Preemie

It’s been a while.

12106030_1671798496412069_1315431902_nHalloween 2015, Astronaut, Rocket-ship, and Jupiter12093753_1626636110931717_1424946431_nPumpkin patch

IMG_20151108_212611My buddy’s wedding.

IMG_20151028_200128Birthday celebration

20151110_15071920151110_124826Roadtrippin.

As you can tell we’ve had a few adventures since I last updated this. I’ve had a birthday, we took Cassius to a pumpkin patch, we went to a wedding which I was a grooms man in, and we got to do an awesome first family costume thing for Halloween. Cassius has been doing great so far! Still only wakes up about once in the night, and then again at 430/5am. Which isn’t bad, the wife gets up for the 1am wake up and I get up for the 430 wake up time since I need to get ready to go and workout and start my day anyways. He actually did really good again on this past roadtrip. We stopped maybe twice to stretch and feed him which makes the trips that much better. Before we just use to go on one tank of gas, stop, fill up, and go again. Now with having him here we’ve actually stopped and taken the time to look at places even if its just for a few mins here and there. It’s one thing I say is a big plus and something I never really thought of until we were driving home. Cassius slept most of the time and only had a few bad bouts where he was really really tired and need his binky right away but other than that it was an A okay trip!

Most people that have a preemie of their own will not go out of the house within the first year. Uhhhh fuck that shit, do you know how boring it is to be at home for just the weekend? No way were going to be cooped up inside for a year. I know, I know, preemies are more prone to getting sick and shit but really Cassius isn’t like most preemies I think. He’s doing great and the change in weather every where we go doesn’t seem to affect him. Now I’m no doctor or anything so don’t go and take your baby out of the NICU or newly let out of the hospital baby out on a roadtrip to some shady location because you want to get out of the house. We still take caution when we are out and don’t let a lot of strangers get to close to him. (Which happens and I didn’t know it until we had a baby. People actually feel comfortable enough to come up to you directly and pinch your kids cheeks. Like who does that ? I don’t know if you washed your hands or you just finished picking your nose WTF??!) So we don’t go dragging our kid in the mud or anything just yet but still we feel we are giving him enough exposure to the outside world where he comes into contact with some germs but not enough to be really scared of.

It’s all up to you and how comfortable you feel on taking your kid out on a roadtrip, but make sure you are prepared for everything, take one of everything at least. A jacket , long pants , socks and beanies for the baby and anything else that you think “Maybe we won’t need this?” No! Fucking take it! Also like I said be prepared for making stops and changing the baby in the car or out in the rest areas , most places don’t have changing tables to that is an adjustment in itself to work around with.

Till next time have fun!

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Leave

So far I’ve been on Family Bonding Leave. Unfortunately it’s unpaid, but the paycheck that I’ll be missing I only have 200 to 300 dollars in bills. My parents are going to help me cover those bit seriously bonding leave should be paid. FMLA gives you 12 weeks of leave without losing your job but it’s all unpaid. The case can be made that it’s  unfair for people that have kids shouldn’t get preferential treatment over the people that chose not to. Still me only being able to take 3 weeks off the 12 weeks doesn’t help at all. It’s taken us a while to get adjusted with having the baby home and I feel we won’t get fully adjusted for another month or two. I don’t know how single parents do it major props to them for sure.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Day 35.

It still seems that Cassius was just born a week ago. The trips to the nicu have all blurred together. Nurses all look the same to me now. I’ve waited 20 mins driving around the parking lot to make sure I get a spot that’s close to the entrance , and with shade. I’ve eaten terrible hospital cafeteria food, 4 bucks for a slice of pizza! Doctors come in and say, “Have any questions?”. Yeah when can we get the fuck out of here is the first one that comes to mind. I usually ask though if anything major has changed that we should be concerned about and I get the same answer. “No.” So if you’re wondering , like I have this past month, why the fuck are we here, this is the break down.

Preemies have all sorts of shit that need to develop. They didn’t have time to cook and mature in the womb and they have to do all that still. Doctors and nurses still go off our due date and still tell us it could take all the way up until then for him to go home. Preemies usually need help to breathe, have jaundice, can’t control their body temperature and can’t eat off a breast or bottle yet. So in order for a baby to go home they need to do all of that with no complications. By complications I mean heart rate has to stay at a certain level and oxygen levels have to stay at a certain amount or else these fucking machines go out and it takes everything in your not to smash the fucking thing and chuck it to the nearest staff person.

Luckily for us our son was off a breathing tube within a week, under the jaundice light for about the same amount of time. He’s been gaining weight steadily everyday and doctors are already talking about getting him to go home soon. Till next time everyone much love and take care.

0 CommentsLeave a comment