One Month

What a month! Timothy was born, admitted into the NICU for dehydration, stayed there almost a month, was baptized, had surgery to install a "G button," and is now home, safe and sound. Never in our wildest dreams did Jared and I expect such a crazy first month for our new family of three. It has been a month of pure joy, tears, frustration, love, and trial. I have to say that our marriage went through more ups and downs this past month than the entire 16 months prior. We feel so blessed to finally have our baby home. Here are a few pictures that sum up the week....

Baptism on Monday...

What a wonderful way to start the week!

Surgery on Tuesday...

A very simple procedure from a medical view and a very stressful time from a parent view. Thankfully, everything went well!

Home on Thursday...

One month on Saturday!

The coming week...

So, things are not really improving with the eating here. Timothy will take more of his feeding by bottle and that gets us really excited, but in the big picture, he is only taking at the most half of what he should be right now.

We have decided, after consulting with all of our doctors, that putting a feeding tube into his belly is the best option for Timothy right now. This way he can get the feeding tube in his nose removed (which can be irritating for babies), he can nipple as much as he can and then we can still get the rest of his food into him so he thrives, and he can come home! His surgery is scheduled for Tuesday and without any other issues, he should be home by the weekend. We are so excited!

He is also going to be baptized Monday (tomorrow) here at the hospital because we have been waiting too long as it is. In a couple of weeks, after we are settled at home, he will be recognized at church and all of the family will be here. I just thank God that he is so young and hopefully this will all be resolved before he has any memory of the tests and procedures.

Here are a few pictures of Timothy right after he was born, taken by the Bella Baby photographer. So cute! :)

birth weight

Timothy reached his birth weight today! We are so proud of him for all that he is going through right now. We are looking forward to him coming home soon. He has undergone several more tests, just to make sure that they were not missing anything, and they have all come back negative. He definitely has acid reflux and now we are adjusting medication to help that heal and hopefully make it feel better so he will be more willing to eat. We also figured out today that he has a good case of thrush, a yeast infection in his mouth, that can make it painful to eat, so now that is being treated as well. Over the next couple of days he should be feeling better and we should see improvement. Now for a few pictures for your enjoyment...

Playing with a link...he likes to grab anything and hold it, including his feeding tube...

Hanging out in the bouncy chair...it keeps him upright and his food in his tummy.

Tracking a rattle with dad

After a bath, his hair curls and certain pieces stick up. :)

Eating a purple marker...not really.

The medicine for the thrush dyes the inside of his mouth bright purple.