Home Sweet Home

We are home and LOVING it!  I cannot even begin to describe the feeling I had leaving the hospital; this time WITH my baby.  It was a wonderful feeling!  All the way home (of course I was staring at Jackson in his car seat the entire way!!) Nick and I kept saying how excited and surprised we were at going home so early.  We were expecting to stay in the NICU for 1-2 more weeks.  Like Nick said, what a wonderful Christmas present!  St. Lukes NICU was incredible.  We are so thankful that they took such great care of Jackson and us.

The transition to home has been fairly smooth.  The first night was a little rough.  Jackson was adjusting to a new environment, a quiet one!  No beeps from monitors or other crying babies.  He would only sleep if we were holding him.  Now he is a great sleeper and eater.  We even have to wake him up most of the time to feed him.  We definitely take advantage of his awake time to play with him.

We have a lot of appointments scheduled to monitor his progress.  We had some doctor visits this week.  He had his follow up eye exam, which went well.  The vessels in his eyes are continuing to grow, but not completely mature.  The doctor said he looked great.  We have one more eye exam in a couple of weeks to make sure the vessels are completely mature.  We also met our pediatrician here in St. Joe, Dr. Evans.  He was surprised that Jackson was born at 30 weeks and did not have oxygen or have to be sent home on a monitor.  He commented that someone was really looking out for him.  : )  He got weighed there-he now weighs 5lbs. 4oz.  We also have Heartland Home Health that comes a couple times a week to monitor his vitals and weigh him.

It has been so special to share this time with my family.  I love my boys so much!!!  Enjoy the pictures below.  I hope you and your families had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ.  Have a Happy New Year!  And thank you for your continued prayers and support.  Please continue to pray for our Jackson that he continues to gain weight and stay healthy.  We would also appreciate continued prayers for Grandpa Ed.  We love you all.

Jackson is five weeks old now!!  Looking a little bit bigger, huh?!!!!

Itty-bitty in his carseat.  No tears all the way home!  Go Jackson!!!

Family of 3 excited to go home!

Admiring my little boy!

So excited to go home.  Just waiting on transportation to wheel me out, which I thought was strange....I still had to be escorted out in a wheel chair with Jackson even though he was just about five weeks old!

We are home!!  And of course, Daddy and Jackson are watching the Mizzou game.

We came home to a welcome sign!  Thanks Baba!
And thanks, Mimi and Grandpa B, Baba and Papa for buying the necessities for us !

Baba holding her "little lump of sugar!"

A VERY special Christmas (hint, hint)

We're going home!!!

Christmas came early for us in the form of our favorite nurse. She told us early yesterday that she didn't think he needed to stay much longer and got the ball rolling for us. By yesterday evening we got the word that we would be rooming in tonight and, if all went well today, going home tomorrow. Well, he has done everything he needed to do and we will be headed to the Joe sometime tomorrow.

Needless to say, we're pretty excited and feeling extremely blessed. The nurse practitioner told us tonight that it is very rare for preemies to go home at 35 weeks, so we feel pretty special. I think Jenny's ready to enroll him in gifted programs. Overboard.

Thank you all for your prayers and support through all of this. God is good. Happy Birthday Jesus! and Grandpa Gilliam! Please keep my Grandpa Gilliam and family in your thoughts and prayers as well.

Papa and Baba came to wish Jackson a Merry Christmas and
they brought mom and dad some dinner!

Acing his car seat test. He looks tiny in it.

Mom had to take a picture of us moving out of the NICU.

His Santa that we got from Ronald McDonald House. 

Mom feeding him his first bottle. He downed 50ml!

Someone is a little excited about the thought of going home.

Mom's not the only one excited to go home. Looks like dad can't wait to sleep in his own bed.

Loved seeing a blank monitor. No wires connected to my boy.

Snuggly after his first bottle. 

34 Week Update

Well, I survived my first week back to work.  I went to the hospital every morning before work to see Jackson. The first day was rough, but it was so nice to see my friends and students and enjoy some time with them before the holidays.  Once again, Pathfinder friends, students, and parents were so supportive and made the transition an easier one for me. And it was a bit easier knowing that Daddy or Baba was spending the day with Jackson.  It was a good week!

