Could it be?!

that all this love "baby Aiden" (as referred to by Anna each and every time) is receiving has him weighing in at 7lbs 8oz! That's right, our little man is 7 1/2 lbs. The nurse that was at our house yesterday was thrilled and shocked! We are ecstatic and just as surprised. Aiden spends a good bit of time in this chair in our den. Anna loves to lay beside him, watch him and investigate every inch of him. She is the first to tell us when his eyes are open or if he has the "pickups" (hiccups).

Anna & Aiden update...

It is hard to believe it has been two whole weeks since we brought the little man home to be with us and his big sister. Notice above, Anna is proudly wearing her "big sister" t-shirt! She is a very proud big sister who is getting a little bit more back to "normal" each day. She loves to kiss her brother and to rub him or "pat" him as she says. She would stare at him all day if mommy and daddy would let her. Anna just can't get close enough. She is a huge help around the house as she knows where almost everything can be found, even the drawer where we keep Aiden's burp cloths and blankets. She makes multiple runs to the trashcan daily for us as well.

The week we brought Aiden home, Anna started preschool. It was a bit confusing to our sweet girl why she was in a new classroom and had new teachers but she is slowly adjusting. The biggest news for the big sister is that mommy nor daddy have had to change a "sheweee" diaper as Anna refers to them for the past 10 days! Woo hoo! As her teacher said, "peer pressure starts early." We tried to introduce Anna to the potty over the summer as she had been telling us when she needed to use the bathroom for a good long while but we could never get her to actually use the bathroom on the potty. Well, she came home from school after that first Tuesday and Thursday determined to use the potty. We are still working on peeing on the potty each time but we know that will take some time and mommy is in no rush. We are just thankful for the progress she is making. She even told us last night as we were out to dinner she needed to go to the potty. I shared with her to just use it in her diaper. When we got home an hour later she had held her pee until we sat her on the potty.

As for Aiden, he is growing. Praise the Lord! Last week he weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz. We have another weight check this week. He continues to be our sleeping baby. Even sleeping through his first official bath last night. Nothing except hunger seems to interfere with him and his sleep. Anna has rarely heard him cry so the few times he has she becomes very concerned rushing to get his paci or looking for something to soothe him. Although we could have bathed Aiden much sooner as his cord actually fell off earlier in the week as seems to be the trend things often get pushed back until later or skipped all together.

Which leads into a Mommy and Daddy update. We are doing well. Adjusting to being the parents of not just one little one but two little ones and not just a little girl but a little boy. These two could not be more different as far as babies go. The hardest part has been the division of our attention and time. When Anna arrived she received ALL of our attention and often that is still the case. Aiden because he is so laid back and content gets little attention until Anna is sleeping. A bath for the little man was a must last night, not necessarily for Aiden's sake but for mommy's sake. Mommy even was able to sneak off last week to get her haircut which was an appointment she had scheduled weeks ago thinking it would be in plenty of time before the September/October arrival of our newest addition. It was supposed to be a pre-baby haircut not a post-baby haircut. But we couldn't be more thrilled that he has arrived!

We are home!

Here is Aiden sleeping sweetly in his crib at HOME! Yippee! We are thrilled to have him here with us. We were able to get him from the NICU around lunchtime today. He has spent the afternoon sleeping sweetly despite the noise of his older sister. The nurses shared with us that too much quiet actually might cause him not to sleep as he is used to monitors beeping, music playing, babies crying and nurses talking. Please continue to pray for Anna as she adjusts to having a younger sibling. She has had a day filled with excitement finally being able to see Aiden but also a hard day filled with many tears. Pray too that Aiden would eat well as he has only eaten once since being home but hopefully will be waking soon for another feed. We want our little man to gain some weight!

See Jesus

Sometime in May we were heading home from dinner and came to a stop sign. Above is what we saw as we waited to make our right hand turn. Anna shrieked, "see Jesus." It took me a while to understand what she was saying. We aren't 100% sure why our little girl associated the view above with Jesus as our church does not have stained glass windows. However, the only conclusion that we can draw is that the bible we read in nightly, "The Jesus Storybook Bible" has colorful pictures in it much like the stained glass windows above. We rarely traveled this way until this night in May. This summer it became a very familiar site as it was the way we traveled each time we went to the pool. It took Anna no time to realize that each time we headed towards the pool that we would "see Jesus." She would begin to ask us way before approaching the church and then once passing she wanted to know if we would be back. We began to explain to her throughout the summer that Jesus was not just there but everywhere. This is a hard concept to grasp for most people, especially a two year old. However, now as we pass our little one will say, "Jesus heart." It has been a good reminder for us that Jesus is always with us. This has been very evident to both Kevin and myself this past week. We have sensed His presence since this adventure began just over a week ago. It is hard to believe that Aiden Caleb Sasser is not only here but is now a week old.

