Journey... Bringing home Aiden

Aiden was put on an IV of sucrose right when he was born because his blood sugar was really low (20). His doctor expected his sugar levels to regulate pretty quickly with the sucrose, but it did not. She believed something else must be wrong. Over Monday & Tuesday Aiden went through many tests, and finally on Tuesday afternoon the doctor confirmed there was something wrong. Both of his lungs were filled with pneumonia. What happened after this was a whirlwind. He had to be transferred to the nearest NICU, which was two hours away. I asked if we'd be driving him, and they said that no, a transport team would come and get him and he would go in the ambulance with them. I think this was when it really hit me. My baby was very sick.

They had to bring him to the nursery to be on oxygen while we waited for the transport team to get there. Dave and I took turns rocking Aiden in the nursery during those two hours. We packed up all of our stuff, and I got to be discharged early. I believe we went through an entire box of Kleenex during those couple hours. I couldn't stop crying. My baby was sick and there wasn't a thing I could do for him. When the transport team arrived and I saw the little tiny incubator on this huge gurney with all of these machines hooked up... That was even worse. We stayed there until they rolled him out of the nursery, then took off as fast as we could. We went home, threw a bunch of things in bags and drove two hours to go see our precious baby.

Initially they told us 7-10 days. We focused on the seven. Within a couple of days they said it would be ten days. Then fourteen. By this point we didn't really believe it, couldn't expect anything, and stopped looking at the calendar. We would be there as long as it took for Aiden to be healthy and ready to come home. It ended up being 16 days. Every day there felt just like the day before. We spent all day with Aiden, caring for him as much as we could. The first few days we couldn't even hold him. I can't even describe the feeling of standing next to your brand new baby, he's crying and agitated and you can't pick him up. Three days into his stay at the NICU we were finally able to hold him again. Needless to say, we held him as much as possible over the rest of our time there. 

Today Aiden is a healthy 2 month old baby. He's eating and growing and doing everything a 2 month old should do. We are thankful every day. 

Our Journey

I feel like the title to this blog post is appropriate in two different ways. First, the journey over three days to meeting our precious son Aiden. Second, the eighteen day journey to taking him home from the hospital.

I read the post previous to this one the other day and can hardly believe (still!) how things happened after that day. Yes, Dave was on his way home from Buffalo that day, but I had some problems the next morning while he was still on his way home. Luckily he was only about half an hour from home when I started realizing something was wrong. He drove into the driveway and I got into the car so he could bring me to the hospital to get checked. We got there & had to go upstairs to get monitored. After a couple hours and a few tests, the doctor came in and said I had to stay overnight to continue to be monitored. Dave & I looked at each other, pretty surprised. We expected to go home. The next morning again we were getting ready to go home when the doctor came in and said the baby had to be delivered. I looked at Dave and started bawling. This was not how I expected/hoped things would go!! At noon that day (September 29) I was induced. To make a long story short, after 31 hours of labor (& many, many tears), I had to have a c-section.

Aiden William was born at 7:44 pm on Sunday, September 30th. He was 7 pounds, 4 ounces & 19 inches. He is just amazing, and so precious!!

On to the second part of the journey... Tomorrow...

On Hold

As of tomorrow, our travels will officially be on hold for a few months. Since we learned our baby is due in the middle of October, we made these plans for the fall, not knowing if they would work out or not. Well, Dave is on his way home right now, and it's not because I went into labor. :) Nope! It's because that's how we planned it. I shouldn't brag too much, because then something might happen.

I'm due in about 2.5 weeks. WEEKS. I see pictures of newborn babies now and get this nervous fluttering in my stomach because soon, God-willing, Dave and I will be the ones with the newborn baby. And we'll have to figure out how to be mom & dad. All you experts out there.... Any big tips for us? It's scary and exciting all wrapped up in one feeling.

Today...

My heart & head are in Ann Arbor with some family members who have appointments
I'm looking forward to seeing them on Thursday when I get home for the weekend.

I am 31 weeks + 1 day into this 9+ month journey.
I'm making lists for what I have & what I need before mid-October. I was pretty excited to find some really good deals on baby clothes yesterday, and it really got me thinking about what I still need.
I realized the first day of school is a mere 3 (THREE!!) weeks away!!! How did that happen? Yes, I realize that doesn't affect me this year, but still... Three weeks!

I rearranged a couple appointments in September & added one for October with Maria J. I want to be as in-line & "loose" as possible :)

I'm realizing I'm going to be very busy between now & mid-September. I have a list of things I want to get done in the last two weeks of September, too, so... think it's going to go by quickly?

Addicted

I'll admit it. I'm addicted. To nectarines, and to popcorn. No, not together! These are two things I rarely ate before, and now I don't go a day without either one.
 I realized yesterday that if I was going back to school this year, I'd be getting into school mode in probably a week, and spending hours & hours in my classroom in two weeks. Lesson plans, syllabi, organizing. Whew! It's nice knowing my summer isn't just about over. This year my summer lasts as long as the weather holds up. :) the last time I wasn't going to school in the fall was, oh, about  1987.

Diners, Drive-Ins, and..... Dives?

Living in different cities, Dave and I are always looking for somewhere really good to eat. We don't have a tv at home, but in the summers we do & often find ourselves watching the Food Network Channel. A good show is Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. The host (Guy) travels around the US and goes to different restaurants that are locally known for their food, usually a few dishes. Today Dave and I went to one of the restaurants featured on the show and it was SO GOOD! It was our third venture to a restaurant from the show and we've yet to be disappointed. Just really good food!! And two of the places (including tonight's restaurant) were so out of the way, we never would've tried/found them without being "introduced" on the show. I highly recommend checking out the food network website and looking for a restaurant if you're traveling to a new area. YUM!! :)

Home!

We're headed home tomorrow!! It's just for a quick weekend, but I'm hoping for lots of  sun, swimming, and visiting. Also maybe some saunas and a bonfire or two.

See ya in a couple days?

Weekend in New England

 Dave and I spent the weekend in New England, staying with Jim, Lynne, and Braedy. We didn't spend a whole lot of time at their house, but were out on adventures around the area. Here's a few photos from our Sunday at Hampton Beach, NH.

We had such a great time!! Thanks again Jim, Lynne, and Braedy!!