Our little man is 3 weeks old!

Second culture was positive and antibiotics are going.  Wesley is doing good and not acting sick.  He is getting hungry poor guy, but hopefully they start feeding again tomorrow.  

Started getting the house cleaned today and then we headed over to Monroe to see him and stay at the McDonald house.

He is really filling out and looking like a boy ;)

I hate that this hat has pink on it.  Like that makes it unisex

But look how cute he is!!! 

I want to kiss his little hands and feet so bad!

All I could do is have my hand in there.  We will ask the dr when it is safe to hold him and if we can do kangaroo care tomorrow. 

This will be short

Wesley is hanging in there.  They have the bacteria identified as staph aureus which is not one of the super bugs so that is good.  The second culture has no growth so far.  

He is doing well and is almost 2#6oz not bad for not being fed.  

His chest xray shows some infiltrates in one lung lobe so they are keeping an eye on it.  They will resume feeding on Monday. 

It's a hard night for me bc we had a big surgery on a tiger and she didn't recover well and passed.  I can feel good knowing we tried and she is no longer in pain but it hurts that we were so close to making her better :(. Unfortunately tigers don't do well with sedation and this is one of those risks.  This is why you only sedate for good reason.  If she weren't hurting we would have let her alone.  RIP Morticia. 

I guess I'm on the roller coaster now.... But I hope it doesn't get scarier. May 23

Well I posted on FB but to those that missed... Wesley's blood culture from earlier this week showed some growth so they discontinued feedings and started antibiotics.  Took another blood culture to make sure there wasn't a contaminant to cause the growth which is what I hope for.  They are weaning him down on the oxygen pressure which is great.  The sooner they get him down to room air pressure the sooner they can move him.

The nurse said the dr was talking about transfer but nurse said they usually move the babies on a return trip.  Like one baby is coming back to hospital and one catches a ride back to where that one was.  Being a lateral move (both hospitals are a level 3) it is not likely there will be a ride to catch.  Working on finding out more ways to move him.  Angel flight told me he needs ground transport. But not sure if that is because it would be overkill or because it isn't safe.  When joe worked at metro aviation he helped modify the units the babies went in on the medical helicopters and they are pressure controlled.

Nurse tonight said he had one episode of bradycardia and she did have to stimulate him.  Otherwise he is doing good and weighs 2# 5oz.  He won't gain much now that food has stopped :( 

He is tolerating the oxygen at its level which is great and she said he is a very sweet boy.  I said aren't they all at this stage? And she said no not really and laughed.  Said some can be little "tarts."  I assume that is synonymous with sour, bad etc.  She said she can't promise he won't be a tart when he leaves but he is sweet now :). The day nurse said he has one over the hearts of all the nurses.  

Love my little man! 

I hope my little man looks like this tonight all comfy on his tummy (his fav position)

Court day! May 22

Today is the day! We woke up and went to attny office to sign some papers for our background checks.  We received a packet of papers that the birth parents filled out about them.  Not much information was disclosed but you could see the immaturity.  They do have goals for their future which is great.  Birth father wants to study engineering and birth mother wants to be a special ed teacher. I hope they are able to achieve these goals one day.  They do have a long way to go being their both didn't go past 11th grade due to the birth of their first son. 

We plan to be open to Wesley through his years about his adoption.  I hope he appreciates us telling him from the beginning.  It's a tough call but based on those I know who are adopted, they were happy to know from the beginning.

It will be a toss up to what color eyes Wes will have.  Birth mothers are green and fathers are brown.  Birth father didn't fill out any of his family history :(. Birth mothers parents were green and brown eyed and all her grandparents had blue eyes.  Large chance Wesley's will be brown not that it matters but it's one of the questions parents are curious about. Birth father has curly hair and mothers is straight.  I do not know which trait is dominant and it will be interesting to see how Wesley developes.

