Splish Splash

Today we gave Hyrum his first "real" bath. Up until now we've had to give him sponge baths because his umbilical cord was still attached, but last night it fell off. I know it's weird for a kid that's 5 weeks old to still have his cord attached, but the doctors say it's because they had to use it for so long after he was born (he was fed through it for about the first week and a half of his life). He seemed to really like his bath! He had a completely content look on his face the entire time--it was way cute!

Good News!

It seems like there's just always good news on our blog now. Hyrum is doing really well, and just thriving. Like Laurie said in her post, he's just a really mellow baby. He was just awake just now looking around, and put himself back to sleep. How many babies DO that?!

In other good news... drumroll please... I accepted a job offer! I know! Exciting, huh? I'll be an Associate Quality Assurance Engineer with the LDS Church. I'll be up in the Riverton office, starting on Nov. 30th. It'll be sad to leave Springville (we love the people here), but we're excited to get moving on with the next stage of life. We're planning on buying a house (hopefully) by early January in the Riverton/Herriman area.

Nov. 28th marks Laurie's and my one year anniversary. Within a year: marriage, graduate from college, have a baby, and start a career (okay, ALMOST within a year). Talk about a BUNCH of life-changing events! Ha! Life is good...

4 Weeks Later

Today it hit me that Hyrum will be one month old this Sunday. It's hard to believe that that much time has already passed since he was born. We've had him with us for about a week and a half and time shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. He is doing really well. He usually wakes up twice at night to eat and is such a good baby--always going right back to sleep when I put him back in his crib. He has a really calm disposition and if he cries you know he's either hungry or has a dirty diaper. Dan and I are starting to catch on to this whole parent thing. Dan does a great job jumping in and helping with diapers, occasional bottle feedings, and spending time just playing with Hyrum.

This was Hyrum's first outdoor adventure. We took him on a walk and he seemed to enjoy it--looking around and falling asleep on Dad.

He loves to just look around and check things out. I love this little boy!

Not so Bad!

Hyrum has been home for almost 2 days, and he's not doing all that bad. Especially yesterday and last night. He only woke up twice to feed, and since his last feeding at 4:45, he's been asleep. So, he just woke up to be fed again. Overall, little Hyrum is a VERY calm baby! Yes! Here are a couple pictures from the day we got to take Hyrum home!

Welcome Home, Hyrum!

He's home!!! Laurie and I are SO excited that we got to take Hyrum home with us at 10 this morning! He's now a wireless baby. (Go Wi-Fi!) Right now Laurie is holding him in her lap at my parents' house while he just snoozes away. Hyrum has been refered to as a miracle baby by many of the nurses. Laurie and I don't feel like we knew just how sick he was, but others have died of the same problems that he had. We want you all to know that we know that Hyrum is with us today because of the Priesthood power that has been restored in these last days. We know that through the faith and prayers of family, friends and loved ones, he is with us. God has been merciful and heard the prayers and answered them in the way we were hoping. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for your faith for our little Hyrum. We're so happy that we get to have him and to raise him. So, let a new adventure begin! Wet and stinky diapers, long nights, tiresome days... bring it on! We're just glad that we get to do it all with our Hyrum. (Pictures to come... we don't have the right cord with us.)

The 24 Hour Request

I am writing this post from "Sleep Room B" in the parents' lounge at the NICU. The NICU has several sleep rooms so that moms can spend the night if they're going to try to feed their babies during the night. In my little private room I have a bed and a tiny bathroom. When Hyrum wakes up for his feedings tonight the nurses will call me and I'll go down the hall and take care of business.

This is what's called a "24 hour request." Before Hyrum can come home, he has to be able to take all of his feedings orally. In order to be sure he can handle it, I am basically on-call for 24 hours. Instead of the nurses waking Hyrum up for his feedings every 3 hours, they let him sleep and whenever he wakes up and is hungry, I go feed him. They don't let him sleep longer than 4 hours, but since it could be anywhere from 2-4 hours between feedings I am on-call and sleeping at the NICU.

This is a huge step for Hyrum. Earlier in the week he was getting all of his feedings through the tube in his nose, and now we've worked our way up to today--8 oral feedings. He nurses really well (at least, I think he does...I guess I don't really have anything to compare him to...). If he can keep it up we should be able to bring him home really soon!

Look Ma, No Meds!

That's right! Hyrum is completely done with his antibiotics! Holy cow! He's come a long way in two weeks. Laurie and I went in three times today, so that she could try to feed him. The first one was a bit of a flop, but the last two have counted as his full feeding! (Which is great, considering the last main criterion we have to check off the list to get him home is to have Hyrum learn how to take all of his food orally). So, two IV lines are still in his tiny body, just in case, but the nurses say they plan on taking them out really soon... as in later tonight, most likely. Then all he will have left is his little feeding tube to feed him when we - or rather Laurie (I don't have TOO much to do in the process) isn't there, though they may switch to bottle soon. Little Hyrum is doing so well. Other nurses who had Hyrum at one point have asked how he's doing when we've seen them in the hall. He's a mini celebrity.

Total Stud

I love being able to say that Hyrum just keeps getting better and better. Yesterday he was moved to a part of the NICU for babies that are more stable. His feedings have increased to 36 ml per feeding and the nurse says they're almost to the point where he will receive just milk instead of milk and the food from the IV. We're off to go see him soon and I'm excited. There's nothing better than getting to hold Hyrum and knowing that soon (hopefully) he'll be home with us.

What can I say? He's a total stud.

The Miracle Baby

Hyrum's improvement has truly been amazing these past few days! He is breathing on his own, the nurses have increased his feedings to 24 ml every 3 hours, and he is by far the cutest baby in the NICU. One of the nurses, Debbie, agrees that he is the cutest baby in the NICU and went camera-happy last night while we were there. She took tons of photos of Hyrum and when we went to visit him today she had made us a CD of all the photos. Here are just a few of our favorites:

We think he's a total stud. The nurses today said he is their "miracle baby." They said pulmonary hemorrages are often fatal in adults and that it truly is a miralce Hyrum is doing as well as he is. We don't doubt that it is a miracle. So many of you have fasted and prayed for our little guy. We can't thank you enough. And we can't thank our Heavenly Father enough for hearing our prayers and being so kind and merciful. We love our little miracle!