Pumkpins Galore!

We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend with Dave and Ann Marie (and Ashleigh and Ryan) and Jane and Austin (and Marie). It was the first time we'd all been together with all the kiddos, so that was fun, even though a couple of less-than-stellar moods (*ahem* Max) kept us from getting a photo of the whole gang.
Max looked fab, in his fancy Janie and Jack outfit (a shower gift from Nana) but a leaky diaper within moments of our arrival put a damper on the day's adventures. We got few photos, but after an hour or so in the hot Central Valley sun, we were ready to hit the road again.
I'm still waiting on a copy of our family photo from Ann Marie... I'll post it when I get it!
But here's handsome Max!


I wasn't really happy with the photos from last weekend's trip to the pumpkin patch, so Max and I tagged along with Katie, Jason and Faith on Saturday and got some cute pics! Max's bee costume is borrowed from our friend Kelly (and Greyson) so he has something else in store for Friday, but we got lots of compliments from folks at the patch in this one! Damn that global warming! It was probably 85+ degrees out there... I only left him in the warm bee outfit long enough for pics; he was roasting out there!



I've got a couple of days off from work this week (post-deadline slow time) so we've got a couple of fun Halloween activities planned... check back later this week for Max in his *awesome* homemade Halloween costume! I'm so excited about it!)

Thursday #28

Which do you prefer? Pirates or monkeys?

Why choose? I'll pick pirate monkeys any day!

Quick Note...

Katie took Max to the doctor's office yesterday (Faith had an appointment) and he weighs in at 11 lbs 14 oz! That's almost 2 lbs. gain in just over a month!

Thursday #27 - Six Months Old!

OK, so I'm a couple of days late again.
I have a good excuse, right? This week has been a little hectic around here.

This photo is from Thursday; we chose one with his hand in his mouth because it seems like he spends a lot of his time like this... if there isn't a bottle in his mouth, there's his fist. He's growing like mad, and we can hardly believe that he's already six months old!
It was actually on Friday, that he reached the half-year milestone.
It's amazing to reflect back on how far he has come in six short months, and how much more he will go in the next six. They say that once you have kids, time flies like nothing else... they aren't kidding!

Yesterday, Saturday, was also a milestone (I said it's been a busy week!) It was Max's 92nd day at home. He spend 91 days in the NICU. He has now been home with us for longer than he was in the hospital. The first day of the rest of his life, if you will.

We're off to the pumpkin patch today... it'll be the first time we've gotten together with Jane and Austin and Dave and Ann Marie with all of the kiddos, so I'm way excited to take pictures and see them all together! I promise an update later tonight or tomrorrow!

The Lizz Update

OK, so here it is.
As of yesterday afternoon, I'm back on dialysis.
My transplanted kidney is no longer functioning at a level to sustain me, so I'm back on the machine.
I just got home from a 4 day stay in the Kaiser ICU (they always seem to overreact with the ICU thing!)
I got a phone call on Friday afternoon that I needed a blood transfusion; my hematocrit and iron levels were dangerously low... I put it off, in my usual fashion, until Sunday morning, when I just couldn't deal any more.
Cynthia came over and kept Max, and Jamie took me to the ER in Fremont to get the transfusion.
Of course, nothing is ever as simple as just that, and it was decided, in rather short order, that I needed to be admitted to start6 dialysis ASAP.
I was transferred via ambulance to Kaiser in Hayward, where I had a subclavial perma-cath placed and dialysis began.
(For those who were around at the beginning of my saga, it's the tubes hanging out of my neck near my collarbone)
I will be dialyzing three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 5 to 8 pm in Walnut Creek for the next few months... I am going to switch back to PD (peritoneal dialsysis that I can do at home) just as soon as I can, but there is a surgery that needs to happen first, so in the meantime, I'm stuck in the clinic.

So that's all the news for now... I WILL be getting back on the transplant list soon, but it's still a 5-7 year wait.
I WILL be having volunteers tested to donate, if you're willing. I'm not asking, but I will take you up on your offer, should you feel compelled to make it.

