Newborn Pic Preview!

Today was Deegan's first official photo shoot! He did pretty great for the most part. Deegan & Eric look great. Not sure if I would look any better had it been longer since I had him but oh well! Whitney did a fabulous job! To see them click here! I love them and cannot wait to see the rest! Thanks so much Whit!!!

2 weeks old!

Our little guy is 2 weeks old today! I cannot believe it!! He has done so good with his first 5 days home. He is such a great baby. He seriously does not cry. He is so content unless he is hungry and then he get s a little fussy but that is it. We are so lucky to have him and love him so much!

I promise he doesn't live on his boppy but it is a great place to put him to take pics or when I need to actually get something done. I could hold him and stare at him all day long!

We had to take him in to the Dr. on Wednesday just for a quick check up from leaving the NICU. He is doing well and everything looked great! He lost a little more weight and is now 5 lbs 11.5 oz. He has started to eat more so hopefully he will start to gain the weight back. He is in the 5th percentile for weight and height so he is just a little guy. But he will catch up! He was 5 weeks early remember. :) We had to borrow a bunch of clothes from a friend (THANKS!!!) since we don't have anything that fits him. It will be fun when he can actually wear outfits and not just pj's. :) But then I will be wishing he were tiny again.

He sleeps pretty well but is still kind of on his NICU schedule. They woke him up every 3 hours to eat whether he was waking up or not. So he pretty much wakes about every 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours to eat. Now that he is taking more maybe he will start to last longer. Our friend is coming tomorrow to do his newborn pics and I cannot wait! She does awesome stuff so I am so excited to see what we get! Hopefully he cooperates! I will post them when I get them!!


Well, he is starting to squirm a little so I better get ready to feed him!

Finally!!

Deegan FINALLY got to come home on November 22. I was in feeding him when his doctor came in. We were hoping he could come home Monday, and I had decided I was going to be brave and ask if there was anyway we could take him home Sunday night so Eric didn't have to miss work. Well, turns out I didn't need to! After looking everything over, the doctor said, "Looks like you can take him home today if you would like." If I would like?! No, please can I stay here another day? :)

I called Eric immediatly knowing he would still be asleep. He didn't answer. I called and texted like 4 times with no response. Finally, I just drove home to tell him. He as so excited. They had to do a few things before we could take him like a hearing test and a car seat test. We were so exctied!

Here he is doing his car seat test. He had to sit in it for 90 minutes while still hooked up to his monitors to make sure he could handle it and breath well. He passed! He also passed his hearing test.

All bundled up and ready to go! Again, sorry about the crappy picture quality.....
Dad loading him into the car. We are REALLY going home!

See ya never again NICU!! Not that we didn't totally love all our nurses, but we were not sad to go!

Ah! Home Sweet Home!

Thankful

I always have so much to be thankful for in my life. Amazing family, the most wonderful husband, a warm home, great jobs, health, religion, etc. But this year I have something extra fabulous to be thankful for!

HIM!!!!

I am so thankful to be a mom, so thankful that my boy is home safe and sound and healthy and so thankful that I have been trusted and blessed to be his mom!

Isn't he the sweetest thing?! We sure think so!

Happy Thanksgiving from Brooke, Eric and Deegan!

Life is Good Today

So I am a little behind on my blogging these days so I am gradually trying to get caught up. These pics are from Deegan's first day at home! What a happy day!

Eric and Deegan napping before dad had to leave for work.

Such a sweet, snuggly boy!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

Can you believe it has been a week?! In some ways it has flown by, like I can't believe we have been parents for a week, that we have had Deegan for a week, that it has been a week since my water broke at work.....but at the same time it feels like we have been living in the NICU FOREVER!!! Way longer than a week.

But regardless, we are so thrilled with the progress Deegan has made in the short week he has been in our lives.

Dad and Deegan relaxing. He had a nice full tummy after doing an awesome job nursing!

Deegan pinkie promising to get out of here as soon as he can.

Look at those cheeks! Can't they tell he is NOT missing out on food?! ha ha

Look! No more IV!! Yahoo!!! this means officially the only thing we are working on is his feedings. It is exciting and frustrating at the same time.

ha ha. This is my stock in the freezer in the NICU. They made me take it home since it was taking up so much space. Some comments that I have received on my milk are...... "Is all that from one pumping?!" "We need to get you your own deep freeze!" "You should go into the milk banking business!"

Well thanks! ha ha. I guess that is a good thing. Deegan won't starve!

So he is up to 38 ml on his feedings and our Dr. said he needs to be closer to 60. Hopefully we can get him there sooner than they are telling us. As long as he is not too tired he does great!

We had a great night with him tonight and as always, I am sad to leave him. But I know one day soon when I walk out of the doors, he will be with me. I love you Deegan! Happy 1 week birthday!

NICU Day 6

Yesterday was Deegan's 6th day in the NICU........

"Hmmm....maybe I should start eating better so I can get outta this place."

He looks so big in this pic. I guess if you think 6 lbs 2.8 oz is big.....that's right, our boy has gained more weight. Yahoo!

And look who gets to wear clothes! He can't wear any of the clothes we have for him but that's okay. It is nice to see him in any clothes.

He is doing great. Still off oxygen completely. He is eating well and is currently on 28 ml of breast milk. We are still madly in love with him and cannot wait to bring him home! He was not on the bili lights yesterday so mommy got lots of snuggle time in. When I went to leave at about 9, he was fussy. I CANNOT leave him if he is not sleeping. So I stayed and ended up not leave until about 10:45. But it was well worth it!

He is just the sweetest little guy and I am not just saying that. Well, maybe, but I really do believe it!

NICU Day 5.......

Well here we are again. Day 5 of a day in the life of Deegan! His pediatrician called me this morning and said everything was looking good. He upped his feedings to 21 ml. I asked him how far he needed to get and he told me about 60 ml. His bili levels were down so this is good. After today he won't have to be on the lights anymore and I will be able to hold him lots! He is still on his antibiotics, TPN, and Lipids. I got brave and asked him if he had a ballpark idea on how long he would be in the hospital and it is a good thing I had mentally prepared myself for the answer......he thinks another 10 days. Maybe less maybe more but hopefully 10 days is the longest. This means he wouldn't even be home for Thanksgiving! :( I am hoping for more like 7 days but we will see what our little man needs.

This is the white board with all of his info on it. What meds he is on, his feeding schedule, test he needs, his nurse, and all that good stuff.

One of the signs they made for him.

Mommy and Deegan. Don't worry that I don't really bother getting ready to spend the day at the hospital. I guess I should make a good impression for Deegan, or at least make it so he is not embarrased of his mom when he is older. :)

Sleeping in Daddy's arms.

We thought his hands we so cute/funny like this! What a silly boy.

He is just a little proud.

Notice anything?! No oxygen tube! They took it out about 10:45 this morning and he has been doing well without it. He may have to have it put back in but so far so good! Look at those chubby cheeks! He looks so big in some of these pics but he seems so small to me!

My sweet sleeping boy. I got to nurse him today and other than the fact that I was SOAKED when we were done, he did fabulous! The nurse couldn't believe it. He did so much better than on the bottle so this is great. Hopefully he keeps it up!

He is such a fun guy. We love him so much and cannot wait to take him home! I told him he needs to keep eating good so we can take him home and love him without all the tubes and wires. Guess we will find out early if he is going to obey his mother or not! :)