Week 6 - Christmas

This was a big week. Jackson started sleeping in his crib. He is still waking every 3 hours to feed but at least we are getting a little sleep.

On Christmas Eve, he was doing belly time and rolled to his back. He went to the pediatrician on Christmas Eve as well. He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz. He also had his first play date with Noah Gorham who is 16 weeks old.

Christmas was very special this year since it was obviously Jackson's first but also each side of the family became grandparents, aunts and uncles for the first time. My mom, dad and Aimee spent Christmas with us in Charlotte.

Papaw Adsit

Grandpa Walters

We travelled to Savannah to have Christmas was Drew's family on Sunday. Jackson took his first 7 hour car ride. The trip was only supposed to take 4.5 hours from Charlotte to Savannah but the traffic to Florida was horrible. He did giggle for the first time on the trip. Drew laughed and Jackson followed suit.

Christmas Day with Stocking

Week 5

Today, December 21, is Jackson's due date. It is hard to believe that he has already been here for more than 5 weeks.

Grammy, Drew's mom, came to help me with Jackson last Tuesday and Wednesday. Drew was out of town with work. We went to Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden to see the orchid tree and the garden all lit up with Bethany and Megan. It was beautiful!

Jackson is growing like a weed. We go back to the pediatrician on Christmas Eve. I cannot wait to see how much he weighs and how long he is. I think that you can almost see changes on a daily basis.

Matt and Mellissa Cook came to see us this weekend. They are expecting their first baby in March. They bought Jackson the cutest outfit.

We love bathtime!

We also enjoy taking the dogs for a walk each day but it has been pretty cold lately so we have to bundle up.

Week 4

Jackson and I went to see the lactation consultant on Wednesday and he was 6 lbs 11.4 ounces. He is gaining an ounce a day. I am pretty sure we went through a growth spurt last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because we could not get him to sleep and he was eating a ton. By Friday, we were so frustrated and tired that we called the pediatrician to see what we could do about getting him to sleep. The nurse said to let him cry it out for 10 minutes, pat his back and put him back to bed. When we fed him ,we were to not turn on the lights, talk to him or make eye contact. Just feed him and back to bed he went. It worked! The first night he cried for one solid hour, and then, he slept between feedings so we rotated being up every two hours. By Sunday night, he was sleeping three hours between feedings. He has also started putting his hand on the bottle to help us hold it.

This used to be the only way any of us would get sleep. It made for very long nights sleeping in the chair.

We try to take a walk everyday except when the weather is bad. This weekend was cold and rainy but we finally got out on Sunday. Jackson's head used to be down inside the Baby Bjorn but this weekend it poked out the top as you can see.

We went to see the lights in McAdenville (Christmastown, USA) last night. They were beautiful. The twins, Zoe and Riley, loved sticking their heads out the window to look at the pretty lights and people passing by. Jackson just slept this year.

3 Weeks Old

Jackson was 3 weeks old on December 3rd. He had a very busy weekend. On Friday, we picked out his first Christmas tree up at the farmer's market. The trees are from Boone, NC and the men that run and own the business could not be nicer. The only problem is their measuring skills. Every year we have gotten a 7-8 foot tree from them we have had to take at least a foot off the bottom, and we have 9 foot ceilings. This year I saved the branches from the bottom and mom helped be make 4 wreaths and decorate the back patio lights and fireplace.

On Sunday, we went to the Whitewater Center and Dad took photos for our Christmas card. It was 45 degrees F so we did not stay long but the photos turned out cute.

Nanna and Papw love Jackson and we have loved having them here to help us. They took the 11 PM feeding so the we could go to bed. (We were exhausted from a week of no sleep.) On Sunday night, Jackson slept for 2.5 hours between every feeding. We had to wake him up to let him eat. No such luck on Monday night though.

Jackson's second doctor's appointment was on Monday, Dec. 7th. He weighed 6 lbs and 8.5 ounces. The doctor says he is very healthy. We go back on Christmas Eve for his one month checkup and next respiratory virus vaccination.

The First Weekend

Friday was Jackson's first day home. We were up most of the night with him since he was having trouble sleeping. (He sleeps great during the day.) We took him for a walk to the grocery store about a mile and half from the house. He loved the Baby Bjorn.

