Bathtime for the Park!

Parker's first appointment with the pediatrician - he was SUCH a good boy!

Parker at home is a wonderful thing! We've had some wonderful bonding moments and he's become even more aware of mom and dad's voices.

Since Parker's discharge, a lot has happened. His oxygen was finally squared away two days AFTER discharge - can you believe it? Thankfully we had a tank large enough to get us through the 48 hours. We now have two HUGE oxygen tanks (I'll have to take pics of them - I mean they are gigantic) with 50 foot tubing so we can move around the house with the baby. It's hilarious! Besides the inconvenience of having him connected to something, the oxygen is working out just fine. I still get up periodically at night and check his cannula to make sure it's in his nose. I don't think that will change until he's off of it!

Our first doctor's appointment was great - Parker was a good boy and the doctor is super knowledgeable about micro-preemies because he did part of his residency at the UCD NICU. Yippee! We left the NICU with 3 prescriptions and after our visit with the pediatrician, now have 5 to manage. Parker's reflux was getting bad so he's been put on reflux meds again.

One good thing about having Parker home is being able to tell much easier if something is different or "out of the ordinary". We've noticed that Parker's gas issues and discomfort has is pretty bad and he wakes up periodically when sleeping because of gas pains. His new reflux meds help a little bit but he continues to have issue. The doctor suggested we change his fortifier to one without cow's milk and also suggested that I not drink ANY dairy products. Holy...how do you not eat dairy - ha ha! This is a big challenge for me - do you know how much food is dairy based? Anyway (it's not about me, I know), we've been trying to find this special formula that has the extra calories that Parker needs. We can't wait to see if makes a difference in his comfort level. And if he can't take my breast milk, the chances of Tyler being able to handle it are probably slim as well. Hum...months of pumping for not? We'll see...

So John and I feel terrible because after only five days home we had to take Parker BACK to the doctor! Yesterday I noticed that Parker's eye was VERY "goopy", resembling pink eye. We took him in yesterday and found out he has an infection in his eye. Poor guy! Prescription #6 on it's way! We have to put drops in his eyes every 4 hours now. So frustrating because we are being VERY careful with our hand washing and limiting our guests. The doctor again reiterated that NO ONE under 5 be in contact with the boys until after RSV season (April) and to limit groups of people. In fact, when we go to the doctors office we don't wait in the waiting room, instead we are immediately taken back into a patient room. The doctor doesn't want us waiting in areas with other sick people. We THINK we've been VERY good, but low and behold and infection has ensued. Doh!

Here are some pics of Parker's bath time. He loves a bath and not having the cannula in. What a cute boy! Enjoy...

"Yes, I know I'm cute!"