EJ’s First Week

                EJ’s first week was really hard for us.  We were still dealing with the shock of everything that had happened and were adjusting to being NICU parents.  I was recovering from a c-section and facing being discharged from the hospital and going home without our baby.  In the hospital, I could go see EJ any time I wanted, day or night. He was just an elevator ride away.  Going home and leaving him behind was unfathomable.  I cried just thinking about it.  We had to wait a couple of days to be able to hold EJ, and then weren’t allowed to for another couple of days.  It was horrible watching our baby struggle and not be able to do a single thing to help him, and not even be able to hold him on top of that.

                The most difficult part of the first week by far, though, was that EJ was having some problems.  Bile was building up in his stomach, and his neonatologist, Dr. Suri, didn’t know why.  One possible cause Dr. Suri mentioned was nectrotizing enterocolitis, an intestinal problem that is common in preemies.  It can cause death and is not a diagnosis you want to get.  We made the mistake of googling it and saw horrible statistics like a 25% mortality rate and that it was one of the leading causes of death in premature babies.  Because of this, they weren’t able to feed EJ for the first 5 or 6 days of his life. The only thing we could do was take a wait and see approach, which was awful in light of what we had read. Luckily, EJ’s stomach problem cleared up on its own and they very slowly started feeding him breast milk through an OG tube that went from his mouth down into his stomach. 

Here are some pictures from EJ's first week on the outside.  It's hard to believe he's the same baby.  He's changed so much in the past eleven weeks!

       Here I am hours before we went to the hospital.  My face is a little swollen, but that's the only outward clue that anything is wrong.

Showtime!  That little yellow thing was in case I needed to vomit.  Lovely.  

Hours after birth.  EJ was on a ventilator so that they could give him surfactant for his lungs.

A tiny foot.

Our first times getting to hold EJ! He was two days old when I held him and three days old when Peter did.

Three days old in the upper left, two days in the upper right and lower left, and one day in the lower right.  He's on a CPAP for breathing instead of the ventilator and has an OG tube in his mouth for feeding and extracting the bile building up.

Pete's first time changing EJ's diaper.  EJ was two days old.  Spoiler alert: Pete got peed on! 

Blue baby! EJ spent a few days under bili lights to help with jaundice.  

Spending time with our boy! EJ is three to five days old.

Three days old on the left, and four days old on the right.

Five days on the left, six days on the right.

I got to feed EJ when he was five days old!  Really, I was just swabbing his mouth with a q-tip dipped in breast milk, but it was still exciting.

Kangaroo care with Daddy.

Our sweet baby boy.