My Three Sons

 Like any newborn, Gavin's been getting a wide range of opinions about who he looks like and what features are similar to his brothers'. Just for fun, here are pictures of all three boys as newborns. Compare away! :)

Gavin

Logan

Carter

Two Weeks

Gavin is two weeks old today! So far, he's been as busy with appointments as he was in utero, but we expect that to slow down dramatically now. At his two-week appointment today, he weighed in at 7 lb 6 oz, so he is growing well. His echocardiogram on Tuesday reviled nothing to worry about as far as we know. We're pretty sure that they would have called us by now if they had seen something concerning.

We've had family come and go over the last two weeks, which is one of the fun things about having a new baby. Introducing him to everyone is a blast! Over the weekend, Jeff's family (most of them, anyway) got to come to meet Gavin.We went to church on Sunday and showed him off there, too.

On Monday, my dad left for home, and my mom left on Wednesday, which left me wondering, "What exactly am I supposed to be doing around here, anyway?" After having her here for almost a month, I'm not sure I remember how to do dishes or vacuum. It was so nice to have her help for so long. And, amazingly enough, when she left, she wasn't headed for home. My sister had called earlier in the week to ask if Mom could go to help her out with childcare when she was done here. Mom didn't hesitate to agree to be away from home for an additional week and a half. Amazing. Not only that, but my sister and her family had already planned to visit us this weekend to meet Gavin, so they're bringing Mom back for a couple days. What a great deal! ;)

Jeff has been slowly getting back into the groove of work. He worked just a couple hours yesterday, a half-day today, and he'll go back to full time come Monday. It's so great that he has a job that allows him plenty of time-off so that I can ease into taking on all three boys by myself. So far, it's going pretty well. Starting Monday, my MOM'S Club is bringing us meals for a couple weeks, so I'm very excited about not having to worry about meals as Jeff goes back to working full-time. Praise God for good friends!

Logan is doing much better, and Carter continues to be our easy-going Carter. I have realized in the last couple days that with Mom here, I'd gotten used to him having someone else to chatter at. Now that he's back to talking to only me all day, I'm going a little crazy, but I'm sure I'll be used to that again by the end of next week. :) Little Gavin continues to sleep and eat well. I'm sooo grateful for that. Speaking of Gavin, it sounds like it's time for his next meal. Gotta go! :)

Gavin's First Week

We were not able to go home from the hospital on Monday as we had hoped. Even though Gavin's glucose level was looking good, his urine output was low, so they decided to keep him one more day just to be sure he didn't end up getting dehydrated and having to come back. We were, however, allowed to stop testing his blood sugar before each feeding. That was a relief, since each test required a heel prick. His poor little heels have so many tiny marks from being poked every three hours. On Tuesday, he was eating well and his urine output had increased quite a bit, so Gavin was discharged.

We got home during Logan's nap time, so I wondered what he would think to wake up from his nap to find Mommy and Daddy home with a baby. Logan hadn't met Gavin yet because he was too young to be allowed in the NICU. When he woke up he wasn't too interested in Gavin, but enjoyed opening the present that Gavin "gave" him. Since then, Logan's little world has been greatly shaken, and finding ways to deal with that has been our greatest challenge. The first time Logan saw me breastfeeding Gavin, he pitched a fit. He refused to do anything but sit beside me and cry. Since then, his reaction each time I feed Gavin has varied between crying, getting into trouble, and working for as much attention and lap space he can get. He needs extra TLC when I'm not feeding Gavin, too. He's pretty clingy; he's been sensitive to the smallest of offenses; and he is very demanding. I guess you could say he's acting just like any other almost-two-year-old, but there is definitely a difference between now and before. I am happy to report that in spite of his emotional upheaval, Logan hasn't been hostile to Gavin so far. When Gavin is laying on a blanket on the floor, he is sometimes interested in looking at him and patting his head, but he is never unkind. So far.

Gavin has been a very easy baby in his first week of life. He is eating and sleeping well. My parents are still here helping us out, so it's nice to have an in-home sitter when we need to take Gavin to appointments or run errands (or we have someone to run errands while we stay with the boys). They will go home sometime early this week and Jeff will continue to take time off until late this week, so I have a little more time until I have to try to figure out how to manage with three against one.

