Home sweet home

7.25.10
My goal starting the blog was to write something every day until Grayson came home...I was doing well until we had two days left! Sorry for not having any updates lately!

Grayson came home on Saturday, July 24th. It was his one month birthday! Dr. Coates had estimated that Grayson would be in the hospital 4-5 weeks and he was right on it! It was an exciting day but we were both very nervous. It is a different kind of nervous. We know how to care for a newborn, especially with having an 18 month old its not like it was that long ago for us, but now we have a preemie with a heart/apnea monitor to care for. 

The first day at home was nice. Jones saw Grayson and was sweet, he would look at him and say "baby?" I allowed Jones to sit next to us (after we made sure that he didnt have anything to throw in his hands!) as I fed Grayson. Jones just stared at him in amazement. Then when I had to change Grayson's diaper, I let Jones help. He helped by holding a wipe for me and then I used the wipe (well, pretended!). Jones seemed to like helping mommie change the babies diaper. I thought that Jones would be jealous of Grayson getting more attention from a parent, but he really hasnt shown that too much. He did scream for Daddy when Jai was burping Grayson today, but Jones quickly got over it when Aunt Gigi offered him a french fry! 

It has been wonderful having my sister here to help us. She has washed clothes, folded clothes, took care of Jones, cleaned, bought dinners, rocked Jones at 1am, bought groceries, helped to organize, played with Jones more, cleaned more, etc. I don't know what I would have done without her this weekend...We love you Aunt Gigi!!!

I am trying to nurse Grayson but it is getting frustrating. I plan on talking with the pediatrician tomorrow. He nurses well but then is too tired to take the supplemental milk, but then gets really hungry in about 2 hours because he doesn't take the supplemental milk. I am very anxious to get a weight check tomorrow to make sure he isn't loosing. Giving him a bottle is just too easy, but I love nursing him, so we will see what happens. I also HATE pumping, so I am ready for him to just nurse. 

Sleeping...let's see....there really isn't any. Well, Grayson sleeps! Jones has been waking up at 1am screaming for us...I think that before Grayson came home he could sense that something was different. Now, maybe he just wants to know that we are still here. Last night after Aunt Gigi rocked him for probably 30 minutes, Jai ended up having a sleep over in Jones' room on a feather bed. I felt helpless because I couldn't help, but I am up every 2-3 hours with Grayson, so I really couldn't do anything. 

I have had a bad cold since Thursday. I am scared to death that Grayson will get sick. I have been wearing a mask when I hold him and I HATE the mask! I have been psychotic about washing my hands to the point that my knuckles are cracking like it is the middle of winter. I feel like I might be on the upswing, and now Jai has a stomach virus. WONDERFUL! Luckily Judy came to stay with us tonight. It was like an answered prayer when we heard her knock at the door. It is so wonderful to have such loving and helpful family and friends. Hopefully Jai will get to feeling better and will keep the germs to himself...I will be following him around the house with lysol for a few days! 

Almost forgot to talk about the heart/apnea monitor. Well, it is serves a wonderful purpose and I would have it no other way then for Grayson to wear one...but dern, it is a pain. The battery life is 12-14 hours, if the battery goes dead, you lose ALL memory, so you basically have to have it plugged up as much as you can. Well, let me tell you just how much fun it is to carry a 5 pound baby with a wobbly head and a montior with TWO cables dangling in between your legs! Not only that, but there is no just gettin' up real quick and grabbin something in the kitchen. As much as I can complain about it, I do like having it. It actually went off last night as Aunt Gigi was holding Grayson. He dropped his heart beat below 80, so the machine beeped. I've never seen Aunt Gigi jump so high! But Grayson immediately fixed it himself and everything was fine. So far there haven't been any alarms today....but the one last night was at 11:30pm, so there is still time!