To preemptively asnwer a couple of questions; yes, it's true... we had hoped the kidney from my mom would last longer than four years... it didn't. Yes, my (new) kidney failure was exacerbated by my pregnancy and pre-eclampsia. No, we don't regret doing the transplant when we did. Jamie and I got four amazing years... we bought our house and remodeled the kitchen, took roadtrips, got married, went to Europe and had a baby. Nope, I don't think I could ever say I regret getting the transplant when I did.

Anyway, that's all there is for now... as always, your thoughts and prayers are welcomed!

Thursday #26

Can you believe it? Almost 6 months old already!

This fabulous "action" shot was taken by Auntie Katie today... thanks for the mini shoot!

Thursday #25

Better late than never, right? :)

The Many Adventures of MJP

A guy needs to look sharp when he's meeting the ladies for the first time! Max donned this fabulous ensemble (thanks to Auntie Jane and Uncle Austin for the stylin' shirt!) to make a trip to the scrapbook store to meet a bunch of my friends. So handsome!

Well, Max is officially a Stanford fan! (As am I!) He and I, along with Jamie of course, went to watch the Stanford Cardinals kill the San Jose Spartans... so fun! It was my first college football game and only my 3rd football game overall (not counting high school, but we didn't go to those games for the *game*) and I'm finally starting to understand what's going on ! Woot!

We started the experience just the way Jamie remembers from when he was a kid... we went to JJ&Fs for gigantic deli sandwiches and headed to the stadium to eat. (The remodel is gorgeous, BTW... Jamie claims he misses the splintery wooden benches, but my butt is glad for the molded plastic that's there now!) So we ate our sandwiches and watched the game. The world-famous (infamous?) Stanford marching band did not disappoint, and I am was reminded once again why I love the Bay Area so much.

Getting ready to head into the stadium... we're all set! Max is yelling "Go Stanford!" can't you tell?

Safety first! Yes, we really had Max wear these earphones for parts of the game. Not only are they stylishly in school colors, they muffled lots of the noise when the team came in at the start of the game and the train whistle that blows every time Stanford scores. And he looks damn cute, if I do say so myself!

We spent this past weekend up in Nevada City with Jamie's family... we didn't leave until Friday afternoon, so Max and I spent the morning at Super Frank's with Nana, Auntie Katie and Faith.

Max is apparently not entirely convinced that Super Frank's is fun... thank goodness he still gets in for free!

All Nana wanted was a nice photo of her with both kiddos... I think this one isn't bad!

It's just a matter of the effort it took to get that one photo! (Be very careful when you tell a 2 year old to "Smile big for the camera!"


We gathered with Jamie's family (sadly, minus 2 out-of-state brothers) to celebrate Jamie's dad's 70th birthday. Ed and Lucinda rented a gorgeous log cabin up in Nevada City and we spent lots of time just hanging out, playing games and telling stories. Max *finally* got to meet his cousin Marissa for the first time and he was a huge hit with everyone (of course!) There were so many cameras floating around I often forgot to grab mine, so I'm hoping to get more photos from family members as they are uploaded (hint, hint)

This ridiculous teddy bear was sitting on our bed at the cabin... we couldn't resist!

The Porter Men

Thursday #24

Sorry to post and run, but we're off on another adventure!
We're going up to Nevada City to spend some quality time with Jamie's side of the family... we'll be back on Monday with photos and stories!



This was the first Thursday that the photo slipped my mind until after we put Max to bed... I just couldn't bring myself to wake him for a photo, so this will have to do! We took several cute ones earlier today with Nana and Faith, so I'll post those when we return.

Thursday #23

I'll post my caption contest winnah tomorrow...

Five Months Old!

Mr. Max is on his way to being half a year old! I cannot believe how the time has flown!

There's still time to enter captions for last week's photos (post below) so let me hear 'em!

Thursday #22

OK, I confess. We couldn't choose just one photo.

I wanted this week's picture to show off Max's ever-increasing head control, but the shoot turned into a giggle fest, with Max in top form making funny faces.

Which is your fave?





And... what the heck! Submit a caption for your favorite photo and youjust might win a prize! You can enter more than once, if you want... I'll share my picks next week! :)

Back to Work

Well, as of 11:00 yesterday morning, I'm officially a working mom!

