Weeks 2-3

At the beginning of his second week, Fisher came out of his isolette and his accommodations were upgraded to a "cot," a fancy word for a plastic sleeping bin. This means that he is able to regulate his own body temperature and doesn't need the tropical temps of the isolette to keep him warm anymore. He seems to like his new digs just fine. The nasal tube is where he gets his "groceries," as my dad calls it. Every three hours, we take his temp., change his diaper, and the nurses check all his vitals. Then, he gets his grub (breastmilk) via a syringe pump that dispenses the breastmilk over a 30-45 minute span. So, Fisher just sleeps, "eats," and poops the days away.

During week three, Fisher is still hanging in his cot, sleeping, eating, and pooping. The big advancement, though, is that he is starting to breastfeed! (Preemies don't develop the suck/swallow reflex until they are 34 weeks-ish gestation.) He had been showing signs of being ready---sucking like crazy on his paci, waking before the three hour mark, and general "rooting" behavior.

In his 3 week picture above, you can see all the wires that he is constantly hooked up to: cardiac and respiratory leads coming from under his shirt, the pulse oximeter on his foot, and his nasal tube. He also wears an ankle monitor that alerts the unit if someone tries to steal him. We hold him all the time, but aren't able to go far since the wires only stretch so far.

We had lots of visitors in town during Fisher's third week. Here are my parents and my big sis, Stacey, holding Fisher: (The gowns and gloves were precautions in case Fisher had any type of infection.)

Hayes had a blast with all his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin staying with us. Here is a pic of the little monkey after he insisted I give him a ponytail:

Hayes got to spend time with his cousin, Lilah, in the backyard above-ground pool we had installed. (It was a very costly venture...) The two of them had fun splashing and mostly just dumping the water out of the pool onto the grass. They also played with bubbles and ate ice pops: