Elephant Hat

My Favorite TV Shows

Sesame Street is for babies.

I'm a big boy and love watching Legend of the Seeker

with mommy and auntie Anh, but when dad is around

I like to watch basketball!!

Chubby Cheeks

We can't help but to keep constantly kissing and pinching Eli's baby cheeks. We've checked but he's not hiding anything in there.

Tummy Time

Doctors orders, daily tummy time for Eli. He's getting much better at holding his head up all by himself.

St. Patty's Day

Where's your green?

Homeward Bound

Eli was discharged from the hospital Tuesday, March 2. Since Eli was very lucky to progress so well, he left early, 36 weeks and 3 days gestation age to be exact. He looks quite big in the car seat, but actually Eli was only 4.5 pounds (now closer to 5) at the time. He's still too small for large crowds so his welcoming home party will have to wait. We'll continue to post his progress in the meantime.

The Beverly Hills of Miller Children's Hospital

Eli has moved once again to what some of the NICU nurses call "Beverly Hills." It is the new NICU wing of Miller Children's Hospital. Everything is nice and spic and span and in pristine condition. This will also be the last (hopefully) room Eli goes to before he leaves the hospital. Each of the babies in this wing gets their own little cubicle. It doesn't look like much space in the picture but it is a world of difference. We even get our own rocking chair! Eli is doing great still, he just received some vaccinations and will be weaning from the incubator when he reaches 1800 gms. He is currently 1691 gms. (3lbs 11oz) He's slowly getting there. He just recently started bottle feeding and breastfeeding. Since he is still small he only does it twice a day because it burns so many calories. He needs to build his endurance so that he can eventually take all his feedings without the need of a tube.

Day 61

Eli is back to his routine of full feedings every three hours. For Eli's weight, which is now 3 1/2 pounds!, a full feeding is 29 ccs almost 1 fluid oz.

His corrected age is now 34 weeks, which is about the time preemies develop sucking and swallowing reflexes. He's been pretty good with the pacifier, so hopefully the transition to bottle feeding goes well. Come next week an occupational therapist will work with with Eli to coordinate breathing, sucking, and swallowing all at the same time. They tend to burn a lot of calories while feeding, so this is usually a slow process starting once a day, progressing to a couple time a days, until all his feedings come exclusively from the bottle.

Update - Day 52

Lots of updates, sorry for not being able to update as often. Eli had a short stint of intestinal infection, fancy word necrotizing enterocolitis. But as you can see with the help of antibiotics, he is recovering quite well. Eli is up to 3 lb 2oz and should gain even more when feedings continue next week.

You'll also notice he doesn't need his nasal cannula anymore. He has been breathing room air on his own for three straight days now. Keep up the good work Eli!

Who do you look like?

Last night the nurse said that Eli looks like his mother! I said "He better look like me!" haha. It's still too early to tell what he'll look like when he comes home because he has quite a bit of weight to gain. But I'm so anxious to find out...soon.

How much do you weigh??

Every night the nurse usually weighs Eli, but usually they ask us if we'd like to do it. His bed is so high tech, it does the weighing for us. All we have to do is lift him up and put him down when it tells us too. Today his weight was 1175 grams... everything is metric here... so in the good ole US that converts to 2lb 9oz. He's still doing well, just trying to gain weight. When he gets to around 1500 grams they will start trying to get him to maintain his body temp without the incubator.

Day 29

Day 28

This is Eli's bed. Nice and clean compliments of yours truly. It was the first time I made his bed, and it looks mighty nice if I do say so myself!

Big Boy Diapers

Eli now wears the big boy diapers... these are the preemie diapers that they actually sell in stores. As you can see they are still a little too big for him... he'll need to grow a little more to fit into them better.

The Big 2-0

Eli is now officially heavier than when he was born. He now weighs over 2 pounds! 2.2 to be exact, and it seems to all be going to him belly. And he looks nothing like he did when he was born. He now gets all his nutrients with only breast milk and some fortifier that they add to increase his calorie intake. But no more IVs! This picture was taken right after we gave him a bath, which is why he is so awake, since he was crying and fidgety the whole time.

Male Bonding

It is now our routine to hold Eli "skin to skin" everyday when we get there at 5pm. So now we aren't just spending hours staring into an incubator! It's so hard not to want to hug and squeeze him tight when we're holding him. He's too little yet, hopefully soon! We take turns holding him, but of course I think he likes his mommy better!!

More Mommy Time

Eli is doing well. He is slowly starting to gain more weight. He is currently 836 grams, which is almost 2 pounds. He keeps going back and forth on the levels of oxygen he's receiving, but he is still breathing on his own. Hopefully he continues to do well.