leaving Boston

Today was a full day. It started with picking up Shelby’s mom at the airport (she flew in from Anchorage). The 5:30am wake-up was tough on top of lack of sleep and lots of stress. It’s great to have her here though. I’ll have a lot more help with household duties that Shelby isn’t physically able to do. And it’s always great to see the initial bonding between a grandparent and a new grandchild:

Riley was awake and alert today. We had a ball talking to him and holding him with those beautiful little eyes open and looking at us. He also seemed to take in every bit of his surroundings. Soaking it in like a sponge. Here’s a picture of Riley and his Dad:

Riley and Shelby had another appointment with the lactation consultant this afternoon. After hearing that Riley had inhaled 3oz. of food earlier in the day we had great hopes for this round of breast feeding. The boy didn’t disappoint and looked like he had been eating that way since day one. Good job Riley and Momma! Since good feeding is one of the remaining criteria for Riley’s release this is very encouraging.

The biggest news today was yet to come. Riley left Children’s Hospital! He hasn’t been deemed ready for home yet, but he’s been transferred to Winchester Hospital where they have a new Special Care Nursery that is headed by our very own Neonatologist, Dr. McAlmon. It’s nice to have that continuity of care. So Riley got a ride in the special gurney and the ambulance again. This time only one nurse from Children’s went along and none of the other support staff. It was much easier to see him in the plastic incubator box this time. He was sound asleep when he got to Winchester and was immediately checked over by the staff there and then given a bottle by his mom. Much different than his last trip.

So Riley is hitting all of his benchmarks. The one important one that’s left is kind of funny, actually. While he was chowing down his 3 oz. meal this morning it was noticed that his oxygen perfusion numbers had dropped significantly. He was so intent on gobbling down his food that he was forgetting to BREATHE! So much like his mom who seems to eat at light speed… So Riley’s next important benchmark is to eat well…and keep his oxygen levels high. Nice to have a boy that’s so excited about his food. Shelby was hoping she wouldn’t have a sluggish eater on her hands. No chance of that.

We’re really close to getting to take our boy home now. It’s so great to see him behaving like the healthy newborn we saw on his birthday.

So close to taking him home…

We love our boy!

Jonathan