Parker's First Photo Session

Well, being a photographer, you know it wouldn't take me long to attempt more professional looking pictures than just snapshots of Parker sleeping, crying, or doing something cute. While those are great pictures to have, I really wanted to try to take some nicer pictures that we could use on baby announcements, display around the house, and give to family. Well, let's just say taking pictures of a newborn is quite challenging. I definitely need to try at least once more, but I think it may be a few time tries before I get some really good stuff. Here are some of the results from the first couple of attempts.

What a Week!

Well, it has been almost an entire week since I last posted anything. A lot has happened in that week, which is part of the reason I couldn't update this blog like I wanted to. Anyway, Parker was finally able to come home on Wednesday. He had been off the IV for almost two days and his blood sugar had stabilized. That means that they didn't have to find a place to stick him again after the IV in his head fell out. But, they did have to remove and replace his feeding tube (from one nostril to the other) because he pulled his first one out. You can see in the picture below that the feeding tube is now in the right nostril whereas before it was in the left nostril.

But at least Parker started eating more regularly. Christen and I went to the hospital three to four times a day on Monday and Tuesday to check on him and feed him.

Once we finally got him home, he crashed in his Pack-n-Play. You can see from this picture that he is quite comfy in it.

Since then, we have been just trying to adjust to Parker's three hour sleep-eat schedule. It's been challenging so far, but we are up to the task. We will let you know how it goes in the weeks to come.

Everyone is Doing Well

Here's the latest...

Everyone is doing well. Mom and I are home and trying to recover. Parker is still in NICU and will be for at least another day, maybe a few more. His blood sugar levels seem to be fine, but they need to ween him off the IV that is keeping those levels up. Hopefully his body starts to produce enough sugar on its own soon. The really bad thing is that they have to keep changing the location of his IV. So last night and this morning it was in his foot as you can see from the photo below.

We visited Parker several times last night and this morning. The picture below is of mom and Parker before an attempted bottle feeding.

The other thing that is keeping him in NICU is that he has been hard to train to accept a bottle. In fact, he has only fed from the bottle a few times. The nurses say that sometime bigger babies have a tough time adjusting to feeding that way, but they are confident that it will click with Parker in the next few days.

Of course, I am sure it is kind of hard to live your first days of life attached to all these wires and machines. The pictures below show all the sensors and tape that is on his body and the machines that he is connected to 24 hours a day.

The final time we tried to feed him a bottle, he was supposed to eat 30 mL of formula. After 10+ minutes of trying, he had only accepted 1 mL. So the nurse fed him through his feeding tube. That's right, if this kid hadn't been through enough, he had to have a tube shoved down his nose into his stomach so that he can been weened off the sugar water drip. He seems fine with it, but it just the idea that he has to endure all this and he is only two days old. You can see from the picture below that the machine with the green screen is slowly pumping the formula into his tube while he sleeps. At least he is getting his nourishment, but it will be much nicer when we can take a bottle every time.

Well, now you are caught up. Christen and I will be going to the hospital several times a day to check on Parker and try to feed him. We will keep you updated on his progress!

Parker in NICU

Well, Parker was moved to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit last night due to low blood sugar. The doctors say it is nothing to worry about. They need to watch him closely so that they can work to bring his blood sugar to more normal levels. Right now he is on a sugar water drip. His levels look good and he should be able to go home with us tomorrow. Poor guy had to get stuck twice (once in each arm) for his IV. Good thing he won't remember any of this when he is older.

Notice the IV in Parker's left arm in this picture.

Notice the IV in Parker's right arm in this picture. Apparently, the tape was causing an allergic reaction on Parker's skin so they had to move it.

We Moved to a Post-Partum Room

Yesterday evening they moved us into a Post-Partum room. It's a little nicer in that it is bigger than the Labor and Delivery room we were in and it has more places for visitors to sit. But the greatest thing about the room is that it has a hook on the outside of the door so we can finally hang the sign my Aunt Ish (Susan) made for Parker. She is a wonderful artist and was an art teacher for a long time in Beaumont. Now she just does this kind of stuff for friends and family mostly in her spare time. Megan, my sister, was kind enough to fill in the appropriate data. Everyone that comes to our room loves the sign and wants to know where we got it. Thanks Ish!

First Photos of Parker

Well, yesterday was a bit of a busy day as you can imagine. Here are some of the photos of Parker I took yesterday. I will post more from last night and this morning.

Happy Birthday Parker!

Parker made his entrance into the world in grand style. He let everyone know he was here. After a while though, he calmed down and just tried to adjust to his new environment.

The First Night

Arriving at the hospital at 9:00 pm, we quickly made our way to the Labor & Delivery ward on the 3rd floor. The hospital is nice and the accommodations are quite comfortable. Below are some pictures I took when we first got settled in.

Where Christen slept. Not too bad!

Where Patrick slept. Not too good!

The heart rate monitor showing 148 beats per minute.