Long Overdue Update

Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken a month to update this thing, but as you can imagine, life has been hectic. As Mike said, I went back to work after Easter, and I haven't had a quiet moment since. James has been thriving, spending his days with Grandma and Grandpa, loving every moment of it! The weather is starting to cooperate, so we have been able to go for walks in downtown Wyandotte and enjoy the spring. I am counting down the days until summer vacation, so I can spend quality time with James again. Here is a snapshot of life in the past month.

I can roll over!!

Hungry or sleepy? How about both!

At my cousins wedding.

Uncle Dave and cousin Holden =)

A long month

Hello everyone,

It has been a long, busy month. Carolyn is back to work so there has been little time to update anything recently. We will have more pictures and info posted this weekend though! James is still doing well, getting bigger and becoming more active when awake. More will be posted soon!

Baby Shower and Visitors

I finally got to have my baby shower on April 2nd! Everything turned out great, thanks to Molly, Rose, and Bonnie! I am so lucky to have such amazing friends and family that came to help me celebrate James. We received so many wonderful gifts that we have already been able to get use of.

One of my absolute favorite gifts came from my FAVORITE art teacher, Ms. P! She drew the hippopotamus from my favorite book and placed James' name in his hands. We now have this hanging in his room. Thank you so much!!

Molly and her mom made wonderful sugar cookies for the shower, not only did they taste great, but they were also decorated beautifully!

James has also had quite a few visitors that couldn't wait to come over and hold him!

Tara

Our "Ms. P" =)

Miss. Amanda wanted to eat his cheeks, but decided that he was just too small!

Aunt Julie was so excited to hold her very first nephew!

Molly came for a special visit!

She was playing a game with James, or was James playing a game with Molly...

Look at me! I don't need any help, Auntie Molly showed me how to hold my bottle!

2 Weeks!

James has been home for 2 weeks now! It is amazing to watch him grow and change each day. When he is put down in his bassinet he will try to roll onto his side, so we have started to put him on his belly for some tummy time. After he attempts to eat the blanket, he will then move his head from side to side and lift it up for short periods, my little man is definitely getting stronger!

James had his first bath at home on April 1st. It was definitely a task for 2 people and because of this, I was only able to take a few pictures. James wasn't too fond of the bath, as soon as he hit the water he 'christened' both Mike and I. The second bath went much better!

We have gone on a few outings since he has come home, here are some of the places that James has visited:

• Grandma and Grandpa Owens' House
• Big Boy
• Target
• Babies R Us
• Olga's
• Sam' Club

Luckily James loves his car seat, so it is very easy to put him in the seat and go.  It was also very warm this past weekend, so we took James on his first walk. We walked from Gma and Gpa Owens' house to 7-11 for Slurpees. He did well, but I think he wanted a Slurpee of his own...maybe next year =-)

Also in the past 2 weeks, we have had many doctors appointments. I went for my 6 week appointment, and all is good! James went to the pediatrician for the first time, he did great, but I am not impressed with the doctor, we are now in the process of finding a new pediatrician. James also went to see the eye doctor last week. The doctor was looking for signs of a disease that premature babies can get which will cause them to go blind. If caught, there are drops that can be put into the eye to stop the deterioration. The doctor said that James' eyes look great, but we have to go back next week to make sure.

Linda, the visiting nurse, came to visit us today. She is wonderful, and I wish that she was a pediatrician because we would definitely see her! She assessed James and said he looks wonderful, and his breath sounds are great. Today he weighed in at 5lbs 12 oz. On average, babies are supposed to gain between .5 oz and 1 oz. per day. So far, James has gained 12 oz. in about a week! The nurse also said that preterm babies almost never do this, so James is ahead of the mark as far as she's concerned. Keep up the good work James!


Pictures from the first 2 weeks

James loves his new bouncy seat! Thanks Emily!!

He looks so different without the cannula on his face!

Poor little guy. He would not let go of the paci or the towel after the bath!

The Owens Family except for Mitchell, he's in Chicago.

The First Few Days

James has now been home for almost 48 hours and we are all adjusting nicely. Yesterday the Home Care Nurse came to the house to assess James, and his transition to home from the hospital. She said that he looks great, his lungs sound clear and overall he's doing fabulous! His oxygen tank was also delivered yesterday, we were given a portable tank of oxygen to get him home from the hospital, but we needed a permanent tank for the house. So we now have a 4.5 foot tall tank in James' bedroom. Because its not quite mobile, they gave us a 25 ft. cord to attach to his cannula. I can reach most of the house on this cord, except for the dining room. With any luck, James will not have to remain on the oxygen for much longer.

Pictures from the first 48...

Mike's first ever diaper change!

He did a great job, notice Grandma and Grandpa anxiously watching =)

All done! Happy Dad and happy James, life is good!

Jimmy #1 and Jimmy #2,  I love it!

It is a bit blurry, but I just love this little face!

Finally Home!

Well, James finally made it home! He was scheduled to go home on Tuesday after a brief desaturation (decrease in the capillary oxygen concentration) over the weekend, which pushed his discharge a day back from Monday. On Monday night, the hospital called and said the home oxygen service had all the necessary paperwork to set him up with a home oxygen tank and a few portable tanks. The orders for his medications had also all been sent to the pharmacy, so he was set to be discharged Tuesday. Well into Tuesday morning, we still hadn't heard from the oxygen people and the hospital wouldn't tell us what the company's name was so we could contact them ourselves. When Carolyn went to her appointment for a checkup, it was looking like they were going to take so long we would have to bump his discharge back to Wednesday. Thankfully, a little after 1:00PM they called me at work to set up what time we could meet them at the hospital to set James up with the portable oxygen tank. After making the arrangements I left work early to pick Carolyn up and drive to the hospital. After getting everything squared away with the oxygen tanks, I had to go to class (thankfuly WSU is a few blocks from the hospital) so Carolyn completed the paperwork for James's discharge while I was gone. By the time I returned, they were waiting for a single form to be completed before they released us. We finished up and had him home by shortly after 7:00.

This was where James was stationed since his move from the NICU into the Progressive Care Nursery.

James in his very cute going home outfit!

It's hospital policy for the nurse to carry the baby to the car. Nurse Heather was our discharge nurse.

Our big boy loved his car seat!