Well, we had yet another snow day or I should probably call it a "slushy overpass day" as that's the big problem. In a city where some of the highest structures are its highways, it makes sense, even if it feels goofy when driving around wet surface roads.
Anyway, that gave us a break from the weekday grind to visit Henrik in the middle of the day. Anna held him and I tried (in vain) to entertain Anders.
Henrik gained weight, despite his course of lasix, so he weighs 4 lbs 15 oz. He had a followup eye test, which went well. He'll have another one in a couple of weeks. His respirations are closer to the good range, so they'll probably be restarting bottle feedings later this week.
More slow, steady progress. I did the math and we are about where we were with Anders in late September, so I'm hoping that we only have about four weeks to go. Henrik will be 36 adjusted weeks old tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Thoughtful Anders
Tonight at supper, Anders hopped off his chair ambled over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You're a pretty good guy." He also told me that I was at 97%, of what I don't know, but he was at 99% and Mommy was at 55%, but I told Anna not to despair because right after that he called her "the bestest mommy in the world!" This happened while Ann was holding Henrik.
Yesterday after the party, Anders was reading Martha stories in his room with the idea being that doing so would relax Anders into taking a nap. Instead, Martha fell asleep in Anders bed and when she awakened there was a blanket covering her and Anders was gone. Anders is a master of naptime or bedtime jujitsu, but he is also quite thoughtful.
Martha and Brad also got a kick out of Anders looking in the index to find his favorite poems in "Where the Sidewalk Ends."
We are under a winter storm watch for Tuesday, so I might be writing more then.
Yesterday after the party, Anders was reading Martha stories in his room with the idea being that doing so would relax Anders into taking a nap. Instead, Martha fell asleep in Anders bed and when she awakened there was a blanket covering her and Anders was gone. Anders is a master of naptime or bedtime jujitsu, but he is also quite thoughtful.
Martha and Brad also got a kick out of Anders looking in the index to find his favorite poems in "Where the Sidewalk Ends."
We are under a winter storm watch for Tuesday, so I might be writing more then.
hanging out
Henrik is now 4 lbs 12 oz. They have stopped his bottle feedings and are giving him a three day cycle of lasix because he has a bit of swelling around his ankles and undercarriage. They want him to be at 60 respirations or less per minute before they restart bottle feedings. Henrik also needs to go back down to 1.5 or 1 liter of O2 before they restart bottle feedings. This is just a pause in his progress, especially since Henrik was going gangbusters a week and a half ago going onto a cannula, a crib, and a bottle.
Henrik was slated to be due one month from today. Tomorrow he'll have been out 10 weeks, 5 at "Big Hermann" and 5 at "Southwest." Henrik did well for me last night with his respirations, but that's the healing power of chest hair. We were both super-relaxed and took naps.
I took a nap because we hosted Anders' half birthday party with the help of Anders' godparents Brad and Martha Albers. We had 30-35 people cycle through the house. Anna kept them busy will all sorts of fun preschooler games. Brad and Martha helped us set up, stay stocked up, and clean up. Spending 3-4 hours hosting a party for 4.5 year olds, give or take, is exhausting. Anders was exhausted yesterday, but did not take a nap, but he was early to bed. Anders has also taken an epic nap this afternoon. Brad and Martha may or may not make it home tonight as there is bad weather bearing down on Chicago.
My job was to pick up supplies, collect the continuously garbage flow, and chase nerf-style stomp rockets into neighbors' yards. This job gave me the opportunity to meet the neighbor behind our house, a really nice and gracious guy. Once I got the stomp rocket floating in his swimming pool, I did not return the rockets to the kids.
Anders had a ball, and I think his friends did too! It was a lot of fun, and we'll have Chiptle leftovers for the week!
We are hanging in there. We had an "Ice Day" on Friday and might have one again on Tuesday! I hope we only have a month left with Henrik in the hospital.
Henrik was slated to be due one month from today. Tomorrow he'll have been out 10 weeks, 5 at "Big Hermann" and 5 at "Southwest." Henrik did well for me last night with his respirations, but that's the healing power of chest hair. We were both super-relaxed and took naps.
I took a nap because we hosted Anders' half birthday party with the help of Anders' godparents Brad and Martha Albers. We had 30-35 people cycle through the house. Anna kept them busy will all sorts of fun preschooler games. Brad and Martha helped us set up, stay stocked up, and clean up. Spending 3-4 hours hosting a party for 4.5 year olds, give or take, is exhausting. Anders was exhausted yesterday, but did not take a nap, but he was early to bed. Anders has also taken an epic nap this afternoon. Brad and Martha may or may not make it home tonight as there is bad weather bearing down on Chicago.
