Transitions

Today was our first full day together at home. Much to my surprise, Dylan is adapting spectacularly well to his new surroundings. I had expected some issues with him being away from the familiar lights and sounds of the NICU, but he has proven to adapt to his surroundings very quickly.

He is sleeping well, whether we have the TV on in the room, lights on, or total darkness and silence. He is eating about every 3 hours or so, sometimes 4 if his last meal was large. He is also a pooping machine. I never in my life thought something that small could produce that much poop. He's pooping so much actually, that he has quite the case of diaper rash. It's getting better quickly though, but it sure looks red and painful. Judging by his reaction when we clean him, I would venture a guess that it is painful.

His reactions are sooo encouraging, too. I know every parent wants to brag on their child about how good they are, but Dylan is just awesome in this regard. When he is upset by something- whether it's a dirty diaper, being hungry or his bottom hurting him, he lets out one cry, or if he is really upset, maybe two or three. even if we can't quite drop whatever it is that we are doing at the time and it takes a minute or two to get to him, he still only cries that one time. It's almost as if he knows, "I cried. They heard me. They'll be here soon." Of course, this is just the beginning, so who knows how long this "honeymoon" may last, but I am surely going to enjoy it while I can.

He had his first appointment with his pediatrician today. She seems OK. I wouldn't rave about her from the little bit we gleaned in our one visit, but she'll at least serve her purpose for now. I think we'll likely end up searching and interviewing some other docs before we find the one we are most comfortable with. There's nothing wrong with the doc we saw today though- she just didn't do anything to impress me.

Dyaln got his first round of shots today, and we were prepared for the worst. After hearing stories of how other family members children reacted badly to one or more of the vaccinations, we were expecting Dylan to at least be cranky, to be overly sensitive to stimuli, or even to just cry a lot. Thankfully, there was none of that. He seemed a bit more tired than usual, but that may just be a side effect of the change from the familiarity of the NICU to being home. He never got a fever, never got cranky, and was his normal self. I'm so glad our first full day with him wasn't spent with him feeling miserable.

Even Barbara and I are transitioning well, I think. I'm well aware of the disruption to normalcy that a new baby can bring to any home, but we've always been so far from normal that it might actually make us more normal. Seriously though, we're starting to work out a reasonable schedule of feedings, Barbara pumping, and she and I being able to spend some time together just watching TV, talking and just being a couple. Of course, once we think we have the hang of it, I'll have to go back to work, and we'll have to figure something else out altogether.

All in all, it's been a nice transition for all of us. Dylan certainly seems content in his new home, and I know for sure that Barbara and I are more than content to have him here with us.

P.S.- A quick note about the blog... I am experimenting with a feature that should allow you to subscribe to the blog via email alerts whenever a new post is made. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and enter your email address in it's entirety into the dialog box and click "subscribe". If things are working properly, this will subscribe you to a GoogleGroup which receives an email whenever the blog is updated.