Week 2.5 - The Honeymoon Phase

Anders was sent home on higher calorie preemie formula to help with his blood sugar and catch up growth. At 10 days he was back up to his birth weight 5 lbs 6 oz. At 16 days he was up to 5 lbs 15 oz - he gained 1.5 ounces a day! A good thing when you are drowning in your preemie clothes.
We were told to keep him somewhat isolated until he would have reached 40 weeks gestation but we couldn't keep grandparents, aunts and uncles away. Auntie Maren and Cousin Elise came to visit. It is funny to see Anders and Elise together.
This picture could also be titled Baby Ken and Baby Brian. Uncle Jeff even stopped by to say hi.
Ali, Renee and Nora came over to take newborn pictures. I can't wait to see them!Heck yeah, I have an Earth Day outfit. I have a whole Earth Day nursery. I would show you if my parents would ever finish it!
We stayed home for Anders' first Easter but some of the family canceled their plans to hang with us. Anders and Elise with Grandma Jane.Anders and Grandpa Bernie talking camping, fishing and hunting already.Easter baskets from Grandma Jane. The blanket the cousins are laying on was made by Great Grandma Dody for my dad, Grandpa Al. We are very thankful to have Grandpa Bernie in our lives but having Anders (and hormones) make me miss my dad a little more these days.
Mostly we spend our days snuggling. I know I should put him down some times but I have waited a loooooooong time for this view!Once I was diagnosed with IUGR kick counts became really important. I was always annoyed when they asked if the baby was moving a lot since I had nothing to compare it to. When he was born it turned out he had been moving quite a bit and had the cord wrapped around his arm, leg and body. This week we tried tummy time on the floor and found out just how much this little guy can move!

And it hit me - I'm a boy mom!

Week One - The NICU

We knew the NICU was a possibility for Anders since they expected him to be almost a pound smaller and didn't know why. We even had the NICU staff present in the delivery. When he was born everything appeared fine and we were so relieved. In the 6 hours we had him with us he met lots of special people like cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.




During this time they tested his blood sugar periodically and eventually he was low too many times so they took him to the NICU for a dextrose drip. Once they stabilized his blood sugar he finally got a bath and could show off that blond hair.This was Anders NICU "room." I was thankful Brian spent almost all his time with him since I was only able to do short visits because of my surgery. They assured us this was a common problem for babies who are small so we really only had one scary night where his blood sugar continued to drop with the 10% Dextrose and they had to switch him to 12.5% Dextrose and increase the rate quite a bit. He got to a point where the next low blood sugar they would have to put in a central line. The Neonatal Nurse Practitioner thought maybe the Endocrinologist should see him because maybe his pancreas or adrenal glands weren't working. The Neonatologist decided we would give him one more shot at weaning the IV before getting specialists involved and he passed! Unfortunately his bilirubin levels got out of control though so he also needed some time in the bili bed.
The head IV before and after. Anders still had lots of visitors in the NICU until the nurses decided it was wearing him out and it would be best if we limited visitors. Sorry to those of you who came to visit and didn't get to see him! Come back and see us soon!
So he was stuck with Mom and Dad. We finally got to take our little buddy home on his one week birthday!

Introducing......

Anders
Born April 11, 2011
5 lbs 6 oz
18 inches
Lots of blond hair
12 ounces bigger than last estimate - Yay!
Love at first sight
He checked out well initially but is having some issues with his blood sugar now so he is in the NICU on an IV. We are told it is because of the gestational diabetes and because he is so small he doesn't have the body fat to store sugar.

Here's my last pregnancy picture at 37 weeks and 5 days. The last couple weeks were difficult to update. The perinatologist wanted an amnio at 37 weeks and delivery if lungs were mature but my OB thought why take a small for gestational age baby early if it is still doing well on BPPs and NSTs. Baby never missed a point on the tests but the last growth ultrasound showed it had more or less stopped growing so it was time to meet the baby.