1 Down - 1 To Go

So this morning we were down bright and early to see Lewis. We stayed down long enough to be involved in his 8:00 care. We got to do the whole routine - temp, change diaper, and feed. Overnight they increased his milk intake to 10 mL so that was good to hear.

Today was a big day for Lauren - she was discharged from the hospital today! Now we're just waiting for one more person to be discharged so we can go home. They didn't kick us out of the room at a certain time though. That was nice because the Renucci House starts check-in after 3:00.

We didn't get over here exactly at 3:00 though, we were down hanging with the cool dude again for a while. He wasn't a very happy camper this visit. After he was done eating he started crying and didn't want to stop. It was frustrating for all of us since we just wanted to pick him up (and I'm sure he did too.) An occupational therapist happened to be in the nursery helping another baby and came over to show us some things. Since he's laying on his stomach he doesn't get all the necessary movements normal babies get. She showed us some exercises to do with him - holding his head and hips and gently rocking back and forth, holding his shoulders and hips and gently bouncing up and down, and again holding his shoulders and hips and rocking him side to side. Wow what a difference that made. Doing the head/hips one quieted him down instantly. He didn't mind the side to side one either. He didn't really care for the bouncing too much. The therapist explained that that was a new movement for him and he just wasn't use to it - in time he will get used to them. These movements are supposed to stimulate brain function and neuropaths. So we'll be doing these on a regular basis from now on.

We finally got all checked-in around 5:00 at Renucci. Pretty nice place: comfortable rooms, attached to the hospital, nice kitchen area with food available, ... We're very happy we were able to get a room here.

Shortly after we got settled in, our friends Kevin and Sarah stopped by to meet Lewis. We took them down to the NICU for a visit. He was sleeping most of the time we were down there but he peeked out to see his new friends a few times. We love showing him off (have I said that before?)! After visiting with Lewis we went up and had some dinner with Kevin and Sarah in the cafeteria.

After dinner we went back down to see Lewis for his 8:00 care. When we got down there the nurse said he woke up a little early because he was probably hungry. She had already done most of the stuff. We got to help weigh him again. He weighed 8 lbs! Must be because they increased his intake to 20 mL. We fed him again and then headed back up to the room. We're planning on heading back down one more time to feed him again tonight at 11. Then it will be time for some good rest.

Here's a couple pictures from today: