Wednesday, May 16th: The Doggies Come Home

Finnegan sleeps just like mommy. :)

 Christine--

He's a LOT more alert and likes to stare at his mask.

The past couple of days have been rather uneventful except for everything we've been doing to move forward on the house in Lexington. Finnegan is doing wonderfully, and Ian and I are just attempting to get into some sort of routine. It won't really be a "normal" routine, but it's a routine of sorts nonetheless. Since Ian's surgery, I'm trying to be at the hospital more while also trying to be home to take care of the hubby. Hasn't quite worked, but Ian is pretty self-sufficient and understanding. He has another appointment with his doctor tomorrow to determine if they need to try another route or if things are healing the way they are supposed to. I can't imagine what this is like for him. I'm frustrated enough with him being out of commission, I can't even think about how he feels about all of it physically and mentally. I'm just praying he gets answers and a definite fix soon.





He likes to suck on his fingers. Cute kid, really.

We've missed Finn's rounds the last couple of days, so we haven't had much to update. Plus, from what his nurses have told us, rounds have been super quick, so there is really not much to report. Regardless, we had excellent news this week, Finn broke the 2 pound barrier! :) As of today, Finnegan Michael weighs about 2 pounds and 1.5 ounces and is about 13.4 inches long! Right now we're at the sit and wait for him to grow stage, which is difficult but also amazing to watch. Beyond this great news, Finn continues to have some bradys that require some stimulation and suctioning, but most he corrects on his own (he's maturing!). He remains on his cpap with a forced breath rate of 5/minute. They weaned him from 30 down by five for a week. They tried taking him off the rate totally but he had a LOT of bradys that day. So, he's not quite ready for nothing, but he's getting there! He continues to poop and pee regularly and boy can you tell; he is a stinky boy! ;) I've come to learn when he is taking a dump and when he's hungry. It's just hard for me because I have to ask to change him (and/or he only gets changed every 3 hours when it's food time) or hold him and he gets fed on a very strict schedule. Otherwise, the doctors are monitoring his sodium levels. They are currently giving him extra sodium in his feedings every 6 hours, but as of yesterday, they upped the dosage because his levels weren't going up. We were also told that Finn will be able to get vaccinated for Hep B next week. Ian and I both want him to be vaccinated, but are a bit weary of whether or not our little preemie would be able to handle any vaccinations, but we'll look into it. Depending on what they doctors say we might ask that they hold off until he would have received them if he was born nearer his due date. All we learned from rounds today is that Finn is getting more food, so he's now up to 18ml of breastmilk per feeding. He'll be growing like a weed for sure! :)

Kylie had to improvise because her
favorite spot was covered!

After work today, Ian came upstairs and said he was going to go bring the dogs home. I have to admit, that might be why life has felt so off balance the last week or so. Our house just feels so empty and quiet. I'm not sure what we're getting ourselves into by bringing them back home after they've enjoyed about 3 weeks of fun with the Bruckner Grandparents, their big back yard, and Cody, but we'll see! I can't wait to have my little snuggle puppies back! When I was telling Finn today that daddy was bringing the puppies back, he smiled. The fact that a huge shart came (a fart that also has poop) right afterwards was purely coincidental. Once Finnegan is big enough, I can't wait to see him with his puppies! :) Heck, I can't wait to see Ian with his puppies again. :) I'm just so grateful for my in-laws! They've taken care of our two pups for over 3 weeks. I don't think just "Thank you" does it, but THANK YOU! :)

It's like he never left! :)

On Monday we had the home inspection. We were expecting to get the crap scared out of us by all the things we thought would have been found, but we were pleasantly surprised that the majority of the "issues" were manageable and rather affordable. Most importantly, more than half of them were not immediate concerns. It was quite an experience. My parents came down to see the house in person since it was going to opened up for the inspection anyways. My mom immediately fell in love with the almost one acre of property. I just fell in love with the whole house all over again. I even already started thinking about what room will be Finnegan's and how we will set it up. We still have some ways to go, but I'm so excited about this. Now, I just need to land a job (we might be doing this thing backwards ;) ). Let's pray someone looks at the numerous resumes I've put out and takes a bite!

I was trying to get a picture of his
little blonde eye lashes. You can see
them if you look closely! :)

Finnegan LOVES cuddle time!

After Finn eats, it's snuggle time for mommy and baby. My favorite! :) We are currently reading Catching Fire from the Hunger Games trilogy. Don't worry, I sensor the violent parts with bunnies and rainbows. :) I've also been reading him some children's books. He received a book called "I am small" about a little penguin from his cousin Lucy. He really likes that one. Plus, I also got him a book about how giraffes can't dance and a frog that likes to make music. He can't make out the pictures, but he likes hearing my voice, that's for sure. He espcially likes when I make voices. I usually get a little squeal every now and then for those. :)


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