Max had a doctor's appointment (4 month Well Baby visit; he looks great! All 22.75" and 10 lbs of him!) so my first day back started a little later than usual... Katie actually met me at my office ot take Max with her, so it was a pretty smooth transfer, considering.

Yesterday was one time I was thankful for the hours I had worked in August, during my leave. Those days I worked made the transition away from Max just a little bit easier. I know that next to me, there are no better hands Max could be in, other than my sister's, and I know that Faith adores him as much as she loves her Bun Bun (if not more!). I didn't have to worry about the quality care my boy would get while I was at work.

The day flew by, and I couldn't wait to get to Katie's to pick Max up... it felt like he had grown in those 6 short hours, but luckily, I didn't realize how much I'd missed him until he was in my arms again.

I think we've figured out a good system (for now) for the ride home. Max needs to get his Reglan 30 minutes before he eats, and he's due for dinner at 5:30. I gave him his meds at Katie's and then strapped him into his car seat. We zipped to my parents' house (in between our home and Katie's) and used my mom's house as a feeding pit stop, got a little Nana cuddle time and hit the road again. It gets us home at about 6:30 with a happy baby to hand off to Jamie for some Daddy love... it works for now, but babies are babies, so who knows what will work next month!

More of Max's specifics: he's eating anywhere from 100mL (3.3 oz) to 4 oz per feeding, and he's still (mostly) sleeping through that 2:30 am feed. So we put him to be after his 11:30pm, wake him for his 5:30am and put him back down until 7 or 8:30, when he gets his next morning meal.

That's it for now... and here comes another blog entry (on the same day!) with his Thursday pic...

Thursday #21

Thursday #20

Featuring guest photographer, Daddy!

STTN! STTN!

On the mommy message board I frequent, STTN is the goal of every mom... it comes up in conversation with moms of kiddos ranging in age from newbron to three or four years old. STTN is something every parent longs for, dreams of (when they can dream!) and is overjoyed when its accomplished, even if only once in a string of many days.

They STTN once, they'll do it again someday!

What is this amazing STTN thing, you ask? Sleep Through The Night! Max has slept through the night for the last TWO nights! We put him down at about 11:30 after feeding and don't hear from him again until its time for meds and breakfast at 5:00! There may be a caveat to this big step though... the past two mornings he has spit up a good portion of his breakfast. Specifically on me and on our bed... we get nice clean sheets two nights in a row! Oh joy! (I'm a fan of the silver lining)

If you have any theories on this weird spitting up behavior and if it may or may not be related to STTN, feel free to share it! We're stumped.

In other exciting milestones, we got 2 all clears today! The cardiologist called to tell us officially that Max's ductus (heart murmur) is completely closed AND the opthamologist gave him the all clear on his ROP! There is some scarring on his retinas that he'll always have, but the likelihood is that it won't affect his vision in any noticeable way later on. We don't go back to the eye doctor until February, when they'll do a check for "directionality" to see if he has a crossed or lazy eye and we can start taking care of that right away.

Remind me in late January to call and make that appointment! :)

We have the Regional Center people coming tomorrow to evaluate and meet Max... I don't know if I've mentioned it before. Because of his prematurity, Max is eligible for some assistance from the state to help with any developmental delays he may have. They will work with him, as/if needed until he's three years old, at no cost to us! Whether it's physical or occupational therapy or social/interaction assistance, it's there. Of course I'm hopeful we won't need to take advantage of their services, but it's nice to know it's out there if we need it!

Thursday #19

I know... Giantss pics two weeks in a row! :)
And this week we have a Thursday guest star... Jamie! It was his 33rd b-day yesterday, so he got to be a part of the Thursday fun!

25%

As of some time between Saturday and Sunday last weekend, Max has been home with us for exactly 25% of his life. He's been home for one month on Saturday (the 16th) and turned 4 months old on Sunday (the 17th)

A month! Already!

Looking back on the interminable days in the NICU... the endless commute, the painfully slow evenings, the sleepless nights at home without Max... waiting, watching, wondering what our future held.

