New Photos

Yes we're still here!... Just getting used to less sleep, feeding and sleeping schedules, and the realization that just because you have something planned, doesn't mean it's going to happen!

New last week: Robbie really locks his gaze on you when you hold him and especially when you talk to him. Sometimes he tries to talk back - general grunting and 'uhhh's! We also started to supplement his feedings with formula after discovering that his daily fussiness was being caused by constant hunger that I could not take care of by nursing alone. Since adding the formula feedings, he sleeps better / more frequently / more soundly... which has also led to successful naps in his crib, and even starting out in the crib for night time sleeping! (I KNOW!... maybe my days of sleeping on the couch with him in my arms are over... please let them be over!) He usually ends up in bed with me 1/2 way through the night, but we'll get to full nights of sleep in the crib soon.

Rob and Robbie hanging out after work, before bed...

Sometimes Auntie Cheryl comes over after work to hold Robbie so I can make dinner! As you can see, he loves it. We are ALL spoiled by this!

Uncle Ryan came out for a weekend trip to meet Robbie and hang out!

(Jackson, Robbie, and Amelia)

Robbie's first ever play date! He meets the Fuhrman twins, and calls dibs on a first date with Amelia. :) Jen thinks our play dates closely resemble the Dorito's commercial!

Lazy... or busy or distracted.. something!

I am very sorry for not having posted any pictures since we've come home from the hospital (now pushing 2 weeks!). We are still doing well, but Robbie definitely keeps us busy! (And makes us work for our sleep.)

His new 'trick' is to fuss for a few solid hours about once a week, crying hysterically and totally inconsolable. It comes out of nowhere, and Rob is usually the one to eventually soothe him to sleep - bless his heart! It's probably a pretty funny sight, if you were to look in from the outside - one of us holding/walking/rocking the baby, the other frantically flipping through any and every instructional baby book we have, digging for more soothing techniques. Luckily, Robbie only puts us through this about once a week. He is such a great baby - apart from these little episodes, he hardly cries (unless I've deprived him of food for too long!) and is becoming more and more alert during his wakeful times of the day. Today I had a nice conversation with him... he would coo and I would make the same sound he made back to him, and this went on for maybe a few minutes. As he was looking at me talking, he was smiling a lot too! It was so fun - maybe he just felt good physically and wasn't really smiling AT me, but either way. We're on our way to getting more responses back from him when we're interacting, and that's amazing to me!

I will post more pictures just as soon as I can get the memory card out of my mom's camera and into a Walgreens to copy the photos onto a CD.

And to everyone who has brought us a meal or sent us a gift since Robbie was born - thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and care for us. I apologize for not having written a single thank you note yet, and although the general response is one of understanding, I still feel terrible and ungrateful and will do my best to get on it soon!

Still doing well

No pictures this time (I need to charge the battery in my camera!)... but I just wanted to let everyone know that Robbie continues to do well. He is back to a regular feeding and diaper-filling schedule, for which we are very thankful. He's sleeping so hard during the day, and also at night once he falls asleep - usually in the early hours of the morning.

Today was full of fun things - Grandma Armbruster got out Robbie's activity mat while she was here and let him play for a while. She also has been helping us try to get Robbie used to sleeping on his own and has successfully put him down in his pack and play for daytime naps.

We played for a little while with Jack Roth in the afternoon... hopefully they will be good friends!

We also took a trip to the grocery store, and I thought it would be good to try putting Robbie in the Baby Bjorn while I shopped. It worked out great - he slept the whole time, and strangers couldn't get too close to him or touch him (I'm a germaphobe) while I shopped.

And that's it for now!

Recovering at home

We were discharged from the hospital on Sunday and left around 3:45pm! This picture was taken just before we walked out the door - I was so happy, but now that I look at this picture, I realize that I was 'wearing' my anxiety, sleeplessness, everything... even though the ordeal was basically over.

Backing up, Rob's parents flew in from New Jersey to be with us and meet Robbie for the first time - they got to our room minutes after Robbie returned from surgery. My parents had spent the morning with us as we took Robbie into surgery and then waited... and Cheryl came over after church... so we had a room full of care and support ready for the little guy!

Here is a picture of Robbie in the ER once his IV was all set (below) - he was down to 7 lb 6 oz, from the 7 lb 14 oz we had gotten him up to since birth (birthweight - 7 lb 9 oz). Sorry for the 1/2 smile - it was not a happy day. My little baby looks so sick in this picture, it is pathetic.

And Robbie post-surgery, with the surgeon's signature heart-shaped gauze dressings. (The blue dye you see is iodine.)

Rob and I were incredibly impressed with every aspect of our time at CDH - the surgeon, anesthesiologist, nurses and technicians were all the best and we would recommend this hospital and staff to anyone who might find themselves (heaven forbid) in the situation we were in with Robbie. The first evening we were there, our night nurse was the same nurse that I had 3 weeks ago when I recovered from Robbie's birth - Nurse Melanie. I loved her then, and I now love her even more for the way she cared for my son (and really, Rob and I too). On Saturday night she offered to hold Robbie while Rob, his parents and I went to the cafeteria for dinner so that we could have a small break from the stress. We discovered that we live very close to each other in Wheaton, and hope to keep in touch. I will always be indebted to her. Here she is:

Robbie has done very well getting back to a normal feeding schedule, and even slept from 2am-10am last night/this morning!! (I didn't even care that it meant I had to hold him next to me on the couch in the family room... I'm saving up all these snuggle-times because soon Daddy is going to make Mommy leave her little baby in his crib for the night!) He had a great day of regular eating, and had quite the appetite. Not one spit-up. He is such a champ. Here's a picture I just took 2 minutes ago to show you how cute and peaceful he is! (Don't yell at me to 'sleep when the baby sleeps' - I'm trying... but right now, although 'sleeping', he is restless and I know I'll have to wait for the next feeding before we can really "go to bed" - snuggle on the couch for a few hours with our eyes closed.)

And finally, here is one of the reasons Robbie continues to bounce back, and also the reason his parents are able to function as normal human beings:

We are so thankful for our parents - Robbie's grandparents - for their love and care for the 3 of us. We are blessed by all 4 of them, and don't know how anyone does this 'baby' thing without the help of family. This is a common picture at our house these days, usually in the mornings - my mom holding Robbie. What you can't see is me, passed out on the couch, catching up on sleep.

Robbie wants you all to know that he is feeling well, and thanks you for your prayers!

Hospital update

Well our upper GI test on Friday at CDH was changed at the last minute to a second ultrasound, which revealed Pyloric Stenosis. Robbie was immediately taken down to the ER and put on an IV and monitored. We were then admitted to the hospital and taken to the Pediatrics floor. His surgery was scheduled for Saturday morning, and it went very well. Due to the Dr's schedule, it was able to be performed here at CDH! His first feeding of Pedialyte happened one hour after surgery and went down and stayed down. The next few feedings were a little tougher and he would occasionally spit up, so we took it slow and let Robbie set the feeding pace.

This morning he had his first bottle of 100% breastmilk! He has held it down and is really starting to look and act like the baby we knew before he got sick.

Rob and I were both able to sleep through the night last night as Aunt Cheryl took care of Robbie until 2am, and then the nurse took care of him for us after that until we woke up. We feel like brand new people. :)

Thank you for your prayers, and we will let you know when we're able to go home! (Either this afternoon or tomorrow.)

Still sick...

Well we are still trying to soothe Robbie as he has not stopped vomiting, even as of this morning - we have an Upper GI test scheduled for 9am at CDH today. They also may redo the ultrasound we had on Wednesday, because the pediatrician now suspects that this could actually be pyloric stenosis. If that is the case, it would reqire surgery at Children's Memorial in the city fairly quickly. If it's not, I believe they'll treat it as acid reflux. Either way, we anticipate an IV will be necessary to hydrate Robbie soon as he's losing weight and not filling diapers very often.

Thanks for your prayers, and to Dad and Cheryl who have come over to help and hold Robbie through the night / day, thank you so much.

Sick...

Robbie had a hard day today... he's been throwing up after each feeding, everything he eats. We aren't sure why yet, but we know it's not the more serious stomach ailment, pyloric stenosis (ruled out via ultrasound this afternoon). We appreciate your prayers for our little guy! If we are a bit MIA, now you know why.

I'll spare you a picture, that would be gross. :)

Favorite place to sleep...

This is our night-time routine; Rob holds Robbie while I get ready for 'bed' (or ready for the night-time hours, I should say!). And he usually ends up falling asleep on Dad's chest.

This is how I know it's his favorite place to sleep! Check out that grin. (I know, I know - he was probably filling his diaper at the time and wasn't really showing emotion - but it's still cute!)

Adorable!

Asleep... for the moment!

LOVING the Baby Bjorn

This was the beginning of a 5 hour nap for Robbie this evening - if only I could somehow wear the baby bjorn and sleep walk through the night so that we could both get some sleep!

Drifting off...

Little feet hanging out!

I strapped on the baby bjorn around 4pm... and we just took this picture (above) a few minutes ago, at 9pm! Still sleeping like a champ. Let's hope this doesn't absolutely wreck the night ahead. :)

First Bath

Robbie had a blowout diaper the other night - and forced his mom to conquer her irrational fear of bathing him for the first time! (it was long overdue...)

He cried the whole time, but enjoyed being bundled up in his Tigger towel.

So cute - and his hair was so clean afterwards. We're going to have to do this more often! (Actually, as I write this, I realize we did already... today... after he took advantage of the .05 seconds I had his diaper completely off while changing him and made quite a mess on the pack-and-play changing station. With urine covering him from head to toe, I had no choice but to revisit the bath!)

I will say, I am very glad we have that 'silly' rinse cup with the soft edge - it has made bathtime very easy!

Happy Birthday Megan!

Megan Clark, Gina Mitchell, and Chris & Lauren Hill (and baby Austin) came over on Sunday for dinner and a birthday celebration! They got to meet Robbie, and we introduced Robbie and Austin for the first time. Again, Robbie was spoiled by all of the loving arms that held him throughout the night, and we are so thankful for these friends. Happy Birthday, Megan!

The proud dads

Austin and Robbie, just 6 months apart (they will be in the same class at Taylor...!)

Austin was very interested in Robbie and was so sweet to him, I don't know why his mom and dad kept telling him not to eat little Robbie! :)

Plenty of birthday cake for 6 people...

Megan meets Robbie

A great picture of our boys!

Gina keeping Austin happy

Week 2... in pictures!

Robbie has had a busy 2nd week of life, it's all I can do to keep up with the pictures on this blog!

My grandpa Bob, Robbie's great-grandpa, could hardly wait to meet his first great grandchild. He wanted to get in the car and drive to our house the day he heard we had Robbie, and be here to greet us when we came home from the hospital! Grandma Edie convinced him to wait a few days so that we could get settled in at home first, and they got to see Robbie when he was just 6 days old.

Grandma Edie cuddling with Robbie... Thank you for driving out especially to see us!

This is what happens when Dad comes home from work - Robbie is usually awake and ready for some tummy time, and Dad is happy to play with him for the few minutes a day that he is alert.

...But they both tire easily at night. :)

Aunt Kelsey was home on spring break for a little over a week, and got a lot of holding time! She came over every day with my mom to give me time to sleep, and Robbie loved every minute that he was held! Thanks Aunt Kelsey! Robbie already misses you (he told me today).