Day 16: DOL # vs Bilirubin #

Hello new friends. I live in a house now, and I had a bili blanket for a weekend, but it is gone now. My number kept going up and down, but now that I am an old man, I can afford another point here or there. You don't really want more bilirubin than you have "days of life", in my book. My weight is slowly creeping back up. Dr. M wanted me to use a little tube to get more food at each feeding, but I did not love it. I am tubed out! Enough. Since I gained 2 ounces, I was allowed to discontinue that one, right away.
I still like to sleep a lot, but my new hobby is cluster feeding. This is like a game of chicken for feeding. I pretend I am done, and my mom and dad are ready to wait 2-3 hours before feeding me again, but then I wake up 45 minutes later and eat again! I do this several times between 7 p.m., when everyone has dinner, and into the early morning, around 2 or 3 a.m., when people are bored and sleeping. What are they going to do? Not feed me? It is a hoot! Try it some time with your family. It must relax them because I noticed that they sometimes feed me with their eyes closed, and then invite the other parent to take over after a while.
My brother Luke likes to remind my parents to get me out of the crib when I cry or fidget. He is a nice guy. Good dancer, too! His favorite song is Lo Hicimos from Dora the Explorer. Have you heard it? Mommy and Daddy let him watch the Big Sister episode a lot, which they call therapy, instead of electronic babysitting. Visit us again! When I am around 7 pounds, I may be able to come to your house, too.

Day 10: Homecoming!

I passed my carseat challenge with only 3 blankets needed to tuck me in, and finished my event study. I was sent home without a monitor, as long as I promised to meet the doctor on Saturday, so she could check my bilirubin again.
At my house, there were lots of balloons and 1 big brother. He saw me and said, "Baby." Next, he said, "hat." Later, he came up with a nickname for me. Mine. He's a nice guy. We had a cake that said Happy Birthday Liam, but I only got to have some through a 3rd party, if you know what I mean.
My room is nice and sunny. Mommy and Daddy even rented me a biliblanket so I have more UV rays, if I need them.
It is wonderful to be home. Thanks for all of your prayers, good wishes, and cookies. I have a little more growing to do, but I am off to a great start.

Day 9: No Dieting in the NICU

Hi guys. I am getting a little more lean, but I am still a size N diaper. I may take another day at the spa here-have not decided. Daddy came to see me. My mommy took a CPR course today so she can take care of me better. The video was from the 80s and the nurse had to correct them a few times. You can tell, she said, because the choking baby was named Cody, and the mom was wearing a demin dress when fake Cody choked on a quarter at the airport. Cody's mom should not have put his down the ground near those quarters when she went to the counter to pick up her paper ticket. The hostess was trained and knew to help. Thank heavens!
Nothing else happened today.

Day 8.5: What Not To Do

Little heads up. If you ever have to get a Ct Scan, don't bring your pacifier. While you think it is fun to have something to suck on while you go into the big machine that sounds like dishwasher, if you wiggle your head even a little, they will just have to take it over again. That was what happened this morning. The lady was very nice, though, and on the reshoot, she showed my mommy where the ventricles were that the doctor thought might be enlarged. Hey Mommy, did you not take a class about this at some point? Do you have jaundice and have a hard time staying awake?
Anyway, the doctor came in after lunch and told my mommy that the CT Scan did not match the sonogram from earlier in the week, and that my brain is just great, thank you very much. I think my baby book is going to be a little different than those of my buddies, don't you? The doctor hung out for a while and said that it is always nice to deliver good news. She said that in a month, you would never really know I was early.
I also got to play with a developmental specialist named Chris, who did some yoga moves with me to see how strong I am. She liked the way my legs kicked back and forth, and said I'd be a good crawler someday. She also liked the way that I looked for mommy when she sang my favorite song, "Mommy had a little Liam." She said I had grown a lot in a week, and that we can play again in October. She also said that I could pull off looking like a term baby, pretty soon.
I did not eat a lot tonight. I was a little bit very sleepy.
My bilirubin is back up a little, so I got the blanket back, but that's cool. Long as I'm here, I might as well play with all the toys. I have my carseat challenge on Friday, which will be the last thing I do before I go home. The OT will see how I do sitting up in my Snugride (which is totally a hand-me-down, I know), and then they will monitor me while I nap in it. I nap well, so I should do just fine. There is a little pool going on about how many receiving blankets it will take to bulk me up enough to be comfy in it. I think 4, which is my lucky number. Hope you like my photo!

