Kangaroo Love

I am very glad to be home, but getting here was quite a interesting journey. My staples were removed on Wednesday morning. In the process of getting ready to leave, my incision decided to bleed. Not like, oh you need a band aid. More like..."OH MY GOSH>>> Let me get the other nurses and doctors. This is quite impressive. I have NEVER seen anyone bleed like this 4 days later. And I have been in nursing for 15 years!!!" Not something you want your nurse to say. They told me MANY times that I was NOT going to bleed to death, but I was STILL not so sure. I made Greg hurry to the hospital. Of course, he was home because he was with Jacob being Mr. Mom. But I needed someone with me while I bled to death.
Two different doctors told me this was normal. (I'm still not sure if I believe that!!) They bandaged me up REAL good and gave me extra bandages. So, I got to go home.
On a good note, yesterday I got to hold Gabe for the first time. When I came in to the NICU to do my 3 minute hand scrub down, the doctor was standing there. I asked her if this was the same deal as when I got to hold Jacob for the 1st time. I reminded her that Jacob was a week old and she had called us at 4am to come to the hospital, that Jacob was not going to live much longer. When we get there, it was decided (not by me), that I would hold him before he was gone. I was not big on this plan, but the nurse was determined that I WAS going to hold him and I did. The doctor said that Gabe was a totally different story than Jacob. That he was stable, having a great day, and needed to be held by him mommy. So hold him I did. Its called Kangaroo Care. Gabe was placed inside my shirt and we were skin to skin. That is why in the pictures you will see only a tiny little head. And you will notice he is sporting his big brothers Alabama hat (from his NICU days).

While we were holding Gabe, we got some good news. Gabe's brain scan came back good, meaning no brain bleeds. Its VERY common for micro preemies to have brain bleeds causing all types of issues and problems now and later in life. We will have a scan weekly, and we pray that all show up negative for bleeds.
Nurse Misti has Gabe today. She has been with us since the night Jacob was born. Gabe was going to get his first taste of milk today. He is getting 1 cc every 6 hrs. An ounce is 30 cc's, so Gabe is going 1/30 of an ounce. Hopefully, he will tolerate it. We pray that Gabe will be a fatty soon, and love to eat. Continue to remember us in your thoughts and prayers.