Happy Halloween!

One of the nurses was nice enough to knit Cole a pumpkin hat.  He looked so happy in it, I had the nurse get a photo.  His first halloween and he goes as a pumpkin... so cliche Cole.

No more IV!

Today was a pretty great milestone (in our humble opinions). Cole is up to full feedings (tomorrow morning) so they decided he would be able to get enough fluids out of the milk. And all of this means no more IV's. The IV out will make it a lot easier to bring him and out of his incubator and he'll be at lower risk of infection. He hasn't been taking too well to needles, so it will be good not to have to put him through that stress. More good news is that he's up to 3 pounds, 6 ounces and gaining.

Emily and I are starting to stagger our schedules at the hospital so we can spend as much time as possible with Cole, while still getting the house ready. So she had him this afternoon for 3 hours and I went this evening.

A big thanks to Cindy and Kate who have been a big help! Kate, Kristal and Megan hosted (what I hear was) a great baby shower. Cindy has been out since Cole's birthday helping with shopping, organizing, cooking and cleaning. All the help has been great!

Here are some pics I've snapped over the past day or two.

Incubator Aerobics

First time trying the blogger app, so this could look a little scary!  We're at the hospital right now getting the last visit in before bedtime, but Emily gets holding time since I got my time in this morning.

Overall Cole's doing well.  He's back up above his birth weight and gaining everyday!  He has been getting pretty good at pulling out IV's and grabbing his feeding tube, but the nurses don't let that get them down.

He continues to be incredibly active, so its fun to watch.  These are some photos I've snapped on my phone, so they're low quality, but they are pretty funny.  Here's a video too.

Daddy's Little Boy

Last night was finally the night!  Drew felt that he had been feeling well enough and hadn't been having any further signs of his cold to finally hold Cole!  As Mom, this had to be the 2nd best visit we've had so far (obviously my favorite was the first time I got to hold him).  It was the best feeling being able to see Drew hold Cole...Cole was awake for the first couple minutes and just sat mesmerized on Drew's chest.  After about 10 minutes he was passed out sleeping as peacefully as I've ever seen him...it appears we definitely have a Daddy's little boy on our hands : )

We got there around 8:30 just a bit early for his 9pm "cares" (the nursing staff clusters Cole's cares (temperature taken, diaper changed, and feeding) every 3 hours to minimize anxiety).  Drew once again took charge and took Cole's temperature as well as changed his diaper.  I am pleased to announce Drew is getting much, much better at diapers already : )

I'm going to let Drew blog a bit later about his version of the evening...I just wanted to get some of the pictures posted as soon as possible....

10/26/2011

Father and son's first nap together - 5/26/2011

Dad's first diaper

During last night's goodnight visit I was getting all ready to change Cole's diaper when Drew decided he wanted to take care of this one.  Little did he know what he was getting himself into!  The fabulous news is Cole finally had his first bowel movement (while I realize this is something most parents don't get too excited about, this was a HUGE milestone for Cole!!!!).  While Drew and I were celebrating this moment (I have to admit, I never, never thought I would tear up when my son went poop!), the nurses were laughing at us while Cole was peeing EVERYWHERE!!!!  We really were a site to be seen...  Unfortunately, in all the mayhem I didn't even think to get out a camera to capture Drew's first diaper change - I will truly regret not capturing this one specific moment - it will be a great memory for a long time!

Drew visited Cole this morning on his way into work and the nurse said Cole actually put on some weight yesterday!  Again, we're moving in the right direction : )  Today's billirubin count had not yet come in, but with the light therapy and the bowel movements the number should definitely be decreasing at an even quicker rate.  Mom and I are heading to the hospital shortly for our afternoon visit - I'm anxious to see where we stand. 

We found Cole's foot prints last night during our visit - I don't think either of us really appreciated just how tiny his little body is

Cole sleeping like I do...love, love, love this picture : )

Update on Cole

As most of you can all imagine the last 3 days have been exciting, scary, overwhelming, emotional... (please feel free to enter in just about any adjective at this point...I'm sure if it exists it has been felt/experienced by either Drew or I at some point over the last couple days).  Fortunately we have a large community of support that is helping us navigate this unexpected period in our lives.  Family has dropped everything to come be with us to show their support and assist in any way possible, friends have already gone above and beyond the calls of friendship to drop off food, etc.  We are truly grateful for all the kind gestures, good thoughts and overall prayers for our family - it means the world to us knowing so many people are thinking of our Little Man (yes, even though he is Cole, he will always be Little Man to me!).

Drew and I are currently working on coming up with a schedule that will be most beneficial to Cole.  The NICU highly recommends as much "skin time" with Mom and Dad as possible in most situations. Unfortunately, due to higher than desired bilirubin counts Cole is currently being treated with light therapy. Because of this we are trying to limit our visits with Cole to 1 hour increments several times a day - we appreciate the longer he is under his light therapy, the quicker he can get better and we can go back to holding him for as long as our hearts desire. 

Last night we went to UW to have our "goodnight" visit and were very pleasantly surprised when the doctors asked us if we were okay with them removing his air tube.  While it may seem so small, even this step made my heart leap - what a wonderful thing to hear!  Every day I go into the hospital I try to ask all the questions racing through my head and do everything in my power to remember exactly what the doctors and nurses tell me.  Unfortunately, this is a foreign language to me - I don't know if it's being tired and concerned, but my brain just does not want to grasp all the lingo, etc...I have no doubt Drew will become an expert in no time though!

