Pictures, as promised!

Getting back to normal?

Ok, so I wanted to post quickly and just let everyone know that Oscar is now home! He has been home almost a week now and I am just now lifting my head and looking around. What I mean by that is that I have really been self involved and haven't done much of anything that doesn't involve spending time with my kids.

When Oscar is awake (and even when he isn't) I just hold him as much as possible and really spend every moment with him I can. Then when he is sleeping I am trying to spend good quality time with the boys. Griffin has been really needy and doesn't like it when I hold or feed the baby. He loves the baby as long as I am not holding him.

Life is good but crazy.

My mom is here and that is a huge help.

I will be posting pictures and more details about Oscar as soon as I can.

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers and phone calls and everything you all did to help. It was amazing the outpouring of love for that little guy.

Today's visit with Oscar

Here are some lovely pictures from today's visit with Oscar. Ryan and I were able to spend most of the day at the hospital with little Oscie. He is simply adorable. He rarely fusses and is simply a wonderful little babe. If only we could have him home with us.

The news is both good and bad. He is done with the lights as his levels went down very quickly. He also is doing well with his breathing and other issues. The only problem is that apparently the episodes that happened yesterday are considered so severe that he is automatically made to stay for another week in order for observation. So this means that the earliest he will be home is Thursday June 12. This means he will be 10 days old before coming home. I do realize things could be so much worse but it has been tough not to have him home with us.

Right now he is only on the monitors. He doesn't need any breathing help, oxygen, IV, or anything. They are simply keeping a close eye on him for the next week. I do appreciate the need to be safe and to make sure that he does not have any more of these strange episodes. I just miss him.

Ryan and I gave him a bath today and dressed him in his own clothes that we brought from home. He is just too cute!

Updates

Oscar had some setbacks today and will be in the NICU a bit longer than expected. He is now jaundiced and has to be under the photo therapy lights. He does look so cute in there. He is so comfy and stretches out as far as he can. They are not sure when he can come out of the lamps, it will all depend on when his bilirubin levels come back down.


He is also having episodes when his heart rate drops and his oxygen levels also. They aren't sure exactly what is causing this and ran a lot of tests today. They are checking for infections and anything else that might be causing this. He comes out of them very quickly and had 3 or 4 episodes today. They are just being super careful to make sure that he is perfectly healthy before coming home, which I really appreciate. Unfortunately this means that he will be there for another few days and perhaps up to a week. This was hard news to take but I would rather he be there and be safe than home and at risk. Poor Evan cried the entire way home from the hospital after visiting him because he was so sad Oscar couldn't come home with us. That was difficult. What a sweet little boy. He truly loves his baby brother.

He was very alert today and ate very well. I am able to nurse him when I am there for a feeding and he is eating like a champ! I have been able to pump enough milk for him to be getting all breast milk at each feeding. The following picture is him after a feeding. Those are the little circle velcro thingies that keep the little glasses on while in the photo therapy. Too funny.



Griffin's appointment brought good and bad news. The good news is that he does not have any permanent hearing damage. This was very very good news. They checked for scar tissue and there is none. They also checked to make sure that the actual tubes are not infected and they are not.

The bad news is that now it becomes a wait and see option. We could go crazy and take out his adnoids but they aren't sure that is the source of infection. There is no way I'm putting him through that without being sure. Hopefully with the speech therapy that he will soon be getting it will take care of the development problem and he will do well with that.

We did find out he is about a year behind in his communication skills but in every other developmental category he is either right where he should be or ahead. He will be starting speech therapy once a week soon. Check out how cute he is in the following picture. Those eyes kill me!



It has been a hectic week around here.

I'm feeling pretty good but a bit sore. I was able to have a VBAC after 2 c-sections! I did it without an epidural and, although it was the hardest thing I have ever done it was the greatest!

Oscar has arrived!

Oscar Elijah Stewart arrived early Monday morning and we are so excited to have him! Mom is home but Oscar has been in the NICU for the past few days due to immature lungs and low blood sugar. He is doing much better and we hope to have him home by the weekend.

He sure is beautiful!

Today is the day we get Fin back to the doctor. Hopefully they will be able to get us at least one step closer to figuring out the problem. We are also hoping they will be able to do a formal hearing test but that will depend on if he has an infection or not.

We'll keep you posted!