Our little guy is now 7 pounds and 8 ounces! It’s really incredible. He’s gained two pounds in less than three weeks. You can see in this picture that he’s starting to get a little chubby from all the momma milk. It’s great!
Current conditions in Martinez are as follows.
I can’t remember it ever being this hot so many days in a row (although, Vicky reminded me of a day maybe 8 years ago when it was 115 outside and north of 90 in the house). It never got below 70 all last night. Our air conditioner can’t keep up, but at least it’s keeping the inside below 80.
We’re all adjusting to the new family configuration. Tre is adjusting to having less attention from his mom as she takes care of the newest member. I’m adjusting to taking care of Tre all day. It’s definitely a full-time job. We’re trying to keep busy with little projects. A couple of days ago we climbed all the way to the top of “Nazi Hill”, a steep hike straight up the hills behind our house. Tre walked the whole way. It took us an hour and a half.
Vicky’s adjusting to taking care of a newborn again, and recovering from the birth. She still can’t bend down well yet, but this birth wasn’t very tramatic to her body. So, she’s doing much better than last time when she had stitches. Her body is synched with Henry’s schedule, so she’s waking up every three hours or so to feed. And, lucky me, I don’t wake up with them.
Henry is adapting to being outside in a big world with bright lights. He’s really doing well. He’s now ten days old. The issue with jaundice has passed. We had a visit from nurse, a standard service from John Muir Health, and we found that he’s up a few ouces from his birth weight.
We’ve had several comments from doctors and nurses that Henry has done amazingly well considering how early he was. Our theory is that it was breastfeeding Vicky put in. Henry also gets lots of holding, touching and talking to.
Henry came home today! We’re all so happy to have him home now and we’re taking a day to be quiet together.
We discovered that the little car seat we had for Tre wasn’t little enough, and I had to go buy one that fits a 5lb baby. Luckily, we got good advice from the nurses and were able to got get the perfect model in a store in Walnut Creek.
Tre is being so nice with Henry. He was immediately telling him that he loves him and he was touching Henry’s face and feet. He was telling us how cute Henry is. It’s really amazing and touching to see. He’s also been telling Henry things like “It’s OK, baby, it’s only a little noise.” Henry isn’t really being bothered by whatever noise Tre’s talking about, but it’s sweet that he’s trying to take care of his little brother.
A big boquet of roses arrived from my mom today. Thanks, Mom! And we’re still eating on the food that was delivered yesterday. Joe’s going to deliver dinner tomorrow.
Henry is making good progress and will soon be able to come home. He got a little jaundiced and had to spend a day under the lights. But his tests came back good and they took the lights away. He also has gained some weight back after losing a little bit. Both of these are normal events for a new baby, and they are good signs. The doctor was suggesting that tomorrow is probably the day that he gets to come home.
Vicky is still spending her days at the hospital and I’m spending my days doing housework and watching Tre. I’m enjoying getting to spend so much time with Tre.
We have more food than we know what to do with, and lots of offers for more! Holy cow! Thanks, everybody! Clear Ink (my employer) had Andronico’s deliver a meal that would probably feed 12 people comfortably and it barely fit in the fridge.
Vicky has the camera today, so I’ll probably have some new pictures later tonight.