Jammies

While Joshua was in the NICU we just bought him onsies because they were easiest to get around all the tubes and wires and because he never went anywhere anyway. But I have a thing for babies in sleepers so one night Joshua got chilly after a bath and so they put him in one of the sleepers the NICU had. I had to take a picture because he was so cute.

Brian the early dad

I found these pictures of Joshua and Brian and I thought they were amazing. Not the photography itself, that isn't great, but the love you can see between the two of them. So I thought I would dedicate a post to what Brian did while Joshua was in the NICU. And put in the pictures how they fit or just randomly if they don't.
When Joshua was born I quit working, my poor boss got two days notice, and that was only because Joshua was born on a Friday, and I wasn't supposed to be at work again until Monday. Fortunately Brian had a decent college job that would pay our bills to tide us over the summer until he started his real job. The plan was for us to save up some money during my last trimester when both of us would be working decent amounts so we could have some money for the baby and Brian could take some time off. Well Joshua through a loop in those plans. We had some savings, but we also knew that there would be a three week gap between Brian's jobs and we had to get ourselves across the country so we didn't want to dip too much into that. So Brian hardly took anytime off while Joshua was in the NICU.

Fortunately Brian had a job where he could do most of his work from our laptop, so he would come to the hospital with me and work there almost everyday. Brian spent an incredible amount of time at the hospital each day probably over 10 hours on weekdays between working and actually visiting Joshua. I remember he said once that being at a hospital that much was kind of depressing, but he still did it. Even though I spent more actual time with Joshua, I would be in and out, and in the pumping room, but the staff knew where to find Brian. Everyday the doctor would call or talk to the parents of the babies, and he would usually just go down the the parent's room to talk to Brian.

Brian would also help me with the pumpings. When we were at home he would drag the heavy hospital pump to where ever I wanted to be for the pumping. He would also get up in the middle of the night every night to help me get the pump stuff all assembled and the milk put up in the end, so that the whole process would go faster and I could get back to sleep faster.

Joshua would always have this content look on his face when Brian held him. I would envy Brian sometimes towards the end when my visits with Joshua revolved around trying to get him to nurse. It seemed like Brian was able to just enjoy him more sometimes.

I love this picture too, it looks like they are hugging.

Letting Others hold Joshua

For the first month or so Joshua was in the NICU we were only allowed to hold him twice a day. So I would hold Joshua in the morning and Brian would hold him in the evening. We wouldn't let anyone else hold him because we felt like we as his parents should get to hold him every day. We never asked for extra holdings for him because he had such a rough time before.

Then sometime around Memorial Day they said that we could hold him a third time. I held him the extra times for the first few days and he did great. Brian and I decided that someone else could hold Joshua. My parents were out of town on an anniversary trip, so we called my sister Heather and asked her if she would want to come hold him. Heather was the first person besides Brian and I, and the NICU staff to be able to hold Joshua. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of it.

I am pretty sure at some point Emily came and held him at some point, but I don't have a picture of it, and I don't remember. Sorry Emily. Nathan wasn't allowed in the NICU at all because he was too young. You had to be sixteen to go in and Nathan was only 12. The closest he got to Joshua, is once Joshua's area was by a window to the hall, so Nathan came and the nurse picked Joshua up and held him up to the window so Nathan could see. Poor Nathan.

When my parents came back they were able to come hold Joshua too. The first picture I have is with my dad holding Joshua.

The next picture is with my mom holding Joshua. The one with my mom is taken later, it must not be the first time she held Joshua, because I am pretty sure she held him before my dad.

On a side note, my parents were very supportive when Joshua was in the NICU. They visited him all the time and even went to the "You have a baby in the NICU class" a couple of weeks before Brian and I made it there. Then after over a month of waiting they were finally able to hold their first grandbaby.

Zacky

Brian is working swings today so it is time for my updating Joshua's NICU story. This is short and sweet.

In the NICU they have these pillow things that look like hands, and they are made to have the weight and feel of a hand too. The pillow is called a Zacky. The Zacky is supposed to make the baby sleep better or whatnot. I don't really know if it helped Joshua sleep or not, but we liked to put it on him. He didn't get to bring it home though, so here is our picture of him sleeping with the Zacky.