NICU

Something about sleeping on daddy's chest just puts Aidan right to sleep
One of his first baths. He obviously did not like this part
After the bath he was laying under a heat lamp and zoned out. Sure wish we had one of these at home. (Notice the cords...one is attached to his foot to monitor oxygen saturation and the others are various probes on his chest)

Here are some pictures of Aidan during his 3 week stay in the NICU. We are pleased to let you know that we were able to take Aidan home when he was 23 days old. Basically this time was spent waiting for his suck, swallow, breathing coordination to develop and for him to gain weight and strength to eat on his own. I have been pumping like crazy since he was born and we have been feeding him breastmilk from a bottle. It is easier for preemies to get milk from a bottle because it requires less effort on their part. When he would get too tired from that we would put the rest down a tube that went through his nose into his stomach. Eventually he became stronger and took all feeds from a bottle (nursing about once a day). So then we thought we would be able to come home. Aidan had other plans.

The entire time we were at the NICU Aidan had monitors attached to him monitoring his heartrate and blood oxygen levels. The morning we thought we were going to go home he had what they call an event where his levels went down to a level that is concerning for the doctors and then the nurse stimulated him to help him recover. When this happens it guarantees us another 5 days to make sure that it doesn't happen again. This isn't to say that he wouldn't have recovered on his own (we all have periods of apnea but recover quickly) but since someone felt it had gone on too long and stimulated him, they didn't want to risk him doing that at home. This was very hard news to take since we had finally set our minds that he was coming home. Fortunately time flies by in the NICU and 5 days later we were able to come home.

Surprise!

David and I have had quite the surprise over the last few days. I guess 2010 is going to be a pretty exciting year for us seeing as it started out with a bang. Saturday, after a seriously do nothing day I went to bed and woke up a 1/2 hour later to my water breaking. It is quite a shock to have a bunch of fluid coming out of you without you having any control over it. So we knew that meant my water had broken and proceeded to call our midwife. We were planning to have our baby (in February) at a birth center in Everett. However, when a baby is 6 weeks early it calls for some hospital help. We packed our bags and headed up to Providence Medical Center in Everett at 2:30 in the morning. They gave me Magnesium Sulfate to try to stop my labor so that they could have 48 hours to give me some steroids and let them work. The steriods quickly build the baby's lungs so that he has an easier time breathing when born. Sunday we spent the whole day trying to keep as still as possible as to not make labor progress any faster than it already was. After an exhausting day of monitoring his heartbeat and worrying about when the birth would be we had another night of no sleep. I had a couple of contractions that caused the umbilical cord to stress and therefore affected his heartbeat. That was pretty scary. Monday I woke up feeling horrible and realized it was the Magnesium Sulfate. After they took me off it and I had some food I felt a million times better and was able to get some rest. That afternoon I went to the bathroom and then realized that the cord had prolapsed causing a need for emergency c-section. We knew that we were going to have a c-section because the baby was breech but we thought I would be awake and that David could be there for it. I guess our baby had other plans. I went into the operating room at 4:52 and they made the incision at 4:57 and our baby was born at 4:59.

Aidan Michael Koenig was born at 4:59 on January 4th (which happens to be the same birthday as my dad!) weighing 5 pounds exactly. He was 17 1/2 inches and came into this world with a high pitched squeal. He is doing great and is amazing the doctors each day as he does more and more on his own. He was able to breathe on his own from the beginning and quickly was able to keep his temperature so now he is in a crib with many monitors and an IV helping him get the nutrition he needs to grow. They tell us that he will be in the NICU until he can eat on his own which could take a couple of weeks. We feel so lucky to have such great care and are thankful for the outcome of this unplanned event.

I was discharged from the hospital on Thursday and since then have been trying to take it easy so that I can heal. We spend our days at the hospital and then sleep at home to try to get as much sleep as possible. It sure is hard to leave Aidan.

So here are a few pictures of Aidan's first days....