Andrew and Michelle's Place: Life with Drew at Home

February 13, 2010
When I woke up this morning Michelle was sitting with Drew. She had just fed him and just wanted to sit and hold him. I only woke up a few times during the night, but none of those times were because of Drew. At least that is what I think. Michelle said she slept better than the night before. When I called Michelle from work around nine this morning she mentioned that she was able to sleep for over two hours between feedings. I told her to take advantage of those times as much as possible. Nettie was going to come over during the day to hang out with Michelle, but she wasn’t feeling very well so she didn’t end up coming. Michelle managed to get ready for the day by the time I arrived home. She was sitting in the chair holding Drew like usual. After a quick snack we decided we would give him his first bath. I guess Michelle gave the bath and I just took pictures. He seemed to like it for the most part. After the bath we took the opportunity to take some pictures of Drew without his canula on his face. He really does have a lot of Martin in him. That nose of his. He was just so content laying there looking at us. He now smells so good. Since we needed a few more supplies for the baby and for us, Michelle left me with the baby and headed to Wal-Mart. Drew just slept on my chest as I watched the recording of last nights Olympic opening ceremony. Two hours later Michelle walked in with Aubrey. I was beginning to wonder if something had appended to her. Aubrey came over to make us dinner. The shredded pork burritos were great. We appreciate her friendship. Drew has been eating so well today and I think he could reach five pound in the next two days. Ok, maybe not, but at this rate he will get big fast. I hope that he has another good night and that Michelle will be able to rest even more. She is a trooper. Well it is my bed time so I will call it a night.

February 14, 2010

Happy Birthday Arizona! Happy Valentine’s Day also. It hasn’t been too exciting of a day. I had an ok day at work and Michelle just hung out with Drew. Last night Drew only woke up once to eat so Michelle got some good sleep. When I got home from work I found both of them asleep in our room. I decided to join in on the relaxation. It was a well needed break. Tina and Ben came over to visit and brought us dinner. It was very good and we enjoyed the company. We watched the Olympics and I am glad there is finally something on TV that Michelle likes to watch. Now it is time for bed once again. This is a short note, but not much has happened today. With that said I probably won’t write something every day. It will be at least once a week or when something exciting or fun happens (like tomorrow when he has his first doctor’s appointment). There isn’t much to say. Have a good night, or morning, depending on when you read this.

February 15, 2010

Drew didn’t have quite as good of a night as he did the night before. Neither Michelle nor I got a lot of sleep. Aubrey came buy and helped watch Drew while Michelle got a few things out of the shed. Now that she is losing weight she can’t wait to get back into her old clothes. Her Mom will come later in the week to help her go through our cupboards and other indoor storage to see what we can put in the outside storage to free up some space for baby things. I got off of work a little early so I could change in time for Drew’s doctor’s appointment. Drew was dressed up in the cutest little outfit. Several people in our ward have let us borrow preemie clothes and we deeply appreciate it. As soon as Michelle got ready we packed Drew up and were on our way. The first thing we did was weight and measure Drew. Over the weekend Drew gained 4 oz. to make him 4 lbs 13 oz. He now measures 18.5 inches long. He is just growing so much. Drew’s heart, lungs, and bowels sounded good, but his eye left eye is still a little goopy. We might continue to use the ointment for a few more days. The doctor is in no hurry to get Drew off of his oxygen. He still works a little at his breathing so the oxygen will allow him to grow and get stronger without having to work as hard. We will just see what time brings. The doctor also is trying to get our insurance to approve Synagis, an immunization to help prevent RSV. He thinks this would be very beneficial to Drew, but it also cost over 1500 dollars per shot and they would give it once a month till RSV season is over. He will let us know if we are approved. Other than that things look good. We will meet with him in a week and see if Drew has grown any more. We will also discuss his circumcision. The doctor wants him strong so when he has it done it won’t mess up his good schedule any more than needed. Tonight Michelle’s parents and her sister Chelsea and her husband Darren drove back from California. They stopped by to get Chelsea and Darren’s car and to see Drew. We ended up having dinner together along with Tina and Ben. It is always fun to get together. After they left Drew just slept on my chest like he usually does. He loves his Dad, and Mom, very much. Well I have one more day left of work and am glad to have it over and be home with Michelle and Drew.

