My Mom is Hot

We went back and forth for a while on this for a while, but we decided to go to Josh's high school reunion tonight, too. There's only so much that we can do for Kaleb while he's in the NICU. And he's got a whole nurses' unit looking after him, and him getting rest is essential to him getting big and strong enough to come home.

So we decided--just three days after Sara had a baby--to hit the town! It wasn't exactly the wildest of nights, but it was fun to see a bunch of people that we hadn't even thought of in ages. And the look on peoples faces when we told them what WE had been up to lately was priceless!

I think we also kind of shocked the nursing staff when we showed up to see Kaleb all decked out. Afterall, they were used to seeing us in sweats and hospitals gowns. But, as reported by one of the nurses to Sara's mom, Sara is now known as the HOT mom in the NICU (no kidding).

Kaleb Sucks (in a good way)!

Great news: Kaleb is taking milk out of a bottle!
It's only 10 mL, but this is Kaleb's first real step towards getting rid of the IV. Over the next several days, the doctors will increase the amount of milk Kaleb takes through a bottle and decrease the volume he receives through the IV. Before Kaleb can come home, he'll have to be able to take 30 mL of milk from the bottle in 30 minutes.

They'll leave the feeding tube in place just in case Kaleb ever gets too tired to eat all his food, but he's eating like a champ right now. Still, it's tough for the little guy because he doesn't have those chubby little baby cheeks yet, so it's hard to get the suction necessary to really get going.

Kaleb also got his first lessons in college football today. And did a great job helping Josh whup up on Uncle Dave; here's a pic of his introduction to the family business.

We Get to Go Home! But We Do NOT Get to Bring Our Baby :(

Sara has been doing great recovering from Kaleb's birth (with a little help from her new friend, Vicodin) and will be discharged as planned today. While we are very thankful for her quick recovery, it's awfully hard to leave Kaleb and go home.

We'll just continue praying for him and hope he gets to join us as soon as possible. And thank you to everyone else out there that has been doing the same!

There is somewhat of a silver-lining here: with Kaleb having to stay in the hospital, at least we'll have a little bit of time to get the house ready for him to come home! (And there is a TON to do!)

Fake 'n Bake

Kaleb's doing great, and he's really enjoying "eating" his milk. It's very cute because you can tell he can taste the milk even though it is coming through his nose, and he starts moving his mouth almost like he's sucking it down!

We also realized that giving him a pacifier while we're feeding him reinforces this (and will hopefully help move him along to drinking out of a bottle). Plus, what's not to love about a tiny baby sucking on a pacifier that's as big as his head?

The big development today is that Kaleb has been moved under a special UV light because he is a little bit jaundiced. The light will help breakdown the extra bilirubin in his blood that is causing the jaundice.

We were expecting this though. All preemies experience some degree of jaundice, and we were told that Kaleb's bruising made him even more susceptible.

But it's nothing to be concerned about, and he shouldn't have to stay under the light more than a couple of days. Until then, Kaleb's just going to enjoy catching some rays.
Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering: yes, Kaleb does have little chicken legs.

Getting Comfortable

We're starting to settle in to our role as NICU parents. It's tough seeing our baby hooked up to a bunch of monitors, with wires and tubes peeking out from beneath his blanket, but the nurses and doctors are wonderful. And Kaleb also has a few neighbors with very nice parents that have been in this situation much longer than we have.

Today, we got to start feeding Kaleb real food (kind of). The doctors inserted a feeding tube, and we're allowed to give him 5 mL's of milk every three hours. He is still getting most of his nutrition through the IV, but this little bit of milk will help get his digestive system ready for the real deal. (Typically, Kaleb's digestive system wouldn't be fully developed for another couple of weeks.)

We also learned that Kaleb is already quite the character.

Kaleb "The Bulldog" Davis:


Kaleb's Yoda impression:

Our New (Temporary) Home

So this is Kaleb's home away from home until he's big and strong enough to come home for real. He'll spend most of his time in this isolette and will stay in the NICU until he leaves. Good thing he's got good neighbors!

It is amazing how much the swelling went down in Kaleb's face in just a few short hours. And there's still a good bit of bruising, but it's nothing like before.

Kaleb will be getting all of his nutrition through an IV for at least 24 hours, and he'll build slowly from there. He'll also be on antibiotics for a couple of days as a precaution. And he has what seems like a million wires and tubes coming out of or attached to his body.

But that doesn't stop him from being ridiculously cute. And seriously, at this point, how much better does he look than the two of us (especially Josh)?

Kaleb: Latin for tiny

So Kaleb officially weighed 4 lbs 1.6 oz and was 17 in long when he was born.

Other than being a little scrawny, he is perfectly healthy. Like we had said before, the main concern was whether his lungs would be sufficiently developed to allow him to breathe on his own.


We received a huge, huge blessing in that Kaleb was able to breathe on his own immediately, and he hasn't faltered since. He will still be in the hospital for several weeks, and we have been told not to expect him to come home until at least couple of weeks before his original due date (which was October 23). But still, he is healthy and is doing very well.