Jan 24th - Day 1 in the NICU

As you probably know, we welcomed sweet baby Will into our family on January 24th!! If you read my last blog post, it may have been obvious that I wrote it while quite sleep deprived... I'm not even sure if I made it clear that he's been in the NICU since birth! But because he has had such an eventful first week, I wanted to make a separate post for each day in the NICU -- mostly to document it for our family, but also to share details of his progress with family and friends who might be interested. So to begin, let's start with his BIRTH day, January 24th:

Because Will was a month early (born at 35 1/2 weeks; due Feb 24th), he was initially taken to the Neonatal ICU (NICU) for precautionary reasons. While he cried plenty in the delivery room, making it seem as though his lungs were plenty developed, he ended up having retractions and difficulty breathing. So they put him on a nasal cannula:


... Then later he was put on a bubble CPAP because the nasal cannula was not enough.

Will with his Dada:

And with Mama:

Andy and I were able to come visit Will throughout the day, but could not hold him yet. I was lucky enough to hold him for a moment immediately after delivery, but Andy did not get the opportunity yet. This was a very different delivery than our first, as our parents were all out of town and I actually went into full out labor! (With John, 40 weeks came and went, then we were induced). Even though it was somewhat scary, we knew Will was in GREAT hands and that we could (and must!) trust in God's plans. We, and especially Will, have been lifted up in prayer by so many friends and family members! We are eternally grateful, as the many prayers, rosaries, and Mass intentions were definitely heard and felt -- over the past week Will has improved by leaps and bounds! But back to the day-by-day updates...

Our sweet Will:
And his tiny feet!

Late that night my mom arrived -- she flew in all the way from Montana! She had teased me about waiting until after Feb 1st (when she would be back home in Houston), and I just laughed it off -- who knew we'd have him a month early!? So when she got to the hospital around 11pm, I took her down to the NICU to proudly introduce her to her newest grandson! :) It meant so much to have her here, and since then she has been staying with us and helping out a TON. She's been watching John and allowing me to spend more time up at the NICU with Will, plus cooking and cleaning... Gramma, we cannot THANK YOU enough!!! :)

Will meeting his Gramma for the first time:

Love,
Abby, Andy, John, Will, and Wayne-Dog