Busy, busy, busy

I used to think that I was busy with just Avery, but now that Tate has arrived, I realize that "busy" is a relative term. I apologize that the last 2 posts have been short, but I just haven't had the time to write previously. Now, however, my mom is in town for the next couple of days, and with Avery and Tate both sleeping, I have a little bit of time.

For starters, we are at home and everything is going well. We've started to get into a routine at feeding time, which really helps a ton. The only trick is making sure that Avery has something to do to keep occupied during those 45 minute time periods, because otherwise she gets into "trouble". Once she is in bed for the night, it becomes much easier as well.

As for Tate's health, things seem to be going well so far. He still appears to have a little bit of a yellowish tint from the jaundice, but I guess the bilirubin levels are supposed to peek between days 4 - 6, and we are at day 5. Yes, bilirubin does sound like a made up word, but I guess its true. The lights that I mentioned the other day were called bililights (that is the picture above). He was under those (save for feedings) from 10 am Thursday until 7 am Friday, which seemed like a long time. Plus, he had to wear these foam "goggles" that kept the light out of his eyes. That was a hassle to keep on him, something which caused us much worry as the doctor said looking at the light could burn his retinas. Needless to say, we were worn out, and by the end of Friday we were just glad to get home. In any case, they said that as long as he is eating well and going to the bathroom regularly, the jaundice should clear up. We should know more tomorrow when we visit with a feeding specialist at the hospital.

As for his heart, the echo revealed that he has only one enlarged valve, we isn't out of the ordinary. Thankfully, there are no holes in his heart, and all of his arteries and veins are in the correct position. That was good to hear, because otherwise it probably would have meant some kind of heart surgery. We haven't heard about the chromosome mapping yet, (we didn't expect to by this point) but will probably know for sure when we attend his first checkup this Friday afternoon. We're pretty sure we know what the results will be, but it will be nice to have a definitive answer. We're grateful to live in an area where he will have many opportunities to receive any assistance that he/we might need.

Overall, we're very blessed with two wonderful gifts from God! The miracle of life continues to amaze us! We're also thankful for all the support we have from friends, family, and co-workers. Thank you all!

Well, it is way past my bedtime (at 10 pm; in college, 10 pm was either time to begin studying for the night, or time to go out with friends). More to come as we have time!