Intro to baby heartburn... yuck!

What a grumpy boy...

Grandma stopped by to visit...

Bennett is doing great here in Olympia. He has been learning to eat and we are hoping to get rid of that yucky tube in his nose tomorrow. He is putting on weight like crazy and is officially tipping the scales at 6 pounds!

A little set back on our way to parole out of this joint has been reflux. Apparently the horrendous heart burn from pregnancy has carried over to our little one and he seems to be pretty miserable at times. It can be pretty hard on preemies because they havent developed a good way to stop it, while an older baby would just spit up. Other than that he is ready to go home so we will see how long this sets us back. It does sound like he will go home on some baby Zantac and a fancy crib wedge to prop him up when he sleeps.

We are really excited to get him home but we are more excited about taking home a super healthy baby so we are trying to be patient.

He does seem to get cuter every day and has so far got his skin tone from his mommy and the rest of his good looks from his dad. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed sneaking out of the hospital for Grandma Ruth's famous prime rib dinner! YUM!

Bennetts first Christmas!

The holidays sure make him sleepy

Santa even made a stop at the hospital!

Bennetts big boy crib

Today Bennett lost one of his walls. He was moved to an open air crib and out of the isolet.

Such a big boy and a big yawn!

He is now officially an Olympian

Bennett was transfered to the level 2 nursery at St. Peters Hospital in Olympia today. He really lucked out because they opened the new facility last week and he is the first baby in his room. The facility is beautiful and we have a private room where he is still under great supervision of the fabulous nurses there. I can even stay the night in the room if I would like.

His pediatrician came to the hospital to meet him and said everything looks great, he just has to learn how to feed and it sounds like that can take a week or two.

We are able to hold him pretty much whenever we want and Joel was able to hold him for the first time today... such a natural!

Bennett's first snow day

Although he didnt venture outside, we told Bennett all about the snow and how it was causing all sorts of trouble for his mom and dad traveling to the hospital in Tacoma.

I havent driven since August and the weather is definately not too inviting. Joel has been driving me up and down to the hospital but has loved to get to see him everyday even if it is stressful for his work schedule.

Bennett is definately not too busy these days, just sleeps most of the time as he would be doing if he was still in the belly. He is doing wonderful and I had a Dr. say to me "Someone needs to tell Bennett that he was supposed to be in the womb for 8 more weeks, He is sure trying to act a lot older." An overachiever already I guess :)

We are working pretty hard on getting him transfered to the nursery in Olympia. The only big step left between now and his venture home is learning to feed. This is something they usually learn how to do at around 36 weeks so it may be a couple more weeks in the hospital and we definately want him closer for that time.

It is very hard to leave him there at night. But not to worry, the night nurses love the round the clock calls from Mom. They are very sweet to update us on his every move no matter what time of night it is.

I know he is changing everyday so I have been getting a ton of pictures. He is amazing and we definately feel like the luckiest parents in the world.

Bennett has graduated!

Last night Bennett graduated out of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and into the Intermediate Care Nursery. This is the nursery where he will stay the remainder of his hospital time. There we will learn how to feed and put on some more weight. We were expecting more time in the NICU so we were excited to hear he was doing so well that they transferred him.

Another great part of this new nursery is that I FINALLY got to hold him. I spent 3 hours this morning in a comfy chair snuggling baby :)

He is off all breathing support and only has monitors and a feeding tube left. He will just be working on putting on some weight but unfortunately this is sometimes the longest part of the battle and could take a few more weeks. There is a possibility he may get transferred down to Olympia so we could be closer to home. Until then we will be driving up everyday to be with him in this more comfy nursery.

More pics of Big Bennett

So it is getting hard to not update pictures everyday... he just seems to get cuter and cuter.

Getting used to life in the NICU

Bennett is loving life in the NICU except for all those scary looking monitors and tubes!

He is keeping up with the 32 weekers and getting stronger each day. He has Jaundice (very common for preemie babies) and gets to sit under warm lights all day. He is going to be tan like mom before we know it. His eyes get a little swollen from the air they are blowing on him in there too :)

It is hard to really do anything through the isolet but we are getting used to changing him and just waiting patiently for him to build up his strength so that he can come out and play. We are hoping we will be able to hold him this weekend.

We are just concentrating on taking steps forward each day and enjoying every second watching him do better.

Bennett James Olsen HAS ARRIVED!!!

He arrived Sunday December 7th at 6:03pm at 32 weeks, 1 day and on our 99th day of strict bed rest.

He weighs 5 lbs 2 oz and is 17 inches long!!

He decided he was tired of being in moms belly early Saturday morning. After trying to stop labor in St. Peters Hospital in Olympia with little success I was transfered to Tacoma General late Saturday night via ambulance.

At 4 am Sunday morning, after being up all night the Perinatologists decided that he was looking healthy and to take out the cervical stitch and see what happens. After seeming pretty eager to arrive he sure took his sweet time after that.

After arrival we got a few pictures and then he was wisked away by the waiting NICU team. After he got settled in we went to see him. He was really tired and taking a little bit more effort to breathe than they would like. This is completely normal for all 32 week babies. He was put on a CPAP (a little breathing helper tube, not a ventilator). This morning in between visits we got a call that he has been upgraded to "room air canula" this is just a small little plastic tube under his nose to remind him to breathe. He is doing well and very much keeping up with the other 32 weekers.

He is soooo cute but just a little sleepy. We expect him to be in the NICU for about 4 weeks. Everytime we visit him he is more alert and we can tell he is building his stregnth.

These pictures are not that great and I will definately update more after we get out of the hospital and can get some of the newer pictures off our camera.... the pictures above are just the ones after he first arrived taken by a very shaky husband. In his newer pics you can see he has a ton of hair! :)

We are excited and cant wait to get to hold him and have him home!!! I did get to change his diaper this morning through the isolet, that will definately take some practice :)

Bennett's first Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. I dont think I will ever again eat off of our wedding china balanced on my belly while laying on a lawn recliner in my dinning room. But the food was still amazing thanks to Grandma Jones that cooked away all day in our kitchen.

After spending our second wedding anniversary eating pizza in bed on Tuesday, we went to see Dr. Moruzzi again today. We are officially 31 weeks, 4 days and on our 95th day on bedrest. He said baby looks big and healthy in there. He is still threatening to arrive before we would like him to but we are thankfully past the big risky stage where little Bennett could have severe complications. At this point he would probably be a healthy little man after about a month in the hospital.

We are still holding out hope that we will make it to around 36 weeks (January 3rd) where we could deliver at St. Peter Hospital here in Olympia with Dr. Moruzzi.

We are working away on our nursery and it is turning out really cute and making us very excited to meet little Mr. Olsen.

We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!!