The first few weeks

After a tough week trying just to get home from work, I finally start my time at home with the baby. She came home Wednesday, but I really didn't make it home until Saturday night. This was really tough for me. I wanted to be there when we brought her home but there was really no way out of it. I was really surprised how well Aub had adjusted to everything. By the time I was around, she had everything under control. Little Porter was feeding every four hours, and everything seemed normal. (begin foreshadowing... :-)

Fast forward two weeks ahead. We have a true newborn. This little girl can cry when she wants to. We realize how spoiled we were with her before as it was so easy when she woke up only when she was hungry. Now, we don't always know what she is trying to tell us. I'm sure every parent has seen this and probably is laughing out loud now. I guess I knew this was coming but hey, I can hope right?

First quick side note, I am selling the motorcycle. First, I hardly ever ride it anymore as I now commute on a bicycle. Second, it is more important to me to try to around for this little one. Now, you can't live your life in fear but I can cut back on the dangerous endeavors. I will miss it and maybe in the future, I will get another one. Aub was sad to see me sell the bike. This has been my decision and she understands but she always loved time on the bike.

Ok, since you know where we are I will skip back a little bit to the baby shower. Normally, not something I would want to attend. However, it was great to see everyone and I really have to hand it to Jan, Grace and my Mom, they REALLY did a great job. I probably ate at least 1/2 of the food (again, thank you ladies! I highly recommend the Cowboy Caviar). Some of my family that I have not seen for a while came to visit and I was so proud to show off my beautiful little girl. Oh, and everyone had been WAY too generous! Not that I mind, but I want you all to you know how much I appreciate it.

I am skipping all over the place as far as time so please bear with my. This is the result of someone who should be writing more often but neglecting his post. So I do have to say how much I love to take this little one out and about. Today we went to Greenlake. After a quick feeding under a tree (Aub had egg salad, Porter hit the bottle), we walked around the lake. She loves being in the stroller. So far, she has seen wonderous downtown Bothell, dined in Kirkland and now has tasted the metropolitan flair of North Seattle.

Needless to say, this last few weeks have flown by. I enjoyed my vacation (or manternity leave as I like to call it) but I need to get back to work. I am also not sure this was a 'vacation' by any means. How does a whole day dissapear and all you did was go for a one hour walk. I did have some big plans for my time at home but I also did figure they might not all turn out. Two weeks passed, I mowed the lawn. That is my big achievement.

A quick sidenote: Strawberry Kiss
When we left the hosptial, we noticed a little rash on her left cheek. We didn't think much of it until it became a little bigger, more red and a little raised. Well, this is a birthmark. Come find out, these are rare but found more in girls and preemies. Two for two. Apparently these marks grow for the first year or so, then spend the next four to ten years dissapearing. Hmmm... Word of advice, don't google this condition, as you will see extreme cases, which will tear your heart out.

I have to say at first this was really hard for me at first. I mean, you want the best for your baby and I guess i thought we were out of the woods. Again, parents are laughing out loud at this point. You are never out of the woods. I love this little girl and I just want her to have a good life and the first thing I think of is someone teasing her for her birthmark. I can't keep kids from being mean and I guess I can't kill myself trying. I just remember what it was like growing up. I could write a book here but I will hold back (however I am in talks for a movie deal - probably will go straight to the $3.99 bin at Target.)

The doctor says P's hemangioma is small, and may stay small but we are going to see a dermatologist next week as it seems there are some options to treat this early. Most important to know, these are benign and only cosmetic. Her health is great and that matters more than anything else to me right now. I will write more when we know more about this after we see the dermatologist. But for now, she is my beautiful girl with a strawberry kiss on her cheek.

Home Sweet Home - Mama Morck's first blog

We made it! Home sweet home at last. Twenty days since my water broke and 13 days since little Porter's arrival. What a roller coaster ride this has been... all the other parents are telling us this is only the beginning. What have we gotten ourselves into? :)

Before I dive into today's going home events, I wanted to take a moment to give thanks to all the friends and family who have supported us during this tough time. Thank you!
AND to say thank you to my AMAZING husband. Dave has been so strong throughout this entire ordeal. He is my rock and truly the best man, best person I know. I do not know how I would of made it without his love, support and positive attitude. I am extremely blessed to have this wonderful man as the father of my baby girl and my partner. I LOVE this man!

On to the coming home story.
Earlier this week, Monday, the Doctors and nurses were very positive with the improvements little P has been making with her feeding. She was almost able to doubled her intake of 40ml per feeding to 70ml. 70ml is exactly where she needed to be to go home. They had said Tuesday would be the day we would be discharged.

However, we had a slight set back, the car seat test. With premie babies, before they go home, they must sit in their car seat for a minimum of 1 hour with the appropriate heart and oxygen levels. This is very important for the little ones, as their neck muscles are very young and if their head rolls forward or to one side, it can restrict their oxygen levels and .... well, I don't want to even write about what can happen. Scary stuff. Monday she failed the car seat test after 12 minutes.

The plan was to test her again on Tuesday and see how that goes. The nurses thought it was a fluke thing she failed on Monday, possibly due to a reflux issue. All the same, I would rather have her fail and get a few days stronger before we leave. Luckily Tuesday rolled around and Porter passed. Wednesday the 9th is our new assigned discharge date.

One more small problem, Dave's work commitment. Dave has been planning a new car launch event for Kia at the Suncadia resort in Cle Elum. Unfortunately, he is in charge of this event and must work some very long days this entire week. He will not be able to take Porter and I home. So we roll with Plan B.

This morning at 11 my folks came to the hospital. After watching the infant CPR DVD, the Pruatt Grandparents helped Porter and I pack up our stuff and load up the Benz. I drove, little P and my mom rode in the back seat with The Boss (aka Grandpa Pruatt) following shortly behind. My folks have been super. My dad went and got us lunch this afternoon and my mom helped us get settled. Thanks goodness for retired grandparents!