Day 8: Big Boy Crib!

Last night I graduated to a big boy crib! There is no roof and there are no arm holes for people to come in and poke me with a needle. I wonder if this means no more needles? I got rid of my Bili-blanket (Liamblanket) because my jaundice is no biggie anymore, and the even took out my IV because I am such a good eater now.
Daddy came to see me last night, and gave me a bottle. Mommy talked to the lactation consultant who said that she could eat whatever she wanted if she makes bottles for me, so I may have indirect access to crabcakes, unlike my brother.
The best part is that once my event study, for apnea, is over, I can go home! Probably Friday. This made mommy and daddy very happy.
I'll get one more picture of my head, and then I take what the call the Car Seat Challenge. Sounds like a game show hosted at Babies R Us or a Sesame Street sketch, but you can bet I'll let you know what it is and how I do.
Love, Liam

Day 7.5: Leche Loading

Finding out new ways to eat and the nurses are teaching mommy and daddy how to help me swallow a little bit better. They help me to remember when it is feeding time, and they support my chin or rub my cheek to keep me going. Sometimes it is extra hard to stay awake because it is so comfy to cuddle with those guys when I am out of the isolette to eat. They will burp me in the middle of feeding, which tends to both surprise me and make me hungrier. The nurses are giving me 2 more ccs at each feeding, so my IV levels can drop. Now I am up to 32. Pretty impressive, huh? I am gaining some of my birth weight back, too. I never went below 6 pounds, but I am still kind of little. One of my neighbors here is over 10 pounds. She does not have "feeding issues", I guess. Faster eating, fewer cuddles, I say, but Mommy and Daddy are willing to give up a few hugs now to get me home with my brother sooner. Hoping to be there by the weekend, which is like a lifetime when you are week old.

Check out my pad

Here is where I hang my very tiny pink and blue hat.
(Double click to see it really big)

Day 6, and part of 7: Sucky sucking

I guess I take after my dad after all because I have a list of things to do. I need to work on sucking and swallowing at the same time, without falling asleep when I eat. Tough stuff. And then when I am asleep, I can't fall into too deep a sleep or the buzzer goes off. This is where I take after my mommy, because the buzzer doesn't wake me up, but someone else runs in and turns it off. Last night my mommy slept in the room with me and she helped me to eat, by offering an appetizer, which is what you eat before you eat, to get more hungry, if I may quote Eric Cartman. I don't know who that is either, but my parents think it is funny. Also not sure about what La Leche is, but my mommy has been reading up when I take my naps.
So if I eat a lot, like 17 ccs, the lower the stuff in my IV, and I can get ready to not have it anymore. They moved it from my head to my arm, so it looks a little like I fell out of a tree. I didn't though. In fact, I have not really been out of this room since I came out. Mommy brought me pictures of other places so I can see what my family looks like and join them soon.
My bilirubin, which I like to call, Liamrubin, was going down, but is now holding steady around 10. No biggie, because now that I am a week old, I can handle jaundice like a champ. Mommy really wants to know how I got to be both blond and tan. It is the summer, though. Not my fault if these people don't take advantage of the fact they don't live in an incubator.
Daddy said that I had 25 ccs tonight, which is more, and that the doctor said I was the cutest baby she had ever seen. She did not say that, but she is not really allowed to say that out loud.
My nice nurse Stephanie took my picture today with Mommy's new camera. You can judge for yourself.