My job was to pick up supplies, collect the continuously garbage flow, and chase nerf-style stomp rockets into neighbors' yards. This job gave me the opportunity to meet the neighbor behind our house, a really nice and gracious guy. Once I got the stomp rocket floating in his swimming pool, I did not return the rockets to the kids.
Anders had a ball, and I think his friends did too! It was a lot of fun, and we'll have Chiptle leftovers for the week!
We are hanging in there. We had an "Ice Day" on Friday and might have one again on Tuesday! I hope we only have a month left with Henrik in the hospital.
Monday, January 20, 2014
4 Pound 4 Please
When I studied in England during my junior year of college, we frequented a small pub in the Beeston neighborhood of Nottingham called the Greyhound. The lunch special was fish 'n chips and a pop for 4 pounds and four pence and the stern woman at the till said, "Four pounds four please" all day. Today Henrik is four pounds four! If you want to read the part about how I got into a confrontation with that lady over Pepsi v. Coke and Dan Seeley talked me down, then scroll back four years and read about the day Anders hit 4.4.
In the last few days Henrik has (deep breath)...moved from a crib to an isolette, moved from a cpap to nasal cannula, had his feeding tube removed, started taking a bottle, broken the four pound barrier, and passed his eye test (he actually passed on Jan. 8, but no one told us until Friday). He's on 1.5 liters of O2, and he has taken as much as 10 mils of formula on his own. I only caught the tail end of Anna feeding him today as I was with Anders, but he seems to understand the suck and breath process, even if he doesn't have much stamina yet. I get the feeling that it will be a bit smoother this time as Henrik was not intubated as long and he trusts the process more than Anders did. Anders had to experiment with all ways other than the correct way before doing what ultimately needed to be done. Henrik seems more willing to accept what he's told to do, and then work to do it. I understand how insane this might sound when talking about tiny babies, but if Henrik turns out to be mellow and easily coachable then I'll be a soothsayer. That's not to say that Anders is not coachable, but I imagine Anders editing the coach's play in the huddle or offering unsolicited feedback as well.
Anders held Henrik for the first time on Saturday. The first minute went well as Henrik had no idea what was happening, but then being leaned up against Anders sort of freaked him out, and that's why the picture that you may have seen on Facebook looks as it does. Anders also likes the idea of going to visit Henrik, and sometimes he even likes visiting Henrik. Saturday's visit was somewhere in the middle. Today he didn't have much time for Henrik, and I took him to DD for a donut and a 20 oz-er of OJ, which he downed on his own!
Anna spent much of the weekend on Tiki Island with friends for a birthday party and rode horses on Jamaica Beach. Meanwhile, Trudy got stuck in a durable shopping bag, Anders and I got parked in by a cement mixer at Whataburger, and Anders ordered me around in the kitchen as I made cookies for the first time. Anders has much more experience than I do.
It's a beautiful day today in the high 70s and sunny.
Also of note: Henrik has been out nine weeks today. He's been at Memorial Hermann Southwest for four weeks as of today. On Wednesday, his age will be 35 weeks adjusted. Henrik looks more like Anders every day, I even noticed a small wave in his hair today. I already call Henrik "Anders" about 50% of the time, and it's only going to get worse I imagine as they grow more and more similar.
I may not be writing again for a while. The only reason I had time today was because it is a three day weekend and Anders is napping. Well, til February!
In the last few days Henrik has (deep breath)...moved from a crib to an isolette, moved from a cpap to nasal cannula, had his feeding tube removed, started taking a bottle, broken the four pound barrier, and passed his eye test (he actually passed on Jan. 8, but no one told us until Friday). He's on 1.5 liters of O2, and he has taken as much as 10 mils of formula on his own. I only caught the tail end of Anna feeding him today as I was with Anders, but he seems to understand the suck and breath process, even if he doesn't have much stamina yet. I get the feeling that it will be a bit smoother this time as Henrik was not intubated as long and he trusts the process more than Anders did. Anders had to experiment with all ways other than the correct way before doing what ultimately needed to be done. Henrik seems more willing to accept what he's told to do, and then work to do it. I understand how insane this might sound when talking about tiny babies, but if Henrik turns out to be mellow and easily coachable then I'll be a soothsayer. That's not to say that Anders is not coachable, but I imagine Anders editing the coach's play in the huddle or offering unsolicited feedback as well.
Anders held Henrik for the first time on Saturday. The first minute went well as Henrik had no idea what was happening, but then being leaned up against Anders sort of freaked him out, and that's why the picture that you may have seen on Facebook looks as it does. Anders also likes the idea of going to visit Henrik, and sometimes he even likes visiting Henrik. Saturday's visit was somewhere in the middle. Today he didn't have much time for Henrik, and I took him to DD for a donut and a 20 oz-er of OJ, which he downed on his own!
