Spencer is One Month Old!

We can't believe Spencer is a month old today, especially since he has only been home 1 week. Here are some info about him...

• He eats every 3 hours almost on the dot. But last night we gave him a little formula with his 10pm bottle and he slept 4 hours. Woohoo!
• He is great at sleeping in his crib, especially at night. He cries very little or none at all when we put him down. This is especially wonderful after the 1am and 4am bottles.
• He is eating from bottles only but I am pumping 8 times a day so he can have breast milk.
• He has the cutest little dimples and we are not sure who he got them from.
• He is very easy, seems content most of the time and sort of goes with the flow.
• His hair is blonde at the tips and darker at the root, so similar to Wright, people think it is reddish. We think he might end up being blonder than Wright is.
• He had his one month checkup and was 10th percentile head and weight and 20th for length. He also gained 7oz. in 4 days! The kid is a chunker.

Homecoming Pics

Spencer came home today and everything went very smoothly. Wright has been so sweet with him all day wanting to hold him and kiss him. He also kept talking about how "baby need to go ni ni" and kept giving him his paci and blanket. We are pretty sure he thinks Spencer is a new toy and wondering what he will do when the novelty wears off. But, so far so good. Spencer loves to eat now and chugs his bottles in like 5-10 minutes! So crazy, Wright never ate that fast!

I will post more pics from the homecoming when I get them uploaded.

Wright worked on a welcome sign for Spencer's door - thanks for the crafty ideas Sarah!

Here is the picture he made.

Spencer was happy to be home.

Here he is in the hospital taking a nap on me while waiting for the dr to release him.

Up and ready to get outta there!

The three of us leaving the SCN.

Spencer's Coming Home!

We are going to get Spencer from the hospital tomorrow at 10am to bring him home! Praise God that our prayers have been answered and that we finally have a healthy baby who can be here with his family. We are so excited! Pics of the homecoming to come soon.

The Light Bulb

The so-called "light bulb" that we have heard so much about has finally turned on for Spencer. He is eating like a champ taking bottle after bottle and finishing them all. It is almost like he never even had an issue with it, much like a full term baby. We are so excited! Today the dr moved him up to 5-6 feedings and as of 7:30 pm he had taken 4 bottles in a row. If he succeeds with 6 today, they will go ahead and move him to 8. Once he does 8 for two days, he goes home! What does this mean? SPENCER COULD BE HOME BY SUNDAY OR MONDAY!!!!!!! We could not be more extatic about the whole thing and are just dying for him to be with us all the time and to get to know his family. The continued prayer is that nothing will deter him from his eating (circumcision, breathing, etc). Praise God for the healing he has done thus far and for allowing it all to "click" for Spencer.

Spencer 2 weeks old

Spencer was 2 weeks old on Thursday and would be 38 weeks today if I was still pregnant. The gestational age is really more what they go by at the hospital as far as measuring development. Today the doctor decided that he was ready for 4 nipple feedings a day which means they will give him a bottle or I will breastfeed every 6 hours and he will get fed through his tube in between. The dr. seems to think that this might give him a boost to start really motivating to finish the bottles and get out of there. We are up for trying anything! So far so good too. This morning he ate 25 ml from me which is a breastfeeding record to date. And at his next bottle feeding he ate 50 ml which is only 5 ml shy from completion. We just hope this pattern continues and we get to add more bottles quickly. We are also going to go ahead and get him circumcised this week which is one more thing that has to be done before we leave. I like getting things checked off the list and feeling like we are getting closer to getting our baby home.

Lanie's Birthday

Wright had a great time at Lanie's 2nd birthday on Saturday. We went to the farm and he got to feed the goats, see a new baby goat, chickens and a huge horse. And of course his favorite part was the cake and juice.

Brendan helping Wright feed the goats.

Its a weird feeling...

Wright liked the idea of feeding them but did not like to get more than a foot from their mouths.

Eleanor had the right idea letting them eat out of the cup.

Sweet friends - Wright kept dragging Eleanor around by her hand.

That is one large horse!

Wright got to sit next to the birthday girl and he even tried to blow out her candles!

Making Progress

After many prayers, Spencer finally seems to be making progress with his eating. Last night he ate 45 ml (out of 55) at 7:30pm and then finished a bottle at 1:30am! This is a HUGE step in the right direction. Then this morning and today, he only ate 10 ml from the bottle and none from me. We have been told many times that it is very normal for these babies to make a huge step and then the next few feedings regress somewhat. So we are trying to focus on the progress and not the setbacks.

