Day 45-54 Monday to Wednesday, Jan. 11-20

Homestretch

Missed another whole week of entries again! Ok let me try and dial back into my memory bank. We are in the home stretch with our stay in Syracuse, NY. Yahoo! Granted it's been great getting to spend so much time with family, especially Tommy and Uncle Lewis. However WE ARE READY to go HOME! We were given a guesstimate of 10-14 days left. This was told to us on Thursday, January 14. Hopefully this is true.

Wyatt's mountain to climb is GAIN WEIGHT and move into an open crib, which is dependent upon weight gain. 1,500 grams is the magic number in order to start trying him out in an open crib to see if he can regulate his own temperature. We also found out on Monday, January 18 his hematocrit is low (ability to make red blood cells). They feel it doesn't mean he needs a blood transfusion but it does mean they need to bump his iron up in hopes that his body will respond and increase his hematocrit.

All is great in G Nursery until the crack head parents moved in. I feel so bad for this little baby that became Wyatt's neighbor. The parents were clearly addicts and obnoxiously loud to the point of not being able to think or hear a nurse talking to us. All we want is peace and quiet while visiting our son. Thursday, January 14 we were moved from G Nursery to the 8th floor Satellite Nursery. Not a bad thing that we were moved. Only the healthiest babies go there when the census is high in the NICU. Good, maybe we can get away from the loud parents with all the social issues on top of everything else. We heard more then we wanted to about their life. God bless that child and give him a good home. We visit Wyatt in the satellite nursery that evening and guess who is there. The loud parents baby was also moved to the Satellite Nursery. We could only handle one evening in that nursery with the loud parents there. Understand that the Satellite Nursery is the smallest room ever and houses five babies. You are back to back on top of each other, literally. So we asked one of the NPs if we could go back up to Nursery G. The next morning we found out we were not moved but the loud parents baby was moved back upstairs. The nurses all agreed that that nursery was not the place for that set of parents. They needed more watchful eyes on them. I could go on but I won't.

I received a voicemail message from Dr. Crawford finally in response to my phone call last week. He proceeded to tell me about the pathology of my placenta. We are looking for some reason why I gave birth to Wyatt so early. We are prepared if there is no real answer why. Dr. Crawford said that there were infarcts found which were blocking blood flow. How that causes low amniotic fluid I am not sure.

Wednesday, January 20 Wyatt Hits 1,500 grams!
Just another day....going great. Craig is getting a little antsy to get home. Business is calling and of course we have been here 8 weeks already. We want our own bed! Craig and I have a talk with one of the nurse practitioners to get a REAL feel on how much longer we have. Karen (the NP) gave us a 10 day window (12max).....really is dependent on his weight gain. She states Wyatt is STELLAR baby but small. He also just needs to maintain his temperature in open crib now which will probably happen on Thursday. Karen also says he is doing awesome and will be going home on the smaller side anyways. Everyone say prays that things stay on track and we go home next week.

Wyatt is breast feeding like a champ and I am up to 4 feedings a day with him. The most I can fit into the nurses schedule. He is truly an unbelievable baby. Crazy his maturity for his size and gestation. Craig had to do work this evening so I handled tubby time myself. Wyatt is now taking real tubbys in a dish pan. He loves it....calms right down when you plop him in the warm water. Plus he eats like a champ after his bath and conks out after he eats. Weigh in was a success. I must have a mental scale because I guessed he would weigh in at 1,540 grams. I was off only by 4 grams.

Craig leaves on Thursday to go home one more time for business and to haul a few things back. Like the chest freezer full of breast milk and the weight bench he acquired while in Syracuse. My mom is coming for a visit on Thursday and to bring Darth down. Darth is leaving his "Farm Life" at my parents and going back to VA. I know my parents and little brother will miss him since he has been living with them for 8 weeks.