That time already seems insignificant in the scheme of Max's short life... a minor hurdle on a road to an amazing life. I can't believe that for every 3 days he was in the NICU, he's already been home for one! As those 13 weeks become more and more insignificant, the days thereafter, the memories and life that we share, becomes what matters. Not how it all started.

Since he's been home, he has...

• Grown from 7 lbs 1 oz to at *least* 8 lbs 8 oz... Jamie's convinced he's gained a bunch of weight since last week!
• Grown from 19" long to 20.5" long
• Now eats 3 fl. oz every 3 hours, instead of 65 mL (2 oz and a bit)
• Is almost exclusively on 22 calorie Neosure, having graduated from the Pregestimil he was on in the hospital (saving Mommy and Daddy about $40 a WEEK!)
• Slept through a feeding last week... the 11:30 pm one to be specific... I guess sleeping and growing was more important at the time! (It hasn't happened again, though)
• ROLLED OVER back to front! We figure it was about 2% effort and 98% gravity, but it was a surprise when Jamie went in the other morning to wake him up and found his on his belly in his crib!
• Been sleeping awesome in his crib! Since about a week after he came home, he goes down after his 11:30 feeding and gets up after his 8:30... we each take a middle of the night feed, and he goes right back down like a champ about 95% of the time!
• Become a rather animated sleeper... it's not uncommon to find him rotated 180 degrees in his crib most mornings... pictures to follow, I promise!
• Totally captured all of our hearts.
  

Max had his ECG (heart imaging study) yesterday... I'm am thrilled to announce that there is no evidence of the heart murmur that had been there at birth! Woot! We knew it had been closing up/healing on its own, but we got official word now that it's gone! Now that we've got that OK, we can go ahead and schdeule his hernia surgeries... the umbilical and 2 groin ones. All 3 will be taken care of at the same time, we just need to figure out when. It'll require an overnight stay in the hospital in Oakland, so we want to find a time when at least one of us will be able to stay with him... I think we're eyeballing mid-October as the goal, but I don't know. I'll keep you posted as always!

Thursday #18 (The Best One Yet!)

Don't you agree?

Our boy is up 8 llbs, 8oz and 20.5 inches long!

Again, not much to update! Things are going along great, and there isn't much else, except loving this boy!

Thursday #17

Not very good technically, but the look on his face is priceless... like he's pondering the meaning of life. Or pooping.

Thursday #16 (Already?!?!)

AKA: Our tribute to Edvard Munch

This "Mom" thing is really time consuming!

I have to apologize for the lack of updates with any content lately... see, having Max home full time is, well, full time! He's on an "every 3 hours" feeding schedule (per the hospital's instructions) and isn't so keen on sleeping after he eats, so his napping schedule is pretty much non-existent. He sleeps mostly on one of us, although he has been in his crib for a few nights now... he hated the bassinette and co-sleeping scared me (we did it the first few nights, of course!) so we tried the crib and he's been doing well ever since!

Since he came home, so much has happened! At his pediatrician's visit last week, he was up to 7lbs 7.6 oz... that was just a hair shy of an ounce a day! If he's been continuing on that pattern, he's over 8 lbs now! When I take him out places, I wear him in our Moby Wrap, which he loves. He's cozy and comfy and I love it because it leaves my hands free for whatever I'm doing (like EATING!)

Speaking of whatever my hands are doing, Max has spent a couple of days with me back at work... because of deadlines and not having had enough time to fully train my temp replacement, I've worked a couple of days this week and will be doing some work at home in August... mostly just creating new ads as they come in for the September mailer. We'll leave the minor stuff to my temp.

Let's see... what else?

Max and I had our first "playdate" when we met some Nestie friends with their kiddos for Starbucks and lunch in Walnut Creek... my first real "outing" without Jamie (not counting a couple of trips to the *ahem* scrapbook store) and it was really nice.