Tonight Brendan and I hired a babysitter for Wright and went up to the hospital for a few hours to spend time with Spencer together. He once again ate nothing when I tried to breastfeed which was discouraging. But then we tried a bottle and he ate 45 ml again. We were both very proud parents. It was funny, he had two cheerleaders encouraging him the whole time "Come on buddy, you can do it! We know you can!" Anyways, it at least feels like he is moving in the right direction. We are hoping he makes giant strides this week. Thanks again to all for praying for him :)

On a side note, I know I am slightly biased but he is so stinkin' cute! He has the most beautiful deep blue eyes and such pretty coloring. And he has this blondish hair that has grown in the perfect little boy hair style. We cannot tell who he looks like exactly. Sometimes he looks a lot like Brendan and then sometimes we both see my family too. We don't think he looks that much like Wright though. I guess only time will tell...

Spencer Update 1/15

Not much has changed this week with little Spencer. He is supposed to be eating 55 ml every feeding and he is eating an average of 20 ml from the nipple. He is allowed to try anywhere from 2-4 nipple feeds a day. A typical day consists of me nursing him at 10:30am and 7:30pm and the nurse giving him 1-2 bottles during the night. Anything he does not eat from me or the bottle they give him through his gavage (tube in his nose). He seems to have the mechanics down (wide awake, rooting, sucking, etc) but he just does not have the stamina or maturity to finish. According to every dr and nurse, one day a light bulb will just go off and he will figure it all out. In the meantime, it is very frusterating to go in there every day feeling like he is not making progress. I am such a numbers person that if he takes 20 ml one day, I want him to take 25 ml the next day. Unfortunately, I have had to learn that premature babies do not follow these patterns. Instead every day is a roller coaster. From the beginning they have told us to expect his due date of February 1 for when he will be out of there. We both thought that was so far away, there was NO way it would be that long. Now, we are thinking his due date would be a best case scenario. The nurse told us today that once he takes 6 full nipple feeds, expect he will be home in about a week. Since he is not even finishing one full now, this seems like an insurmountable task. Our prayers continue to be that something will click soon and he will surprise us all.
On another note, Wright is doing very well being juggled between so many different people. But he has definitely become very clingy to mommy when he is home. He has regressed in a lot of ways asking strange things like to be rocked by me and to lay in our bed. He also likes to grab my hand and drag me around with him. These are all things he has never done before, so I know he is feeling a little uneasy about all that is going on. This is of course difficult for me because I feel guilty leaving him but also feel guilty not being with Spencer. Just challenging to be pulled in so many directions.

Spencer's Eating

Spencer is up to 2-4 "nipple feeds" a day, but he still has not completed a feeding on his own. He seems very ready, alert and wanting to eat but then just takes a long time to get the suck, swallow down. After about 20 minutes, we have to stop trying because if you let it go too long, he will burn more calories than he is taking in. So, we just need continued prayers that something will click as he grows and he will be able to start finishing bottles in a timely manner. Thanks to everyone for your ongoing support.

More Spencer Pics

Brendan with his newest son.

Wright was happy to see Mommy again.

Candace and Spencer.

Luke checking out the new baby and Wright getting a little crazy!

Wright talking to his new baby brother.

Spencer and me.

Spencer, mommy and daddy.

Spencer and Mimi.

Spencer taking his first bottle with the Occupational Therapist.

Holding him for the 2nd time in the NICU.

Getting weighed today - up to a whoppin' 5lb 11oz.

Snug as a bug with his Bevo paci.

About to have his sponge bath.

I will survive!

Under the Lights

Both of our boys have had to be under the Bilirubin lights. Here are their side by side pics. Wright looks SO much bigger...guess 1.5 pounds makes a big difference at this age.

Spencer.

Wright.

Wright - 26 months

Wright is talking so much these days, it is insane! He says literally everything. When we were in the hospital for 3 days, I swear he learned 100 new words. One big thing he started doing is using pronouns and complete sentences consistently. "Mommy your breakfast.", "That's my choo choo train.", "Um, I like waffles! I like cookies!" etc, etc.

Yesterday we were driving down the road and he saw a huge Longhorn sticker on a truck passing us and he said "Look Mommy, look! Hook 'em horns!" Hysterical!

