Week 4

During Week 4 of life in the NICU, Fisher continued to work on learning to eat (breastfeeding) while remembering to breathe, suck, and swallow at the same time. This requires tons of coordination, something that we adults take for granted. Fisher's brain is immature enough that he hasn't quite got it down. Mostly, he forgets to breathe and the monitors that he is hooked up to start dinging and nurses come running. It is VERY relaxing when you are trying to breastfeed...

Kyle has returned to work sporadically. I go to the hospital every day and Kyle accompanies me on the days he doesn't go into work. The NICU sort of feels like my job---I drive in with traffic in the morning and leave with traffic in the afternoon after putting in a full day. It's going to be so strange when we can actually bring Fisher home.

Kyle has been going back to the hospital in the evenings to feed Fisher his 9 pm bottle and returns fairly late at night. Neither of us is getting great sleep---a refresher of things to come once Fisher is home.

On the weekends, we take Hayes to the hospital for a little visit. He can't/won't stay long---the NICU and a sleeping baby are not very interesting to a two-year old. But he always wants to hold him for a few minutes and is enthralled with being a "big brover" to his "baby brover."