Jackson is now 4 weeks!  He actually turned 4 weeks yesterday, but his eyes were so swollen from his vision test that we didn't want to irritate him with a photo shoot.

Thanks for making my shirt, Baba!

Speaking of his eye test, he did well.  It is not a fun procedure for these little guys.  The eyes are the last to develop, so we were prepared by the doctors to not be too surprised if his eye test results came back "immature".  The results come back as either Zone 1, Zone 2, or Zone 3.  The higher the zone, the more developed his eyes are, thus having the best looking, most blood vessels matured.  Jackson received a Zone 2 score.  So, not bad, but he will be receiving a second eye test in two weeks, either here at St. Lukes (if we are still here) or at Children's Mercy (if we've been discharged by then).  Jackson's nurse later told us that she heard the doctors were debating on whether to give him a 2 or 3, so the outcome was decided he is a "2, almost a 3".  He does have a blocked tear duct that will continue to get monitored, but it's nothing serious.

Jackson's transition to the crib has been great!  In order to stay in the crib and not go back to the isolette, he has to maintain his temperature and continue to gain weight.  When babies try to keep their body warm, they burn calories.  When preemies burn calories, they can quickly loose weight.  But so far, Jackson has had wonderful temperatures and continues to gain weight.  He is currently 5.1 pounds!  YAY!

Like Nick said, we are terribly homesick.  We desperately want to take our baby boy home.  We understand, however, he is right where he needs to be, getting phenomenal care and improving everyday.  He has several things on his checklist before we can go home, the most important (and often the only thing preventing these little ones to go home) being building endurance with feedings and continuing to gain weight.  He nursed 3 consecutive times today with me and the nurse said he did not need any supplements either of those times because of the length of time he nursed....I just hope he is getting enough!  How do you know mommies??   

I've enjoyed spending my evening with my boys. I love my family so much!  What a wonderful early Christmas gift, huh?!

Santa's Little Helper, that's right!!   

Check out my booty!

Dancing to Christmas music with my mommy.

Seriously, how cute is this?!!

Santa's little helper and Santa's big helper.

  

Crib, constipation, cinco, Christmas

We have a five pound baby that passed his hearing exam, moved to a crib and hasn't pooped for two days. Hold that thought, some strange noises just came from his diaper, accompanied by an odor that would embarrass a skunk. 


At this very moment Jackson is nursing and listening to Christmas music. After some boring days, he had a pretty eventful one with the weight gain, moving to a crib and passing his hearing test with flying colors. The hearing exam is the first thing to get checked off of his to do before coming home list. He also got the ok from the doctor to not take any supplemental feedings after a "quality" nursing. According to mom he just nursed with great quality. 

Grandma Mari stopped by tonight and oooed, awed, and heeheeheed for about an hour or so. Cousin Em. brought by some good grub and got to meet Jax. Tomorrow is his one month birthday - and we'll celebrate mom's 360th month Friday. 

New pad

I'm waiting for the MTV camera crew to show up and film my episode of cribs!

BIG day with dad

In your best Joey Lawrence voice do it with me - WHOA! Jackson may have lost 10 grams yesterday but he had plenty in the tank today. Twenty four hours ago he was listed at 4lbs. 11oz. He's now a whopping 4lbs. 15oz. Can't really explain that one but we'll take it. My guess is that someone screwed up last night and the previously stated loss didn't really happen. He had been gaining about two ounces a day so the math would work out. No matter how it happened, we have a nearly five pound baby.


I'm running out of patience with the crib thing. We were told all along that he could go to a crib at 34 weeks, which was yesterday. We haven't heard anything about a crib any time soon. I have no idea why, but you can guarantee I will be finding out very soon. 


Jenny seemed to do well with her first day back at work. That's what she said anyway. Jax seemed to miss her and her assets. When I got here he was wide awake, searching for something that I didn't have. No visitors today, just some Jackson and daddy guy time this afternoon before mom showed up and crashed our party this evening. 

