A productive week....

...and Nate has continued his world tour...lol... not really world tour. Last Thursday we met Lynne, Nate's primary nurse from All Children's for breakfast and were able to catch up with her. We love Lynne. I unfortunately forgot to bring the camera that day, but will get pics the next time we see Lynne.

Monday, we saw Dr Gadea, our primary pediatrician. She is pleased with Nate's weight gain. He is now 9 1/2 pounds. Tuesday we saw the pulmonologist. Nate's heart/apnea monitor was officially discontinued!!!! YEAH!!! Now Nate is wireless!!

Yesterday afternoon, after seeing the pulmonologist, we met Sandra for lunch. Sandra is the mommy of John, a preemie that was born 3 weeks after Nate. We were in the same pod in the NICU for several weeks. We became friends. John is now home. It was nice to see them both and to be able to share stories and experiences with someone else who knows exactly what we have been through. Two of the pics are of John and John and Sandra and there are a couple of John and Nate playing together (OK, I know- they are asleep, but we will pretend they were playing) I really enjoyed spending time with them.

That is all for now. Will update more later.

Leeann and Patrick

He is soo cute!

The last week we have been settling into a bit more of a routine, which will have to change again when I return to work, but that isn't until the day after Memorial Day (May 26th). Last night I fed Nate at midnight- he went to bed at 12:45 am and slept until 5:55 am - Patrick gets up at 6 anyway to go to work, so he feeds him at 6. Hopefully we can get this to work for a while and maybe slowly increase the amount of time he sleeps at night. He continues to be a good baby and is very social , smiling coyly at all the people that stop to look at him.. Whenever they say how cute he is or anything like that, he flashes his big toothless smile like he knows they are talking about him. Here are a few pics from the last week- click to enlarge.

Nate the great!!!

Nate is now 8 1/2 pounds!!! He saw his pediatrician yesterday, the gastroenterologist today and the NICU follow up clinic today. All agree he is doing fantastic. I got permission to wean him off all medicines and see how he does without them. While we were at All Children's Hospital, we stopped in to see Lynne, his primary nurse from the NICU that we love. We also saw several others there that remember Nate and were pleased that he looked so well.

For Nate's height (20 inches) he is actually in the 90th percentile for weight. (of course that is assuming he was full term- he is underweight for age, but all measurements like this and developmental milestones are measure from DUE date, not birth date). So measuring from due date and current height, he is doing great. I got permission to adjust his formula from 24 calories an ounce to 22 calories and ounce (the way it is packaged- I was mixing it at a higher concentration to increase the caloric value).

Here are some pics of Nate - one sleeping- he is so cute sleeping- one with the Easter Bunny Nana Little bought him- one doing tummy time-- he HATES tummy time- and one at the doctors office after he just had gotten 4 shots- click to enlarge.

Nate is settling in to life well...

...he is sleeping well, eating well and passing gas like a pro! He is all boy! He has been sleeping most of the day the last 4 days- I think he may be going through a growth spurt- sleep, eat, repeat, etc. Here are some pics of bedtime the last few nights. In the first pic Patrick is reading him a story (thank you Lynne for this book)...he has his arms stretched out to say "I love you THIS MUCH". We read him a short book every night at bedtime.

Oh- they say to always put a baby to sleep on their back. Nate immediately turns on his right side every night. We have tried readjusting him onto his back, but he just moves right back to the right side. Already strong willed!

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

The butterfly has left the cocoon...

....Nate continues his Pinellas County tour. He gets comments everywhere we go. Yesterday, everyone at Publix thought we was just adorable and today it took me 15 minutes to get out of the bathroom at Costco because all the women in there stopped me to talk about Nate. I don't mind at all. I am happy to talk about him and All Children's and what a great place it is.

The last 2 nights, Nate slept a 6 and 5 hour block Thursday night and a 4 and 5 1/2 hour block last night. I wonder about how he will do tonight since he slept most of the day today. We can't complain- we are not too sleep deprived with him. I think the nurses in the NICU got him trained a bit for us! Thank you , thank you, thank you!

Here are a few pictures from the last 2 days. He has started to use his tummy time mat- he doesn't like it, but he is moving his head and neck and arms like he is supposed to while on it, so I will keep using it!

Getting settled in...

...Nate is getting used to his new home and we are getting settled in as a family. Nate is a pretty good sleeper- he sleeps from 3to 4 1/2 hrs at night- waking for feedings. I used to believe he only cried when he was hungry or needed to be changed.
.....I was wrong. But overall he is a very good baby. Nate has continued be a social butterfly and everywhere we go people oooh and ahhh over him.

We really want to express how much we appreciate all the support and love everyone has shown us in these last few months. It was good to know that we had/have support. A special thank you to the Monday night NY NY gang. My mom passed along your prayers and words of support every week.

We will continue to update this site with new pictures for as long as there is interest.

Leeann and Patrick