Our First Christmas!

2008 was the first Christmas Griff and I got to spend together as husband and wife and also the first Christmas we have got to celebrate it with our son. What a year!

Riley is one month old today...it is hard to believe. This last month has been a full one, but so rewarding. We enjoyed a visit from my parents, in which Riley got spoiled real well by Grandma and Grandpa Henry (as pictured below).

The three of us spent Christmas together in Lancaster. We went to church (Riley's first time) for the Christmas Eve service and afterwards were really blessed to spend time at the pastors house with new friends celebrating Christ's birth.

Christmas day we headed to Pittsburgh to celebrate the holiday and Riley with all the Jones family. He got to take a nap with Grammy Sandy, spend time with his uncle Andy and get some good snuggle time in with Grandpa Kevin as well as meet the rest of the fam.

Week 3

I took Riley in for his three week check up and he weighed an astounding 5 pounds 15 ounces. He had gained 10 ounces in a week. The doctor couldn't believe it but I could because my parents had been here all week spoiling him rotten. Soon we will have a six pounder. :-)

Having my parents here this past week was wonderful. I have tons of pictures of Riley with Grandma and Grandpa Henry but they are on my laptop and that just got sent into Best Buy as it is about to crash. So just imagine two smitten grandparents fighting over who gets to feed, burp, pamper, change, kiss and hug him.

Please keep him in your prayers as he is still not keeping all his food down the best but he is definately improving and we praise God for that!

More to come later as right now I need to tend to my fussy son. :-)

At Home and Two Weeks Old

We have had Riley home since Thursday and it is wonderful! By God's grace I haven't had the baby blues but on Thursday when we finally got to walk out of the hospital with him my eyes were full of tears. I have been praising God over and over for our little miracle and that he is home with us now.

I can't say I jump up and down at the 2am and 5am feedings but it is a joy to know he is home and doing pretty well. The last couple of days we have had good feedings and not so good. This morning he spit up everything I gave him which was discouraging and then he was hungry and hour later and his schedule is completely off...I guess he doesn't understand the idea of a schedule. :-)

Please continue to pray with us that he would keep his meals down and he would continue to maintain a great blood sugar level and gain weight. We have an appointment at the doctors office tomorrow so I will know how we are doing then.

My parents (aka Grandma and Grandpa Henry) arrive this evening from Iowa and I am really excited to have them here, to see our little guy in their arms and to spend the week with them.


Here is our little green bean once we got home from the NICU.


Our first family picture at home.


Daddy and Riley taking a nap.

Riley is coming home!

He is coming home today! Thanks for all your prayers. I am waiting (not very patiently) for Griff to get off work so we can go pick up our little guy. He is a whopping 5 pounds now too! Praise God!

More to come soon....

12.10.08 Update

He didn't get to come home today....I know I was hugely disappointed when the nurse told me this morning. She was disappointed too. The doctors dropped him back down to the regular concentration of formula and they want to see how he does on that for 24 hours before they release him. So I fed him at 11am and he took 50 mL (just over 2 oz.). The nurse Lynn checked his blood sugar at 1:45 and it was 75 which is great! Then I fed him at 2 and he took 75 mL and he didn't spit up any! Praise the Lord! So, I think it looks promising that he will get to come home with us tomorrow. If not I might steal him anyway. It is getting harder and harder to drive there so many times a day, feed him, cuddle with him and then lay him in a bed and walk away. My heart goes out to all the moms who have ever had a baby in the NICU longer than a week, especially those that are in there for months. I can't imagine the heartache.

Please pray our little man can home home tomorrow! Pray he would eat great between now and tomorrow morning at 9am when the doctors do their rounds and make the decision. Pray his blook sugar would stay in the 70's from here on out. Pray he would keep eating more and more and gain weight.

12.8.08 Update

Today I was hoping against hope to bring Riley home, but he isn't here. At this point we are shooting for Wednesday. I am hopeful for Wednesday. It is a good lesson in trusting the Lord and waiting on his timing.

Riley's blood sugar was the highest it has been since being off the IV tonight, 67. This is a step in the right direction and we are praying it will stay this high from here on out. Our new goal is that he would be released Wednesday evening.

I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for your prayers.

Update 12.7.08

Riley is doing great, but not home yet. He was taken out of the isolette yesterday and is doing great at keeping his body temp regulated. He is also off the IV and just on his lactose free formula. The most important thing right now is that he needs to keep his blood sugar up and consistent. It can't drop below 50 and lately it has been hovering between 51-54. Today at his noon feeding he took a whopping 45 mL of fomula which was his largest feeding yet and he didn't spit any up. This was a major feet and we are praising God. The best case scenario is that he could come home Monday evening but the more realistic option is that he would come home Tuesday. Either way our little guy will be home soon and I am super excited about that.

Riley also seems to be the social butterfly of the NICU. Today his nurse Pam was walking around the NICU with him before we got there and he was getting to meet everyone. Pam was already trying to set him up with a couple of the girls there. It has been a blessing to meet some of the other parents in the NICU as wella s get to know the nurses. Though this has been a challenging week I am grateful to God for such capable and loving hands to leave him in.

More Pictures for Grandma Henry to Gush Over :-)

I like to think he is praying in this picture.


He is so precious when he sleeps.



If you turn up the volume and listen closely you can here him snoring just a little bit. Griff and I got a good laugh out of this. :-)

Update

I went into the hospital this morning to feed Riley and his nurse Carol told me he has gained 2 ounces! Praise the Lord! Yesterday we decided to try something new and we switched him to lactose free formula. He seems to be keeping this formula down much better so I think we just have a lactose intolerant little boy.

Hopefully the doctors will now increase the amount of formula we are feeding him (we currently just give him .5 ounces every 3 hours). The sooner we can increase it, decrease what he is getting through the IV then the sooner he can come home with us. We are hoping and praying we can bring him home this weekend.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, Griff, Riley and I are so thankful for all of you.

Welcome Riley David Jones!!!!!

Well friends, he is here! As a shock to me my water broke at 1:20am Sunday morning and a short 8 hours later our little guy entered the world at a whopping 4 pounds 11 ounces. There were some problems with the labor and the cord being wrapped around his neck twice so they had to get him out quickly. Praise the Lord for a great labor and delivery team. I am doing well and feeling better daily. Riley is still in the NICU. He needs to gain some weight. Right now he is only taking .5 ounces at a time and he needs to get to at least 2 ounces at each feeding before he can come home with us. So please pray that his appetite increases and we can bring him home this weekend. This is our little guy right after he was born. The proud papa The Newest Jones Family Picture Isn't he the cutest thing ever!