March 20, 2011 - 16 Days Old

It has been a few days since I last posted. I have been out of town for the last couple of days working, and yesterday I was throwing up all day. I guess I picked it up from my kids. Not fun.

Amaraa has been doing better. She is getting around on her own without having to use the walker as much. She's not challenging me to a foot race yet, but she's doing much better. She is still in a lot of pain and her pain medication hurts her stomach and makes her throw up, so she is trying to back off the meds as much as she can while still keeping her pain under control.

Aiden is doing great. When we went to see him Thursday, he was wearing clothes!  He had a set of preemie pajamas on. He finally got rid of his last IV line, so he will be wearing clothes from now on. Amaraa wasn't feeling very well Thursday, so I was able to hold Aiden for a change. What a treat for me!  When we asked about his weight, the nurse said that Aiden's bed scale had been malfunctioning, so they weighed him on a new scale. He came in at 3 lbs. 6 oz. All of his previous measurements had been under 3 lbs. They said they would use the new scale for all of his future measurements. Anyway, that made us feel good that he is back above his birth weight of 3 lbs.

We visited Aiden again today. His weight is up to 3 lbs. 8 oz. and he is still doing very well. They are feeding him about 8 oz. of milk per day and he is tolerating it very well. Amaraa and I were both able to hold him today and he was wide awake nearly the whole time. Prior to this visit, he has only opened his eyes occasionally and usually only halfway, one at a time. Today, he opened his eyes wide and was looking around the room. He checked out his mom and me and tried to take in this crazy world he was born into. Skylar wanted to go with us to see his little brother today. Unfortunately, the NICU won't let kids under 14 in during RSV season. That lasts until June, so Skylar and Jasmine will have to wait until Aiden gets home to meet him. Sky was really upset that he couldn't come with us. I hate the fact that they can't see him, but it's most important that we keep Aiden healthy. The neonatologist told me that if a child gets RSV twice before the age of two, it increases their risk of developing asthma to 50%. So, Sky and Jazzy will have to wait. They'll have plenty of time to get to know him once we get him home.

Just after we got home, Becky Worthington brought us dinner. It was so good. The Relief Society in our ward is bringing us meals for two weeks. They have already done so much for us. We appreciate it so much. I don't know what we would have done without the support, help, and prayers of our family and friends during this time.