I know the feeling. (via I CAN HAS CHEEZEBURGER).

Actually, everything is fine. We’re starting to figure out our new rhythm.  Having Shannon’s parents around has been a massive help.

That said, it hasn’t been the best of weeks.  Dad Loughlin noticed water leaking out the back of the house while the dishwasher was running; it turns out that this has been going on for quite a while.  I’ve got a house inspector coming in this morning to go over the whole thing and make sure there aren’t any more surprises.  The new dishwasher comes at around lunchtime.  Not what I needed.

Future parents, let it be known: people will tell you that having a baby is exhausting; that you’ll never be so tired in your life, but in the end, it’s worth it. You will think you understand what they mean. You will have absolutely no idea.

Fortunately, Shannon’s parents are here for the next few days, which helps take some of the pressure off. Poppy Loughlin took pity on me at 7 this morning and sent me to bed, taking over some of my chores, and I managed to get six uninterrupted hours of sleep, something I haven’t done since last Saturday night. Shannon still has to feed Connor every few hours, so no such luck for her. I really don’t know how she does it.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Michelle came by Saturday night to visit, which was very nice. As you can tell, Mike really wasn’t sure what to do with him, which was very cute. As per usual, click the photo (or go here) to see more pictures.
Fortunately, parenthood is still pretty awesome. So it is so worth it. He is awesome. But holy cow is it tiring.

I have no idea what this was about. Leave your ideas in the comments.

Once Connor was in his car seat, waiting to go home, he suddenly started striking some really cute poses. What do you think he’s thinking? Leave your answer in the comments.

Here’s mine: “I think I’ll go to Ohio State.”

Connor at Home

Originally uploaded by cnitchie

It took a little longer than expected, but Connor is finally home. The day shift yesterday meant for the night shift to take him off of antibiotics and watch him overnight, so he could come home early this (Friday) morning. However, the night team didn’t get the memo, and kept him on. So they finally took him off this morning, and the attending said to keep him and watch him for a few hours more. So we didn’t actually get out of there until after the 4:00 feeding. We left at about 5:30, and now everybody’s home.

Now that that phase is finally over, some thoughts:

– We are ridiculously lucky. The baby in the next bed to ours had a very early premie, and would be there for at least a few more weeks. There was a little girl across the room who had been there since May 1; I’m not sure what was wrong with her, or when she’d be able to go home. Jason and Greta spent over 3 months in the NICU with their triplets. Except for that first terrifying hour, what we went through was no big deal.
– There’s a special place in heaven for NICU nurses. They must see some terrible things, but still manage to be cheery, matronly, lovely, helpful people.
– We are extremely excited, immensely relieved, and completely terrified. Weird feeling.

Connor, not so much. He wasn’t eating as well as he should’ve been yesterday. Today, he hit all his minimums. It would be nice if he would exceed them, but at least he’s improving. When we went back for the ten o’clock feeding, his feeding tube had been removed, which was an immense relief. Now he’s just got the IV port and his monitor leads; he’s got his whole face all to himself. Shannon’s milk has started to come in, which is a big relief. There’s not much yet, but it’s clearly on its way.

I’m fine with him staying in the hospital today; if we take him home and then have to bring him back, he starts over at zero, undergoing all the tests again, probably resulting in at least a weeks’ stay. I don’t want him until he’s good and ready.

I just hope he’s good and ready tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and tomorrow (Friday; today, actually) is Shannon and my fifth anniversary. We were planning to go to Palio and then go furniture shopping for a nice coffee table to replace the modular plastic shelving we’re currently using (it’s the wood anniversary, apparently). Whatever happens, I have a feeling we’ll have other plans.

No new pictures, just a quick status update. Connor is doing really well. He came off the Cannula (the little tubes in his nose) this morning, and weaning off of antibiotics so the IV may come out soon. The feeding tube is still in, but they’re not using it; it’s just for emergencies. At this point, he only needs to get the whole eating thing down, and he’ll be ready to come home. It may be as early as tomorrow (Thursday) morning, though he’s not eating quite as much as they’d like, so it may be a tad later.

