*taps the mic* Attention please...

JACK IS HOME!!!!!


He's doing well, eating, sleeping, and pooping... has only set off the alarm a couple times, mostly for the loose leads to the monitor. But.. YAY!!!!!!!!!

Notes from the Big House (no, really this time!)

Hey guys!!

Jack here.... This time it was easy to snag the computer--- Mom brought it with her!! Her and Daddy are spending the night with me tonight, so that they can get used to my monitor and oxygen tank and stuff before we go home tomorrow. That's right!! I get to actually see this place that they keep talking about!! So far it's been a pretty good night... Daddy is napping, and Mommy let me sleep on her for a long time before it was time to wake up and eat again. Darn all this waking up and eating!!! It's good though, I like the stuff, so I don't mind too much, I guess.

This afternoon was busy!! Mommy and Daddy came, and then Aunt Chris and Uncle Dave showed up, and other Uncle Dave, and then finally Gramma Terry. I was super busy looking cute!! (ok, so it wasn't that hard of work, being as genetically gifted as I am. Mommy taught me that phrase. :)) It calmed down for a little while, but then Mommy and Daddy came back again, and here we are, hanging out in a room that's not mine. No rocking chair, not a teddy bear mural to be found!! It's ok tho, they're here, and that's all I need. They give me food, they snuggle me... I'm good.

So... to recap... I'm going home!!!! And Mommy and Daddy are ecstatic!!! Before she fell asleep, Mommy said something about having to share the rules with everyone about visiting, and to be sure and pick up some germ x as soon as they can. I wonder what germ x is...

Well... I'll let you guys know when I'm home, I'm sure I'll be able to sneak back on!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Notes From the Big House (scribbles from Jack)

Ok... so, my friend Cole is springing the coop tomorrow. This is good, and bad. For the good, he gets to go to this "home" place that the mommies keep going on about, where apparently there's lots of good food, and comfy stuff, and even a swing! (I love the swing, I really do!) Plus, his brother JD is there, and he was a really cool cat. The bad part is, I'm really really really gonna miss my partner in crime!! Who else is going to help me do the preemie limbo with the syringes?? And we had worked out the next plot for getting out-- which is really a lot trickier considering they have these new doors that use swiper cards in them now. How is a baby supposed to get through that? We had figured out a way to get into the ceiling, but the plan called for two, count them, TWO babies. And now... sadly... Cole is busting out without me. No hard feelings though, although my Mommy is very sad that her friend, Mrs. Cole's Mommy is leaving. She says we'll all get together when everyone's out, so we'll see. I'll have to see if Sydney is interested in the breaking out planning, but really, I'm starting to get the feeling it's time to buckle up and get out. I mean, I AM almost three months old, it's time to get out and see the world!! Plus, they keep calling me "El Chunko," and that makes me grumbly. Ok, really only Mommy calls me El Chunko, but still-- not nice!! First everyone tells me to hurry up and gain weight, and here I am at the wonderfully fluffy weight of 5 pounds, 14 ounces, and now suddenly there's all these baby sumo threats!! What gives?

Mommy and Daddy are getting all ready for me to come home... they keep telling me all about my room, and how pretty it is. Mommy also says that once she gets off her duff she'll post more pictures. She also asks that you guys forgive her slacking.

The social worker Carrie made us ornaments with our pictures in them. Mine's a snowman, and looks really great-- cuz there's a picture of me right in his belly!! I'm a cutie, I have to admit... who can deny it, really? Mommy says I'm the handsomest boy in the world, and Daddy agrees. He says someone has to have the looks in the family, and guess what? I got em!! :-D

Ok... back to Cole's farewell party. The twins across the hall hooked us up with some sugar water, so we've got the binkys covered with it, and everyone's feeling a little fine.

BYE COLE!!! WE'LL MISS YOU, AND GOOD LUCK!!!

--Jack

Jack has been doing really well the past few days. He's been taking his bottles fairly regularly, with only a couple gavage (tube) feedings during the day. He's also been growing like a weed. He's now tipping the scales at 5 pounds, 11 ounces! He is DEFINITELY getting signed up for baby sumo.

Our friends, Jason and Brandi are here today, with their kids Haley and Logan. Brandi is painting a gorgeous tree on one of the walls in the nursery. I've seen it half done, and I'm really excited about it!! There WILL be pictures up soon for everyone to see and enjoy.
** EDIT: We've seen it done, and oh my god... she is so very very talented!! Both of us can't stop going in the room to look at it. Thank you Brandi!

