Life with Spencer

It's been a week that we have had Spencer home. I have to say that the adjustment hasn't been as difficult as I was expecting. Don't get me wrong - the sleep deprivation is always a tough thing, and doesn't get any easier by the day. But, other than that, things are going relatively well.

There are some good things about the fact that Spencer was in the NICU. First of all, I am already through the recovery of having a C-section, and not having to deal with that on top of taking care of a newborn has been nice. Second, Spencer is on a schedule. The NICU put him on a schedule where he eats every three hours around the clock. This makes things much more predictable and easier to understand his cues than it would be for a typical newborn. If he is fussy, and it's not time to eat, it's easier to know I should try other things to make him happy.

Carter has been doing surprisingly well. He has had some moments of acting out, needing attention or crying, but not nearly as much as I was preparing myself for. When he sees other people, he is always very excited to show them his "baby brother Spencer." And he has even been a good "helper" from time to time. We will see if this persists over the coming weeks, but so far we have been pleasantly surprised. My only guess is that having Spencer in the hospital for awhile provided Carter some level of adjustment already.

Spencer is doing really well. I think it took him a few days to acclimate to his new surroundings and new noises. However, over the last few days I noticed he has started to do better on his feeds. We are getting used to the routine of bottles, medicine, formula, burping, rocking, swaddling, tummy time, and all the other little things that go with taking care of him 24/7.

We had a visit to our pediatrician on Monday and we were very pleasantly surprised to find out Spencer has gained weight since leaving the hospital! This is a huge accomplishment for us since we know that weight gain is a really important factor to keeping Spencer from  having to go back to the hospital. We weren't sure we could get him to eat enough at home, so when we found out he had gained, we were very relieved and proud of ourselves.

We are still trying to figure out what to do with our little guy. The doctors and nurses definitely scared us to death with all their warnings about the need to keep Spencer well this winter. Basically, even a common cold could affect Spencer so negatively that he could end up back in the hospital. Even though he looks "normal" he lungs are still very underdeveloped and highly sensitive to germs and infection. This means a long winter of hiding out at home and doing our best to minimize any exposure he has to germs. This, of course, is discouraging as we are so happy to finally have Spencer home and were ready to show him off! But we understand this short-term restriction is what is most important to him for the long term.

 Thank you for all your support and encouragement! We are so happy to have our baby home.

First bath at home!

Proud big brother

Helping with the pacifier