A Big Boy Bed

Dylan is now three weeks old (34 weeks gestation) and has been moved to a big boy crib!  This means that the doctor believes Dylan is old enough and big enough to maintain his old body temperature. The isolette was helping to keep warm until now. It also means that is it much easier to take Dylan out and put him back into bed Before I had to open the doors of the isolette and try not to bump his head on the top or sides of the isolate. Now I just have lift him out like any other normal crib - although you still have to be careful with all of the wires.

I've also successfully bathed Dylan twice on my own. Bathing a preemie is differently than bathing a full term baby. They lose heat really fast so the baths have to be really quick and you have to be careful not to get the feeding tube in the soapy water and the other cords that are stuck on him. When he was still in the isolate it also made drying and dressing him a lot harder because you only have a limited space to stick you hand in and you can only lift him so high to get the towels and clothes under him. I haven't bathed him since he's been moved to a crib, but I know that will make things much easier.

Dylan is also big enough to attempt nursing. He still can't coordinate the sucking swallowing and breathing part all that well and has had spells (where he chokes on the milk and stops breathing) every time I've tried to nurse him, but the doctors and nurses say he's still pretty young and in about a week or so he should be able to do it. This also means I am spending a lot more time at the hospital. He eats every three hours so I try to be there for as many feedings as I can so we can both practice.

4lbs and Growing

Dylan  has finally broken the 4 lb milestone! As of today he is 4 lbs 2 ounces. It took awhile for him to get back to his birth weight but ever since he's been putting on about an ounce a day. This is great news because if he keeps this up he'll be 5 lbs in about 2 weeks which is one of the milestones he has to hit before we can take him home.

They have taken the caffeine away and unhooked the monitor that monitors his breathing. I didn't eve know they did that since Jacob was hooked up to it until we took him home and then he was hooked up to a home apnea monitor.  The doctor told me that they think that by the end of next week they will be able to move him out of the isolate into a bassinet. The doctors keep telling us how great he's doing and that we'll be able to take home a healthy baby boy.

We also finally celebrated Jacob's 2nd birthday yesterday. My little man is growing up! He was pretty good about sharing all of his toys, we had a couple of moments where it looked like a fight would break out with one of the other boys but it all worked out. Since it was his birthday I also let Jacob eat all of the junk food he wanted. He was up until 10 pm hopped up on sugar but boy did he sleep well once he crashed. He didn't make a peep all night.

2 Weeks Old

Dylan is two weeks old today and boy has he grown. Babies get an official weight and height check every Sunday night. Dylan is now 44 centimeters long and 3 lbs 11 ounces. He has grown an inch since birth and is up 2 ounces.  No wonder the preemie clothes we brought in seem too short for him. He's pretty much at the max height for preemie clothes. Dylan also seems to be awake now every three hours - in time for his cares and feeds. He'll stay awake for about 10 - 15 minutes and just kind of look around. It also works out great because we try to time our visits around the time of his cares so we can change his diaper, take his temperature and hold him.

We took Jacob to a place called Eagles Nest Indoor Playground. I thought we needed to do a special Jacob day since he's had to go to the hospital the last 3 days. Jacob seemed to have a blast. There are two separate play zones one for kids 3 and under and one for older kids. They also had the gymnasium open which had a bouncy house. I was hesitant to let Jacob jump in it at first because kids of all ages were jumping in the bouncy house.  I waited until there were only a few kids in the bouncy house and let Jacob go in. He loved it.  He jumped around for a while but then it seemed like 5-6 kids around the age of 9 all came into the bouncy house together. My poor baby was bounced all over since they jumped a lot harder and higher than he did. He eventually went into a corner and sat down because he was so scared. We pulled him out just in time because a few seconds after he came out two kids collided into each other. I could hear the heads hitting each other.

Brotherly Love

Jacob and Dylan finally met. I am pretty sure the nurse broke the rules by allowing Jacob into the Special Care Unit but it worked out for us.

Jacob was not too happy seeing his daddy holding his little brother.He immediately screamed out "daddy!!" and made his way to his dad. So Mike handed Dylan to me, I did not get the same reaction from Jacob. Jacob has been on a daddy lovefest for the last couple of weeks. Even though he was not as jealous of me holding Dylan as his dad, he still gave Dylan a couple of dirty looks and would not look at him. Wonder how he's going to handle it when we bring Dylan home and he doesn't leave? :)

Dylan is finally back at his birth weight - 3 lbs 9 ounces. He lost 4 ounces a couple of days after he was born and was taking forever to put the weight back on. Today he weighed in at 3 lbs 10 ounces. The hospital weigh the babies every night but every Sunday night they get an official weight and height measurement. Last week at his one week check he was 3 lbs 7 ounces and 42 centimeters. So he was down 2 ounces but had grown a centimeter. Hopefully he's grown a little more.

Jacob has his 2 year check up on Tuesday. He really feels like he's packed on the pounds the last week or so. Now that he's off the bottle he eats everything in sight. It is getting really difficult to carry him around.

Making Progress!

Dylan is making so much progress so quickly. He's already been taken off his lipids and the IV has been removed. He's up to 22 mls a feeding and they up it one ml each shift. This may not seem like a lot but it took Jacob months to make any kind of progress. It seems like Dylan either gets something removed or is becoming less dependent on things everyday.

We went to visit him today with Mike's mom and he really put on a show for grandma. He was fully awake for a good 15 minutes and exploring the world. He even smiled a couple of times for grandma. By the time I got him into my arms he had exhausted himself. Dylan is still not back to his birth weight but with the milk he's getting he should be back to his      birth weight in no time.

My other little man, or shall I say big boy seems to making  a ton of progress himself. I think we've kicked the bottle!! Jacob went 2 days without a bottle, and I gave my parents strict instructions not to cave, they lasted until 4am when he woke up and grandma believing him to be hungry gave him a bottle. But grandpa told me that we didn't get a bottle during the day. We'll see how tonight goes. Jacob is also picking up new words everyday. We are seeing a lot less crying and tantrums now that he can tell us what he wants.

Another Early Delivery!

Jacob is a big brother!
Dylan Phu Nguyen decided he wanted to ring in the New Year with Mike and I, just like his older brother. Dylan decided to come about 9 weeks early.  Weighing in at 3 lbs 9 oz we welcomed Dylan into the world on January 2, 2012.

Dylan is resting comfortably at Abbott Northwestern in the Special Care Unit. Which is great because he completely bypassed the Neonatel Intensive Care Unit at Children's. He is breathing on his own, with just a few apnea spells a day, nothing like Jacob who was on oxygen even when we brought him home.  He's already getting milk through a feeding tube and hopefully we'll be able to try actual eating soon. It is amazing how six extra weeks helps. Jacob was so fragile when he was born. Dylan is almost twice Jacob's size and just as active and strong as can be.

The brothers unfortunately have not met yet. It is the height of RSV season and siblings between the ages of 2-4 can only visit their siblings on the day of delivery and only if they are well. Jacob had a runny nose. This means he doesn't get to meet Dylan until we bring him home from the hospital. Jacob is in for a big surprise!!