Day 5: Pass The Bottle

Today I was able to drink about 15 ccs from a bottle. Well, 10, then give a big burp, and then another 5. For those of you not up on your metrics, 15 ccs is about 1/3 of an ounce. I gave my mommy a chance to catch up on the milk making by taking a brief hiatus from learning to eat overnight. Not so easy to do, this swallowing thing, but I think I am starting to get it.
To go with my cool surfer blond hair and my slightly "tan" skin, I now have some cool white shades and a tanning bed in my room. I hear this jaundice thing happens in the best of families, so I'll soak up the rays while I can, and enjoy the downtime. I can come out of the lamps to eat, and got to cuddle with my mommy and daddy at different times today when they came to visit me, for about 30 minutes or so before going back in for more UV therapy.
The doctor is going to check on a few details about why my buzzer goes off sometimes, and see if it is apnea, or just a bum wire. Mommy said that she got my "heartrate" back up by jiggling a wire during my nap, like she did with the Tivo wire at home when the picture went fuzzy, so Mommy and I are pretty sure the machine is tricking the nice people taking care of me. They have lots of tests here, though, and if I have to take another one, it passes the time until I can come home.
Speaking of, I can come home when I keep my temperature stable in an open crib (which I can practically do now), become a little less yellow, and eat enough to throw out this IV in my head. Again, not painful, but not a great look for me. When I do get home, I'll be in a bassinet without lights or beepers, and have bunnies from Guess How Much I Love You on the walls. My Mommy told me that story, but I like the one with Max and the wild rumpus a lot, too. Daddy mostly sings Ramones songs when he comes. Not sure how you decorate a nursery in Ramones, so I guess bunnies it had to be.
Hope your buzzers stay quiet and you can sleep in a room with bunnies soon too! Love, Liam.

Day 4: Report Card Day

Seems like there are lots of tests in the NICU. Is the U for University? Anyway, I passed a hearing test, and 2 tests for the same thing today. Something called CMV. They said the results were negative, but that is a good thing, which is funny, because when my mommy took a test to see if I was coming, it was positive, and that was a happy thing. Wow, this English thing is hard to figure out. Hope they don't test me on all that any time soon.
Last night they took away the oxygen, so my nose is clear now, and cute as a button, I hear. I got a new blanket called a Billy blanket, which is supposed to help me look a little less tan. I got a new IV, so they took the old one out of my belly button, but this one goes in my head. It is tough to look cool with that up there, but my mommy and daddy think I can pull it off.
I peed on one of nurses today. If anyone is keeping score, that is 2 nurses and 1 pediatric resident I've gotten so far. Imagine how much better I'll get when I master this drinking milk thing! I tried 2 bottles today, but was not so crazy about it. Maybe I'll be more in the mood for it tomorrow. Today was more about sleeping.
I took a long nap on my daddy this morning, and got to cuddle with my mommy, too. My new friend, Auntie Paula, drove my mommy home, but she came back after dinner. No wonder Luke likes Paula so much. She even tried to hook me up with some chocolate milk, and I JUST met her. Cool lady. Gotta go! See me soon.

Hello, My Name Is...

Liam Matthew Sullivan. Liam means "devoted guardian", and is an Irish version of William. Matthew means "gift from God." Mommy and Daddy decided today when they held me that this was the right fit. Sorry to make you all wait so long for the news!

Day 3: I Got To Be Held By Mommy and Daddy!

Today I got that tube out of my nose, and the other one came out of my belly, so I am almost wireless. I am getting the breathing thing down, and I like to cuddle like a kangaroo. I got to lose that silly hat that kept the tube in my nose in place, and I have cool surfer blond hair, with little curls. My aunt Nancy in Boston said that my daddy was the same way. She was there when he was my age, so she knows.
I have a new little bed that is much quieter than the old one, but it is still in the good cube at the NICU. I have a corner office, because I am the biggest preemie here.
Later today, I might get to lose the tube in my belly button that gives me lunch. Maybe tomorrow, I'll try some of that leche I've heard so much about.
Hope you like this picture of me and my mommy. Daddy took it this morning.

Day 2

Hello everyone! So after spending my first day in labor with my mom and dad for 22 hours, I decided to take a chance and jump out into the world. When Dr. Cobbs, said, "One big push" I dove on out and met her in person. Some nice people cleaned me up and wrapped me in a blanket. It was colder than I thought, so I cried a bit, but I'm a baby. That is my job. I got a ride downstairs where the other doctor, just for me, gave me some Oxygen and a lot of wires to wear on my tummy. They are all very interested in my heart rate, how I am breathing, and how warm I am. Nice place to be. Mommy and Daddy come visit me. I've also met my Grandma and Grandpa Burkert, and someone named Fancy Nancy, who promised to buy me books and said I can play a piano some day, because my fingers are so long, so I have that going for me.
Hope to meet you soon, too. I've also heard a lot about some guy named Luke. Some of the doctors here remembered meeting him, but YEARS ago. If you see him, tell him I say hello. Gotta go grow some more, and work out these lungs.

Day 1: Just a few minutes after being born!