Thursday evening when we spoke with one of the doctor's about Aiden and our desire to have him home he mentioned that sometimes you just have to let a baby like Aiden sink or swim. He was implying that in order for a baby like Aiden to begin to eat on his own at times the best way is to remove the feeding tube and allow the baby to determine when they eat and how much. Obviously he said you don't let them sink too much but you see what they do on their own. This doctor however was not Aiden's specific doctor. When we arrived Friday AM this doctor actually had done Aiden's review in the morning and had more or less taken over on Aiden's next steps. He shared with me that after reviewing Aiden's charts that he probably would not go ahead with the "sink or swim" at this time because Aiden's feedings had been so irregular and not very good. He reassured us that we were good parents and there wasn't anything more we needed to be doing but in Aiden's time he would begin to eat. However, our little man had other plans and had gotten his hand under the feeding tube earlier in the morning and had taken it out. Thus, the doctor decided since the tube was out that we would go ahead and try. It has been a great 24 hours. Aiden has taken all of his feedings from a bottle. They have been MUCH more spaced out but he is taking a good amount at each feeding and is waking up every 4-5 hours crying for food. This is what we were hoping and praying for. When we went in today the nurse shared with us that if he continues to do well, Aiden will be home with us sometime tomorrow. It was a fun surprise to hear this news today. Kevin just returned from a late night visit with Aiden and as he finished his bottle he ended up spitting up most of it. This was a first but hopefully the rest of his feeds throughout the evening will go well and we will have him home soon enough! We will keep you posted.

Two Worlds Apart

One of the most difficult things about Aiden being in the NICU is that sweet Anna is still expecting and needing life to go on as usual. These two precious little ones have still not met and as a week is approaching since the birth of Aiden confusion has filled Anna's life.
Our first born needs lots of attention right now, in particular from her mommy and daddy. She is understandably not able to grasp all that is going on. She is a child that needs structure and order and this has thrown her for a loop. She is having a rough time with not seeing the baby that we talked about for so long but seeing me pump and us leaving and coming and having little time for her. Please be praying for her. In particular that she would be at peace in the midst of this chaos. You can just see her little mind going. She is constantly asking questions and trying to process it all. She knew mommy was having a baby and now mommy doesn't have the belly where the baby was but she doesn't see a baby. Pray too that both Kevin and I would have patience with her and love her well. She isn't used to having our attention divided. We have tried yesterday and today to make our days look as normal as possible. Anna actually had her preschool orientation today and then we headed to the park for a bit with some of her favorite friends. As I sit here and type this I can hear her laughing outside with her daddy. Pray too for us as we try to be parents now to both Anna and Aiden.

As for an Aiden update. I spent a good bit of time with him around lunchtime. During this time he was able to be disconnected from the IV. As for now they will keep it in but it is capped. This is a HUGE praise as we are hoping now that he is not receiving the fluids from the IV that possibly his feedings will begin to be better. He has been up and down as far as his feedings. He has had one feeding today where he took the entire bottle but the two feedings before he did not take any of the bottle and received it all through the feeding tube. Most of his feedings last night were half by bottle and half through the feeding tube. Another praise is that I was able to attempt to nurse Aiden. More or less it was just to get him used to being near me. He actually received his feeding through the feeding tube. During our late night visit with him last night we asked the nurse for her best guesstimate of when she thought he would be heading home. She thought best case scenario was Tuesday of next week. Kevin and I were really hoping that it would be this weekend. After hearing that news we decided we wanted to talk to the doctor to see if there was anything we could do to speed up the process or at least give him the best case scenario for coming home sooner. When Kevin went for his morning visit the NICU doctor who was with us when we delivered Aiden happened to be there. One of the things he noted was that Aiden's bed was raised and in order for him to go home he needs to be sleeping flat. As you can see from the picture above we rectified that situation. We also got the okay to go ahead and get them to schedule his circumcision, another thing that needs to be completed before heading home. Several things like this were taken care of and we feel as though we are heading in the right direction. Please be praying that Aiden would be able to come home soon but that it would be in His perfect time.

Day 4 Update

We just got back from the hospital not too long ago from our late night visit with the little man. He did not have a very good feeding at 9pm. He only took 12 ml from the bottle and had to get the remainder 18 from the feeding tube. He has progressively taken less and less from the bottle and they are upping his feeding amount once again tomorrow. However, he is off of the antibiotic as of this afternoon. They will monitor to see how he does now that he is off of them. He still has the IV for the various supplements he is getting in addition to his feedings. His IV is in its fourth location but the nurse said tonight she was hoping that this one would last him. We are praying that as the amount of supplement given through his IV is decreased and the amount of milk is being increased that Aiden will begin taking his entire feeding from a bottle and not any from the feeding tube. Continue to pray too for his breathing and his lungs to be fully developed. As I held him tonight his breathing rate was irregular at times and a little high at times. He is surely precious and loves to snuggle in close. All the nurses just rave about what a precious little boy we have. We can't wait to have him home with us and to really get to know him!