Sonnet has started a kodak page for all the pictures, while www.kirawill.com is under construction. The good part about this is that now, on the kodak page, anyone can order any pictures they'd like, which makes it easy if you want a non-computer picture of him. (and really.. who doesn't want a picture of Sir Jack?)

That should be it for now... if we're not addressing any questions anyone would like answered, please comment, and ask! We try to answer all the important stuff, but sometimes we miss stuff.

sentimental...

Dear Jack,

I just want you to know how much your mom misses you tonight. It's been 79 days since you were born, and in those 79 days I've learned more about love and pain than any other time in my life. Never before you did I understand just how completely one person could love another. But I know now, and it kills me not to be able to be with you like I would like. You're almost 3 months old now, and getting big. I just stare at you, amazed at how beautiful you've become. You've been beautiful to me from the first time I saw you, but now.. now you're absolutely breathtaking. You're my miracle.
Every night and morning I pray for you, my son. I pray for you to grow big and strong, to stop needing oxygen, and to be able to finish your bottles. I pray for you to not have complications, to not be behind in development. And most of all I pray for you to come home to me and your dad.
I hung a mobile in your room today. You got it during your shower. I held you, and put together this big mobile. It didn't fit right on your crib-- it's for normal cribs-- but the nurse helped me and now it's hanging over you. I wanted you to be able to have something nice to look at besides wires and monitors. It's made me inexplicably sad to look at, though, because you should be at home enjoying that, not away from us.
I'm trying really hard to be strong for you, Jack. To be there as much as I can, to hold you, read to you, feed you. Never doubt for a minute that I adore you, that I love you with all my heart, and I'd do anything in the world to take away the pain and discomfort that you're subjected to.

I love you, mi hijo. You are the light of my life, and the most important thing in the world to me. Please know that, even now, even when I'm unable to be with you. You are my heart.

love,
your mommy

Settled into the new NICU

Jack is all settled into the new NICU. It seems some nurses got ahold of his getaway plan and thwarted him by making Sonnet wheel him in there herself. Jack and the other old-timers got to go in first, in order of birth -- So Alaina got to go in first, then Cole, and then Jack. The nurses were all at the doors, cheering the babies on. Such a grand entrance!!

He had his third eye exam yesterday-- again, it was harder on Mom than on Jack, but they both made it through. He's got another one scheduled, for only his left eye, in two weeks.

Jack is doing really well... More to come later

Mission Impossible: 1/2

** Note written in multivitamin, found crumpled on the nicu floor...**



Cole--
I overheard Mommy talking about the Big Move... I say it's time we make our move!! Now that I'm 5 pounds, 5 ounces, I'm big enough to blow this pop stand!! They've got you off the oxygen, we'll only have to worry about one nasal cannula, which is good since my caffeine high is wearing off.

Tonight, at midnight caretime, be sure to store some of your formula in your jammies. I'll do the same, and we can suck on our jammies when we get hungry later on our way home. Remember... DROOL WORKS!!! Don't let them wipe your mouth too much-- straight to the jammies!!! VIVA LA JAMMIES!!!!! er.. anyway...

K... so here's the plan... they'll probably take me first, so when they're busy wheeling me, I'll toss my binky on the ground. They'll stop, you know how grownups are, and fuss over it.. so while they're doing that, I'll jump down, doing that super ninja kung fu jump that Sydney was telling us about... she's agreed to do some distraction work too, since we couldn't figure out how to get her out of the Box. So I'll jump down, looking all slick, and hide in the plants. Then when you come by, Sydney's going to hold her breath, so they all run back and check out the beeps... right as they get to her box tho, she's going to make it sat again, so be sure to jump quickly. We'll make a run for it then-- I've been hording blankets we can tie together to get down.

I'm not sure how we'll take anything more than our binkies, but we've gotta travel light. I figure we can catch a ride on a car or something... You know, those things that are on our jammies that our Mommies keep oohing and aahing over? Mommies... gotta love them! So... once we find one of those car things, then we just tell it where we wanna go, and POOF!!! Escape from the Big House!!!

Now, Cole, remember, we gotta keep our lips shut on this one.. top secret stuff. Can't let the grownups know, or they'll stop us. I gotta go, I see Nurse Sue looking for her pen...

Jack

Notes from the Big House

Hello everyone!

It's the one and only JackJack here, wanting to make sure you all knew how I was doing, since Mommy seems to be slacking (Daddy says to leave mom alone, she's busy doing stuff for me). Cole and I made our way out this morning, but Cole got caught shimmying down the trellis. See... that's why you don't wear blue choochoos as an escape outfit. (Not that we have any say, these nurses seem to delight in dressing us up in duckies, choochoos, and big trucks. I like the trucks tho!)

