The Wilson Universe

I don’t really believe it, but Finley is now 6 weeks old. Of course, we will officially have reached his due date tomorrow so it shouldn’t be hard to believe that we have a 6 week old. In 6 weeks, we have gone from this to this
He is now holding his head up for longer periods of time and seems to be checking out the world, trying to figure things out. His appetite is growing exponentially, causing him to grow exponentially. He is now over 9 pounds! He is much more like a little person than he was 6 weeks ago. There doesn’t appear to be any adverse effects of his early arrival and given his current weight, I’m not as unhappy about him being early as I was. He was laying on my stomach earlier and I couldn’t fathom how all of that was supposed to fit inside me. Now if only we could get rid of the 3 am feeding…

We had Finn’s “newborn” pics taken today. A little late, we know, but it’s been a little hectic around here. We got some good pics and ordered bunches of prints for the family. We also got a photo CD so all of the pics are in his album on Photobucket. There is a link to the album in Finn’s page on the right.
Finn is doing exceptionally well. He’s spending more time awake between feedings and likes to check out the world around him. He holds his head up and moves it around, usually to give me or Corey dirty looks when we try to belch him. He also likes to hang out in his bouncer or swing if you get him at the right time. He will sit and watch whats going on while Daddy and I get chores done. And he still loves to cuddle!

The big news this visit - our weight.  Here’s the breakdown…

Birth, May 2 - 4 lb 15 oz

Discharge from NICU, May 18 - 5 lb 3 oz

First pediatrician visit, May 21 - 5 lb 11 oz

Check up, May 28 - 6 lb 12 oz

1 month visit, June 4 - 8 lb 6 oz

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN - 3 lb 7 oz

His doctor is very impressed with his weight gain as well as his strength and development.  When we left the NICU, they sent us with special formula to add to the breast milk for some extra calories.  We were supposed to use this for about 6 months then stop.  If he continues like this, we are going to stop it next month.  I’d like to avoid infant obesity!

He’s now trying to hold his own head up and attempts to roll himself from side to side.  Over the last couple of days, he has really seemed to become aware of his surroundings and has been more willing to let me put him down, even when he isn’t sleeping.  His pediatrician’s opinion is that Finley knew what he was doing when he made his early appearance.  On my part, I’m becoming glad that he showed up early.  At this rate, I would have given birth to a 9 lb plus baby if he had been on time!

In the rest of the Wilsonverse, we are getting into a routine.  I am slowly but surely getting boxes unpacked and we are getting some order in place.  Corey is working on building the box for the turtles and I have been trying to get my flowers planted.  A plus side there, Finn seems to be an outdoorsy child and is content to hang out in his carseat while Mommy and Daddy work on outside projects.  He’s also immensely fond of our daily walks which helps keep me motivated so I can continue losing weight and getting in shape.

I have added more pictures, the link in the previous post will take you to them.  I try to add more every few days so keep checking.

Our little man has decided that he is tired of being a little man. We had a visit with the pediatrician again today because he has picked up a little bit of Daddy’s cold and we wanted to make sure we stayed ahead of things. He is in good health, a little cold and is having some problems with reflux and gas but nothing serious. Last week at the same office, on the same scale with the same nurse, he weighed 5 lb 11 1/2 oz. Today (exactly 7 days later), he weighed 6 lb 12 1/2 oz. We have no worries about his ability to gain weight. I’m more concerned with making sure he doesn’t become the next Michelin Man! He’s also trying to hold his head up and roll himself over, just in case I wasn’t enough of a nervous wreck as it is.
More importantly, I have uploaded pictures!
Check them out!

Today was Finley’s first trip out of the house since we got him home. We had our first visit with the pediatrician. He now weighs 5 lbs 11 1/2 ounces and is 18 1/2 inches long. We are increasing his meals to 3 ounces and after one feeding, I can see the difference. He is sleeping much better with a full belly. The doctor said he looks fantastic and is in awesome shape. The office in general as well as the people in the waiting room concurred that he is absolutely adorable - which we already knew!

