First of all, let me say that I probably brought this upon myself. All along I’ve thought and prayed that it would be best to have our most difficult child first. That way, we could devote more attention to him or her, and our other kids would be downhill. Boy, did the Lord ever answer my prayer (at least I think, and hope)! But He answered in a merciful way. Here I thought we could possibly have to deal with a child with an ongoing handicap or a difficult personality. Instead, we had challenges around the pregnancy and birth that should hopefully be a thing of the past here soon.

Although it might sound like it, this is not intended to be a complaint. In fact, I think if anything, it makes me all the more grateful that we have such a sweet and resilient baby, and that I have such an awesome and flexible job, and that the timing worked out with Brad’s school like it did. However, I was thinking the other day about all the challenges we’re going through. Each step along the way has been odds-defying. After all, how many babies have you ever heard of who had intrauterine strokes? Or how many mothers (without ANY risk factors, mind you) do you know who developed complete placenta previa? So, I thought it would be interesting to spell out a few of the weird occurrences, and figure out how likely it is that someone else would be in our same situation.

• Placenta Previa (complete): 5% with risk factors; ???% random chance
• Intrauterine stroke: 0.02%
• Umbilical Hernia: 12.5%
• Raynaud’s Syndrome: 5.8%
• All of the above combined: 0.00000725%, or about one in fourteen million. To quote from Dumb and Dumber, “So you are saying that there IS a chance.”

  (Lani and her awesome Cat in the Hat diaper cake.)

Yes, folks, sad but true… it’s time to say goodbye to the diaper cake as we once knew it. We have finally depleted our stash of size 1-2 disposable diapers, and we’re down to those precious layers of the Cat’s Hat. I hate so much to tear it apart! Our generous friends gave us enough disposable diapers to last through his first three months of life! Not bad at all! But after those run out, we’re going to attempt to start using cloth diapers on him. Hopefully it will put less of a dent into the environment, and we’re hoping the comparative lack of comfort will motivate him to use the big boy potty a little sooner. Time will tell! 

Before and after:
 

 
 

Here’s what Levi’s life is about at the ripe old age of seven weeks:

• He’s starting to smile at us responsively (he’s been smiling reflexively and in his sleep since birth).

• He grabs a very strong hold of your shirt or hair or whatever gets in the path of his hands.
• He sucks on his fingers and fists when he’s hungry.
• Instead of small grunting sounds or cries when he’s hungry, he now lets out a loud singular scream. He knows that will do the trick!
• He can now track us pretty accurately when we move. He stares intently at our faces, and he’s still mesmerized by his daddy’s hair for some reason.
• He loves to observe lines and contrasts. In his nursery, he especially loves the wainscoting, bookshelf, and the mushroom on his mural.

• When he gets mad, he sticks that lower lip out into the saddest little pout, and his fists fly about aimlessly like he’s throwing spaztic air punches.
• He can hold up his head really well! He can push himself up to about 45 degrees when he’s lying on his tummy, and hold it for probably 30 seconds or more. But he has what we call “sudden failures,” when his head goes crashing down without warning, bashing into your jaw or whatever happens to be in the way.
• He knows to stop crying as soon as you pick him up. But if you wait too long to feed him when he’s hungry, he’ll make these angry little quacking sounds while chewing on his pacifier.
• When he’s “occupied” (i.e. thinking about pooping), he opens his eyes up wide, gets really still, and makes this “ooh” expression with his mouth like he’s sucking on a straw. While he’s actually doing the deed, he grunts really loud, arches his back, makes fists, and kicks his little feet.
• He’s okay with baths, but man does he hate it when they’re over! We warm the bathroom up to 85 degrees, but he still wails like we’re abusing him in the most horrible way. It is so sad!
• When you pull a bottle out of his mouth, his tongue is cupped into a perfect little circle. We’re trying to teach him to open his mouth up wide for breastfeeding, and he has learned amazingly fast! Now when he’s hungry and knows he’s about to be fed, he pops that mouth open like a little baby bird. It is really cute.
• He likes to go on walks with the whole pack (sans Sushi). We stick him in his Ergo carrier, and he sleeps and sighs the whole way.

• He goes through lively spells every day where he just sits there bright-eyed for hours on end, absorbing all the goings-on. We like to read him his Rainbow Zebra book from Nonna when he gets like that.
• He was eating well over 30 ounces a day (!), but he’s now off of his growth spurt and eating more like 26-28 or so. But he is definitely a snacker. He’ll eat an ounce here and there all afternoon.
• When he was a month old, he developed what we thought was the worst case of baby acne ever. However, it was apparently a rash in reaction to zinc. I guess we were caking the Desitin on a little too thick. Once we backed off on that, his skin cleared right back up.
• His eyelashes have gotten very long! I know it’s a little thing, but I’m relieved b/c he had none to speak of when he was born, only lanugo.
• His thighs have gotten huge! He’s definitely plump. It looks like he’s got all these rubberbands clamped around his limbs. Even his little toes and feet are fat!
• He has an umbilical hernia, and it’s growing larger. That’s why his belly button looks slightly dark and balloonish. Unfortunately doctors won’t intervene medically until the poor kid is several years old, no matter how swollen it gets. I just hate it!

