day 4 (December 17, 2006)

I was discharged from the hospital today, which was a bittersweet experience. I am very happy to be at home in my own bed now, but it was so hard to leave Asher at the hospital. At least I know that he is in good hands in the NICU. He will remain in the NICU (perhaps with a transfer to St. Joseph's) for the next month or beyond.

this picture might give you an idea of how small he is:
he is wearing a preemie diaper in this picture

pics of the week: 94 weeks

day 3 (December 16, 2006)

starting a little young, don't you think?

the doctors started Asher on caffeine today! it sounds funny, but it helps premature babies with spells of apnea (stopped breathing) an bradycardia (slowed heart rate). spells of apnea and bradycardia are very common among preemies; Asher will outgrow them as he gets older, but for now, the caffeine is supposed to help remind him to keep breathing.

day 2 (December 15, 2006)

today, they took Asher off of CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure)! they waited 6 hours to see how he did without it, and once they determined that he was doing okay, they started him on NG feeds of expressed breastmilk. he started with 3 mLs every 3 hours (for his tiny tummy!), which will increased by 3 mLs every 9 hours, as tolerated. we'll see how it goes! Rob also got a chance to hold Asher for the first time today!

Introducing Asher Timothy

Surprise! We thought this baby would come early, but not quite this early...

Asher Timothy was born at 12:59 am on December 14th, 2006. Born at exactly 30 weeks gestation, he weighed in at 1504 grams (3 lbs 5 oz) and measured 17 inches long. He was born by c-section after nearly 24 hours of labour.

Judah's big-boy bedroom

Judah moved into his big-boy bed about a month ago. We wanted him to be used to it by the time the new Little One comes along...

He loves his new bed! It's much easier to get him to go to sleep there than in his crib! We put a safety rail up so that he won't roll off. He definitely likes to move around in his sleep!

Here are some before and after pictures of his bedroom!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

his big-boy bed is quite big indeed. we purchased it at Ikea for an awesome price, and we figured it will last longer than a toddler bed!

the night stand and dresser are daddy's old furniture. it's a pretty good match!

FIRST NIGHT IN THE NEW BED:

pics of the week: 93 weeks

Judah has been very, very sick this week. On Sunday morning, he woke up and just didn't seem himself, and things got worse from there. He has never been this sick before - he has had a high fever and has absolutely NO energy. It is strangely quiet in our house these days; the child has been sleeping almost all day long for an entire week! He is still recovering, but finally seems to have a little bit of energy. He has started to play with his toys again!

pregnancy update

I'm just a few days shy of 30 weeks right now. Wow, this pregnancy is going much faster than my first! I think it's time I gave you all a pregnancy update!

As some of you may know,this pregnancy hasn't been the easiest! I had very bad nauseau at the beginning (which thankfully subsided at about 12/13 weeks), and started having Braxton-Hicks contractions at 17 weeks! Just last week, I was in the hospital with contractions again. They were less than four minutes apart for several hours, so we decided it was best to get it checked out. Fortunately, I wasn't in labour, but I was instructed, as usual, to rest as much as possible. (This is not very easy with an active 21-month-old!) We're praying that Little One will stay put for several more weeks! He/she will likely be early, as Judah was, due to my bicornuate uterus. Since we know a little more about my condition this time, hopefully we can prevent him or her from being born any earlier than Judah was. Your prayers would be appreciated! And please keep praying for Little One to turn head-down!

pics of the week: 92 weeks

Judah and cousin Brittany at a family birthday celebration.

He thought he was so funny by trying to hide in the first picture!

belly pics: 28 weeks