Jacob and his quilt

Ok so I'm a little behind on posting stuff...Jacob has received a few gifts since he came home from the hospital :) This one in particular is a quilt that was made by a group of online friends from all over the world. Some of these ladies I just met within the last year but some I've known for years. They all got together to make this adorable quilt for Jacob, complete with Air Force logos in the corners :) It is barely larger than a crib quilt and makes him look super tiny (which he is).

APHA Fall show

last Friday, Zach and I took Ashley and Dagen (and Jacob) to the American Paint Horse Assn. Fall show in Fort Worth. Zach's aunt works for APHA so we had a good reason to go. Ashley and Dagen walked the barns and greeted several horses, talked to a few riders, watched the competitions, watched the horses getting groomed to compete, and the winner's circle photographs. They had a great time. Ashley was in horse heaven!

6 weeks old!

Jacob has been home for a whole week. He's doing great. I'm exhausted :P He has a preference of sleeping ON one of us, otherwise he lays in his bed and grunts in his sleep, which, when amplified over the baby monitor into our bedroom prevents anyone from getting any sleep.

He weighed in at 4lbs 9oz at his first doctor appointment, so he is still gaining steadily, which is good. He's eating well, though only from a bottle which means I have to pump all the time.

I haven't taken new pictures yet but I'm going to work on that this week.

JACOB IS HOME!!!!!!

Jacob is finally home! We spent the night at the hospital last night. Jacob slept soundly (at least SOMEONE did...) and ate well, just as he needed to, and he got to take his first trip outdoors to head home this afternoon.

As soon as we got home, he ate and took a nice long nap on mommy, then hung out with us for a little while before dozing back off.

He has his first dr. appt this coming Friday, but otherwise will pretty much just be hanging out at home for the next few weeks.

Still making progress :)

Jacob is continuing to regain his progress he had made before his setback on Monday. He has completed 3 of his required 5 days being "apnea free" without any further incident. He has been a little up and down on his weight gains, which have been attributed mainly to alot of....diapers...the boy likes to poop.

He has gained back what he had lost, so he was just under 4lbs, 4oz this morning, a gain of about 1.5 oz over the last 24 hours.

Ever since Monday's episode he has been lazy with his feeds, not taking all of his milk, or taking excessively long to finish. We were on the verge of having to have his feeding tube reinserted to make sure he was getting all his required nourishment, but he must have heard us talking and stepped up, and has been taking his feeds like a big boy ever since.

Currently, the plan is to room in Sunday evening and discharge on Monday, the 10th at this point.

Update on coming home

We had originally thought he would be coming home today. He got a new doctor yesterday who disagreed, and had pushed it back an extra day or two. While I want him home more than anything I am thankful for that doctor's decision to keep him.

Yesterday was a tough day for Jacob. He had a shot, circumcision, was jostled about going from procedure to procedure, had tylenol, and had a long bath, while I was learning what to do to bathe him, and had more feeds by breast than normal. (All his feeds are breastmilk but some by bottle)

Last night/early this morning Jacob had an apnea spell where he stopped breathing for 20 seconds. His heart rate plummeted and he required the nurse to pick him up and stimulate him to recover. While these are quite common in preemies, we have been lucky that he has not had any episodes before now. While the doctor is fairly confident that it was the result of just too much stress on him yesterday, he now will not be discharged for several more days as a result.

The hospital's "rule" is a 5 day countdown without further episodes before they will revisit discharging him, so he will be there at least through the weekend.

Had I roomed in with him last night, we might very well have lost him, as he would not have been on the monitor that detected he had stopped breathing and set off alarms.

ATTENTION: WE HAVE A DISCHARGE DATE!!!

Jacob's doctors are so impressed with all his progress! As his doctor stated to me today: He thinks he's a big boy so let's give him the chance to prove it!" Tomorrow evening I will be "rooming in" at the hospital with him overnight. Just as if I had had him at term, he'll stay in the room with me, I'll feed him, change him, etc. (only I won't be bothered by nurses coming to poke and prod ME all night..and I won't be in pain!) and they'll keep an eye on how he does. If all goes well, he's coming home on TUESDAY!

Good thing Zach and I already voted! Hopefully we'll have more than just Jacob's homecoming to celebrate that evening!