The Adventures of HOME!

WE'RE HOME! After proving that he was strong enough to come home, Bauer was discharged from the NICU Wednesday morning and we were sooo excited to bring out little man home! I was honestly very nervous about the oxygen tube and the heart/lung monitor but they've actually just been more annoying than stressful. We are proud to report that he has never set the monitor off himself, but the leads have come loose causing the machine to make this very loud and very aweful sound!
Since being home Bauer has...
*Been a great eater and sleeper. His second night home, he slept from 1:45 to 6:30 without making a fuss! I can't say last night was as great....haha but we seriously cannot complain!
* loves the excess of kisses from mommy and grandma...ok maybe not-- but he get's them anyway!
*dreamt daily of using the REAL golf clubs Papa brought his last week! They are seriously the cutest things I've ever seen! We're skipping the fisher price snoopy set and jumping right to the big leagues! We've been telling Bauer he better get good and go pro so he can help us pay off his medical bill! haha
*made a trip to the Dr. where we found out he has grown an inch and is up 2 ounces from his birth weight! good boy! The Dr. also informed us that we would decide if he still needed oxygen after a month but that he would have to be on the monitor for 2 months! grrr. I'm sure they have the data and the research to back up that decision--but you just hope it's necessary and not just a protocall they are following.
*got to hang out lots with Dad! It's so cute! I think Andrew is still slightly scared of breaking him or ripping off a lead, but Bauer is sooo lucky to have a dad who adores him like Andrew does!
*enjoyed his first bath at home without getting too mad!
*melted my heart! I can't believe how much I love being his mom! He is such a joy and I love hanging out with him all day.

Bauer Update--

Bauer continues to make great progress. Yesterday we started our trial run to see if he would wake up on his own and eat the volume he needs on his own. HE DID GREAT! It started out as a 12 hour deal but he did so well, they let him keep going to try to get the 24 hour block that he needs in order to be considered for discharge. He breastfeeds about half and bottles what I pump for the last half. We are soooo proud of him!!! This does mean we make about 100 trips to the hospital a day, but he's worth every second of it! The Dr. has been happy with his progress so we're hoping to bring him home in the next couple days. He will have to come home on a heart monitor (if not oxygen as well) so we'll have to sleep in for a night to prove we can maneuver our way around the machines. We have been sooo grateful for my mom who has been such a huge help-- from letting me rest between hospital visits to interpreting dr.'s reports she has been heavensent! Thanks mom-- we don't know how we would do it without you. Thank you everyone for your continued love and support-- we feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family.

Mommy Loves Me!

Isn't is obvious why!?

Our Bauer

So here's some updated pictures of our little man. It's hard to take lots of pictures since he spends most of his days "tanning"under the bili lights.

He is so adorable. We love him so much! He's being a fighter and hanging in there with all the tests he's undergoing. He loves to be cuddled so it takes everything we've got in us to follow the nurses orders and put him back after we feed him.
The doctors and nurses have been awesome. They are still trying to figure out what exactly is going on, but they are doing everything they can to get him as home as soon as possible.
Thank you for your continual thoughts and prayers. I can assure you they are being felt.
ok--enough of the talking, you want to see pictures!

It always takes a while to get one with his eyes open all the way-- I could seriously just kiss this face non-stop!


He doesn't love to be burped, but he sure is cute while he tries!

We were able to give him his first bath last night. He couldn't really decide how he felt about it, but he liked being nice and clean afterwords!

If the nurses would let him lay on his stomach all day he would!


This picture is price-less! He hates having his eyes covered but we keep trying to convince him it's just a day at the beach!