Jonathan Update - 5 lbs, 13 oz!!!

Jonathan has now been home almost a week and is doing wonderfully! He had his first doctor's visit yesterday and we learned that he now weighs 5 lbs, 13 oz. This is a 10 ounce gain in 5 days since leaving the hospital and is a big gain from his birth weight of 4 lbs, 1 oz and his low weight of 3 lbs, 8 oz. The doctor feels that Jonathan is doing great and growing well. We're loving having our son at home and are settling into a new routine. We'll keep posting pictures and updates as Jonathan grows!

April 29: Daddy and Jonathan relaxing...

April 27: Jonathan and his Daddy at Home

April 26: Jonathan at Home

April 24: Jonathan Comes Home!!! (and Molly meets Jonathan)

April 23: Bath #2, One Last Day in the Hospital

April 21

Jonathan's First Bath and Massage - April 18

Jonathan relaxing in the tub



Mommy and Daddy bathing Jonathan





Jonathan's favorite nurse helps out

Jonathan gets his post-bath massage with baby lotion

Jonathan at the Spa de NICU receiving his Massage

Jonathan - April 15

More Pictures of Jonathan - April 12 - Happy Easter!

Jonathan waves Hi in his Easter Outfit

More Pictures of Jonathan - April 11 - Jonathan's New Clothes

More Pictures of Jonathan - April 8

Jonathan - no more oxygen tubes!

More Pictures of Jonathan - April 7

Jonathan and his Mommy

More Pictures of Jonathan - April 6

More Pictures of Jonathan - April 5

Chris and Jonathan


Jonathan content with Becky

Jonathan and Becky

The Last Week

Over the last week, Jonathan has made some amazing progress! His weight had dropped initially (to a low of about 3 lbs 8 oz), as if typical after a baby is born, and he has steadily been gaining weight back and finally has reached his birth weight again of 4 lbs 1 oz. In addition, he has steadily been liberated from many of the tubes and cables that were attached to him. Jonathan's jaundice is gone, so he no longer must sit under the bili light, and his tube feeds were increased so that he now gets all of his nutrition through his GI tract. With his bilirubin down and his GI feeds up, Jonathan's IV also was taken out. Jonathan's breathing has been great as well, and so he is no longer on oxygen, and they have taken the probe off of his foot that monitors his oxygen. In addition, he is doing a great job of keeping his temperature up in the incubator. Each day, the temperature of his incubator has been decreased an it now has reached 28 celsius. If he can keep his body temperature up for 24 hours, he then will be allowed to move to a crib, leaving behind the incubator. At this point, he only has some EKG leads on his chest to monitor his heart and breathing, and a small tube down his nose for feeding. He looks so much more comfortable with the tubes and wires removed. Jonathan also is beginning to eat more by mouth, now trying to eat 3 times per day from the bottle/breast in addition to his tube feeds. To go home, he will need to get all of his nutrition by mouth and have no spells of decreased heart rate or lack of breathing. He is well on his way to this point, and could well go home much earlier than originally expected.

Day 5 : Saturday

On Saturday, Chris and Becky spent most of the day with Jonathan in the NICU. We both held him and changed his diaper and checked his temperature. During the day, he made his first big step in the NICU. He was moved from his open warmer bed into his incubator. He will stay in the incubator until he is able to keep his body temperature near 37 degrees celsius (98.6 fahrenheit) with the incubator set at 28 degrees celsius (82 degrees fahrenheit). We are allowed to take him out for about 30 minutes a day where we hold him. We also can open little doors on the side of the incubator more often so that we can hold his hand or feet. Jonathan's nurses love him as they all they say how sweet he is. He has the softest cry and rarely cries. Today, we also learned that last night, Jonathan weighed 3 lbs, 10 oz. and was 16 inches long. This was down a little from his birth weight which is normal as infants lose fluid. Weight is usually gained back within the first week or 2.


Jonathan's smirk

Jonathan smiles at Mommy and Daddy

Jonathan's first bed - the warmer bed

Jonathan looks at Daddy

Becky and Jonathan

Chris and Jonathan

Becky and Jonathan

Chris and Jonathan

Jonathan sleeps in his new incubator



Jonathan in his new incubator

Day 4

On April 3, Becky was able to go see Jonathan in the morning before she was discharged home in the afternoon. She was still very sore, but happy to be back in her own bed. It was nice being home, but very hard to be home without our son. Becky needed to rest in the evening, but I went back to check on Jonathan, and he was more awake than ever. He showed me all sorts of smiling faces while I sat by his bed in the evening. He made sweet little noises and even managed a trembling lip that looked a lot like his Mommy's trembling lip that works so well on me. Jonathan continued to do well and was taking small volumes of milk in via the tube in his mouth. He still received most of his nutrition by IV, but these feeds would prepare his GI tract for more in the future.

Jonathan's smile

Jonathan shows his eyes

Jonathan under the bili light for his jaundice with his "Oakleys"

Day 3

On April 2, Becky was moved from the room that she had been in so far down to the 12th floor where most mothers who have given birth are roomed. It was a little hard being there on a floor where there were so many mothers with their babies in the room, but we made it up to see Jonathan which was nice. Today, Jonathan's CPAP was changed to a regular nasal cannula that delivered oxygen through his nose. Becky was also able to kangaroo Jonathan, which means holding him skin to skin. This is apparently great for premature babies as they are calmer and better able to regulate their temperatures when snuggled close to their mother or father. Jonathan also developed jaundice today which meant that he had to sit under a UV light to help get rid of the bilirubin that had built up in his body.

Becky kangaroos Jonathan

Becky kangaroos Jonathan

Jonathan under the light for his jaundice with some cool sunglasses...

Jonathan shows his eyes

Becky bids farewell to her room on the 13th floor