While we were in Walnut Creek, I bumped into Michelle, one of Max's NICU nurses, on her day off. We both did that weird "Do I know you?" thing for a minute before it clicked... we were both so out of context, her not in scrubs and me outdoors! LOL Michelle is also expecting her first (a little girl) next month, and I was able to give my first product recommendation to a pregnant mommy to be! (The product in question is the Angelcare monitor... it's very cool, as far as baby monitors go. It has a motion sensor pad that goes under the mattress so if there's no movement for 20 seconds, an alarm sounds. I sleep much better knowing it's there)

His ROP is improving... we saw the opthamologist earlier this week and things are looking good... yet another thing to be thankful for! The damage done might still go away completely, but at this point, the worst case scenario is glasses. Looking at his parents, he's destined to wear them anyway.

We had Max's first physical therapy appointment this morning... Kaiser takes great care of their preemies, so we'll see Rosemary (the PT) once a month until he's walking. I was thrilled to hear how much we're doing right, just based on our own instincts, but I was also happy to get a few little suggestions to help Max along. He's right on track developmentally, according to his adjusted age (based on his due date, so he's 3 weeks old at this point) and is exceptionally strong, just as we thought. We've been working on tummy time, and my wearing him as much as I do is also a good thing... when he's snug in the Moby, his legs and arms are pulled in tight, like a term baby towards the end of pregnancy, so his hips and joints will develop as they should.

Mostly, we're just trying to enjoy our time as a family. Jamie had to go back to work this week, so it's less time than we'd like, but we're making the best of what we have... it's all you can ask for, right?

I think that's most of our first weeks at home... if you know I missed something, please feel free to job my memory!

And now, of course, some photos!

These ones Katie took on on Homecoming Day and they're both in her video, but I love them so much they deserve another posting!



These overalls were one of the first things we bought when we found out Max was a boy... I swear I didn't realize Jamie was wearing these shorts when I dressed Max! Alternate caption: Where are my boys? They've disappeared!


Like I said, Max likes to sleep on our chests...



But sometimes, he's just not that picky!

Video Bonus!

As my sister says, one time when the phrase "kissing cousins" isn't creepy!

Thursday #15

As promised, in his John Lennon onesie with the matching crib set.

And I'd like to apologize for the lack of updates this last week... being a full-time parent is much more time consuming than being a commuting one! We had a doctor's appointment yesterday (he's up to 7lbs 7.6 oz!) and have been on some other "adventures" so I promise I'll update soon!

Grab the Kleenex (Trust Me)

My sister put this video together as a gift for Jamie and I... she presented it to us on Wednesday evening, his first night at home.

Thursday #14

Our first Thursday at home.
Notice the John Lennon print onesie... it matches his bedding! I'll get a pic of him in this, in the nursery soon. I promise!

Getting Home, Coming Home and Being Home

Lots of photos to share, of course.
Lots to tell, of course.

Just lots and lots, so I'll just jump in!

GETTING HOME

One thing we had to do in order to "get home" was something called "rooming in." I've mentioned it before, so here's how it went! We arrived at the hospital at our usual time, about 7:30, with our overnight bags ready to go. We took Max into a bedroom at the back of the NICU and spent the evening and night with him, just being his parents.
The nurses came in periodically to check on us, or to teach us how to give a med or bring his bottle or whatever, but it was just the 3 of us about 95% of the time.
I was so excited I barely slept, but Jamie and I took turns with the overnight feedings... 11:30pm, 2:30 and 5:30am. It worked pretty well and were both in decent shape come morning.
We actually left early on Tuesday; I had to take Jamie to BART so he could head to work, so we were on the road by 6:15. I dropped him at the station and headed to Kinko's... I had some last minute work to do on our nurse thank you gifts, so thank goodness they're open 24 hours! I worked there until about 7:15, and then headed to Longs Drugs to kill some time. Max bought Faith a (bribe) gift of some new Little People for their big reunion on Wednesday, I got ribbon for the nurse project (more on that in a moment) and a cup of tea for myself.
It was finally 8:00 and I figured it wouldn't be overly creepy for me to head to the office, so off I went to finish the nurse project.
OK, enough mentioning without explaining, right? The nurse project.
Jamie and I had been talking for quite some time about what we wanted to do for the NICU nurses when Max was released... we had loads of great ideas but limited funds, so some of our best ideas just weren't feasible. We ended up editing the list down to 5 specific nurses and 2 doctors... the nurses who had had a particular impact on us, and the doctors we felt we connected with the most.
For these seven people, we decided to put our new lathe to work and made pens for each of them... I actually only did one and Jamie did the rest, but whatever. I've been busy too!
Once we had decided on that, I still wanted to do a little something for everyone else in the NICU... every single person has helped us over the last 12 weeks and 6 days. It may have been something as simple as a smile or handing me a pillow before a feeding, but every single person did *something* for us, and we wanted to return the favor. The Caritas making Girl Scout in me jumped to life and this is what I came up with:
It's one of those little Sharpies on a key ring attached to a card... the back reads: "You are, to us, a Sharpie. Over the last 12 weeks... you have left an indelible mark on our hearts. You are a permanent part of our prayers. You will forever be thought of fondly. You have made a lasting impact on our family and for that, we thank you. There's a special place in Heaven for NICU nurses. Always, The P Family, Jamie, Lizz and Maxwell" and then at the bottom, there's a link here (the blog) so they can keep up with Max if they're so inclined.