Shannon and I went to the room last night at around 10:30 to have some family time, our first no-pressure just-the-three-of-us session we’d been able to have (not that we haven’t loved and needed everybody being there, but it was nice to have some “just us” time). Shannon wanted to do some Kangaroo Care, which is when the baby is laid skin-to-skin on the parent. So they lay him down, and put blankets over the two of them, and they both slept for almost two hours.

Most of today is pretty fuzzy for me: I’d planned to go home and get some sleep as soon as Shannon’s mom came back (she and Kelly slept at the house last night, I was on hospital duty), but there was always one more thing to take care of, so I didn’t get home until around 2:30. So between 6:00 this morning and 2:30 this afternoon, I was just trying to keep my eyes open, all while feeding him, doing my first diaper change, getting the swaddling tutorial, and so forth (like I said, it’s fuzzy). I’m about to go back in for the night.

It’s probably pretty fuzzy for him, too. His first 24 hours, he was really active, awake almost every time I saw him. Today, we can’t keep him awake to eat; he tends to fall back asleep mid-suckle. I know how he feels. I think he’s relieved to have the Cannula out (he hated that thing), and just exhausted from his first day.

Shannon’s been discharged from the hospital, but will continue to be there overnight in one of their nesting rooms, so we don’t have to shuttle her back and forth to feed and take care of Connor.  They’re starting the long process of learning to breast-feed together, which is kind of tricky since she doesn’t have any milk.  But he’s starting to figure out how to latch on and he’s starting to give a few good suckles, so progress is being made.  She’s feeling pretty uncomfortable, but otherwise doing fine.

But overall he’s doing really well. With luck, he’ll be coming home sometime tomorrow.

Here are the promised pictures, for I am Dad, the Camera Dork. I’ve put them all on our Flickr page, here.  Special thanks to those dorkettes who helped by taking some of these: Tonua, and Shannon’s boss whose name I can’t remember off the top of my head.

And, because I will not rest until he’s truly and completely mortified in his teenage years, here’s a movie.

Baby came. Connor Loughlin Nitchie. Monday, 7/16/07, 19:58. 5 lbs, 8ish oz. I’d planned a fancy poety post about the labor and the birth, about how he wasn’t there and then he was and how it’s as simple and profound as that, but the theme of today seems to be that what you plan and what happens don’t always get along. True: he wasn’t there, and then he was, but then he wasn’t breathing. Or rather, as the pediatrician put it, he was breathing, but “not consistently.” As you might expect, something like that turns the supposed beauty of childbirth into the most terrifying pocket of time imaginable, and I’d rather not talk about it, because it was awful, and besides:

He’s fine. He’s in the NICU on a ventilator, and everything else about him seems perfect. He’s on an IV for antibiotics (he spent 17 hours in a ruptured sack, which introduces major possibilities for infection), and they said before I left the hospital at 1:30 A.M. that they may be able to wean him off of the ventilator by later this (Tuesday) morning, and get him out of the NICU in a few days.

Shannon’s doing well, though a bit fuzzy. The labor, though long (as Mike noted, the water broke at 2:30 a.m., and he didn’t come until nearly 8 p.m.), wasn’t one of those horror story births you hear about (epidurals are wonderful). When it came time to push, we went through maybe 12-15 rounds, and then out he came. Shannon rocked it. And now she’s a bit fuzzy, and hopefully sleeping.

Me? I snuck home for a few hours of sleep (currently on Hour 25 of consciousness after around 2 hours’ sleep), and am finally starting to come down off the adrenaline high. I left the camera at the hospital, so I don’t have any pictures, but they’ll be along eventually. But trust me: he’s beautiful.

Bed now. More later.

Chris’s brother Mike here with a quick update.

Shannon and Chris left for the hospital this morning (7/16/07) at about 3 AM. As of about 3 PM Shannon had her epidural and was 7-8 centimeters dialated. The baby is considered “full term” in less than a week, so it is technically coming pre-mature. However, the doctor estimated it’s weight at six pounds and Shannon’s labor is progressing normally. They’re both in great spirits, but really tired.

I’ll omit any other details for the new Mom and Dad to fill you in on once they’re able (I can’t write nearly as creatively as Chris), but I’ll post with pictures (if I can figure out how) when I can.