An Update for You

Benjamin is doing good up in paeds. He has a nice big room to himself. I do miss the NICU though. I miss all the nurses. Now we get different nurses every day and they don't get to know him. I did make up a sheet for the nurses now that tells a little bit about Benjamin- hopefully they actually read it. Benjamin is on 250 ccs of oxygen. He is doing really good on this amount. He is growing and weighs about 8 lbs. His soft spot on his head is getting smaller and is more symmetrical so that is great. His soft spot used to go out more on the one side than the other. This is also how we know (without ultrasounds every day or week) whether the surgery is working or not. He is getting so cute and every time we go there we just want to take him home. But unfortunately he's not ready yet. He still has to get off oxygen. He is bottle feeding right now although sometimes, depending on the nurse, he does get some put through his NG tube. I don't think he needs it though. They tried putting him Q4, demand, ad lib which means that he would get fed on demand but not go past 4 hours. However, Benjamin did not like this idea and decided he wasn't going to open his mouth and bottle for the nurses. He really scared them as well as the doctor and us when he did this. The doctor ordered blood tests and an ultrasound to see if it was from his head and the surgery wasn't working. But they all came back fine and the doctor put Benjamin back to feeding every 3 hours. The doctor talked to us about it and we said that he had the same thing at Childrens. He's just not ready for Q4, demand, ad lib. He likes his 63 ml every 3 hours.

Kyle is doing great at home. However, he does NOT like the heat. Wednesday night we ended up going and finding a cheap air conditioner since he was throwing up all day. Every time I fed him he'd just spit most of it back out. He was also very cranky all day and wouldn't sleep at all. Now our house is a whole lot cooler. I guess he's used to air conditioning in the hospital and couldn't handle the heat. The infant development program came and assessed Kyle the other day and he is right on track with where he is supposed to be developmentally. I already knew that before they came so it wasn't a big surprise but it's good to have him assessed. Last night he slept 6 1/2 hours at one stretch so that was great for mom & dad as well:)

The boys are already 6 weeks corrected age. Wow!!! I'm still waiting for the smiles and giggles but I'm sure they'll come.


Here are some pictures:

Grandma Vanderspek enjoying a snuggle with Kyle.

Auntie Ali, Uncle Tim & Kyle.

Daddy giving Kyle a bath.

Grandma Langbroek & Kyle.

Auntie Evelyn, Josh & Levi with Kyle.

Uncle Glenn holding Kyle.

Benjamin trying to get his soother back in his mouth after it fell out. He wasn't successful so Mommy had to put it back in- after taking pictures of him trying of course:)

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(These next pictures are in a sequence)

After a long time of not being able to snuggle together, Kyle (left) & Benjamin (right) were able to snuggle on Daddy's lap.

Benjamin just lost his soother and is trying to get it back.

However, Kyle felt it against his face and is now trying to get it too. Who is going to succeed?

Oh, it looks like Benjamin got it. Does he have it for good?

Nope, Kyle is trying to pull it away and suck on it too.

And the finale- they compromised and Benjamin got to suck on the big end and Kyle on the little end.

(end of sequence)

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Kyle enjoying his swing- so much he fell asleep. Notice how he puts both his feet out one side.

Benjamin sleeping with his teddy.

Kyle with a cool cloth on his head- trying to cool him down in the heat on Wednesday.