Our First Two Weeks- A Photo Update

It has now been almost two weeks since Eli has come to live with us. I can honestly say it has been one of the greatest, and most trying times of my life all at once. We went from being able to go, eat, sleep, and do what we wanted, to having to schedule everything in three hour increments.

So how is Eli?

The first thing we did after arriving home was to go in for our first doctor appointment. They measured and weighed him. He is now 17 inches long, and at that time weighed 4 lb 13 oz. The doctor said he looked good. We went ahead and scheduled the appointments with a cardiologist for his PDA and surgeon for his hernia.

The rest of that week we continued our usual routine. Wake up at 9, 12, 3 and 6.. on both sides of the clock  to change and feed him. Every other day Meagan will give him a bath. My favorite thing is to lay down with him for a nap.

Last Sunday some people from the church threw us a shower. We were able to get lots of clothes, supplies and baby stuff. It was great to have so many people there. We are grateful for the friends we have.

Tuesday we took a little trip to Arkansas Children's Hospital for his Cardiology and Surgery check up. We met with the cardiologist, and they did an EKG on Eli. Meagan and I were both surprised how long it took to put on all the leads, but how short the EKG actually was. Later the doctor came in and listened to Eli's heart. She could not find any evidence of the PDA, it had completely closed.

We then went to our appointment with the surgeon for Eli's hernia. They want to wait a little while to see if he can get off the oxygen before doing the surgery. So sometime in the middle of June we will travel back up to have that surgery completed.

Eli has been doing well here at home. It seems every day he takes more and more formula at his feedings. When we first got home he averaged about 40 cc per feeding, now he's up to an average of 53, and many times takes the complete 60 that we fix right now. I almost forgot, when they weighed him at Arkansas Children's he weighed 5lb 2 oz. So he definitely is a growing boy

Some of you were wondering how the dogs were doing. The answer is awesome. Mia and Honey are the ones who are most curious about Eli. Mia came in for almost every feeding at first and laid down in the room. When I am gone, and Meagan is feeding him, Honey will lay down half in the door, half in the hallway with ears alert.

We have not taken Eli out into the general public yet, and will not for a little while. However we have had a few people drop by and say hi. I'll close this update with some of those photos.

Bringing Home Eli

It's now almost a week late but between feedings every three hours, and the lack of sleep grabbed in between I have worked to get you caught up on how we came to bring Eli home.
I already shared in the about us finding out on friday that we would be bringing him home. I then shared the events of Saturday and the first part of Sunday. So it is there that we pick up the rest of the story.

It was Sunday night that we were to room in. What is rooming in? Up to this point the nurses have taken care of Eli. We have come in and fed him a few times, or changed diapers, but no matter what there was always a nurse right there by our side. This was comforting as we are both first time parents and the thought of a tiny human being depending on us for everything was a bit overwhelming.

The nurses taught us how to hold the bottle to feed him, they showed us how to swaddle him, and they helped us to give him the medicines he needed. They also did all of those things for him when we were not there.

The room in was our chance to go solo. We were in a room next to where the nurses were, but we were basically on our own. We got to feed him every three hours, we gave him his medicine, we woke up to comfort him, we were the ones responsible. Now they were right there at the call of a button, but it was up to us to take care of Eli.

Meagan working on some school stuff during our room in process.

There are a few things you should know about staying all night in a hospital if you don't know. First of all, up to this point every time I have slept on a bed that was created by the creative folding and unfolding of a couch it has been a most uncomfortable experience. This was no different. The couch cushion pulled out toward us and the back of the couch came down to be one side of the bed. Ouch.

Not near as good as it looks.

Second, the food in the hospital cafeteria was exactly what you would expect. They gave us meal vouchers for us to go down and get our supper on Sunday, and then again for our breakfast on Monday. Sunday the choices were vegetable lasagna or hamburgers. You know me, I chose the hamburger. Bad choice. The next morning I went with the eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon. The eggs were good.. and they had cereal.