On the medical front, we got a call from one of the neonatologists on Wednesday to tell us that Gavin should have another echocardiogram. His heart appeared slightly enlarged when they did the first one. They don't think it's a problem, but as a precaution, they want to do another. Then, when we did his first pediatric visit, the nurse practitioner said she detected a slight murmur, so I'm glad we're going in again to check things out. That appointment is this Tuesday. We still haven't heard about when his CT scan will be.

Gavin's Birth and a Brief Update

Friday, May 6: We started the day with a regular appointment. The resident who checked my progress also stripped my membranes. I was looking ready enough that she suggested that if we wanted to, we could go straight over to hospital and break my water. With my record of one speedy delivery in the past, she thought that would be all it would take to have Baby here pretty fast. We talked about it and decided to go ahead, rather than wait any longer and risk a too-fast-to-get-to-the-hospital delivery. (Not to mention that the doctor we wanted to deliver the baby ended her on-call duty that day and, after months of anticipating an early arrival, the idea of not having him here by Mother's Day/due date had made me cry more than once. Not great reasons to induce, but I just had no willpower to decide to stick it out any longer.)

Having anticipated this possibility, we grabbed our bag from the car and headed to Labor and Delivery. They started antibiotics (for step B) at 11:00. The goal was to not deliver Baby until after 3:00 so that the antibiotics would have time to work, so they didn't want to break my water until close to then. I was having contractions just from having membranes stripped, so we figured we would have ended up going back to the hospital if we had left anyway. They gave me pitocin to see if they could get the contractions going a little more, but by 3:00 I was still only dilated to 4 cm, which is where I was at at the clinic, so that was disappointing. Since we'd hit 3:00 they broke my water (after starting an epidural that only worked on one side). By 3:30 or so, we called them to come back and sure enough, I had gone from 4 to 10 cm in less than half an hour and it was time to push. It took what seemed like forever for everyone (team of doctors and NICU team) to get there, but eventually I was given the green light to push and at 3:55, Gavin was born.

He was breathing on his own from the start, so they let me hold him for a minute. Then the NICU team took him to the other side of the room to check him out. Soon, they gave him back to me for a couple of minutes before taking him to the NICU. Jeff and the doctor went back and forth between Gavin and me, giving me updates on how he was doing and showing me pictures.

They did his echocardiogram and a chest x-Ray. His heart is doing great and the mass didn't show up on the x-Ray, so we are going to leave it be for a while. In two or three months, Gavin will have a CT scan to get a good look at the CCAM/BPS and we'll figure out where to go from there.

We've spent our days going back and forth between my room and the NICU. On Sunday, I was discharged. Gavin is having trouble keeping his glucose level up, so hi is still in the NICU. When I was discharged, however, we got to move to a boarding room in the NICU and Gavin can stay with us in the room, so we get to have him close. We are supplementing breastfeeding With formula to keep his glucose up, which seems to be working, so we are hoping to go home today.

Thanks for all your prayers! We'll continue to update as we're able.

Gavin James has Arrived!

Gavin James arrived safely on May 6 at 3:55 pm. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and measured 19 1/2 in. He is breathing on his own and doing really well. Praise God! More later.

An Ultrasound by Any Other Name...

So today's biophysical profile really seemed like a waste of time. We told them Baby is fine and we were right. Of course I'm glad Baby is doing well, but we didn't learn a thing (except for the definition of a BPP). A BPP is simply an ultrasound where they watch for baby to move, check for practice breathing, measure amniotic fluid, and look for one or two other things. This is all stuff we've been observing all along, and we'll check it all again on Friday anyway, so why the extra appointment? Pardon the soapbox, but I think this is one of the things that is wrong with our healthcare system--this unnecessary appointment was probably made just to keep a doctor from getting sued. It's a shame that doctors cannot use common sense to determine whether or not tests are necessary because they're afraid of a lawsuit. I understand a reasonable amount of caution and want to do everything possible to make sure Baby is healthy, but there is such a thing as overkill.

On the home-front, I have a split-personality when it comes to my attitude about Baby's arrival. I've gotten past expecting him to arrive any second and being ultra-prepared. I feel like it's not going to happen today or tomorrow, so I put off things I should be doing, assuming that I can get to it tomorrow or the next day. But I'm very jumpy about braxton hicks. Every time I have a contraction, I stop to evaluate whether it could be classified as "painful" or if it just falls into the "uncomfortable" category. As if I won't notice when they get painful enough to be actual labor. This is the downside of having had an almost-didn't-make-it-to-the-hospital experience.