Squiggly Worm!

Today was my first day driving to the hospital by myself as Lance has returned back to work.  It was nice to be driving again after being chauffeured around for the last week.  Due to some traffic on 76, I decided to take the more scenic route along Kelly Drive - I couldn't help but think how I can't wait until we are the ones on the trails with the stroller in tow.  Our day will come though!

The past three days we have had the most spectacular nurse caring for Landon.  Her name is Lyn and she makes us feel right at home.  She has the sweetest way of handling Landon and she baby-talks to him with every touch.  She put a sign up on his incubator with his goals for the day, which is typically to tolerate his feeds and to grow.  She also refers to him as "the boss" and has even noted "master Landon" on his incubator sign - I hope this doesn't go to his head by the time he is discharged though!

Lyn has been very hands-on with us as well during our visits.  She has allowed us to be more involved during Landon's "cluster-care" times, which take place around his feeds (every 3 hours).  During this time all of his vitals are checked, we change his diaper, spend special bonding time with kangaroo care and change his bedding.  Lyn has also been very informative to us as well.  Despite how many times we ask for updates or how many questions pop up during our visits, she is always so kind in her delivery and makes sure that we understand.  She is also very fun and sweet just to chat with as well.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that she will end up being a primary nurse for Landon during his stay at Penn.  (The other nurses have been great as well, but Lyn is just extra special to us at this point.)

Most of my visit today was spent with Landon during kangaroo time for about 2 hours during his feed.  His feeds are now controlled by a monitor system in order to extend the length of time to balance his glucose levels throughout the day.  His feeds previously only took about 15 minutes, but they noticed his sugars would bounce throughout the day, so they adjusted him to this routine.  It seems to work best and we think that this is also why he is succeeding well and tolerating his feeds.  He is now up to about 24ml each feed (when he arrived last Sunday he started with 3ml).  The PICC line was removed last night, which was an excellent milestone due to the progress of his feeds.  The PICC line is basically an IV of additional nutrition (lipids, sugar, etc) in order to keep him growing.  They will now add additional calories to my breastmilk in order to keep him growing at the appropriate rate.  I found it interesting to learn that a baby his size only needs about 100-200 calories a day.

Kangaroo time is always the highlight of my visits with our little guy.  Today he was quite active - he kept peeking at the world and staring at his mommy and daddy.  When open, his eyes are so big but it still hard to tell what color his eyes are.  They look green to me, which makes sense because that is the color of mine and Lance's eyes too.  Landon was also a squiggly worm today too.  It amazes me how strong he is already at 1 week (31 weeks).  He constantly moves his arms and legs - he was even lifting his head up and leaning it back.  He is always able to settle down calmly during our kangaroo care though as it is most comforting to him.  As soon as our time was up he began to cry as he was heading back into the incubator - he really feels most comfortable resting on my chest.  I love feeling his legs move around and the taps of his fingers during this time too - I guess they are right when they say there is just as much benefit for mom as for baby during kangaroo care as it always seems to melt my heart!

We are finding that the more time we are spending with him the more we miss him at home too.  It is an odd feeling to be at home knowing you have a baby, but the baby not being in your care.  We are counting the days until we can bring him home!  Hunter is even getting excited too!  Lyn made us a special care package to take home tonight for Hunter - it was two blankets that Landon slept in all day (he even peed on one).  When I came home today I let Hunter sniff the blankets - he was so excited and curious, but I could tell that he knows that its his baby brother's scent just by the way he was acting.  Hunter had this gentle way about him even as excited as he was - I can't wait to see him and Landon together.

I am looking forward to another day tomorrow with my baby boy, but first let me take a selfie! :)