Start at the bottom to see from the beginning

GO HOGS!!!

Look at your baby brother . . .

Our first family picture

Right before going in to see Jack for the first time

Tim's first time seeing Jack

Stephanie's first time seeing Jack

3 days before Jack was born

Jack has arrived!

Well, this has taken me way longer to update than I anticipated, but I haven't had access to a computer until today.

Charles Anthony Jack Romero was born via unplanned C-Section Tuesday, August 4, at 4:34 p.m. (6 weeks before his due date). He weighed 5 lbs 3 oz and is 19 1/4 inches long. He is in teh NICU at Centennial Medical Center in Frisco and will be there until he is able to take 8 bottles a day with no issues. They told us that will probably take 3-4 weeks.

He has had no breathing problems and is in an open air crib. He is no longer on an IV, but still has a feeding tube in his nose to help him get his food until he's able to drink from a bottle. Right now we are trying to feed him by bottle twice a day if he is awake and alert enough. He's trying really hard but gets tired pretty easily. They told us that by next week at this time he'll be a totally different kid. The neonatologist told me this morning that he is not concerned about anything now. That was a great relief!

I am going home tomorrow. I'm glad to be leaving the hosptial but sad to leave the baby here. I pray that it won't be for long. In case you haven't heard, here's how Tuesday went for me . . .

Tim left on Monday morning to go to Philadelphia for two nights. It was the first 2 night trip he's tried since I went into the hospital 7 weeks ago. Everything was fine unitl about 11 on Tuesday morning. I noticed some things out of the ordinary and called my dr. They wanted me to come in for an exam to make sure that my water hadn't broken again. I got there about 12:15. When she examined me, I was dialated to a 4. They decided to send me over to the hospital for observation to see if I was in active labor. By this time I had told Tim to start finding a flight home.

Needless to say I was in labor. My contractions started coming and never slowed down. They were 2-3 minutes apart. We had a specialist come in to do a sonogram to check the baby's position, and sure enough he was laying sideways. His head was on the right, his bottom was on the left, and his back was down. This was the need for the C-section. My dr told me we needed to do it right away because there was a big risk that there could be complications if we waited.

So I had to decide (with Tim on the phone at the airport) to have a c-section within 30 minutes. I was very upset that he wouldn't make it. Of course he wanted me to do what was best for me and the baby, so his mom went with me into the OR and was a HUGE support. It all happened so fast that, in the end, it didn't matter who was there. :-)

We are so blessed that Jack waited 7 more weeks to be born and that he has had no complications so far. Everything that we are facing is normal for a baby born at 34 weeks. We continue to pray that he will come home quickly. I will post pictures of him in a separate blog. Thank you to everyone that has prayed, visited, and helped us in so many ways. We love you all!!