Ending With A Bang - #NICUlife

Because Benjamin was born six weeks early and was a tiny little guy, he got to spend some time in the NICU.

Ben brought with him many firsts for me, first cesarean, first NICU experience, I mean, like the title says, we really are ending our child birthing years with a bang. As a result of our inexperience, we didn't think our time in the NICU would be very long, he was a healthy baby, just early and small. But Ben had other plans, he would get these drops in his heart rate called Bradycardia or Brady's for short. The doctors and nurses spent most of his time there trying to pinpoint when the drops would happen. Just when they thought they had him figured out, he would have a Brady at a completely different time. In order to come home, he had to be relatively Brady free for five days. We figured he must have liked the quiet and being spoiled by the nurses because he kept having them. The hardest part was (well there were a few hard parts) the Brady's were something he just had to grow out of. There wasn't much we could do but wait for him to grow out of them. That got frustrating when he was gaining weight and taking his bottles like a champ and weighing more than all of his siblings did when they left the hospital. But we were also grateful that he was a strong and healthy boy and things could have been a lot worse.

After about a month and a half, we were able to take him home. It was so different than taking our other kids home, he was ours but he also didn't totally feel like ours. Anyway, here are some pictures from his/our journey.

Benny and his chicken legs at 1 week old.

A tiny baby hand. Pictures don't do his size justice.

Grandma Krystyne and Big Sister Millie

He always had is hands so straight and flat. So relaxed...

The first time Kate went to the NICU she saw that some of the other babies had signs with their names hanging up. That night, she went home and immediately made a sign for her brother. Also, the other sign was made by one of the nurses when he finally was weighing four pounds on the scale, it was exciting times.

Millie, being my NICU buddy. Some days were better than others, especially because potty training was involved.

My other NICU buddies. These two were troopers.

A found list by Kate with a bonus Ice cream recipe on the bottom.

Waiting to get burped.

The Mom guilt for me in the NICU was amazing. Ben had scheduled feedings and they liked you to come for those as to not disrupt his sleeping schedule. Between Ryan and I, we would make it to about 3 of 4 feedings a day. People would ask me how many hours I would spend at the hospital daily and when you broke it down like that, it sounded like hardly any time. The tricky part that they and I needed to remember was that I had three kids at home, two of which were in school, so making sure everyone's needs were met was really hard. I always felt like I was under performing in some area of my life.

A lot of love.

Our board with Benny updates and occasional things drawn by Kate in the special comments section.

Millie and Ben Ben

Pretty much every night at 10:30pm this is where you could find me.

Ben's set up. This was the saddest part, when you would have to set him down and leave him for the night. This would be the last thing I would see as I shut the door.

Bathtime

Ben at one month old.

One thing I started realizing was that he was starting to grow out of his Preemie clothes. I had sent the hand me down clothes to the hospital already and was saving the nicer stuff for when he came home, but once he got the hang of the bottle, he was packing on the ounces. So I had to bring all the outfits in. Some of his cute outfits never saw life outside of the hospital. That's a good thing though, he was growing.

He was upgraded to this crib about 5 weeks into his stay. I remember seeing it and was happy for him and his new space but also kept thinking, he is never coming home, the hospital owns him now. This was around the point that we just wanted him home, he was healthy and doing well, but Ben had his own timing.

Grandma Lori and Benny

A picture of his board on his last day in the NICU.

Part of the family heading home. Yay!!!

My friend Shelley ordered this shirt for Ben to wear. He was just barely fitting in it by the time he got to wear it. I got a picture of him in it at the hospital the day he left. 

We made it home and we survived the NICU. I will say I prefer the more conventional way of having a baby and both of you leaving the hospital at the same time, but we are just happy that Mom and baby were ok. We love this little guy and we are so glad he is here to join the craziness.