And our time with the NICU has come to an end. Finley earned all of his gold stars and was handed over to us this afternoon. He is steadily gaining weight and is now at 5 lbs and 4 oz. He is averaging 2 oz at every feeding, waking up before meals and sleeping soundly in between. He is, as we speak, grunting at me and letting me know it is getting close to time for some more food. He loves to cuddle. After he eats, he snuggles up to my chest before he falls asleep.
We have lots more pictures but Corey is in charge of downloading them for me. It will probably be tomorrow before I get them on the site.
The move is progressing. We had another weekend of work with lots of help from family and a few friends. Slowly but surely we are getting in and getting settled. I plan on taking the next couple of days to get into a rhythm with Finn that DOESN’T require daily trips to Indy. I imagine we will be having lots of visitors over the next several days and they are just going to have to ignore my lack of food and beverages and the massive number of boxes cluttering the house.

We haven’t dropped off the face of the earth, just to New Richmond where internet will not be hooked up until next week. Finley is doing very well. He has taken all of his milk from bottles for about 24 hours and that is the last thing standing between us and him coming home. In the meantime, my husband is working himself to death to have someplace to put Finn when he gets here. We are halfway done so we are sort of living in 2 houses right now. Most of the necessities are in New Richmond but we still make about a trip a day back to Crawfordsville to pick up something or other. Hopefully one more big workday and we will get the bulk of the work done (and by we I mean people other than myself since I am still recovering and not allowed to be useful).
I’ll try to keep things updated as best I can and get some new pics up soon!

We went to visit Finn today and were excited to see him completely off oxygen and no longer under bili lights. He had been put under the lights yesterday because he was jaundiced and I thought he would have to stay under for 48 hours but his bilirubin level had come down drastically since the day before. When his doctor checked on him this morning, he had his nasal cannula in his mouth and was sucking on it. We figured he was proving he didn’t need to wear it anymore. We tried a bottle feeding yesterday and he took a little bit but not much. We tried again today and he took over half before he got tired and fell asleep with his bottle in his mouth - in a very tight grip. According to his nurse he took all of his milk from the bottle for his next feeding. We are gradually increasing the feedings until he is getting about an ounce and a half every 3 hours. He is also now out of the bed with the heat lamp and on his own for heat. His temp has been staying steady. He will finish his antibiotics tomorrow. His doctor says he will be able to come home when he can maintain his body temp, sleep on his back, take a bottle and gain weight. I think we’re getting close!
I have lots more pictures we just have to charge the camera and download.

Finn has decided today that he is ready to be all better! Corey and I went down for the afternoon feeding at 11:30 and found our beautiful son without the headgear he has been strapped into. His nurse told us she had taken it off at 11:00 and he was responding well. He is still wearing a nasal cannula but it is set to room air and for a while he actually had that jammed in his mouth and was still breathing fine. We spoke with his doctor today and she thinks the pneumonia that was causing all of this is resolving. He still has to finish his antibiotics but she thinks we should try to bottle feed tomorrow. He is still a little jaundiced and if his numbers go up tomorrow he will have to go under the lights. He made my day today when I walked in and saw his little head uncovered, though!

I dropped off Finn’s breakfast this morning and got a quick update. He stayed on the room air setting on his CPAP all night and had no problems maintaining his saturation. When I saw him his breathing was not fast or labored like it has been in the past. He decided to take his IV out this morning so that had to be restarted and is in his foot now. We’re hoping that since he is a handsy little boy having his arms free will allow this IV to survive. He has a little bit of jaundice but as of right now, it doesn’t look like he is going to have to go under the lights. He did have to have a little formula last night because I’m not quite up to speed at keeping up with his feedings yet. Apparently, he just doesn’t like the formula because he spit that back up. Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me to keep up with the demands of His Highness.