Trish

Trish is going in for some clean-up work today. Last week we found out there are still bits of placenta attached to her uterus. It's an out-patient procedure. She should be in and out of there in less than four hours. I'll be hanging out at the hospital showing off the kid to all the Antepartum and Labor & Delivery nurses we befriended during our stay there.

Our remodeling project is finally coming to a close. We're planning on moving back in possibly Tuesday after Trish has recovered.

Running on three wheels

Having practiced it several times in the climate controlled comfort of the living room before Greyson was discharged, I am now an expert at whipping his hi-tech stroller out of the trunk, snapping all the joints in place. Trish was a little less prepared. The other day we were unloading all our stuff out of the car. Trish decided to pull the stroller out of the trunk while I got the baby out of the car. "I got this," she said as she wrestled the mechanical equivalent of wet spaghetti over her head. With some coaching from me as I held the baby, she was able lock all the necessary pieces into place, we thought. While attempting to release the stroller brake, she had inadvertently pressed the 'wheel release' button effectively booby-trapping his ride. Minutes later as we wheeled Greyson through the parking garage, the mistake became evident as the rear wheel jettisoned itself across the parking garage. I used my cat-like reflexes to initiate a quick right turn to keep the stroller upright. I could be wrong, but I think we might be in for the ride of our lives.

New Parents

Greyson has been out of the NICU for six days now. The world outside the NICU is quite different for him. I'm sure the nights seem very dark and quiet compared to the constant, 24/7 commotion in the NICU. This kept him (and his parents) pretty restless for those first few nights. But that will go away in a few days,... right? As he is adjusting to life outside the NICU, so are his parents who are now full time parents for the first time in their lives.

For the most part Greyson breast feeds. Sometimes he gets his milk by bottle, however, to give his mom a break. The other night I was feeding him his bottle and was amazed at his progress as to how fast he could suck down a bottle now. What I didn't realize is that I hadn't seated the nipple in the bottle properly and most of the milk was running down the side of his face, soaking his onesie, and down my sleeve to my elbow. So I cleaned him off, changed his clothes, changed my clothes and warmed another bottle for him. And then, in my sleepless stupor, did the exact same thing... again. Perhaps the whole learning process is going to take a little longer for me.

Home! (Close enough)

Yesterday, on August 19th at 1 pm, one day short of Greyson's six week mark, he was discharged from the hospital. This ended 11 weeks of daily jaunts to
Alta Bates for me (because it's all about me). Special thanks to HealthNet for picking up the $750k (and counting) tab. Two clueless parents packed up their carefully nurtured package and inserted him into the car seat that installed in 17 easy steps. We drove him to the in-laws where we are staying while the remodeling project, that was supposed to be done before he was born, is completed. It was the first time Greyson rode in a car, it was the first time he was outside. It was the first time Trish and Karl were responsible for a child. It felt good to come home and finally get eight hours** of sleep.


The night before being discharged, Greyson had undergone a "car seat study" where the plug him in to all the monitors and have him sit through a 90 minute practice run of sitting in the car seat.


We had many good-byes as we embarked upon the next chapter of being parents. Among them were Louella, our favorite nurse at the the NICU. Louella was amazing. Not only is she one of the more senior staff, but she has amazing compassion for what she she does. She really made us feel comfortable about leaving Greyson at the NICU. We were really blessed to have crossed paths with her.



**Note that "we" constitutes the three of us, and "eight hours" is the total between the three of us. That eight hours occurred in 15 - 20 minute intervals through out the evening.

Gearing Up

A month ago, we were worried about Greyson's heart beating, lungs breathing, his murmur, his jaundice, his anemia. Now we're worried about his diaper rash. Fortunately, they got some stuff that works really well. It is Greyson's first, and certainly not last, experience with 'paste'.

It looks like Greyson is going to win the Baby vs Remodel Race. The house still has a couple of weeks left as we have added a few items (like painting) to the project. So when we say Greyson is coming "home", we actually mean his going to the Ochoa B & B which is probably better than "home". :)

Over the weekend, between breaks from the hospital, we spent our time making sure we have the essentials... diapers, wipes, place for him to sleep, etc. We even bought a small freezer to accommodate all of the frozen breast milk we have stored at the hospital.

Here are some updated pictures: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=11dwb14f.5v17wl33&x=0&y=-g9xycw&localeid=en_US

Light at the End of the Tunnel

The latest word is Wednesday. Wednesday is the day, we hope, when Greyson will be pronounced well enough to come home and his parents responsible enough to handle it. Seriously, I'm some one's dad... take a moment to let that set in.

Whew! Anyway, Greyson is getting better at breast feeding. Tomorrow Trish will spend the entire day at the hospital with boobs standing by for whenever he shows a hint of being hungry. I'll be at home watching TV.

I've been learning how to bottle feed the kid without sending him into an oxygen desaturation tail spin. When he comes home, we'll have no fancy baby monitors to tell us that he's not transferring oxygen from his lungs to his blood stream efficiently or that he has forgotten to beat his heart fast enough. Dramatics aside, I think he is ready to come home. I just want to be sure we are ready for it.

Lot's of folks have asked to visit, we'll get there. I promise. Even more have sent email with encouraging words. All are tremendously appreciated, we love you all. He'll be ready for visits in no time.

Oh, still working on getting some pix on-line... soon.

Five Weeks

Greyson is five weeks old today. He really has made incredible progress. His feeding tube was removed last weekend. He looks so much better without that thing taped to the side of his face. He is now 6 lbs, 4 oz. (His lowest weight was 3 lbs 15 oz.) There is lots of talk of him going home, although he still "D-sats" when he breast feeds. The doctors are likely to clear him to go home this weekend, but since he did have another concerning episode today so we're likely to keep him there a few extra days. So right now we're targeting mid-week next week.

I've had tons of email with lots of support from everyone. I can tell you how much we appreciate that support. I really haven't had the time to answer much email. I'll get to it eventually.

I'll get some more pictures posted soon. But for now, I'm going to bed. :)

One Month... Status

Greyson was four weeks old on Thursday. And, today, Sunday, he six pounds. He has gained more than two pounds since his lowest weight. He is looking much more like an infant than a premie.

His remaining milestones include being able to bottle or breast feed reliably (so they can remove his feeding tube). He also needs to get over any heart and breathing problems. Today he had an episode of oxygen de-saturaturation, affectionately referred to as a 'd-sat'. Normally, he can self-correct these, but for this one he had to receive some oxygen to correct it. Aunt Kristin was there to witness the action.

Estimates for his release are somewhere between 1 - 2 weeks. The estimate for completing our remodel project is about two weeks. The race is on!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Have I mentioned that we're doing a remodeling project at the house? We're adding a little half bath and a closet. Perfect timing, right? It was supposed to be done before the baby was born. Oops. It actually started the day he was born.



Since our place is pretty torn up, we've been staying at the Ochoa's house. It's kind of like staying at a bed and breakfast... a very comfortable bed and three home-cooked meals a day. This has helped us out a lot, since we spend most of our time running back and forth to the hospital. If we were at home, I'm pretty sure we'd have quite the collection of Chinese take-out boxes growing in the kitchen.

So the race is on... Greyson vs the remodel project. Who will be ready first? My money is on Greyson, but time will tell. Stay tuned!