Porter and I have been home since noon and doing very well. We've found a great perch for her on a large ottoman in the family room and she's been sleeping there most all day. I'm sure the ottoman won't last long as she'll be wiggly and rolling over before we know it.
Dave is home from a long day, he and I have just finished up with our dinner and now Papa is giving Porter her bottle as I type (and cry = hormones!).

It is good to have the entire Morck family home.

Guess who showed up today?

Well, probably yesterday actually.

The STORK has arrived at the Morck household. To be quite honest, I had almost forgot about it. I know, it's hard to forget about a nine foot lawn ornament, but in all this mayhem, I did! I love the fact that it did show up as it is a great omen of things to come. We immediately put our info on the back next to all the other little ones that the stork has welcomed. The funnier part is that that last baby it welcomed in was born exactly one year prior to our little Porter. Bizzare!

And on to more good news! With how well Porter is doing, it looks like it may be very soon that we are taking her home. One nurse even told us Tuesday! We are trying not to get our hopes up too much but that is pretty much impossible. She is doing everything right: feeding well, keeping temperature, keeping pink (vs. yellow - see my previous tanning bed story) and breathing right.

This would all make sense as I have been able to get out of this big event I was supposed to do for work. Since this is such a busy time for us, I will not have to work after this Saturday, but starting Tuesday I will pretty much be working straight through with really long days. It would have lasted another week with me being out of town for that portion but thank God I was able to get out of that one. After this next weekend, I will be taking my time off from work. Again, can't wait! I don't expect much of a vacation but I just can't wait to show Porter her new digs.

If we are not ready with all of the help we have had over the last two weeks, then I don't know what else we could do. I mean really, who is truly ready. She is not even here and I am so sleepy right now (in the middle of the day). But every time I get to look into those little eyes, it is all so worth it.

Hearing test today - She passed with flying colors!

A New, Private Room

Even though we told them we didn't need it, we now have a private room. We figured it would be more important to people who live farther away. Even after we moved in, we told them they could move us out if someone needed it more. However, now that we are using it, I may not be so selfless. We love being able to stay there all day and not have to shift around when other parents come in. It is also great to stay overnight. Even though we are only a few minutes away, being there the whole time has allowed us to spend so much more time with her.

And this is really good for Aub. Although she doesn't say it, I just think it is hardest on the mom to be away from baby when it is not by choice. Don't get me wrong, she will love it when Grandma comes over to watch the little one so we can get some time alone. However, she really needs to be with her or close to her as much as possible. On July 4th we hung out with some friends but after just a few hours, Aub was ready to go. I can't blame her and I think she is doing really well considering the circumstances. Personally, I don't think I have ever seen Aub as happy as she is when little P is resting comfortably on her. And it is a beautiful thing to witness the amazing calming effect for both mom and bawhen this happens.

I know this is not supposed to happen for a while, but I am almost positive I can see her smiling. Yesterday Aub walked up to say hello and Porter looked up and gave a huge grin. Might have been the same time as messing up the

diaper but I doubt it. It's another one of those things that change every

day. I had never seen that expression before and now I have seen it a few times. Usually in that milk drunk state after feeding. Anyone else know that feeling? :-)

These rooms really are nice. Not really set up for two people to sleep next to each other but at least it is comfortable for both of us.

Proud Papa










I got the one with the Kung Fu Grip!

Grandma's Day

Well it looks like this should officially be called Grandma's Day. We were lucky to have both Grandmas stop by and each had plenty of time with Little P. After Aub did the feedings there was still a need for a little bottle feed. This gave each Grandma time to bond and the little was so good with both of them.




As I said before, she is chow hound. But what is really the most fun to see is when she stares at you during the feeding. She just keeps that gaze right at your eyes and I am so glad the GMs had a chance to experience this.

We are now on a schedule to feed her from the breast or bottle every six hours. Between those f

eedings they give her food through the nose tube. Not sure I would want a pizza this way. :-) However, this does seem to work best for her as it allows time to rest up for

the next big feeding. So that is it for right now, this is our schedule until we here further.

Sleeeeeeeepy baby.

Zzzzz.....zzzzz......zzzzz

Such a chow hound

Not much to report really except that she is still feeding well. What a surprise. Wait until she tries ice cream.  We haven't checked her official weight yet but I would imagine we are coming back close to birth weight. Aub talked with the doctor today and he said that if little P keeps feeding like this, she might be able to home soon. 

Aub is going to a weekly meeting where all of the doctors and nurses discuss the patients at the NICU.  It will be good to hear what everyone is thinking about our little one.  It is also nice that they let you in to these things.  They have always been great about communicating everything to us and I hope to hear some good news.  However, I have said through all of this that we need to take it one day at a time. Sometimes we are up. Sometimes we are down. And both are okay.

Again and again I am very happy we chose this place. Not just that it is one exit (and 9 minutes, 7 in the Mini if I am driving :-)  But really because if this had just gone to plan, it still would have been a great place. But when things don't go as planned, it is so comforting to have this amazing group of people around you.  I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful the nursing staff has been.

One thing I think about is that we now share a room with two other babies. Actually, it is really one at the moment but when we come back there may be a new roommate. But I know in some hospitals the nursery could be all in one big room with lots of Isolettes.  It is great to have the privacy and the quiet to spend time with Porter. 

Oh, and I fed her today for the first time. Can't believe I almost forgot that. I love the way she looks at me when I hold her. Is anyone sick of hearing me say that? Too bad. If you keep reading this you will hear it again and again so deal with it.  I am a proud parent and can't wait to bring little 'Squishy' home.