• He still has his “cradle cap” (sloughing skin on his scalp), but it’s getting a lot better.
• He started crying real tears a few weeks ago, but now they stream down his face when he stays upset long enough. It’s absolutely heartbreaking!
• If you read The Baby Whisperer, then you’ll understand what we mean when we call him a “textbook baby.” Unfortunately, he seems to have inherited his mom’s lack of patience. Otherwise, we can’t tell too much about his personality yet.
• Just like in the womb, he gets the hiccups often. When they’re bad enough, he’ll act annoyed.

Those are the main things that come to mind – I’ll post more as I think of them.

You know that line from “As Good As It Gets” where Helen Hunt’s character curses the HMO? Yeah, normally, I’m right there with her. Everyone knows that insurance companies will do whatever they have to do to make money.

Well, I have to say, in this case, our HMO came through for us in a big way. I think we’ve now gotten most of the doctors’ charges pertaining to Levi’s delivery. We had 11 days in the NICU including an MRI and EEG, 3 neonatologists, 3 obstetricians, 1 pediatric neurologist, 1 anaesthesiologist, 1 pediatrician, and countless nurses and other staff. Go ahead… take a gander on the total so far. (Jeopardy Music Plays) Give up? Okay, I’ll tell you.

$58,891. Can you imagine? You could buy a brand new Lexus SC for that much dough! That’s what we would’ve had to pay. Our insurance company negotiated the total down to $34,994. And our part of the bill? A mere $250 co-pay. Wow. Of course Levi is priceless, but I’m so glad we don’t have to prove it.

Since everyone asks us the same things about our life since Levi’s been home, I figured I would go ahead and blog the answers for posterity.

• Q: How is Levi doing?
• A: Great! From looking at him, you’d never know he was a preemie, or had been through a stroke or any of those other ordeals so far. We’re guessing he weighs at least 11 or 12 pounds already. He is still on the home apnea/bradycardia monitor (that tracks his breathing and heart rate), but that’s more for our peace of mind than anything else at this point.

• Q: What do the animals think of him?
• A: The doggies love him. Cosmo is very protective, muttering at us and whimpering when Levi cries. Kramer is very gentle and sweet as well. We don’t let them interact with Levi too much until he can control his faculties enough to fend them off, but both dogs love to sneak in their slobbery kisses whenever possible. Sushi, on the other hand, is curious, but afraid. He has steered clear of the whole back of the house for the past few weeks, and only conducts his investigations when Levi’s asleep.

• Q: Is he sleeping through the night?
• A: No, but he sleeps for 4- to 5-hour stretches, which is quite luxurious compared to earlier. He sleeps in a co-sleeper (like a padded shoebox) between our pillows at night, so it’s not as hard to get up to feed him. If we had breastfeeding down pat, it would be even easier.

• Q: How is the breastfeeding going?
• A: Is breastfeeding natural? Superior? Worth some effort? Yes. Easy? Intuitive? No! But it’s getting a little better. The NICU drama early on has set us back a little. He initially required a shield to latch on, my supply was low, and he got used to a bottle. Plus it hurts! Other than being discharged from the hospital without my baby, this has been the most difficult thing I’ve encountered. Our routine used to go like this: I’d struggle to breastfeed him for at least 30-45 minutes, then I’d pump for 20+ minutes, then we’d finish bottle-feeding him, and finally we’d wash all those dishes. Then I had to do 1 or 2 extra 20-minute pumpings before starting the process over. There was no time for anything else! We’re now done with the shield, though we still use another prop – basically I tape a straw to myself and run it to a milk bottle nearby – to prevent him from getting too frustrated. Thanks to lots of pumping and a prescription medicine, my supply is better, but I still have to pump at least every couple of hours. And we’re still trying to get him eating well from me, which is not too easy since he’s learned to prefer a bottle, a.k.a. “fast food.” But the good news is, he IS getting breastmilk and is gaining weight really well. We’ll get the rest down eventually, I hope!

• Q: How are you guys doing? What does it feel like to be a mom? How does Brad like being a dad?
• A: We’re a bit sleep-deprived, but doing well. In some ways it still feels like we’re babysitting someone else’s kid, especially since we can’t see Levi’s resemblance to either of us. But we’re getting pretty good at the “baby jiggle” and other methods of calming an otherwise irate baby. Brad is an awesome dad. He is an enormous help and reassurance to me. I have a new respect for single parents, because I truly don’t know how they do it!

• Q: When do you go back to work? What are y’all doing for daycare?
• A: I started back to work after 4 weeks b/c I haven’t been at this job long enough to qualify for any sort of leave. Thankfully though, I have an awesome boss and understanding employer. I’ve been able to work from home for the past 3 weeks, and I can work any hours I choose as long as I’m getting my work done. So except when I’ve had meetings, I’ve been able to take breaks as needed to try to feed the boy. Brad’s taking only night classes this semester, so he keeps Levi during the day and I keep him at night. It works out really well!

I’ll try to post any other common questions as I think of them. Have a good night!