February 22, 2010

So Drew has had a good week, but Michelle and I haven’t. I started not feeling well during my first few days back to work and it got worse the last few days of work. I had a sore throat with body and headaches. Motrin became my best friend, but it didn’t solve everything. When my work week was over I was dead. I was sad I couldn’t be of much help to Michelle and I think she was sad that with me sick she couldn’t just get out of the house for a little bit. Every time that Michelle would get up with Drew during the night she said I would just toss and turn. She is such a trooper for getting up and taking care of our child with little help. By Saturday I had had enough and got a prescription for an antibiotic. By Sunday morning my throat pain was much better, but still present, but Michelle complained of body and breast pain. Aubrey was already planning on coming over to watch Drew so Michelle and I could go to sacrament meeting, but with Michelle not feeling well I just went by myself and Aubrey watched Drew while Michelle rested. When I got home Michelle had the chills and was just shaking in bed. I got her our electric blanket and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. She had called the doctor while I was gone and they were sure she had mastitis and had called her in a prescription. I went and picked it up while Aubrey was still around and made sure she took the medication with some Motrin as soon as I walked in the door. We appreciate Aubrey’s service. She is such a good friend. I then held Michelle as she just kept on saying how cold she was. It is hard for Michelle when she is sick. She thinks it is so stupid and gets very emotional. I felt bad for her. After a few hours Michelle called her Mom to see if maybe she could come up the next day to help out with things. Carol decided to come up right then. After she arrived we made sure that Michelle took a bath and messaged herself. You could totally tell she was in pain. Luckily several of Michelle’s sisters had had mastitis before and could give some good advice. It was nice to have Carol here to help take care of Drew during the night. Michelle still got up to pump, but could go back to bed while Carol would feed Drew his bottles and hold him if he wasn’t sleeping. I just slept on the couch. By this morning Michelle is feeling much better, but still has her moments. I am also feeling better, but still not feeling myself and I hate the thought of starting work again and not being better. Drew had another doctor’s appointment this morning. The doctor just wanted to check his weight gain and reevaluate when he would do his circumcision. Michelle, Carol, and I took bets on what his weight would be. Carol said 5lbs 1oz, I said 5lbs 3oz, and Michelle said 5lbs 4oz. Before we stepped into the appointment I changed my guess to 5lbs 6oz. None of us were correct. Drew had gained a whopping 12oz since his last appointment one week ago. He is now 5lbs 9oz. At this rate he will be close to eight pounds by the time he hits his actual due date. Drew will return for another appointment in two weeks. He will have his circumcision done then and we will check his weight again. When we got home we gave Drew a bath. We made sure to put him in the preemie outfits we had been given before he got too big for them. We think he enjoys his bath time a lot. After his bath Michelle and I joined my old roommate Scott Lee for lunch to celebrate his new engagement. We hadn’t seen him for a year and it was nice to catch up on life. When we returned home Carol was asleep on the couch so we attempted to take a nap ourselves, but Drew wasn’t going to have it. He does sleep a lot, but he does it very noisily. He will have his eyes closed, but will then grunt every couple of seconds, then stop for a minute or so and start again. After about two hours of this Carol came in and took Drew out of the room, Michelle was able to get back to sleep, but I was done. Once Michelle was ready we made quiche and hash browns for dinner and then watched some TV. Carol is going to spend the night and watch Drew while Michelle and I sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa Woolley’s. This could be interesting, but Michelle thinks it is a good idea so both of us can get some good rest and get better. I will let you know how it goes.

March 4, 2010

I can finally say that I feel better. My throat no longer hurts and the rash I got on Wednesday is going away. It feels good to feel good. Michelle no longer has mastitis, but then she started feeling some other pains and they thought she might have a yeast infection. Needless to say she has taken an antibiotic for that and she still has reoccurring pain. Drew has continued to grow and we can’t wait to see what his stats are when he has his appointment on Monday. We continue to enjoy him every day and can’t believe what a good baby he is. Below are a few select pictures, and comments, that I have taken since my last entry on the 22nd.

Drew tried out his new vibrating recliner as well as enjoyed a visit from his Aunt Tina. On the 24th of February we helped celebrate Tina's birthday with a cake made by her husband Ben.

Rachael made a visit to see Drew and wanted a new picture with him. Our cousin Amy also came along, but she wouldn't appreciate me posting the Rachael took of her.

Michelle and I have been blessed to have great family and friends (Tina and Aubrey) that have watched Drew as we have attended church and a few activities. On Februry 26th Tina watched Drew while we had a little friend get together at Shan and Jed's new house and enjoyed catching up. We can't wait to be able to take Drew to one of these so he can play with all of the other kids. Michelle and Nettie love our nephew Bracken.

Our friend Sarah, above, has a little boy named Drew, not short for Andrew, just Drew. Shan and Jed, below, are expecting their first baby in the next few months and its going to be another boy. We will have quite the group of boys. We missed Kim and Mark, and Bill and Karen, with their boys Kaden and Sam.

Michelle took Drew on his first ride in the stroller while I was at work. I'm not sure who took the picture. She said that he enjoyed it very much.

Michelle just loves putting Drew in all of these cute little outfits. He just looks like a little Man.

Michelle was able to go with Grandma and Grandpa Woolley to visit her Aunt Kathy for a few hours. Kathy resisted holding him, but Michelle forced her so she could take a picture of the two of them together.

Michelle's Mom, Carol, hadn't gotten a picture with Drew yet so we thought we should get one. My mom is coming in a few weeks and will be sure to get many pictures with him.

Drew really loves spending time with his dad. I have to admit that I love it a lot too.

Drew loves his bath times. We always have thee urge to get out the camera during this activity. He will have plenty of bath pictures for his mom to share when he starts dating. We try to sensor them as much as possible.