He also likes to narrate every car ride with everything he sees. The funny thing is that most of it is stuff he has learned from Dora. It's like he thinks the whole world is one big Dora episode. Yesterday it was all about "I see volcano, its a triangle." A few days ago, it was sand castles everywhere he saw piles of dirt at construction sites. Just so funny how his little mind works.

People keep asking what he thinks about his baby brother. Obviously, he is a little confused because Spencer is not home with us yet. But if you ask him where Spencer is, he will say "Baby Spinster at da hotpitle with Dahkter Dreiling." LOL! He thinks every doctor is his pediatrician Dr. Dreiling. He also is very interested in everything that has to do with the baby (pumping, bottles, stuff in the nursery). When he sees me get bottles out, he goes and grabs his baby bottle and doll or stuffed animals and feeds them. I really think he is going to be a super sweet big brother.

One more thing I just thought of...whenever we ask him, "Wright, what is this?" or "Who is this?", he never just gives you the answer. Instead he says "Look like puzzle." or "Look like my daddy." Not sure where that came from, but it makes us laugh every time :)

Spencer Update

Spencer has made great progress over the last few days. As of last night, he is completely off the breathing tubes and breathing regular room air on his own and at a normal rate. They are also increasing his milk every 6 hours by 5 ml and as of today, he is up to a little over an ounce. This sounds like nothing but is a HUGE improvement from the app. 1 tsp he started with.

Yesterday he tried his first bottle. After about 5 ml (app. 1 TB), he was so tired, he could not finish. During those five minutes of eating, he also choked a few times and could not seem to master suck, swallow, breathe without getting very stressed and irritated. It was very discouraging and felt like we had forever in front of us before he would take 8 - 2oz bottles (which is required before we can take him home).

But today, I went back for his bottle feed and he did amazingly well! He took 29ml out of 35ml total and he sucked it right down with few breaks. It is crazy how he much better he got in one day. Tomorrow he will try a bottle at two of his eight feedings. He will also be off the IV fluids sometime in the next 24 hours which means we can move him to the Special Care Nursery. This is going to be much better because we will have our own room and a lot more time to spend holding him.

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support. Keep them coming! As I have been reminded continually, God is the greatest healer of all.

Spencer Austin Morris

Much to our surprise, our second son was born about 5 weeks before his due date on New Years Eve. I went in to my 35 week OB appt concerned that my blood pressure was up (as it had been with Wright). It was indeed way up and the dr sent me down to triage for some tests. As soon as I was down there and laying on my side, my bp went way down and I was hopeful that I would go home and be put on bed rest for a few weeks. But then my blood work came back and yet again my liver numbers were really high (higher even than when they induced me with Wright), so my dr broke the news that I would be induced the next day or maybe even have a cesarean that night. I ended up being induced Thursday morning and Spencer was born at 5pm on the dot that evening.

Sadly, because Spencer was so early, he had to go the NICU. He is still there and improving every day. To dumb it down the main issue is his breathing. His lungs are not developed so they had to intibate him and put medicine direclty into his lungs to help them mature. In the meantime, he is on a machine that gives him extra oxygen at a higher flow than mature lungs need. They are trying to slowly ween him off of that every day. To feed him, they have a tube in his mouth that goes directly into his stomach. I pump and bring the milk up there and they give him about 1 TB every three hours. It is crazy how little he eats! The occupational therapist is coming to see him tomorrow to try a bottle and determine a feeding plan moving forward. Once he is off the oxygen and breathing on his own, we will work on getting him to take all 8 feedings by bottle daily. At that point, he can come home. The drs expect it will be a few more weeks. In the meantime, his Bilirubin levels are also up so they have put him under the lights to treat that. The hardest part of all is that we cannot hold him and also seeing this poor little 5lb 15 oz baby with a tube or needle coming out of every possible place on his body.

About 30 seconds after his birth.

He is so swollen in this picture taken at about 5:03pm.

Here he is not too long after the tube was taken out of his lungs. He is starting to look yellow.

Now he is really looking yellow/orange. This was taken yesterday.

This is the one time they let me hold him since he has been in NICU. Not too long after this, we had to lay him back down cause he starting gurgling (struggling to manage his breath).

Here I am feeding him through his tube.

And today under the lights...with more wires than ever!

Christmas 2009

Wright got a train table from Santa and LOVES it!

Megan came to visit and so did Gigi and Papoo.

Brendan got some costume moustaches in his stocking. Hilarious!

Wright playing with his Sesame Street toy - big hit.

And best of all, we got a white Christmas - first one in Dallas in 85 years.