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Thursday, October 13, 2011

Happy Birthday

Finlay Matthew Pacholski entered into this world on Oct 8 2011 at 4:34 pm. He was born at 35 weeks 4 days, weighed 5lbs 12oz, was 19.5" long, and has 10 fingers and 10 toes. Finlay came as a very unexpected surprise he was not expected for another 2-4 weeks. My water broke at home and 4.5 hrs later there was Finlay. He had no complications but due to the fact that I had not been tested for Strep-B I was treated like I had it when we got to the hospital. I was put on antibiotics and needed to be on them for 4 hrs before his birth but unfortunately only received 2 hrs of them before we had no choice but to push. So he was put on AmpGen (which can cause hearing loss) as a preventative in case I did have it and passed it to him. Fortunately he did not have it all blood work came up clean. He had to remain in the hospital for 48 hrs though b/c of the drug. Finlay did pass his hearing test which by the way was done by his Grammy B. He needs to get rechecked though in a couple weeks b/c of the drugs. He had a rough first night and was kept in the nursery all night b/c he was having difficulty eating. He was only eating 15ml's every 3 hrs but it was taking him too long and he wasn't consistent. By the 2nd night he was doing much better. Finlay and I went home Monday afternoon, it was so nice to be home with my family. It drove me nuts to be separated from Matt and Ethan. Since coming home he is eating 25ml's every 3 hrs. He has his days and nights reversed right now so he likes to keep us up all night. Unfortunately he is unable to breast feed at this time so I am having to pump several times a day. He has a small chin just like Ethan did and it prevents him from being able to make a good seal around the breast. Personally I don't care how he gets the breast milk as long as he is getting it. Right now he is sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed. B/c of him being so small and not being an on demand eater it makes it much easier to just keep him next to us. Ethan was much bigger and was an on demand eater when he came home from the NICU so putting him straight to his own room at night was OK. In a couple weeks Finlay will probably be sleeping in his own room. I do not sleep with him in bed I am just not comfortable doing that. Tomorrow he goes in for a 1 week check up with the pediatrician. She came to see him when he was 24 hrs old and was just a little concerned about the amount of formula (we are supplementing until my full milk supply comes in) he was taking in at a time so she wants to make sure he is gaining weight. I think that him being home has made a huge difference in how he eats. For one thing no one is interrupting him in the middle of eating to take his blood or poke and prod at him. When that happened at the hospital he just didn't want to eat afterward. He started taking 20ml's every 3 hrs with in 1 day of being home and today he started taking 25ml's every 3 hrs. So IMO he is doing well and I know will have put on weight. Right now he is sleeping on Matt's shoulder while Ethan is laying in Matt's lap and Peek-a-boo is laying next to them on the arm of the chair. It's a very cute site.

Finlay will soon be introduced to friends and family but Ethan has been sick so we have been unable to invite anyone over. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to introduce him to a few people. Matt has been home on vacation all this week and will be home all next week as well. We have worked hard the last 2 days to make sure Finlay does not catch what Ethan has. I have not been allowing Ethan to touch Finlay near or around the face and hands, we have had him keep his distance from Finlay's face altogether. If he touches Finlay's binky or bottles they are immediately sterilized before going to Finlay. We have been spraying Lysol on the furniture and other surfaces to help kill any germs Ethan leaves behind. So please do not come visit if you are sick or have ANY cold/flu symptoms, also no children if they are sick or have been sick and have not been symptom free for at least 72 hrs. I really want to be cautious because of his prematurity and because I don't want him to be exposed to too much all at once. I also want to be cautious b/c neither Matt nor I want to end up getting sick. We are keeping hand sanitizer all over the house and no one may hold Finlay unless they have sanitized their hands. Also if you smoke please don't smoke around Finlay or right before handling him. His lungs are premature and it could cause him problems. I know that everyone already know this stuff and I sound like an over-protective mother but it makes me feel better to say it. I carried him for 35 weeks and I worked hard to bring him into this world. Now I am working hard to keep him healthy. All these things were actually things that the pediatrician discussed with me on Sunday when she came to assess Finlay. His immune system is just not ready to be able to handle everything yet and getting sick really could send him to the PICU so I don't take it lightly.

Finlay only a few minutes old
Big Brother Ethan
Mom and her boys
First Family Picture
Going home





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