After four long weeks in the NICU, Ian is finally home!
Ian, 4 weeks old
He was born on December 18th at 6:24 in the morning. He weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. I was induced when he was 34 weeks gestational age because my water had broken a few days prior.
Ian, a few hours old.
Ian’s NICU stay was of the “feeder-grower” variety. He never needed any breathing assistance. His weight started out good and he consistently gained well while he was there. Where we ran into trouble was his “breath-suck-swallow” coordination. He wasn’t quite neurologically mature enough to manage eating without choking himself, and so he had an NG tube for a period of time. Even when taking a bottle, he had to be carefully paced. Interestingly, even from the very beginning, he did a good job breast feeding. The only issue there seemed to be stamina; he’d get tired before he got full.
Ian, 1 day old
The NICU was a hard place to be. There was a baby there who was so premature, he didn’t even weigh two pounds at birth. Another baby had to be on methadone. Still other babies had to be weaned from the various pain killers they had been given to deal with surgeries and whatnot. In relative terms, we really had no room to complain. And yet I think I speak for both of us when I say there is a sense of loss. While we were at that NICU multiple times a day every day he was there, we still feel like we’ve missed out on nearly a month of Ian’s life. Strangers took care of our baby. We had to pass a gatekeeper to visit him. There were hours each day when we weren’t allowed access at all.
Ian, 1 day old
Maya was able to visit Ian once a week, and only for 15 minutes. She thought the three-minute scrub-in was lots of fun. The first time she saw Ian, she very gently touched his hair and gave him a kiss, but I don’t think her new status as a big sister really sunk in. When we got home, she pointed at my pudgy postpartum belly and said, “baby?” Hopefully now that he’s home, she will start to understand that her brother is here.
Ian, 1 week old
It didn’t occur to us to time Maya’s visits such that she’d be able to see Ian on Christmas day, so our family holiday photo actually occurred on the 28th.
Family Xmas, 2014
At any rate, Ian is home now, and we couldn’t be happier. Our little family of four is finally all together under one roof. The jury’s out on whether Maya is okay with this arrangement.
