Wes's FIrst Few Days

Because I was in the NICU and because Mom had a c-section, we had to stay in the hospital for a few days.

Here are a couple of cute pictures of me...

My first minutes out of the NICU

Sugglin' with Dad

A smile or a burp?

Snuggled in

I love sleeping in Mom's shirt

I'm so tired...

...and so is Dad!

Milk coma

Sooooo cute!!!

Lots of friends

Lots of people came to visit me while we were in the hospital.

Aunt Mandy was the very first, but because of NICU rules, she wasn't allowed to come into the unit. Mom and Dad made sure she was one of the first people to hold me once I was out of the NICU.

My big brother Jack came to visit every day.

He even held me!

I think we're going to be great friends.

Grandma Phyllis came to visit in the NICU right after my CPAP came off.

After Mom and Dad, she was the next person to hold me.

Great timing, Grandma!

Did you know I was the first grandbaby she got to hold in the first few days of life?

Jack was in Ohio and was ~6 weeks old when she met him,

and Austin and Mikayla were in the NICU for along time before she got to hold them.

Cool, huh?

Grandma Janice and Grandpa Mike came to visit me in the NICU too.

This is the first time they got to hold me.

And then lots of other friends came too!

Mike, Amber, and Mikayla

Kelly

and Shane

And Molly, too!

Here's our first family portrait.

Reed, party of FOUR!

In in NICU

Hello! My name is Weston, and Mom said that I could be on the blog too.

So between Jack and I, we'll keep you updated on all the happenings in the Reed house.

After a rocky couple of hours, my breathing slowed down and was much less labored, so after 12 hours, I got to get rid of the CPAP.

Here's my first few minutes breathing room air.

After a bit, I got to come out of the isolette and spend some quality time with Mom and Dad.

Here's some skin-to-skin with Mom

Pretty cute, huh?

And some good snuggling with Dad

Later that night, I got my very first bath (I was pretty gooey from being born!)

Here's my nurse Lori, giving me my shampoo.

And I got to wear my first clothes.

Ahh! That feels better!

After 36 hours in the NICU, I was doing so well, I got to go out to Mom and Dad's room!!!

A wonderful ending to a shaky start!

Is it time???

This is how the story goes...

Mom wasn't feeling very well all day Saturday (a little GI upset, if you will).

So she laid in bed and slept most of the day.

Around 6:00pm, she started having intermittent back pain and contractions.

But pretty soon, that turned into back and belly pain every 4 to 5 minutes.

But she was just sure that if she drank enough water, they would go away.

After all, a woman should know when she is in labor, right?

And he's only 36 weeks along.

And we have an external version to flip him around on Thursday.

So, Mom and Dad called Grandma Janice just to let her know and then put me to bed as if everything was fine.

Mom and Dad cleaned up the house (Mom even talked Dad into vacuuming).

They packed the hospital bag ("for Thursday").

And they sat down to watch a movie.

But by 10:30pm, the pain was getting worse.

Mom couldn't talk during the contractions anymore.

She pleaded to wait until 11:00pm.

Dad asked what the heck they were waiting for.

Mom said for the contractions to stop.

Dad told Mom it was time to go to the hospital.

Mom finally listened.

So Grandma J came to watch me and off they went.

Mom was progressing along in labor,

(here's what a contraction looks like!)

but unfortunately, my brother was still butt down.

So they headed for the operating room for a c-section.

Here's Dad, all decked out for the OR.

Mom and Dad waited patiently on the other side of the blue curtain hiding Mom's tummy.

Before long, they got to meet my brother,

Weston Aaron Reed.

6 pounds, 7 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long.

Born on 3/28/10 at 1:49am.

Weston was Frank breech it turns out (feet literally wrapped around his head), so the version probably wouldn't have worked.

But Dr. Matile (the OB) thought that if they had waited much longer, Mom probably would have delivered Weston without the c-section (her labor was going fast!).

Weston was a little puny at first.

He cried just a little, he was a little blue and floppy.

After a little oxygen, he felt better.

(For the doctors in the audience, apgars 6 and 8).

Here's Mom, watching from afar.

Wes was still working really hard to breathe, so they decided to take him to the NICU for some special care.

Aunt Mandy was in the waiting room the whole time and got to come visit Mom right away

while Dad spent some time with Weston in the NICU.

After a few hours in recovery, Mom finally got to see Wes.

At first they thought one of his lungs collapsed, but it turned out to be alright.

He's got a little extra fluid in his lungs (TTNB for the medical folk), which should go away in a few hours to days.

He's on CPAP, which is a special breathing machine that helps make taking deep breaths easier.

He's on a little oxygen too.

And he's got an IV since he can't eat while he's on CPAP.

It looks a bit scary, but we have high hopes it will all be ok soon.

The "new" house

Mom and Dad have been talking about it since we moved in, but as part of Mom's major baby "nesting," she and Dad finally went out and bought paint to repaint every room in the house.

But then, before they could get further than the baby's room, my room, my bathroom, the 1/2 bathroom, and the dining room,

Mom got put on modified bedrest.

Dad was going to take it all on and do it himself,

but that would be crazy.

So we hired this AWESOME and way cheap painter to come and finish the job.

Here's how it turned out:

The dining room before

The dining room after

The living room before

The living room after

The hearth room before

The hearth room after

The kitchen before

The kitchen after

The master bedroom/office before

(terrible picture, I know--the only one we had)

The office after

The master bedroom after

The master bathroom before

The master bathroom after

The 1/2 bath after (we didn't have any before).

The entryway before

(Mom looks very thoughtful)

The entryway after

(it's actually the same color, just eggshell and not matte;

you can see our new floors too--pretty similar to before)

Mom and Dad say the pictures aren't nearly as cool as the finished product.

You'll all just have to come by and check it out!