Do it for Alex!

A bright spot in our routine of late has been the addition of skin-to-skin holding time with Alex. Because he's doing well, we're able to hold him one or two times a day now, and often skin-to-skin, which helps regulate his temperature and helps with bonding. His numbers tell us he loves the time with us. Last night's nurse also told us that while skin-to-skin contact with both parents is beneficial, the mother's body will change temperature for the baby, according to his needs. While this may be the case, whenever Steven is holding Alex, he looks incredibly peaceful. That baby loves his daddy! We've now both started doing skin-to-skin more often than holding him in a blanket on our laps.

Another bright spot from the week is that Alex has now opened his eyes! The few days before he opened his eyes, we saw him raising his eyebrows, frowning, straining around, and making all kinds of faces as though trying his very best to open his eyes. One of those days, I was having a particularly difficult morning, and Alex appeared to be pretty grumpy. I started talking to him through the incubator, trying to soothe him, and he turned his neck completely around, and "looked" right at me. He heard my voice, and he recognized me. Once again, the little man grabbed hold of my heart, helping me feel once again, that yes, I was needed.

One day when we came in, we were startled to see him open his eyes and try to look at us a little. What a strange sight! It seems as though every day there are new things he accomplishes, new strides he reaches. What must he think of his surroundings? What must he think of the new ability to see, however limited?

He seems pretty peaceful the last few days. When he was on the intubator for his oxygen, they kept him pretty well sedated, as babies get pretty agitated with that machine. Right when he switched over to the nasal cannula, he seemed pretty grumpy and upset, in part due to the fact that they had stopped sedating him so that he would breathe on his own. But he now seems to have accustomed to the routine of things, and is much happier. This is a huge relief for his mommy and daddy, that's for sure.

Daddy's first time holding Alex

Mommy's first skin-to-skin

Daddy's first skin-to-skin

The nurses are all still very encouraging about Alex. Calling him a little rockstar, calling us the champion holders. They tell us to expect setbacks, but for now, he's doing fantastic. He's not quite back up to his birth weight of 1 lb 10 oz, he's currently at 1 lb 7 oz, and looks much better and more filled out now than he did just a few days ago. A nurse said when picking him up for skin-to-skin time with mommy "he weighs but a whisper".

Deep Thinkers - Daddy and Son

He's such a little fighter, and we love him to pieces! If anything is difficult for either me or Steven, we tell each other "Do it for Alex!", and our resistance falls away. Everything we live for is now for Alex. He has made our family unit a family, and the moments we get to hold and be with him make everything worth it. For me, the recovery from surgery. The monotonous and painful routine of pump, sleep, pump, eat, pump, repeat. The hobbling over to the NICU twice a day, wishing I could do more. For Steven, the return to a routine of work and school, while those events seem so insignificant in the face of the last two weeks. If we're sad or upset, Alex makes it better. What a beautiful, little, tiny, TINY gift.