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December 26-28, 2006 - A couple more pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Browning's visit
December 25, 2006 - Eric celebrated his first Christmas with lots of family
December 24, 2006 - Eric's first Christmas Eve dinner
December 23, 2006 - Grandma and Grandpa Browning arrived this evening and Grandma got to finally hold her first grandchild :)
December 20, 2006 - Eric had his second pediatrician appointment today. His new weight is 6lbs 12.5oz (almost 2lbs higher than his birth weight)!!!
December 18, 2006 - It has been 4 days and the power finally came back on around noon (our neighbor called to let us know). We packed up all of Eric's belongings and headed back to our house. Here are a few pics from our stay with Pops and Nana.
December 14, 2006 - With the power still out, and the inside temperature dropping, we decide to pack up and head over to the Robley's (since they still have power). We hope it will only be for 1 night. Although it appears that Nana would have no problems with us staying longer :)
December 13, 2006 - Our house lost power at 5pm due to a major windstorm in Oregon. We ended up sleeping downstairs (where it was warmer) all night while waiting for the power to come back on.
December 12, 2006 - We had a couple of visitors today (coworkers of Jen).
December 11, 2006 - Eric had his first pediatrician appointment today. He has gained more than 8oz in 4 days! He is now 5lbs 11oz and 18.75" long (1" longer than his birth length). The pediatrician thinks he looks great and is in perfect health :)
Later we took some cute pictures up close to share with everyone...
December 10, 2006 - Jen's friend Crista came to visit. She spent some time holding Eric and he was kind enough to be awake to look at her.
Later Dave finally left the house and (with assistance from friends) went to the Christmas tree farm, cut down a tree, and brought it home (Mom had to stay with Eric).
December 9, 2006 - Eric started eating more today. We had been feeding him 60mL every 3 hours (as the NICU recommended), but he started to want more. So we filled a bottle to 80mL not thinking he would finish it...but he did! Eric also got his first bath at home today. Jen washed him in the kitchen sink before Nana came to visit. Nana came bearing gifts of food (for the hungry parents) and new clothes (for the little boy).
December 8, 2006 - Last night was our first true night as parents! We took turns feeding Eric so the other could sleep. We had a very tiring day due to little sleep the night before. Oh well...all part of parenthood. Jen spent the day in her PJ's as she didn't find time to take a shower (but found short amounts of time to sleep).
December 7, 2006 - Eric came home today! He was cleared by the doctors and we went to the NICU at lunch time to collect him. This was the first time in 2 days that Jen had seen him and was very happy to be with her son again. We got last minute instructions from the Nurses, packed up all of his stuff, loaded him into the carseat, and finally left the hospital. Now the real work begins!
December 6, 2006 - Day 2 of Jen being sick :(
December 5, 2006 - Jen got sick last night (head cold) and wasn't able to visit Eric today :( She has been very depressed but knows it's the right thing to do (we don't want him to get sick). On top of that, the NICU doesn't allow sick people to visit, so even if she went, they'd just kick her out! Dave went to the NICU around 4pm and stayed with Eric until 10pm to make sure he knew his parents were still around. When he got there, Eric was no longer on the monitors. He had become stable enough were constant monitoring was no longer necessary...YEAH!!! We can now call him our "wireless" son ;)
December 4, 2006 - Eric's tube came out!!! He had pulled it out (again) and they decided to just leave it out since he was bottle-feeding well. He looks much better without the tube :)
December 3, 2006 - Nana and Pops came to visit in the hospital again. This time we even convinced Pops to hold the little guy (and got these pictures to prove it).
December 2, 2006 - Apparently, Eric likes to pullout his feeding tube. When we came to see him in the morning, the Nurse told us that he pulled it out 3 times during the night! Due to this, they wrapped up his arms nice and cuddly tight :)
Later in the day Eric passed his first test...he was placed in his carseat (while still in the NICU) and his vitals were monitored for 1hr to make sure he was strong enough to be placed in a carseat. This is one of many things the NICU requires before you can take a premie home. Not only did Eric pass this test, but he maintained Oxygen levels equal to Adults (which means he had absolutely no breathing problems what-so-ever).
For the grand finale, Eric finished his first bottle all on his own without needing to use the feeding tube (YEAH!!!). It's funny how little successes seem so big with premature babies. He's been gaining weight the past 2 days and is now only 1oz shy of his birth weight.