Anyway...

A few photos from our first evening as a family...


We played dress-up... this hat is part of Max's coming home outfit... we think it's going to be a while before it actually fits.

Lots of unencumbered cuddle time! We had never been able to lie down with him like this, so it was very cool to us!

I just like the reflection in this one... look for it on a future scrapbook page!

A family portrait on Tuesday morning. Caption Max: "You're actually going to make me LEAVE with these people?!?!"

So that was rooming in... way cool, and I highly recommend it to any future NICU grads! It was so nice to have that available to us as a resource.

The rest of the day Tuesday was crazy uneventful, other than time ticking by slower than it did the morning of our wedding! I finished training my replacement at work and as of 5pm on the 15th, I was on "maternity leave"!

COMING HOME

We slept well on Tuesday night... our last night like that for some time! We got into Walnut Creek and realized we'd forgotten the receiving blankets we needed to snug tiny Max into his car seat, so after an emergency trip to Target, we were at the hospital signing discharge papers! I'll spare you the boring details and get on with the photos. I'm still waiting to get a few from our papparazzi (my sister and Ann Marie, along with Faith and Ryan, were there to see us off!) but here are some to tide you over! :)

Our last moments in the NICU, getting ready to get dressed. (Oh, and I think I've mentioned it but never posted photos before; that's Max's belly button. It's actually a "herniated umbilicus" that will be surgically fixed in a few months...)

We promise he really is a fan; this face is NOT a reaction to the outfit!

The hat fits so much better after Daddy "fixed" it with a little tape!

Faith watches me bug the crap out of Max while we wait for Jamie to get the car... I couldn't help it! There was no oxygen sensor on his foot!

Loaded up and ready to go! And I'll have you know... we clicked Max into our car for the very first time as "Hey Jude" played on the radio. No joke. Made Jamie and I both well up a little bit!

BEING HOME

Being home together has been amazing. My family and Jamie's mom came over with dinner last night, so everyone got a chance to hold Max and just hang out... it's the first time all of us could be with him at once. Thanks to Max's (bribe) gift to Faith, she's as enamored with him as the rest of us, and gave him the sweetest little kisses on his head when they left last night.
We slept decently... better than I expected. We took turns on the feedings and giving Max his meds, so we each ended up getting about 6 hours of sleep. Not too shabby!
Dave, Ann Marie and crew came over today, bearing chickens and beer (= Beer Can Chicken. Yum.) and we had another great day just hanging with Max and our friends... Ashleigh is a great helper, holding Max, getting him toys, making sure he's happy at all times.
Really, I don't have much else to add, except that I'm just going to post a couple of pics and then get back downstairs with my guys. (As soon as I post today's Thursday pic!) Here are a couple of photos from home...

Ed and Lucinda gave us this bottle of Dom as a wedding gift... we couldn't come up with a more fitting day to open it than to celebrate our boy's homecoming.

Our couch is SO much more comfy than those chairs in the NICU!

Home.

Where we belong. Together.

Photos and update to follow as soon as I can tear my eyes off this beautiful boy.