Happy Due-Date!

If Dylan had been a more conventional child- with a bit more patience, today would have been his due date. It's really amazing to think of how far he has come in these last 10 weeks. To think that if things had gone according to schedule, I would only just now be changing my first diaper, burping him for the first time, feeding him for the first time- all these things that have already become like second nature would still be brand new to me. It kind of makes him coming so early feel like we got a head start on things with him. Granted, I would have rather had him cook for the full duration and avoided 48 days in the NICU, but now that he's home and doing so well, I think we can look at the bright side of his early arrival. Heck, it's not like we can do anything about it now, anyway.

And he does have a bit of a head start, I guess. He is already learning to support his head. He doesn't have full control over it yet, but when on his belly, he can pick it up, hold it steady or move it from side to side. He can hold it steady when he is upright as well, but not indefinitely. That will come as he gets older. His hand eye coordination is becoming somewhat noticeable. While he can't actually grasp things at will, he can definitely bring his hands to his mouth whenever he wants to, and he even seems to intentionally hold his pacifier in his mouth at times. He can track moving objects well, too. As long as it moves slowly, and stays within his range of focus, he will follow something by moving just his eyes and when it moves far enough, he'll turn his head to follow as well. He also reacts to sounds and voices by turning towards them to investigate. All of these things are things that a full term baby would be learning over the first one to three months. Dylan, who is just now at "day 0", already has these things down pat.

You only need to take one look at this before and after pic to see just how far he has come!


To celebrate his due date, Barbara and I finally finished decorating Dylan's nursery, It hasn't been a real priority, since he has been staying in our room, but since it was a special day, we thought we would add the finishing touches. I've created a slide show for those who are interested in seeing how the nursery looks.



Anyway, that's all for now... I'll check back in on Sunday.

The Honeymoon Is Over

All along, I have been waxing poetic about how wonderfully adjusted Dylan is to being home. I've mentioned how he just doesn't get cranky, how he sleeps soundly and how he is simply the best behaved baby to ever grace this planet.

Yeah... not so much, anymore.

It seems that Dylan may have hit a bit of a growth spurt. Instead of taking his usual 4oz every 4 hours or so, he has graduated to 4oz every 2-3 hours. And when he isn't eating, he is pooping. if he isn't eating or pooping, he is trying to decide which of those two he is going to do. I can hear all the snickers from all of the folks who are parents... yes, we were warned.

But geez... this little guy is giving us a run for our money. I'm writing this after having gotten exactly 1 hour of sleep last night. Yeah, I thought it would be the nice thing to try and let Barbara get some sleep, so I volunteered to take the late feeding and the early one- thinking all along that I could get about 4 hours of sleep in between, and then go right back to bed afterwards for some more. Dylan had different plans though. From around 2am or so, until around 6am, he was either eating, pooping or fussing. He even managed to sleep a bit in my arms. Of course, if I tried to put him in his bassinette, he was wide awake and crying less than a minute later.

But... I survived the night. A lack of sleep isn't something new to me, but it's no fun either.

I'll let you all know how things go in my next post, Wednesday.

Until then...

Familiar Faces, Unfamiliar Places

Tuesday was a big day for Dylan.

His follow up RoP exam was scheduled for 11 am in Gainseville. It seems that the doctor that he was referred to is either the most popular pediatric ophthalmologist in the world, or she is woefully understaffed. His 11am appointment had us finally seeing the doctor by around 1 pm or so. After what seemed like a 5 minute exam, we were on our way. Through the entire wait, which I was dreading, Dylan was the perfect example of calm and serenity. He just sat in his carrier, looking around him and making noises at Barbara. Even after they took us in and put drops in his eyes to dilate his pupils, he was his usual happy self.

As far as the exam itself, Dylan passed with flying colors. RoP stands for Retinopathy of Prematurity. When babies are born early, the development of the blood vessels in their eyes can grow abnormally. This can lead to decreased vision or even blindness if not caught early enough. Thankfully though, Dylan had no signs of RoP during his first screening, and as of this last screening, his retinas are fully developed. So, no worries there. The doctor recommended a yearly follow up to monitor him for other possible preemie concerns like crossed eyes, lazy eyes or nearsightedness.

After the eye exam, we went to pay a visit with a few of the folks from Dylan's care team at the NICU. Dr. Baines, his doctor from June who did such a great job of taking care of Dylan and keeping us informed, his occupational therapist Elayne and his social worker Juda were all thrilled to see Dylan again. Dylan seemed to remember them as well. He started out a little cranky for Dr. Baines. but after he got a little food in him courtesy of Elayne, he was a much more pleasant visitor.

After our visit in Gainesville, we got a bite to eat at one of the local restaurants that we frequent and Dylan drew rave reviews there. Apparently it's very easy for anyone to see just how amazingly cute this little guy is. All of the waitresses who saw him couldn't help but comment on how cute he was, even when all he was doing was sleeping. But then, I knew that already :)

What surprised me the most was that even with all of the running around and being outside his normal element for the majority of the day, Dylan was only ever cranky if he was hungry. He really seemed to like the car ride, as I guess most babies do, but even when we were not in the car, he found things to amuse himself or he slept soundly. Hopefully this is just a sign of things to come.

Anyway, that's all for now. Sorry this is so late- so late that it is not even Wednesday anymore. Dylan wanted to eat right at the same time I sat down to type this, and he wasn't about to wait. When it comes to his belly, Dylan has no patience at all. I'll have another update on Sunday.