We also gave him his first bath.

Drew's mom and dad came up to spend the weekend with us. They cooked us Thanksgiving dinner for us on Saturday. We walked with the baby each day. He sleeps the whole time.

Monday was our first doctor's appointment. Jackson weighed 6 lbs and 0.5 ozs. Dr. Kocmond was very impressed with his health for being so early.

Homecoming - Thursday, November 26

Happy Thanksgiving! Our family has a lot to be thankful for this year. Jackson made it home 14 days after his birth. He is breathing and eating like a big boy.

Monday, November 23

Jackson has been moved to the Progressive Nursery. He has to take 45 mL of milk every 3 hours by bottle. Then, he can come home. By the end of the week, we should have our little boy at home.

Sunday, November 22

Jackson is breathing room air - no more "old man oxygen." His IV came out last night so now he is on straight breast milk. He is on the waiting list for the Progressive Nursery which is the final stage before coming home. Now, he just has to take most of his feedings from the bottle. He loves kangaroo care!

Can you tell the new parents are a little tired? My eyes are still blood shot from labor and delivery.

Saturday, November 21

Yesterday was a big day for Jackson. He got his first opportunity to try breastfeeding. He did a great job latching but it was a lot of work for him to get milk. He does not have to be able to breastfeed to leave the hospital. He just has to take all his feedings from a bottle. We are up to 32 mL every 3 hours. He has to take 38 - 40 mL every 3 hours to go home. They still have to feed him sometimes through the tube in his nose that goes to his stomach. It is a lot of work for him to breathe and drink from a bottle.

We also got to do kangaroo care with him yesterday. The medical world is highly promoting holding babies skin to skin with their parents. They say it calms them down and in this case will help him heal faster. It is so cute to see Jackson poking his head through the neck of our shirts. He loves it! He screams when we put him down. Probably not a good thing since I have no idea how we will carry him around in our shirts all the time.

Today, they weened him down to 1L of flow on his oxygen. That is the end of the line so we might be pulling that tube on Sunday or Monday.

He also gets to be off his IV today since his feedings are almost full feedings.

We should be moving to the Progressive Nursery at the beginning of the week if all goes well. That nursery will be our last stop before his nursery at home. The resident says that if all goes well we should have him home on Friday.

Week 2

Seven days ago today (11/18/2009) my water broke. It is hard to believe it has already been a week. It is truly amazing to see the progress that Jackson has made. The doctor told us one week ago that Jackson had to do three things before he could go home.

1. Regulate his own temperature which he was doing pretty quickly.



2. Breathe on his own which he can almost do. He is not getting any extra oxygen just a little flow to help him along. He should be off the flow pretty soon.



3. Digest his bottle feedings. He took his first bottle today and loved it. Now, we just have to work on what goes in must come out. They said that I could start breastfeeding on Friday if he took well to the bottle. Check out the pictures below of his first bottle feeding.

Week 1

Jackson Patrick Walters has been a surprise from conception so his birth should have been no less of a surprise I guess. On Wednesday, November 11, my water broke at 3:30PM and Jackson was born at 12:42 AM on November 12, 2009. He weighed 5 lbs 15 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. He was born at 34 weeks so his lungs were not ready to work on their own.

Jackson had to be put on several different respiratory machines. We are finally on what I call "old man oxygen" because I can never remember the name. He is breathing on his own and is just getting a little flow to help him keep his lungs open.

The latest "surprise" was jaundice. So, he is on a bili blanket and has two bili lights. His level had decreased from 17 to 10 in less than 24 hours so we expect that he will be off the lights by Wednesday morning.

He is getting 6 mL of mommy milk every 3 hours and is tolerating the feedings better now that the ventilator is not down his throat. These are considered "trophy feedings." We are just trying to get his digestive tract to function on its own. Hopefully, we will start bottle feedings in the next two to three days.

Drew let Jackson have Drew's very first Auburn T-shirt to use as a blanket. It is so holey that I can not wash it anymore for fear of disintegration. I bet it will become Jackson's security blanket.

We got to hold Jackson for the first time on Monday night. It was precious. We both slept a lot better. He loves to have his butt patted. It calms him right down. We read to him each morning and evening. We cannot wait to have our little man at home!