We're home!

Whew!! What a relief. If I EVER see that NICU again it will be too soon. They took great care of him but I'm just so glad to have him here with us. His big sister is in love with him already. Her reaction was so cute! I got it on video. I'll try to upload it on here if I can figure it out. Yay!!!! We have a bunch of appointments to go to of course, but I can deal with that. Cardiologist, Neurosurgeon, Hearing test (he failed the hospital one on his left side) and of course the primary pediatrician.

He's going to be a MAJOR eater, I can tell. He's a bit of a slow nurser - he's having a hard time getting the hang of it, but I just kind of thought its because I didn't get to do it a whole lot while he was in the NICU. I'm hoping now that we are home I can nurse him to his hearts content and he will get better at it. If not, I'll pump, no big deal. He is just so amazing!! I am so glad he's home :)

TOMORROW!

Joey's coming home!!!!!!!! He has done so so well. I went to see him today and he nursed for twenty minutes AND had a 50ml bottle! And he was acting like he wanted more. What a little piggy :) He stayed awake for a while too so we just hung out and had a little conversation. He's such a happy little guy!

Surgery done!!

Everything went great! No complications at all. But I wasn't worried about that. I was more worried about seeing my little guy all hooked up to the monitors and stuff - just normal mommy stuff. Its not very fair to make a mommy who just had a baby with hormones all out of whack go through something like this!

I hope its only a couple of days before he can come home!

Surgery is scheduled!

for 7:30 am. We are going to go in at 6:45 or so to spend a little time with him before and then I guess we will just hang out before he goes back. I'm already a nervous wreck thinking about it :) but I know its normal and I know he will be fine. This is the last hurdle to overcome before he can come home! I cannot wait for him to be home with us!!!!!

Miracles can happen :)

When we went to Cincinnati for the MRI and everything after we found out about Joey's Hydrocephalus, they were pretty sure that Joey had a problem with his bowels. Worst case scenario was a colostomy bag and lots of corrective surgeries. Well when he was born, we were of course concerned that he hadn't had a bowel movement. Well, a couple of days went by without one, and we asked the nurses about it and they said they couldn't find any reason to show why he hadn't had one. They did a lower GI on him where they inject Barium into his little bottom and they couldn't find any obstructions or anything, and lo and behold, the Barium acted like an enema and he had a GIANT poo!! The nurse said she had never seen a poo so big. We are soooo thrilled! We have hoped any prayed that the bowel thing wouldn't be an issue because in Cincy they couldn't tell for CERTAIN whether or not there was a problem, but they were pretty sure. But there's nothing!!! The only hurdle left to overcome is the Hydrocephalus. We still need to schedule the surgery - hoping that will happen in the next day or so.

God is good!!!!!

He's amazing!!

Wow we have the most amazing little boy! He's doing so so well. If it wasn't for the Hydrocephalus then he would be perfect! His head hasn't changed size since he was born. My husband talked to a neuroseurgeon who was down there checking Joey out and he told us about a procedure that Joey could be a candidate for. It's for babies who have a certian kind of Aqueducal Stenosis. If its blocked or narrowed they can go in sort of like an angioplasty and dilate the Aqueduct of Sylvas and open it up. We've been researching it and it seems like it has a very good success rate! It carries a bit more risk than the VP Shunt but its also most likely a one time deal! So we are definitely looking into this. Plus if for some reason it doesn't work he can still get a shunt so either way he will be ok. I'm just anxious to do SOMETHING so he can get better and come home! I'm supposed to be going home tomorrow, and Monday we will hopefully be able to get the surgery scheduled for very soon after. It's been nice having free wireless internet in the hospital so I can keep you all updated!

Here's a link to my facebook photo album :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=243062&id=606665011&l=dca2099891

Welcome to the world!!

William Joseph Sabel made his entrance into the world yesterday at 10:45 (or close to it - wasn't exactly paying attention hehe) weighing 10 lbs. 2 ounces! Wow whatta big boy! I couldn't go up to see him until today because I couldn't get out of the bed. The anesthesia made me sick most of the day. But this morning once I finally got unhooked from everything I went up to see him. He's a cutie! I got to try and breastfeed him, but he was pretty tired. So I got to give him a bottle with a little of my colostrum mixed in. I've been trying to pump, but I haven't gotten a whole lot out. I'm hoping my milk comes in today so I can pump some actual milk for him. Here is a pic!

The countdown begins!

Thursday morning at 7:30 is when I'm supposed to be at the hospital! I'm so so glad. I'm ready to meet this little (big!) guy!

Well...

We had the amnio and the results are in. His lungs are not quite ready yet. I'm pretty bummed - I'm extremely uncomfortable since I could be carrying a TWELVE POUNDER. I'm just conflicted because I want him to be as healthy as possible but at the same time I'm completely miserable. Not to mention that my parents are on a plane at this moment coming here! I don't know what they are going to do.

Doc Visit today... anddd....

I'm contracting! I've been having strong BH for weeks now, but today while I was getting my NST they picked up. They started coming 3-6 minutes apart and were almost painful. They checked me and I'm 2cm dialated but she couldn't feel his head pressing on my cervix, so chances are it won't drop any lower because its so big. But who knows. She sent me home to relax and see how things go. If nothing picks up or gets worse, I'm supposed to go back Wednesday for an amnio (thought I was gonna get one today, but oh well) and if all is well then I'll go in Thursday morning for my csection!!!