Baby Silas Picturepalooza

Finally a Silas update!  I've been getting a lot of comments, questions, and hints that I needed to update my blog.  I've even had a few people say "UPDATE YOUR BLOG!!!"  I am finally doing just that but let me just say that I feel a little overwhelmed with all that I need to tell you and show you.

First off, let me say that Silas is doing great.  The home health nurse weighed him today and he weighed six pounds, six ounces.  His head and chest circumferences all grew by a whole centimeter since he was last measured on Wednesday of last week.  He gave me a scare yesterday when he woke up at 7 a.m. with a bunch of frothy snotty spit-up in his mouth and nose.  I suctioned it out and became immediately paranoid that he was getting sick.  He's fine.  I overreacted and he had only spit up some milk and had just been gargling it around in his mouth I think.  He is fine today and has been since.  I might have been this paranoid with Maleah as an infant.  I was much more laid-back with Carissa, my full term baby but now I'm back to being a bit panicky.  I think because of all I have seen and heard in the nicu.  Preemie babies sometimes do get very sick and I am determined (and very prayerful) that Silas won't.  I will relax more as time goes by.

He is a good baby and pretty much sticks to his four hour schedule.  He sleeps a lot.  Some nights he does great and wakes up every four hours to eat and goes right back to sleep.  Some nights he doesn't do as great and he wants to visit with me instead of going back to sleep.  That's okay.  He doesn't scream or cry hardly ever.  He squeaks like a mouse or neighs like a horse when he wants something.  I told him I'd much rather have a squeaker than a screamer.  I've had a screamer (a certain soon-to-be seven year old who shall remain nameless) and that can make your ears ring. 

He has been on at-home oxygen since he came home. The home medical people delivered a boat-load of oxygen bottles to the house, along with a big red and white Notice Oxygen In Use sign that was taped to my front door. It was ugly and stood out like a sore thumb. I took it down. Jason informed me that I was supposed to have it there by law. So now, I'm breaking the law. I am so bad. I am not going to let anyone in with an open flame, regardless of whether or not there are oxygen bottles in the house. Please don't turn me in, my children need me. The pulmonologist (lung doctor) said that Silas would probably need the oxygen for 2 weeks. I took it off today, but it will be two weeks tomorrow since he came home. Silas kept pulling at it all night and no matter how I adjusted it and taped it, he would grab a hold of it and get it loose. He is small but mighty. Six pounds of muscle, he is! I was a little worried that he might strangle himself with it. I took it off and so far he is doing just fine without it. I have two different monitors from the home medical company that help me monitor his stats. For those people out there who understand medical terminology he is satting at 100 and is hr and rr is great too. No bradys, no apnea. For the rest of you, he is doing fine. His nursery looks a little bit more hospital-y than your average baby nursery. He has one large oxygen bottle next to his bed, one medium one on wheels in case I want to pull it behind me, six or seven small ones that I can put in a bag and carry over my shoulder, a pulse oximeter machine, a heartrate and respiratory rate monitor, a thermometer next to the crib, and a stethoscope (thanks Casey!). I will be so ready for almost all of it to go! I want to keep the heart and respiratory monitor until he's old enough to refuse to wear it though. That thing really gives me some peace of mind.

Here are some pictures of our last days in the nicu:  The first one is of Silas hanging out in his cute new guitar sleeper from Aunt Patty.  It is a size newborn and is still a wee bit big on him here.  The next one is of the bulletin board in Silas' room.  As the weeks went by, the nurses took more pictures of him until it was pretty full. 

This one and the next one are of his room.

This is the outside view of Room 92.  This is where we lived. 

Our night nurse Karen is sitting in her seat right outside our door.

Here is Silas hanging out in his carseat, getting ready

for his long trip home.

Here is one of Karen saying goodbye to "the best primary she ever had."  The following pictures are of the Parent's Lounge in the Nicu.  This was only for Nicu parents and could not be accessed by anyone else.  It had everything I needed and was just down the hall from Silas' room.  It had a dining area, laundry area, shower area, kitchen, tv, etc.

This is the scrub-in area of the Yellow Nicu.

We had to scrub for two minutes before we could enter.

Me and Mr. Silas on the day before he came home.

Here are some pictures of the day Silas came home.  It was such a happy day!!

Carissa getting an up close and personal look at her new brother.

Great-Grandma Zelda holding Silas.  So glad she came over

when she did because she fell a few days later and broke

both of her ankles, a bone in one of her legs, and her hand.

She is now in a nursing home for a few weeks getting some

therapy so she can come back home.  Prayers for her would

be appreciated!

Silas trying out his new bouncer.  He likes it!

Maleah is a pro at this.  She wasn't nervous,

just excited!  She could NOT wait to hold him!

All smiles!

The first picture of all three of our kids.

I love this!

"Aunt Penny" came by to hold him that evening too.

Our adopted family member Calli holding Silas.

Grandpa David holding his first grandson.

Daddy doing a great job of feeding Silas for the

first time.  He is doing it exactly like they showed

us in the hospital - hold Silas on his side facing away

from you, that way the milk pools in the side

of his mouth, not the back.  This makes it easier

for him to control the suck/swallow/breathe issue.

Stacey Earleywine stopped by and got to hold Silas too.

I love Silas socks in this picture.

I tried to get a picture of every visitor in the first week but now, looking back, I've realized that I missed a lot! That, or I'm just not finding them on my camera. Hmmm.  These following pictures are ones that Dawn Cox took of us.  She did an amazing job and I love these pictures!!!

The next picture was taken at Dairy Queen on Sunday night.  We walked/rode bikes up there and ran into our friends Kari and Evan Thackrey and their girls.  This picture is of their beautiful little Abigail, born on December 30 and Silas born on December 11.  They looked so cute next to each other!!

This is of the pretty (and fresh!) door wreath that a group

of my out-of-state friends sent to me.  They also sent a

cute little stuffed puppy for Silas and a super soft

blanket with his name on it.  So sweet!

Okay, I think that wraps it up with the pictures that I have.  I probably forgot something but oh well.  The bottom line is that we are doing great!  We are gearing up for the girls' birthdays this week.  Maleah's is the Thursday, the 22nd (Silas' due date) and Carissa's is Monday, the 26th.  It is going to be a fun week here at the Coopers!!!