Ok... onto me. :) I just hit 5 pounds 4 and half ounces. Mommy says she's going to put me into Baby Sumo if I keep on like this. I really gotta find out what sumo is... if it's a new something to eat, I'm all for it!! I'm doing good with my food now.. it tastes soooo good, that I always want more and more, until I fall asleep. Darn that whole feeding thing being such hard work! I have to admit my tube is much handier. If only I could figure out how to taste things with that...

There's a new girl in our flat-- Sydney. She's pretty cool, she likes talking to Cole and me through our monitors. We have this groovy morse code worked out, none of the grownups seem to have figured it out yet. Mommy has an idea of it, everytime we ding she tells us to stop talking, but that doesn't really stop us. ;)

They keep messing with my air-- they've got me down to 1 liter of pressure and around 35% oxygen. I liked the higher level better, but Mommy says I gotta get off the stuff completely so that I can come home. She keeps telling me about this home place, with toys and pillows and no needle sticks on my feetses. It sounds like a really great place, so I'm working really hard to get there.

Everyone's moving on Tuesday, so we're looking forward to that-- we get our own room!!! We're hoping that Cole and his Mommy will have the room adjoining ours, that way we can still talk and have fun.

Ok... gotta go, Cole dropped the sheet out the window for me to climb up. Time to go!!!!!!

Fat Baby!

Jack is now FIVE POUNDS!! Well, Five pounds, half an ounce for good measure. :) He's doing fine.. He had his 2 month vaccinations the other day, but he's bounced back pretty well from those- only a little bit of general fussiness and lack of appetite, but he seemed fully recovered from it last night, when he fed for 30 minutes. We're hoping for a banner day of feeding today, with 2 nursing attempts in the afternoon and perhaps a bottle this evening. We'll see though, it depends. We have to keep in mind that he still is quite little, and is still working to get himsef together and healthy and breathing. But he is doing SO well so far, and we are so proud of our boy.

Slowly, slowly...

They've taken Jack off of the MCT oil (that which Matt calls the fried chicken) and replaced his 26 calorie milk with 22 calorie. This pretty much means that he's doing well enough on the weight gain end of it that they're not really worried about that anymore. We're still working on getting him to nurse, but, as is the preemie way, we're getting inconsistent results. Soon though, it'll prolly snap into place, and he'll be doing it all the time, as if he were born nursing. At least, that's what the nurses tell us!

Sonnet's working on accumulating a "rogue's gallery" of the nurses, so that you, dear readers, can see who is taking such amazing care of our Jack in the box:) (Well, recently in the box, at any rate). That will come soon, with any luck.


All in all, no great changes, Jack's just plugging along, growing, and working so that he's able to come home to his Mom and Dad. Keep the prayers coming, please!

Sunday morning special (wow 6am is early!)

A huge thank you to everyone involved in Sonnet's baby shower, with extra big snuggles going to Betsy for once again throwing an amazing bash (And providing Sonnet hours of amusement, via Boppy!). Everyone seemed to have fun, and the food was absolutely fantastic!! Thank you... She's definitely going to treasure the memories forever.


And onto the Jack news!

Jack has been rather cranky the past couple days, but after a complete and thorough checkup, he was declared quite healthy and vivacious by Roseanne, the nurse practitioner. He's been grumpy and crying during feedings, which has caused Sonnet no end of worry, and Matt consternation as he tried to help and hold through many outbursts. The fussiness coincides with them lowering his air pressure down from 2.5 to 1.5 liters, though, and he's down to between 38% and 40% on oxygen, so they're definitely challenging him. They believe that that is what is causing the outbursts, his frustration at having to work more, etc. We're willing to work through it, we were just worried that his crying, which is a total change of character, signified that he was sick. But, having gotten the clean bill of health, we are now MUCH happier and calmer. It's amazing what a few simple words can do for a new parent? Or rather, any parent, since the "veterans" with adult children tell us that it doesn't end anytime in sight. We don't mind-- Jack is worth any and every thing that we'll come up against, no matter what happens.

Jack is still gaining -- he's now 4 pounds, 11.5 ounces, he's steadily climbing, we anticipate the 5 pound mark early next week, if he keeps up like this. He's so cute-- he's looking so much like a "normal" baby!!

More later... Sonnet needs a nap!

Jack seems to be getting the hang of nursing. Now that they've compressed his feeds to 38 ccs over an hour, and he gets fed once every three hours, he'll have periods of hunger, which makes his feeding go a lot easier, because there's incentive. Yesterday he nursed successfully twice- once in the morning for 30 minutes, the other time in the evening for 25 minutes. Hopefully he'll keep going and kick the oxygen habit soon, too! He's hung in there, steady, at 4 pounds 10 ounces, and is doing beautifully.