November 30, 2006 - Eric stopped losing weight...now we hope to get it to start to rise. We snapped a few good pictures today of holding/cuddling.
November 28, 2006 - Nana & Pops came by for another visit and this time Nana even got to hold little Eric.
November 27, 2006 - After only 1 day under the "bluelights", Eric's Jaundice levels were much improved so he got to spend more time with us :D
November 26, 2006 - Jen's attempts at "pumping" started to finally pay off and there was enough for Eric's first bottle of breast milk :D
Also, as is common with most preemie babies, Eric was beginning to develop some Jaundice, so he was placed under a special light that helps babies breakdown the chemical that causes it (Bilirubin). The "bluelight" or "Bililight" makes him look eerie and definitely makes changing diapers more challenging! Unfortunately, it also limits his outside time to just feedings (no holding time for the parents) :(
November 25, 2006 - Jen was discharged from the Hospital. It was a very hard day for us to leave the Hospital without our son. After stopping at home for a few minutes we quickly returned to the NICU to be with him.
November 24, 2006 - Eric got his first visitors today. Nana and Pops came by to see their new Grandson :)
Eric was also downgraded from Level-3 to Level-2 since he was doing so well (keeping his temperature up, breathing on his own, keeping good color, etc). Now we are working on feeding him. On top of that, we are learning how to care for a NICU baby...it is very challenging! However, Eric continues to make us smile with his cuteness.
November 23, 2006 (Thanksgiving Day) - At 9am the Doctor examined Jen and found she was ~3cm dilated but fully effaced with the baby at -3 station (all ready to be born). The doctor stopped the IV drip (since it wasn't stopping the birthing process) and Dave found some time to sneak away and get a shower, feed cats, grab Jen's pillow, and a take out the garbage. We spent the Thanksgiving day watching TV, chatting, doing email, and just sitting around in the Hospital room.
"Thanksgiving dinner...Hospital style"
At around 4pm Jen was stable enough to take a shower. After getting back into bed her contractions slowly became stronger and more frequent. Jen did amazingly well in dealing with the contraction pain. She was re-examined at ~8pm and was 7cm dilated, in much more pain, and requested an Epidural. Her bag-of-water was broken at 8:07pm.
Our first baby boy was born at 9:20pm! He was exactly 6 weeks early, 4lbs 13.5oz, and 17.75" long.
Being so small and premature, he was rushed off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after spending about 2 minutes on his mother's chest. Dave followed the little guy into the NICU and reported back to Jen on his weight, length, health, and brought back pictures.
About 2 hours later, Jen was able to come into the NICU and spent more time with our new son. We also named him... Eric Warren Browning! By the time we got back to our room, it was 2am and we were exhausted. However, we did make 2 phone calls to let the Grandparents know about their new Grandson :D
November 22, 2006 - Jen had some more spotting this morning so she stayed home. She took a nap and woke up around 1pm with abdominal cramps which she thought might be contractions. At about 2:30pm she called Dave to come home and called the doctor. We went into the Hospital for a "labor" check and found she was ~2cm dilated. We were admitted to the hospital, given a room, and they started Jen on a Magnesium-Sulfate IV drip to slow the contractions. It helped pretty quickly. She remained on the drip all night long and Dave slept on the couch.
November 21, 2006 - We just got back from our regular doctor's appointment and Jen has been instructed to continue the partial bed-rest and reduce her work hours to four per day. Although we saw a different doctor today, the cervical softening (effacement) seems to be about the same. The biggest thing is that apparently Peanut has already dropped and is at zero station. Jen couldn't even tell!
We have cancelled our trip to Leavenworth for this weekend and instead plan to spend the weekend relaxing (Jen) and finishing up our preparation for Peanut's arrival and getting the hospital bag packed (Dave). Who knows when he will make his arrival.... We go back in for another appointment next Tuesday afternoon.
November 13, 2006 - Last night Jen had some spotting for the first time, so this morning she called the doctor and was told to come in for an appointment. Apparently her cervix is already starting to soften- this is one of the first things that happens when one goes into labor. The pregnancy is only 32 weeks along and we want to get to at least 36 weeks before Peanut makes his grand entrance.
So...Jen is now on a modified bedrest and has been told to take it easy. No extracurricular activities, no cleaning or shopping and relax when she's at home. After taking a couple of days off, she will be going back to work on Wednesday with reduced work hours to six per day.
