Doing Things the Hard Way

One thing I have learned over the last few months is that Joshua likes to do everything the hard way! About 10 days ago we discovered that Joshua had an inguinal hernia (in the groin) and were told that he would need surgery to repair it, but they wanted to wait until he was bigger so he could tolerate the anesthesia better.

A hernia is where there is a hole in the abdominal wall and the bowel escapes through it. The major problem is that the bowel can become "incarcerated" or stuck in the hole and cut off the blood supply to the intestines. So of course, we have been to the ER 3 times because this happened. On Sunday, Eric left for New York on business and at about 2 am Monday morning, I found that it was stuck again. The doctors in the ER took turns trying to push it back in, and on the 4th try it worked. They decided to just do the surgery as soon as possible. It was So hard to watch them pushing on his hernia because it was painful and he was screaming.He had the surgery on Monday afternoon and was discharged the following morning. Eric was really upset that he was in New York for all of this, and it's been really hard for me to do this on my own.

Because of everything that happened, I was awake for about 36 hours straight and I've had about 4 hours of sleep since then! (So please excuse any typo's or incoherency)Joshua is doing better now. I think the hardest thing about being a parent so far is seeing my baby in pain and not being able to do anything about it. I feel like he's had such a hard start and we haven't had a chance to just be... normal!Today Joshua weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces........ just about double his birth weight! I can't believe how big he is in my arms now! Here are some "first times" we documented:
His first time to church! (Yes, those are newborn pants!)

First appointment at the Pediatrician
First family walk!
First bath at home!

Parenting 24/7

It's hard to believe that Joshua has now been home for a week and a half! We are still getting used to this full-time parenting deal...no more hospital babysitting.I am tired on a whole new level and my concept of a "good night's sleep" has been completely altered! Last night, Joshua slept for two consecutive hours and Eric and I celebrated :)

Joshua has reflux and is finally being treated. Most of the nights he's been awake fussing, but hopefully that will get better now that he is being treated.

On Monday 7/14 Joshua weighed in at 6lbs 6.5oz! and he was 19.25" at his last measurement the week before.

Con's of parenting:
1. 3 hours of sleep (for 30 minutes at a time)
2.Getting peed on
3. Getting pooped on
4. Getting spit-up on
5. Having #2-4 happen all at the same time
6. Extra laundry
7. Buying diapers
8. Giving gross medicines (vitamins, zantac, iron, etc) 5 times a day
9. Multiple trips to the doctor
10. Using the bulb syringe (If you don't know....be thankful)


Pro's (in no specific order, of course!):
1. Diaper Genie
2. Cuddle time
3. Awake time after feeding
4. Kissing his cheeks whenever we want
5. Family time
6. Using all the memory on our camera
7. Watching him grow
8. No more worrying about his care in this hospital
9. No more monitor alarms
10. Being able to enjoy every moment with our little blessing from heaven

Here are a couple of recent photos...

Home at Last!

Well we got to take Joshua home with us yesterday at about 3:00 pm! Last night was our first night trying to sleep with him in our room....and I mean Trying. All he has done his whole life is sleep, but not last night, he was also extra fussy and spit-up every where. We think that his Circumcision might have been bothering him a bit. He has been much better this afternoon.

Here are a couple of photos of the big occasion....

Coming Home!!

Daddy's first feeding-

Happy 4th of July!

Our All American Baby-

Well as far as we know we are on track to take Joshua home on Sunday! For the past few days he has been checking things off his going home checklist including the car seat test, Hep B vaccine, and a bunch of follow-up tests to make sure everything is okay. We bought a few things today from Babies-R-us and are now ready for him!!

We are very excited to be bring him home on Sunday (He has been ready for the past few days, but had a minor O2 desaturation on Monday and that gave him an automatic 7 more days).

He is now 5 lbs 12oz and gaining everyday. He is a champion eater, nursing and with the bottle) and all the nurses have been amazed with how well he does.