I do want to apologize to everyone that has written/called/texted in the last couple days.  If we aren't at the hospital I'm either pumping or running errands trying to get life organized.  I'm hopeful we'll be able to get into a routine within the next couple days and can reach out to everyone in time.  In the meantime, please just know we appreciate everything everyone has done and we will continue to provide updates via this blog as we get them.

With Aunt Kate (Mom's true hero and best friend) - 10/22/2011

10/22/2011

10/24/2011

10/24/2011

Drew is continuing to get more healthy each and every day - we are hopeful he'll be able to hold Cole within the next day or two!  I promise to take more pictures than anyone could ever want to see and post them as soon as possible. 

Love and many thanks to everyone!

Em, Drew and Cole : )

A great story for the kids...

Remember the baby shower I co-hosted a few weeks back for my friends Heather & Liz?  Well, amazingly enough, Liz and I ended up having our sons on the same day!  It was quite surreal having a close friend admitted to Labor & Delivery at the same time...  While I was confined to my bed to try and prolong labor, Liz was workiing hard taking laps around the hospital trying to promote hers!  Her and her husband Tony would stop by, then her and her mom...  It was fabulous!

Liz was a true rockstar in Labor & Delivery - she endured more than a lot of women could ever imagine.  The end result is her absolutely gorgeous and perfect baby boy, Caden James Spinrad (Cade) born roughly 12 hours after Cole.

Liz, Tony & Cade were put in the recovery room right next to ours - it was a great opportunity for our friends to come visit - really, Liz and I were just trying to make things as convenient as possible for our friends that wanted to stop by ; )

Our friend Heather and her husband Jeff also welcomed their son Oliver exactly 1 week earlier, on 10/13... 

I have a feeling we have a lot of fun years ahead of us!

Cole Jensen Hadley

Sharing the good news with the friends and family that we have decided on a name for the baby formerly known as Little Man. Cole Jensen Hadley has been on our short list since the beginning and we decided it fit him perfectly. He even raises his eye brows when you call him by name, so that pretty much settled it.

He's in day two and doing great. He now has a feeding tube and is getting some nourishment from Emily, so that's the orange tube sticking down his mouth. The nurses say he holds his breath when he gets mad, so they opted to put a air tube in his nose so they could encourage his breathing a little better.

But other than that he's doing great! We'll keep everyone posted on news and more pictures.

10 weeks to go!

Pardon the pj's - I didn't get the best night's sleep last night so am planning on heading to bed early tonight! The good news is Drew gets home in less than 48 hours!  I cannot wait for this work trip to be over.  Of course, now he's being shipped off to CT for a couple days the week after he gets back, but if I could survive 5 weeks, I can survive a couple more days!

 

Little Man:

Weight: ~3 lbs.

Length: ~17"

This last weekend Mom came in town and we had a marathon shopping weekend!  We went stroller shopping, got gift registries started at 4 stores, got the nursery more organized and even managed to squeeze in some pedicures!  It was a fabulous, but exhausting weekend for us both!  I really couldn't have done much without her help - she has an unbelievable way of keeping me motivated : )  Thank you again, Mom!  You're my hero (and Drew's hero, too - he would have gone CRAZY if he would have had to dealt with navigating Babies R Us - it nearly put me over the edge!)

Munich

My last post of far away adventures! I'm heading home on Friday and definitely looking forward to it. Its been too long away from Em (and the boys). Plus I hear that I'm missing out on lots of fun like registering for diapers and onsies!

My trip to Munich was short and action packed. There was lots to do/see in limited time, but the city was very nice. I spent most of my time in the City Center where there is good people watching, eating, drinking and shopping. I also ventured out to the Olympic park where the 1972 summer olympics took place and walked the grounds of Oktoberfest (missed it by a week!), among many other things. The weather was bad, but the city was great and the people were mostly friendly.

Sunrise as we head to Munich. Don't know why I've been taking all of these airplane pictures lately, but it seemed like a good thing to do.

The archway in the back is symbolic of peace, I think. This is where my trip began when I emerged from the underground train station.

One of the main squares. This clock tower did a funny show at noon that a lot of people were waiting for.

An armored baby slaying a snake. Nice.

This was a huge daily market, but I'm only getting a picture of a small portion. Meats, cheeses, wine, beer, vegetables, knick-knacks, etc. Cool place.

At the Hoffbrahaus, probably one of the most famous beer halls in the world. It was very cool. I got some advice at the table I was at to go see the Olympic park, which I did.

Here is a view from a tower at the Olympic Park. In the foreground is a BMW campus with engineering and a museum. I went into the museum, only because it was free, and found a glorified car dealership.

Some of the buildings built for the Olympics (soccer stadium ahead and pool on the right).

Here is one of the "beer tents" that is in the process of being taken down. These things must take months to construct. Not exactly a tent and more like convention centers. There were 2 dozen of these halls on the Oktoberfest grounds. Sad to have missed it.

Had to throw this one in there. I spent the morning today at the Duetsches Museum which is a huge place for history of inventions and industry. I found it very interesting, but not as interesting as this American Patriot who couldn't leave this jacket behind on his quest to represent the US in the best possible light.

Prague

Overdue on these photos, but I've been without a lot of time out here lately! Busy with work mostly, unfortunately, but I am heading to Munich early tomorrow morning for a quick trip and hoping to catch the leftovers of Oktoberfest.

Prague was a fantastic city to visit. There were more incredible views than we could count and the buildings were pretty amazing to see. We did lots of walking, had some good food, stopped by a restaurant recommend by my mom, and had many pit stops for Czech beer (which is cheaper than water, seriously). Overall it was a great trip and I think we'll definitely plan to see it again in the future.