After the attny we went to the hospital for a 30 min visit with Wesley before we went to courthouse.  Wesley had a new nurse today.  He was a super sweet man who told us his experience with kangaroo care (skin to skin). He explained it's a gradual process where u work ur way up to daily skin to skin but have to monitor the patient at the beginning to make sure it isn't causing harm.  We may wait to try until he is transferred so we don't disrupt the schedule of things since we can't have daily visits.  

Wesley is up to 2# 3.5 oz!  Now that he is on feedings he seems to be growing each day by an ounce. 

We went to the courthouse and went to the judges chambers.  It was informal but still a little intimidating.  Luckily we had nothing to fear.  We had to swear in and then the attny asked us a few questions like how long we have been married, where is family, how is neighborhood, is home suitable etc.  after that the judge asks a few then she signs the paper and it's done!

Next step is in a year when we apply to finalize the adoption and get his birth certificate in his name and our name

Best part is his birth parents can't change their mind.  It's done.  We would have to be pretty awful people for them to take him away and then he would be property of the state.  Never will happen so no worries!

After that we went over to sheriffs office for fingerprints then back to hospital for a final visit before we headed home.

Wesley was smiling again and didn't like how they put him on his side.  He's a picky fella!

We told Wesley we loved him and got our things and headed home.  On the way the dr called with his update.  Wesley's xrays are improving, blood work is normal and cardiologist ultrasounded his heart.  He has a mild murmur that isn't worrysome.  The cardiologist does want to monitor it though.  All in all he's doing great.  I did ask the nurse earlier if they can be doing as well as him and still not make it and he said unfortunately yes.  We will continue to pray that Wesley stays as strong as he is!

May 21 Wesley you have changed our world

Wesley is doing well and they are increasing his feedings.  He is still having heart rate issues and the dr wants to run blood work and xrays to make sure an infection isn't starting.  He doesn't think so but doesn't want to miss it if it is.  He also has a faint murmur and if still present at 30 weeks he will have an echo.

Tomorrow is our court date so we are headed to Monroe tonight to stay at the McDonald house again and to see Wesley.  

I didn't get to leave work as early as planned but we did bring in 8 beautiful basset hound pups via c section 

On the way to Monroe baby Mommas told me the basset mom was bleeding and they were headed to er :( please pray for momma Dolly and her now 8 bottle babies!  ER thinks she may have a bleeding disorder.

So we get to the hospital and see our beautiful boy.  He gets more and more handsome each time we see him.  Nurse asked if we wanted to hold him.  WOW we didn't think we could.  And we were not going to refuse!  We have better pics on the camera but here are some with our phones.

It was truly amazing to hold this tiny man.  He is a very curious boy and looks at everything.  I think he will have my brains ;). By the looks of his long feet I think he will be taller than us too.  We could have done skin to skin but it was too hard with a t-shirt on so tomorrow we will pick me up a button up shirt and may try before we leave town. Today was an awesome day!

There is Wesley before we left all snug in his incubator ;)

May 20th

Wesley had his feedings increased and they are weaning down his oxygen flow.  He's doing good with mild episodes of low heartrate but he is recovering on his own.  

Picked up the crib tonight and it looks great.  Can't wait to set it up yay!

Just called to check on him and the nurse is over enthusiastic but sweet.  Said he's doing wonderful and tolerating his feeding increase and is looking around right now checking out his surroundings.  Said he is 2lb even today

I can't wait to see him tomorrow! Going to stay the night again and go to court in the morning. 

Monday May 19th

Wesley is doing well... I missed the dr's call but the nurse said everything was staying the same.  Feedings still going and he is tolerating them.  Nurse tonight said his vitals have been great and he is sleeping well.  Yay for boreing updates!!!

Joe and I go to Monroe on Thursday for our court date to finish all the legal Mumbo jumbo.  Then we have nothing to worry about for another year, then we finalize the adoption.   

Got a great deal on a solid wood crib and will be picking it up tomorrow evening. Also a classmate from vetschool is giving me her car seat and stroller travel system! Yay! Looking online at registry right now. So many things and I bet most I don't need!

I had an adventure today with a tiger.  I will have lots of crazy stories to tell Wesley as he grows!