Favorite Photo Friday - Snapshot #39

This is definitely a few days late, but we had a BIG day on Friday! Will finally got to come home from the hospital!!! After 18 days in the NICU, Will graduated and joined his family at home! :) :) :) While I do still have all my daily NICU posts to publish, I wanted to catch everyone up to date with a Favorite Photo Friday post -- the NICU updates are all written, just waiting for me to add photos.

Here is Big Brother John waiting for Little Brother Will to come out of the NICU:

Mama and Dada ready to pack Will up in his carseat and take him home!

Introducing John to his new Baby Brother -- John wasn't sure what to think of the whole situation:

Our first family photo as a family of FOUR (it was past naptime for John...) ;)

We have spent the last few days adjusting to having our family of four all together (at last!), and enjoying spending time with Will without driving up to the hospital, checking in, wearing those fancy yellow gowns, etc. ;)

So as for the rest of the week... (Be forewarned, this post has a TON of pictures!) :)

This one might not be funny to anyone else, but I thought it was hysterical! ;) Last weekend Mom joined me up at the hospital to visit Will -- when we returned, we found Andy in the backyard washing John's clothes! Apparently while Andy was watching him, John had the biggest blowout known to mankind -- like half an hour later, Andy was still on clean-up duty!

Thumbs down from Dada! ;)

Besides pooping, John is also really good at helping with laundry! ;) Especially playing in the basket afterwards:

Snuggled up with his blanket:

On Monday, Feb 6th, John and Will's cousin Henry Warren Bergman was born!!! Due 11 days before Will but born 13 days after Will, Henry weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz and was 19.5 in long. Congrats to Joe and Mandi, and big sisters Shelby and Kinsey! What a handsome fella!

Between Will's feedings, I got to meet John and Gramma up at the other hospital to meet little (big!) Henry! :)

Back to Friday... when we brought little William home, this is how we found John during his nap:


And since John was passed out, we took advantage of it and posed a picture of the Two Brothers! John has since warmed up to him, but he was very unsure of what to think of Will that first day we brought him home.

Gramma snuggling Will at home - finally without all those cords and tubes!

Gramps getting to hold Will for the very first time! He came into town for the weekend to meet his newest grandson Henry and to see Will again - this time out of the NICU:

This one is technically from this past Saturday, but I wanted to include it anyways... Pinkie flew into town on Saturday for her sister's 50th birthday, so she also got to stop by and hold Will for the very first time!

What a wonderful week we had! We are SO grateful to finally have our baby boy home!! Thank you again to everyone for the prayers and encouragement! Take care and God bless!

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

Feb 8th - Day 16 in the NICU

On Wednesday the 8th, Will continued to improve with his feedings -- he took ALL feedings today by bottle except the 3am one! Way to go, Will!

I forgot to mention this in the previous post, but he pulled his NG tube out yesterday -- when he needed it for the 3am feeding today, the nurse put it in but removed it again afterwards. Doesn't he look SO handsome without any tubes??!! :) He was also allowed to nurse up to 4 times today, and he did well with all of them!

They also discharged the phototherapy today, as his bilirubin was back down. No more tanning! (I love this photo -- he's such a stud) ;)

Our growing boy all stretched out:

Here's Will at the end of the day -- all his tubes and velcro (for his sunglasses required while on the bili light) gone! We haven't seen him like this since the morning he was born! He looks SO good!!

If he continues to do well, we hope to have him home by this weekend!! Thank you again for your continued prayers and support. God bless you!

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

Feb 7th - Day 15 in the NICU

Happy 2-Week-Birthday, sweet Will! :)

Poor guy started out his day getting "the snip," but it turned out to be a great day nonetheless. He took all of his feedings from 9am to midnight!!! Way to go, Bud! That gets us closer to getting you home!

He did get put back on the bili light (photo therapy for high bilirubin/jaundice) today - here he is sunbathing with his cool shades on:

Today they also moved Will to a different room for staffing reasons. We were really bummed, as we had grown attached to the nurses caring for Will and to the other families and babies (Will's "neighbors") in our first room. When your brand new baby is staying at the hospital and not home with you, it becomes a home away from home -- so these "attachments" were stronger than we realized until they moved us! Luckily, his new nurse was also very good and we quickly adjusted. Of course it didn't phase Will at all! :)

Little Guy!

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

Feb 6th - Day 14 in the NICU

Hard to believe it's been almost 2 whole weeks! But my oh my how much Will has improved in his first 14 days! And today was another BIG day! I got to nurse Will for the first time! :) He did so well -- and I am so grateful! (I struggled with nursing John for his first 6 weeks.) For now I get to nurse him once each 12-hour shift. It's a start! :)

We are hopeful of Will still coming home this week, but it may be the end of the week... Regardless, we'll keep our fingers crossed! And we're so happy he was able to take the big step of beginning breastfeeding!

On a separate note, Will's cousin Henry Warren Bergman was born today! He was due 11 days before Will, though Will beat him to the punch! Congrats to my brother Joe and sister-in-law Mandi on their 8 lb, 9 oz bundle of joy! Mom and baby are both healthy and doing great!

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

Feb 5th - Day 13 in the NICU

On Super Bowl Sunday, Will was ready to feast! He took the whole bottle twice! What a big boy!

Will also had another bath... he does really well with swaddle baths and really enjoys when we pour water on his little belly. Once he's able to take real baths, I have a feeling he's going to love them! (Sorry these iPhone photos are a little blurry)

So alert after his bath:

A sweet moment with Mama:

Melt my heart!!

I can't believe how quickly time is passing -- hard to believe my maternity leave is already a quarter over! :( We're grateful for the continued health and development, but we're sure anxious to get him home! We can't wait for Big Brother to meet his Little Brother! Thanks again for all the support, y'all!

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

Feb 4th - Day 12 in the NICU

On Saturday, Will took a whole bottle once! That's all 52cc by bottle! Way to go, kiddo!! We're so proud of you! That's 1 full bottle down, 7 to go (to make all 8 feedings in one day)! ;)

Snugglin' with Gramma after all that hard work eating:

And hangin' out with Dada:

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

Feb 3rd - Day 11 in the NICU

On Friday, Will maxed out at only 30cc with his eating, but overall he is still doing very well! When Dr. Sparks rounded this morning, he told us Will's heart murmur is getting louder, meaning it is most likely closing (he used the analogy of kinking a garden hose - how the sound of the water running through it gets louder). So that's good news (must be why Will is smiling)! ;)

Dr. Sparks also informed us that it was his last day -- he would be off for a week beginning tomorrow and Dr. Carroll would be taking over care for Will. We feel so blessed that Dr. Sparks happened to be the neonatologist on call the morning Will was born -- we couldn't have had a better doctor care for our little guy! He has fantastic bedside manner, and we are so appreciative that he took the time to explain everything to us! He will be missed!

"What? You're leaving me, Dr. Sparks??"

Also on Friday, Will passed his carseat challenge with flying colors (they strapped him into his carseat and made sure he could keep his vitals up for a full hour).

The carseat challenge is a requirement for all NICU babies before they can be discharged. Speaking of discharge, Dr. Sparks gave us the impression that we can be hopeful for discharge early next week -- the primary hold up is his eating. Will must be able to take a full 52cc by bottle (or breastfeed) for all 8 feedings/day. So keep up the good work, kiddo! We can't wait to get you home!

Oh, and seeeee... told you Kristie (our favorite nurse) fixed up Will's bed the next day -- back to Wreck 'em Tech sheets! :)

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