Finally, no one is designed to get sleep in 3 hour increments. Yep every three hours, 3pm 6 pm 9 pm etc... one of us had to wake to feed the sleeping boy. Now granted he's so cute that of course anyone would give their right arm for the chance to hold and feed the baby boy, however if you are not used to it, the 3 hour naps you get in between can take some getting used to. I especially thought it cruel because we had a 7 hour drive home ahead of us.

Loading up in the car.

It was a night to remember, and we made it through. The next day the doctor signed the release order, the lady from the adoption agency came to help with the sign out process, we loaded him up in the car seat and we were on our way.

7 hours, 2 feedings, 4 stops and many miles later we arrived to the place that Eli will call home.

Well that's about it. Since then we have had many new firsts. For instance our first trip to the doctor. However those stories will have to wait for another time.

Sunday Sunday Sunday

I already shared how we we got the news we would be bringing Eli home, and then about what happened on Saturday... well, Here's the rest of the story.
Sunday started for me with a quick visit to see Eli, and then a trip to nearby Tuttle UMC to lead music at my friend Andy James' church.

Andy and I know each other from UMR and working on our church magazine. He recently went back to working as a pastor in a local church. We played some of the traditional hymns I grew up on, and then I played "East to West" by Casting Crowns. Andy was starting a new series on forgiveness.

Afterwards my dad, who came with me, and I drove back in time to meet my Uncle Mark and Aunt Francee, along with Meagan and my mom for lunch. Then, back to the hospital for the 3 p.m. feeding.

Then it was the final visit by family.. again I'll let the photos do the talking.

Then was what they call rooming in... I'll tell you about that and our trip home in the next post...

By the way.. have you bought a Lullaby CD yet? Click here..

Saturday...

When I left off in the previous post, we had settled into the room for the night.

When we would travel up to see Eli our weekends typically went like this. Get in late on Friday night. Spend the day Saturday feeding him, hanging out at his bedside in the NICU at the 9:00 a.m. and Noon feeding, eating lunch and picking up a few things from the store, coming back to the NICU for the 3:00 p.m. feeding and then heading back home.

This Saturday was really no different except that we were joined by my parents, and we wouldn't be going home.

We started off the day and headed to the NICU to be there for the first feeding. Before we went in we were met by the Oxygen guy. He showed us how to use the oxygen tank that we would be taking home with Eli. It was not as scary as I thought it would be when we first learned of this.

We went in to feed him and were met at the door by the monitor guy. He showed us how to use the monitor that Eli would be sent home with. If I woke up with any doubts that they were planning on sending Eli home with us, they were slowly melting away. 

After the monitor guy we saw Eli, who had grown quite a bit since we last saw him. We changed his diaper, and fed him by bottle. The last time we fed him he was barely taking anything from a bottle. It was a joy to watch as he gulped down his food. 

Then it was time for the grandparents. I could tell you what happened but I thought pictures might say it best.

After they got a chance to visit we went to lunch with a friend going to college in Norman. Let me just say that any sandwich that you batter, deep fry, dust with powdered sugar and serve with raspberry jam is a winner in my book.

We came back home, saw Eli a few more times, had a good dinner and went back to the hotel...

That was Saturday... Find out what happened on Sunday...

A Surprise Weekend

Last week on Tuesday I shared that there were 4 criteria that Eli had to meet in order to be discharged, and that he had met 2 out of the three. Then on Thursday I shared how he was getting closer.. I even included this update:

"Talked to the Dr. today and said that though he is feeding by bottle regularly it still will be 5-10 days before he comes home. They are trying to get him off of the oxygen."

So with our date of sometime around the 15th still in our heads we went on with our daily lives. Until....

The phone call...

On Friday the 6th Meagan did her usual call to the NICU to check on Eli. Not much had changed, he was still taking all feedings by bottle. Then about 30 minutes later she received a call from the nurse.

