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Jacob was born on June 21, 2002 via emergency C-section at 3:16 PM. This blog follows him through the NICU and the graduate nursery to his home—and we'll see where it goes from there!

Thursday, June 19, 2003
Well, here we are! It's almost a year, and Jacob's first birthday is June 21st!

It's hard to believe—in some ways, it seems like it's been much longer; in other ways, it was only yesterday that we drove to Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital in Denver for what we thought was just an ultrasound, only to have a new baby four hours later. As parents who have seen him every day since he was born, it's hard for us to fully grasp just how much he's grown and developed in the past year. When we look at the pictures we took the day after his birth, the month after, it's hard for us to fathom just how tiny, delicate and frail Jacob was. We marvel when we see the pictures of us holding him, swallowed in the crook of our arm, or being fully supported in just two hands. It's hard to reconcile the bouncing, laughing 16 lb. baby we have now with the largely silent, serious-looking 1lb 10 oz "peanut" he was shortly after his birth. It's good for us to look back and see how far we've all come.

If anyone had told us at the beginning of our pregnancy that we'd be NICU vets with a full knowledge and appreciation of terms like IUGR, PDA, ROP, CPAP, bilirubin, pulse ox, blood sats, A's & B's, hypospadias, HIDA scan, NEC, IVH, MRSA and a host of other medical terms, we'd have thought they were insane, and would have been horrified that our baby would have to spend 75 days in a neonatal intensive care unit. But we made it, and made some good friends in the process and met some wonderful health care providers. And we are fully convinced that the prayers of literally hundreds of folks across the country (and world!) helped both us and Jacob through the rough spots. We know we are blessed with a wonderful, healthy child who could have had so many more problems than he had. He's a joy to us every single day, and has given us the understanding of what life is all about.

So, with all this in mind, we put together a little retrospective in pictures and captions of Jacob's first year of life. You may have to scroll down to read the captions if you have a smaller monitor. Thanks to all of you who visit here, all of you who have constantly sent us your prayers and thoughts, and those of you who have supported us throughout the year. It's been an amazing experience, and a humbling one. We look forward to sharing many more birthdays with you all!
posted by Geoff Shrieves at 7:02 PM

Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Well, it's about time for an update. Jacob has continued to do well. He doesn't seem to be in too much pain and he continues to have a good appetite. He has finished all of his antibiotics and pain medication and is continuing to get several salt water soaks a day, which is he thoroughly enjoying. Jacob will go for a follow up visit with the Urologist one month after his surgery.

We do think he is teething as he has been sucking in his lower lip for a little over a week now and seems to be drooling a little more than he had been. He has been really sucking/chomping on his teether type toys and has been a little more grumpy at times. His sleep has also been a little disturbed some nights but after some baby Oragel, he quieted down and went to sleep. So we will not be surprised to find a tooth making an appearance sometime soon.

He has continued to be a good eater. He really likes his baby food and juice. He really lets you know how good it tastes by making a little ummmmmm noise after each spoonful. So cute! He has moved on to 2nd foods and a few 3rd foods and seems to be doing fine with the textures. The latest new foods he's tried are strawberries, spinach, squash, apricots and white grape juice. So far he has not had any food allergies and the only thing he does not like is white potato. So far so good!

He has been working to perfect his crawling technique and is doing pretty good with it. He can get from one side of the room to the other in the blink of an eye now. Of course, he always targets the one thing he is not supposed to have like Daddy's dirty sneakers or the dog's water dish, so you can't take your eyes off of him for even part of a second. We are working to get the house baby proofed with baby gates, outlet protectors, etc.

He has just started waving back at us within the last week or so. He doesn't do it consistently yet but often enough that it is an accomplishment. Within the last few days he has also started clapping, which is just the cutest. He usually does it when he is very pleased about something like Elmo being on TV or seeing that we are bringing a favorite toy to him. His babbling has also changed in the last week or so. He really sounds like he's trying to talk now. He is also starting to pull himself up on his knees when in the crib or when he has something on the floor at the right height. He's just amazing us every day.

Hard to believe he will be celebrating his first Birthday in 10 days. What a year our boy has had!


posted by Deb Shrieves at 9:21 PM

Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Today was catheter removal day, and apparently it was much more stressful for Mom and Dad than Jacob. We changed his diaper, and I held his legs still while Deb pulled out the catheter. It was much longer than I would have thought, and Jacob didn't even blink. I don't think he felt a thing, but our blood pressure's shot up about 40 points, I'm sure. So, we're extremely glad that's over with! Whew!

Then it was into his little rubber ducky bathtub with a tablespoon of salt for 10 minutes. He had a good time splashing about and playing with this bath toys. He looks sore and inflamed, but I guess it'll look that way for a couple of weeks. It did appear the doctor did a good job, though. We celebrated with a jar of apricots, which he loved.

Thanks to all who sent good thoughts and prayers our way, we're hoping the worst of this whole episode is behind us and that he'll never need another surgery again!
posted by Geoff Shrieves at 6:14 PM

Monday, June 02, 2003
Hello, all! Things are going fine, Jacob has been in surprisingly good spirits and really doesn't seem to be in much pain.

But have you ever tried to change a wiggling baby's diaper when he has a catheter and double-diapers? You need seven hands—two to try and hold him still, two to remove the catheter from the inner diaper, two to keep his legs from kicking the catheter out, and one to hold something over the catheter so pee doesn't spray everywhere. It's a messy job, believe me. We've managed to get it done, though. We are not in the least looking forward to removing the catheter on Wednesday, though.

But everything is going fine so far, so we're going to hope and pray it continues that way!
posted by Geoff Shrieves at 12:32 PM