Anna spent much of the weekend on Tiki Island with friends for a birthday party and rode horses on Jamaica Beach. Meanwhile, Trudy got stuck in a durable shopping bag, Anders and I got parked in by a cement mixer at Whataburger, and Anders ordered me around in the kitchen as I made cookies for the first time. Anders has much more experience than I do.
It's a beautiful day today in the high 70s and sunny.
Also of note: Henrik has been out nine weeks today. He's been at Memorial Hermann Southwest for four weeks as of today. On Wednesday, his age will be 35 weeks adjusted. Henrik looks more like Anders every day, I even noticed a small wave in his hair today. I already call Henrik "Anders" about 50% of the time, and it's only going to get worse I imagine as they grow more and more similar.
I may not be writing again for a while. The only reason I had time today was because it is a three day weekend and Anders is napping. Well, til February!
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
...and a Happy New Year!
We've had a small spat of illness or under-the-weather-ness to be more exact in the House of Peterson of late, the sniffles but not full on colds hit. We seem to be on the mend. If one of us has not been totally well, then the other parent held Henrik that day.
Henrik is up to 2lbs. 9oz. He hit 2-11 yesterday, but lost some water weight. Henrik had another blood transfusion yesterday since he was looking pal and needed some help keeping the oxygen in his blood. Henrik looks a lot fuller. He has more meat on his bones and doesn't look like a frogman to the extent that he used to a couple weeks ago.
One interesting thing they told me today is that when they take him off of cpap, then they will try to have him breath without assistance! Usually this method does not work, and he will have to go back to the breathing assistance, but at that point it will be a nasal canula rather than cpap. As I've said before, they are much more aggressive with breathing than they were four years ago.
Between Christmas and illness, we went out in China Town with friends, our first time in this large and diverse part of town, where we had Korean food and Italian dessert. We also attended the Texas Bowl, so I can now take attending a college bowl game off my list. It's funny because Minnesota and Syracuse did as bowl activities stuff we'd routinely do, like visit the Houston Zoo or go to George Ranch Historical Park, just south of Sugar Land in rural Fort Bend County.
We attended a New Year's Eve party last night and Anders stayed awake until midnight on the East Coast! It doesn't really matter if you make it to 12 in the central time zone as Conan O'Brien doesn't do his Central Time Zone New Year's show as far as I know. I did see a lame syndicated Central Time New Year's show out of Dallas a couple years ago, but that was forgettable.
It defied expectations and reached room temperature today, but another "cold snap" is coming later in the week.
It has been relaxing not to travel, but I did get a bit sad listening to the "News from Lake Wobegon" when Garrison Keiller said something to the effect that the smell of Christmas is potato sausage. I never liked the stuff, but it just smelled like Christmas when the "potatis kurv" was cooking at my grandma's house in Marquette, KS.
Henrik is up to 2lbs. 9oz. He hit 2-11 yesterday, but lost some water weight. Henrik had another blood transfusion yesterday since he was looking pal and needed some help keeping the oxygen in his blood. Henrik looks a lot fuller. He has more meat on his bones and doesn't look like a frogman to the extent that he used to a couple weeks ago.
One interesting thing they told me today is that when they take him off of cpap, then they will try to have him breath without assistance! Usually this method does not work, and he will have to go back to the breathing assistance, but at that point it will be a nasal canula rather than cpap. As I've said before, they are much more aggressive with breathing than they were four years ago.
Between Christmas and illness, we went out in China Town with friends, our first time in this large and diverse part of town, where we had Korean food and Italian dessert. We also attended the Texas Bowl, so I can now take attending a college bowl game off my list. It's funny because Minnesota and Syracuse did as bowl activities stuff we'd routinely do, like visit the Houston Zoo or go to George Ranch Historical Park, just south of Sugar Land in rural Fort Bend County.
We attended a New Year's Eve party last night and Anders stayed awake until midnight on the East Coast! It doesn't really matter if you make it to 12 in the central time zone as Conan O'Brien doesn't do his Central Time Zone New Year's show as far as I know. I did see a lame syndicated Central Time New Year's show out of Dallas a couple years ago, but that was forgettable.
It defied expectations and reached room temperature today, but another "cold snap" is coming later in the week.
It has been relaxing not to travel, but I did get a bit sad listening to the "News from Lake Wobegon" when Garrison Keiller said something to the effect that the smell of Christmas is potato sausage. I never liked the stuff, but it just smelled like Christmas when the "potatis kurv" was cooking at my grandma's house in Marquette, KS.
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