Sunday Grab Bag

First things first, many, many new pictures are in the slideshow to the left, like 250 (I know, hard to believe, but we were able to capture Thomas at a cute moment or two). You can click on it and go to the photo album to see the pics bigger. Second, you will find this blog to be full of random thoughts. As a result, it doesn't really tell a cohesive story. Sorry, I will look around my surroundings and find something to be inspired by one of these days.

Sunday night measurements night. Thomas is 6 pounds 3 and a half ounces and 18 3/4 inches long. He's chunking out quite nicely. Feeding is becoming a hit or miss proposition for Thomas. He's fighting the bottle more than we would like. We're not sure (mostly because we're not doctors and have nothing but wild speculation as our guide) whether his nose is stopped up and he can't breathe, or the constant barrage of ventilator tubes down his throat have made things painful to swallow, or he has acid reflux, or he's so advanced that he knows if he holds out long enough, the food gets put in the stomach automatically (and isn't that every man's dream?)

Some feedings, Thomas has been a champ, a full bottle in 20 minutes. Others, not so much, he'll fight, kick, cough, sleep and basically avoid any and all attempts to feed him. He was feeding 4 times a day and tube feeding 4. Today, they moved him up to 6 on, 2 off. We're not sure how he will handle this, but we're hopeful.

So, maybe this week we'll get him home, but there's really no way of telling. Thursday is Rebecca's birthday and all she wants is Thomas, but we're being patient and I think she will happily accept a belated birthday card, one of those really clever ones where there's a donkey on the front and inside it says "Sorry I'm such an ass for forgetting your birthday!", if its from Thomas.

I know there are a couple people that have expressed an interest in seeing Thomas when he gets home and we heard from someone (we can't remember who) that you really have to keep a preemie basically in quarantine to protect him for several months. I had the idea that we could have a party outside of Thomas' nursery window and at the right moment, we would open the blinds, I would charge a dollar and people could come up and look through the window as Rebecca held him up. Further discussions with trusted professionals have indicated, that people can see Thomas, we just have to be careful about people touching him, especially if they are in anyway sick or a child (They are apparently germ factories. Be warned if you've got one in your house! Protect yourself!). We may still have the party, just raise money for Thomas' college fund (or that table top Galaga game that Thomas told me he wanted), but we can probably have people over in small doses.

This sign appeared the other night all over the place. The immediate speculation amongst myself and Rebecca is that her natural curiosity (nosiness) and flair for small talk (nosiness) with other parents had brought down the wrath of the hospital in the form of a politely worded sign. I've mentioned the very unique situation that a NICU is. Privacy is more of a state of mind than an actuality when you're 3 feet from the next baby and your chair is bumping the next parent's. So we have been more than a little guilty of peeking at other babies, over hearing conversations and, on occasion, preaching the gospel of Thomas to let others know that things aren't that scary. Being that we feel like we know everyone up here and everyone appears to know us, we were a little paranoid, but kind of "oh well" that we were a target, if not the target.

One nurse said it was really more targeted at people who blatantly walk up to babies that they don't have any association with, or discuss babies with other people that they have no association with. We're probably still walking a fine line, but its so difficult not to notice when the same baby is next to you for weeks, or another parent is constantly crossing your path and you know what they are going through, because you're going through it. It was also fun to joke that what's the worst they can do, kick us out? That's what we want anyway.