Babies are time consuming!

The month of June proved to be both a very productive month, but also a very busy month.

Last I wrote, Wyatt had been completely taken off of the nasal cannula and was progressing with his feeds.  Well, within a day or two of saying that, the little stinker decided that breathing was just too much work to do all on his own and began having frequent de-sats.  So they put the nasal cannula back on him for about a week after which it was removed again and has been off ever since.  Yay!  He's been breathing all on his own for about a month!  Such a big boy. :)  As far as his feeds have gone, he's taking bottles now.

Two Saturdays ago he ripped his ng tube out... again... and the nurse decided to just feed him first then put it in to finish giving him what he didn't take by mouth.  Well, he drank the whole thing up.  And he took full feeds by mouth for almost a week.  I had never been prouder of another person in my entire life..  No wonder parents like to brag about their kids!

A couple of weeks ago I asked his nurse straight up, if he hit every marker they wanted him to hit from here on out, what would be a realistic time frame to expect him to be coming home by.... they all said 3-4 weeks.  But then he decided to just start taking his bottles so they were thinking he could be home within the next week!... and then he stopped drinking it all.  He keeps getting really sleepy and not wanting to work so hard to eat... so we'll see what happens.  This is all on his time.

That little reality check we had a week ago made us really realize that we need to get the rest of the important things done so we're all ready for Wyatt to come home.

There are just a couple of things left to do in order for everything to be perfect for him. Jared was and still is in overdrive getting big things done around the house.  Last Saturday he built a bookcase/shelf in Wyatt's room, last Sunday he built a dvd case so that we can get all of our dvd's out of Wyatt's closet, and last Monday and Tuesday he moved the water heater and got everything ready to install the water softener that we're putting in {compliments of my awesome in-laws}.  We're putting in a water softener because the soft water is supposed to be oh so much nicer on Wyatt's skin.
Finally, last Thursday, Jared installed a double laundry sink {so I can prewash and soak all of Wyatt's aquaphor soaked blankets and clothes so they don't destroy my washing machine}.  There are still some baby items that we need to pick up from the store, although we did stop by and pick up a swing the other day.  Oh yeah, and I need to deep clean my house.  Man, babies are a lot of work before they come home.  Especially ones with special needs.  Good thing they're worth it! ;)

So here's a sneak peak at a couple of my favorite things in Wyatt's room
Here are his little bookshelves {made from ikea spiceracks, thankyou pinerest}

 And I adore his Lion rug from PBK

I'll get up some more pictures when the room is complete.

Anyway, back to Wyatt... Two Sundays ago he graduated from his isolete to a big boy crib and he wore clothes for the very first time.

last Friday the picc line was removed from his head

and on Saturday he was moved out of the NICCU to the floor. 
Wyatt is no longer in need of the critical care that the NICCU provides.
We were really sad to leave the NICCU even though it means we're a step closer to home.  We miss the familiar environment, but we mostly miss the nurses there.  They were all amazing.  ESPECIALLY Wyatt's primary nurses. :)  We've really appreciated them for who they are and for all they did for Wyatt.  They were all really great advocates for him and most importantly, they were all on the same page as me when it came to what we wanted for his care.  I knew that if I wasn't there for morning rounds that the nurses weren't going to let the dr.'s do something unnecessary. {like give him morphine when he really doesn't need it, or try to put him back in his isolete... oh yeah... that was some stupid drama right there.}  I know his nurses were his nurses, but I've spent so much time up here with them that I've really come to think of them as my friends.  I hope that's not lame.  But they're all such sweet girls!  They really helped me get through the last 12 weeks we were in the NICCU.

So before we were moved to the 5th floor, I really had to push for Wyatt to still get his own room.  They were going to just transfer him up here and stick him in whatever room with whoever, but I told the dr.'s that it is absolutely imperative that he has his own room.  He's had MSSA twice since he's been here, and yeah he's healthy right now, but that's because he's been in reverse isolation his entire hospital stay and we need to maintain that environment.  They told me that they couldn't gaurentee he had his own room but that they would try and I told them that if they couldn't provide that for him, we would take him to a different hospital.  Needless to say, he got his isolation room.  From everything that I've read about this skin condition, it's really important to protect these kids from everyone else.  I've recently made a friends whose son has EHK and she told me that for the first year of his life, they were in the hospital every other week for some type of infection.  I want to try and avoid that as much as I possibly can.  And if he gets another infection while he's here, they'll just stop his feeds until the antibiotics are through and then we'll have to start all over again.  I don't want that!
Wyatt looks so tiny in the crib that they put him in.

 And his first day in here, his eyes were wide open and looking around at everything.  He definitely knew he was in a different place.

Here on the floor, we get to pretty much do everything for Wyatt when we're here.  The nurses just poke their heads in, ask if we need anything and give us the bottle to feed him every 3 hours.  It's definitely some good preparation for what things will be like at home.  This kid is definitely a time sucker.  Between his 15 min. baths {water is amazing for his skin} his feeds, diaper changes and aquphoring, by the time I've gotten him to sleep, I barely have time to pump before it all starts again. 
Welcome to motherhood.
So we're on the home stretch now.  It looks like we've got 2 weeks tops {hopefully, fingers crossed, knock on wood} before Wyatt gets to go to Disneyland {according to the nurses, we can't say the "h" word or we'll jinx ourselves again}.