**Note from Sonnet**

There's a song that's been running through my head lately, that seems to say so much about how I'm feeling during this whole nicu experience. It's by Stone Sour, and is called Through Glass. Here's the lyrics:

 I'm looking at you through the glass...
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh god it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home sitting all alone inside your head

How do you feel? That is the question
But i forget.. you dont expect an easy answer
When something like a soul becomes
Initialized and folded up like paper dolls and little notes
You cant expect a bit of hope
And while your outside looking in
Describing what you see
Remember what your staring at is me

Cause I'm looking at you through the glass...
Don't know how much time has passed
All i know is that it feels like forever
When no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head

How much is real? So much to question
And never dare make up the mannequins
Contaminating everything
When thought came from the heart
It never did right from the start
Just listen to the noises
(No more sad voices)
Before you tell yourself
Its just a different scene
Remember its just different from what you've seen

Im looking at you through the glass...
Don't know how much time has passed
And all i know is that it feels like forever
When no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head

And its the stars
The stars
That shine for you
And its the stars
The stars
That lie to you.. yeah-ah

I'm looking at you through the glass...
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh god it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head

Cause I'm looking at you through the glass...
Don't know how much time has passed
All i know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you that forever
feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head

**********************************************************

Just for info...

This is where Jack lives...

Birthday from the Big House

Jack here-- thanks everyone who bugged Mommy and Daddy and said you wanted them to break me outta the big house to be able to write to you guys! They listened, and now Mom is keeping a lookout while I work. One beef- I know that you don't expect us babies to type and stuff, but please, I'm sure there's gotta be a preemie sized keyboard around here somewhere!! This blogging stuff is hard work!

So, today is my 2 month birthday. That's right... just two months ago, Mommy went to the hospital for a flu bug, and poof! Out I came! Momma says it wasn't quite that easy, but she'll spare me the story til I'm older. Things have gotten a lot easier since then though. I finally got them to stop shoving a breathing tube down my throat, and they give me lots of food. I'm learning how to eat with Mommy, and they say I'm getting pretty good with it, even if I get tired a lot. Sometimes I just like my tube better-- I just snooze and it makes me not hungry, that's a pretty good deal! I'm not a big fan of my vitamins, they should hook me up with some of those gummy vitamins that Mommy talks about. mmmm candy... Daddy says that I'll enjoy candy someday, that its a lot like my paci when it's got the sugarwater on it. Anyway-- birthday. Cole and I have the pad to ourselves now, so we're having a huge party tonight when the nurses are distracted by lunch! These silly grownups with their eating. Don't they know that it's so much easier this way? We're going to put up the black lights that Amelia left during her stay, and JD smuggled a boom box over to Cole, so the place will be hoppin. What a way to spend a birthday! It's great being 2 months, let me tell you.

I had my second eye exam yesterday. It was yucky. Mommy stayed with me though, and held my hands, even though she was really upset. I hated it, it didn't feel good at all, but then Mommy held me for a really long time afterwards and that was nice, so I guess the day wasn't so bad.

So, earlier in the week it was Halloween. I sure got a trick, AND a treat! I was happy and sleeping and cozy and suddenly Mommy and Daddy apppear, wake me up, change me, and suddenly everyone's coming in to see me and laughing and saying how cute I am. Like I'm not always cute, please! When I got a chance to look... I was in my superman outfit! They'd discovered my secret identity!! Good thing it happened on Halloween, that way they think it was ONLY a costume. They don't know that between care times I climbout of the crib and make my way around the nicu, helping those babies in need. I am.. SUPER PREEMIE!!

Ahem. Forget you read that part. I'd delete it but looking over, the backspace button is way far away and Mommy says that I need to hurry up, it's almost time to go back. Let's see... Oh yeah... Nurse Tasha put me on the scale last night and I was 4 pounds and 10 ounces. Daddy says I'm almost ready for my own dipping sauces, but rest assured... I remember the BigBuddhaBaby from when i was still in my bachelor pad, and I'll not be needing those. I have my feeding tube to take care of me, I need no munchies from little preemies. They do have some tasty looking toes though...

Um... forget you read that part too.. No toes, really... :-)

Mommy says it's time to sneak me back now, but that I can come back soon! Bye!

Happy Halloween (belated)

Jack's doing well-- he's up to 4 pounds, 7 ounces. He also spent a rockin Halloween with his buddy and roommate, Cole!

As you can see, SuperBaby had a good night. :)

He also had his eye test today, his ROP is nothing to worry about:)