Monday, June 18th: Father's Day and other things!

Sleepy little boy (6/18/2012)

Since our last post, Finnegan has been doing beautifully! As of yesterday, he is 33 weeks old in gestation, or very close to 8 weeks old. He has been doing absolutely wonderful with feedings and has gone up to nippling/using the bottle for 67% of his feedings. Yesterday, Finnegan was moved to getting fed a bottle whenever he seems like he wants to for each feeding. Prior to that, he was taking a bottle for every other feeding. For most feedings he finishes the whole bottle, but since he's been working for his food more, he gets tired more easily. With eating a lot comes gaining weight. As of this afternoon, Finn has topped the scale at 4lbs 1oz AND he's now 16.5 inches long! :) Our little man is growing so quickly! Today they also took him off of his sodium and potassium supplements. He is currently only on Vitamin D and caffine besides his breastmilk.

"Hmmm... I wonder when Brittany is
going to put my food on the pump..."

Rounds have been pretty lame recently since Finnegan is just being fed and growing. They pretty much sit down in the room, spew off some numbers, tell him to keep up the good work, and leave. It's quick and dirty! They have increased his food recently. He was at 25mL. They increased his food to 28mL on the 15th to adjust for his weight gain and then up to 32mL yesterday. He's not getting a little over an ounce during each feeding! On Wednesday of last week, Finnegan began attempting to breastfeed once a day. He's still trying to get used to it, but we're making progress!

No more chicken legs! Check out Finnegan's leg in comparison with Ian's finger!

A video of Finnegan getting anxious to eat.  Don't mind us laughing in the background...His facial expressions are priceless.

Wednesday night, I went to see Motherhood the Musical with my mother-in-law, Aunt Cathy, and two of mom's friends. I was excited to eat Portillo's and get out for a while. The musical was really good. I was able to laugh hysterically at parts, get a little sad at others, and truly appreciate what it means to be a mom through song! ;) Thanks for the great evening, mom! :)

On Thursday, Finnegan got his first big boy bath. It was weird seeing such a little baby in a tub that should fit a "normal sized" baby. He was kind of unsure of the whole thing, but he took it like a champ. Yeah, he screamed a bit when it came time to rinse him off, but he smelled SO much better afterwards! These are pictures of Finnegan right after his bathtime!

On Friday, Finn got visited by Great Grandma, Great Aunt Jan, and cousins Katie and Timmy. Great Grandma was SO excited to be able to hold Finnegan. It was so wonderful to see the two of them together. We had a great visit. Timmy got to meet Finnegan for the first time and he was such a good little boy for all his visitors!

Finn and Great Grandma!

Finn and Cousin Katie

Finn and Great Aunt Jan!

On Friday night, Finnegan's nurses decided he didn't need his pulse ox monitor anymore since he rarely ever dropped his oxygen saturation. I was excited because that was one less wire holding me back from snuggling with the little guy! Now, Finnegan just has his heart and respiration monitors! Those consist of 3 stickies that plug into one bigger wire that connects to his monitor. It makes it so much easier to get him in and out of his crib!

No more pulse-ox! :)

Saturday was party day for the Bruckners. We went up north to celebrate the wonderful accomplishments of Danny and Meghan! Woohoo for graduating and moving onto bigger and better things! :) It was really awesome spending some much needed time with family. I missed Finn a LOT, but it's easier to be away from him when he's doing so stinkin' well. There was a pretty intense lightning show on our drive back to Bloomington Saturday night.

Sunday was ... of course ... Father's Day! Unfortunately, our plans got moved around because of some suspected illnesses of grandma and grandpa Bruckner, but Ian and I enjoyed a very nice Sunday complete with Red Lobster and Finnegan time.
Today I started my couch to 5k workout regimen. Needless to say, my body got a little sore, but I feel good and am hoping that if I get myself used to it now, it'll be easier to keep up with once Finnegan gets home...which may be sooner than we think. Finnegan's new goal is to be home in time to see fireworks on the 4th of July; however, with the way he's going, it might be sooner. wow!

Finnegan's goals (6/15/2012)

I'm still uneasy about what life is going to be like when Finn comes home. I've become so accustomed to going back and forth to see him, that I'm nervous about taking care of him on my own. Although, today I got to give him a bath all on my own, and that was a lot more reassuring! I guess it's just scary because our house isn't ready for Finnegan to come home to! Guess I have a lot of work to do this week! :)

Finn during bathtime (6/18/2012)

An older video that I didn't get a chance to post before. Video from May 31st during Kangaroo Time.

A lot of people have been asking us when Finnegan will be coming home. There is a list of things that Finnegan has to accomplish before he is allowed to go home. Here is the list:

1. Keep his temperature between 97.4 and 99.0 in an open bed for a couple days.

2. Nipple (eat from a bottle) all of his feedings (100%) for 2-3 days at his given food range.

3. Not have any alarms (bradys or apneas) that require someone to touch him to come out of it for 2 hours.

4. Sit in his car seat for 90 minutes without having any alarms (bradys or apneas).

5. Get circumcised (that's not necessary for him to go home... but it'll happen before he does)

As you can see, he has quite a few things he needs to accomplish! Not to mention, mommy and daddy have a lot to learn before we can take him home. Our list of things to do are a lot longer than Finn's, but he's pretty much wiped out by all the feedings! :) Here's the mommy and daddy to do list:

1. Find doctor and visit

2. Bathe him on own

3. CPR Training

4. Watch various videos about home care of NICU babies

5. Monitor training (Finn will be going home on a heart and resp monitor)

6. Learn how to give Finn his meds (which will probably just be caffine)

7. Learn proper car seat installation

8. Get his room ready!!!

Finnegan gets measured every Sunday night... Here he is from this Sunday (6/17/2012). He's now 16.5 inches long! :)