October 25/26, 2006 - We had our 30-week appointment today (the 25th). All of Jen's tests from the previous appointment came back normal. We talked to the doctor about how much Peanut prefers Jen's left side, which is not unusual. The doctor decided to go ahead and have us do another ultrasound to check Peanut's growth, which we did first thing this morning. Everything still looks great and, yes, it's still a boy! His growth is normal, he just REALLY likes Jen's left side.
Here are some pictures from the ultrasound for you to enjoy. We got a really good facial profile. The boy picture may be a bit difficult to interpret, but it's definitely a boy. The foot picture shows us that his foot is about 2.5 inches in length- he's going to have big feet!!
October 18, 2006 - As promised, here is a current picture of the nursery. This is the bedroom across from ours, where the computer used to be. We are still in the process of decorating, but the quilt hanging on the wall is the basis for the theme. Enjoy!!
October 11, 2006 - This week we enter the 28th week of the pregnancy (out of 40 weeks). On Monday Jen went in for her latest appointment where she did the glucose test (to check for gestational diabetes), had her blood drawn for standard tests and received the first Rhogam shot. Everything still looks good! From now on we go back to the doctor every two weeks for check-ups.
Peanut continues to move more and more. He was very active today, even distracting Jen from her work as she found it much more interesting to watch her stomach move around. Dave really enjoys watching as well to see how much Peanut is moving.
We’ve been hard at work finishing up the nursery and are almost done (picture to soon follow). The moldings and carpet are in, the crib is assembled, the rocking chair is in its place and the dresser is almost finished. We wanted it done early so that the cats could begin to adjust to the furniture. We’ll see how the adjustment goes once Peanut arrives :)
September 14, 2006 - Last night Jen experienced one of the side effects of pregnancy - she was awakened in the middle of the night with charlie-horse leg cramps in both calfs (at the same time!). Dave was 'lucky' enough to be in California for the night on business, so he didn't get to experience the shouts of pain. Apparently this can happen when on is not getting enough Potassium. So, from now on it's a banana a day!
September 11, 2006 - Today we had our 24-week appointment. Everything is still looking good and the appointment was very quick. Jen continues to gain weight little by little (but won't disclose the amount) and Peanut continues to move more and more. We've discovered that he reacts to spicy food and sugar - probably not a good sign for the future :) Our next appointment is in 4 weeks and that is when Jen has the glucose test (to check for gestational diabetes) and gets the Rhogam shot (since her blood type is O-negative and Dave's is B-positive).
August 16, 2006 - IT'S A BOY!!!
This afternoon we had the 20-week ultrasound. Everything looks
great and Peanut is a healthy 13oz. He was kind enough to show us
between his legs and we have photographic evidence of his gender :)
July 30, 2006 - This morning we felt Peanut "kicking" for the first time! Peanut kept it up long enough to let Dave feel the activity. Very exciting!!! Later, Mocha laid his head on Peanut...it looks like Mocha's listening :D
July 18, 2006 - Today we had our 16-week appointment. Everything looked good. The doctor used the handheld doppler device and was able to quickly find Peanut's heartbeat (145 bpm). On our last two visits, finding the heartbeat took some hunting. This is a great sign that Peanut is growing! Apparently, some think that whether the heartbeat is fast or slow will determine the gender of the child, but Peanuts' was right in the middle...guess we will have to wait! We scheduled the next ultrasound and appointment for August 16th. Hopefully, Peanut will cooperate and we'll know its' gender. Yes, we plan to find out so please check back after the 16th!!!
July 10, 2006 - Jen has started having "pants issues" as she thinks she is beginning to show! She has been experimenting with various kinds of maternity clothing. More clothing shopping is certainly ahead...
June 21, 2006 -
Our 12-week appointment with Dr.
Simpson. Jen is not showing yet, nor has she gained any weight.
Doctor is not concerned about this. Everything still looks good!
May 25, 2006 - The first ultrasound gives us our first glimpse at
"Peanut". We learned the pregnancy was about 8 weeks along, with a due
date of January 4, 2007. We heard Peanut's heartbeat (about 170 bpm)
and it even did a little dance for us!
May 24, 2006 - Our first doctor's appointment. Everything looks
good so
far. We arrange for an ultrasound the next day to determine how far
along the pregnancy is.
April 26, 2006 - Jen takes a pregnancy test and it's positive!
Yea!!