Thanks for my cool clothes, grandma Mari!

I really like hanging out with my dad.  

Hurry up and wait

We have a healthy baby boy, but not healthy enough to come home yet, which is driving dad nuts.

Jenny is going back to work tomorrow. She's planning on working these last few days before their Christmas break starts and then kind of playing it by ear after that. His next mile marker will be to come off of supplemental breast milk, which should be happening any day. Once that happens, it will be harder for Jenny to stay away. 

He got up to 4lbs. 11oz. last night, but was down a few grams tonight. It was his first loss in a while but after gaining over two ounces yesterday, we're not concerned with a small loss, yet. We had a good day with all the grandparents, uncle E.J. and the Brooners stopping by. GO CHIEFS!

DAY 1

DAY 25

DAY 1

DAY 25

Little Chunk

Here is a video of our sweet Jackson when we tucked him in for the night.  We love his sweet, baby sounds.

Our Jackson is up to 4 pounds, 8 ounces!!  That is a whole pound heavier than his birth weight!  We are thrilled about his progress.  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.  We love him sooooo sooooo soooooo much.


Enjoy these pictures of our handsome fella'!  Doesn't he look bigger?!

Mommy just gave me a baby massage.  I loved it!!

This picture makes Jackson look like a chunk!  It's a bit misleading, but he is getting bigger everyday!

Our little stud muffin!

Ol' Saint Nick in the NICU

Yep, he's in a stocking. Just like his mommy was almost 30 years ago.

Santa brought another ounce for little Jackson on his three week birthday. He's up to 4lbs. 7oz. which means once mommy gives the okay, he'll be on an all-McCutcheon meal plan. Well, sort of. He'll still need some extra calories in the form of formula. I suggested we add a little creatine to his bottle to beef him up and get him ready for the league, but it was frowned upon.

Reflux is rearing its ugly head again. He threw a couple of fits today that left us wondering if we should be concerned or excited that we're experiencing the joys of a crying baby. It was the first time since he first entered the world that he has used his lungs like this. They have scaled his supplemental feedings back a little but he still seems to be having some issues with keeping it from backing up on him. Judging by the other sounds he was making, we think his cries may have also been the result of more than a little gas.

Santa came. Baba came - with lunch. "Aunt" Bren and "Uncle" Aaron came - with a really good dinner and even better company. I wrote and submitted my last assignment for the semester. It was a good day.

I'm getting bigger.

We're still here

We're back! Sorry for the hiatus but Jackson has went on cruise control and Mom and Dad have been busy keeping up with homework, laundry, sleep and videos of nieces.

As for Jax, he's up to 4lbs. 5oz. He is now in the area of the NICU known as "south." We were a little reluctant to get too excited about his move, but realized quickly that it's just fine and maybe even better. Jenny even got a little bummed when a nurse told her that he might get moved back for Christmas due to short staffing.

He had went two days without an alarm, then decided to have two Brady's today. They keep feeding him more and Jenny has been nursing him for about a week, so he's getting plenty to eat. The nurse today thought that his Brady's were probably the result of him refluxing a little and holding his breath to try to keep it down. He's an all-star nurser and every nurse has commented that he acts a week or two older than his age in this area.

He's two ounces away from being taken off of supplemental breast milk and going strictly to nursing and formula. Jenny's been having some issues with her milk coming in, so say a prayer for her. We want her to turn into a dairy, so he doesn't have to go home on any supplements.

Mom and Dad are getting some cabin fever and are a little home sick. We can't wait to be back in the Joe with Jackson and sleeping under our own roof. Jenny has spent about an hour and a half in our house since Nov. 20 and I've only been home a few times to pick up clothes. Jen is planning on going back to work for a few days next week and could use some prayers there too. I managed to get caught up on homework, and after a short paper to turn in Thursday and a final on Friday, I'll be done for the semester.

We'll be doing this a lot next week when mom's at work.

Pee-ooh!! It stinks in here.

Thanks for my story Bible cousin Em.
We read a little Sunday after the game.

Tree froggin it with dad.