"The doctor wants you to room in a few nights and take Eli home this weekend".. WHAT!!! Surprise #1

Then came with a phone call from the adoption agency. "You are all set to go except we are missing one piece of information before we can get Eli to you." WHAT!!!! Surprise #2

We spent Friday trying to get Surprise #2 taken care of, and thanks to some great friends and understanding people we got it done. We then quickly packed clothes for five days, instead of the usual 1, got in the car and took off. On the way we called the Hospitality house, which provides rooms, if available, for guests who have family in the hospital for a cheap rate.

Every time we have ever gone there was room... except this time Surprise #3

We had already arranged for my parents to meet us in Oklahoma so they could see Eli. When I told them about surprise #1 they were very happy, then when I told them about surprise #3 they proceeded to get a hotel room where we could stay.

We got into town much later than usual, settled into bed and went to sleep.

That was Friday.... Read what happens next....

We're Getting Closer...

We are getting close to the point where Eli could come home at any time. As I shared in our last post, this is both exciting and very scary. In some ways I am ready for him to be safe in our arms, in our house and not 5 hours away. In some ways I want him to stay there and keep getting stronger, and have nurses and doctors there to take care of him when the slightest thing goes wrong.

But we need to be ready. I shared that he would be moving to take 3 out of 4 feedings by bottle soon, well he has surpassed that and moved on to taking all the feedings by bottle. So now, except for the oxygen, he is closing in on all the requirements to come home.

We still do not have an exact date for when that will be. Meagan will be talking with the doctor today to see what he thinks about it all, and when we should plan to pick Eli up. At this point I would not begin to guess what that date will be.

So now we will wait several hours till Meagan calls and talks to the Dr. Until then I keep praying he gets stronger, and weans off the oxygen.

As a side note he weighed 4lb 12oz yesterday. Seriously? That's up from 4lb 4oz a few days before. Something tells me we'll be buying groceries more often.

-Russell

***UPDATE*** 5/5/11  12:30 p.m.

Talked to the Dr. today and said that though he is feeding by bottle regularly it still will be 5-10 days before he comes home. They are trying to get him off of the oxygen. 

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Two Out Of Four Steps Closer To Home

Artwork by Miranda Martin

In order for Eli to come home from the hospital, we were told he would have to meet four criteria:

So how are we doing?

1. He would need to maintain his temperature, in an open crib, wearing normal baby clothes. 

So far he has been doing this for about a week.

2. He would need to show sustainable weight gain.

4 lb 4 oz! And growing.

3. He would have to take all feedings by bottle.

We're not quite there yet, but he is taking every other feeding now, (5/2-Taking two out of 3 feedings by bottle), and they are going to try to move to every feeding in the next few days.

4. He would need to be off oxygen.

Originally this was one of the criteria they gave us, but he also could come home with oxygen. Frankly this scares the heck out of me, but I know many people do it, and we will be able to learn how to use the monitors and equipment if we need to.

So now he's getting ready, the question is are we ready?

1. Nursery Ready

Well we're close. We have a crib, mattress, dresser, rocker, beautiful wall art made by Miranda Martin. (featured photo at top)

2. Stuff for Eli-

We have bought a few things, but also we have registered for a lot of what we need. We have been told not to go out and buy a lot of stuff because we don't know what we'll get at the shower. Our problem is that Eli may be coming home on or before the date of our first shower. 

3. Financing- 

We have made our payments as needed to the adoption agency and still have about $5500 plus lawyer fees to pay over the next few months. In addition we might have a significant hospital bill. Our more immediate problem is that in order for Meagan to stay home with Eli, she will have to take leave with no pay. If he comes home on the 15th this would translate into about a $2500 loss of salary. Which is money that will be hard to lose at this time.

We know that we will make it, and that it will all work out. But we do not know how it will all come together. We thank you for your continued prayers as we prepare to finish this phase of our adoption journey.