Best Nurse Ever!

This is Vicky, one of Conner's primary nurses. A primary nurse means that we asked her to be Conner's nurse whenever she is working, and she accepted. We were so happy when she accepted the invitation! From the first day that she took care of Conner, we knew we wanted her to be one of his primary nurses. She raved about how sweet our baby was and there was something so special about her. We feel so confident and so good when we know she is with Conner. She loves Conner, and we know that he can feel her love and that it makes a difference in his care. We are so happy knowing that even when we are not there, that if Vicky is taking care of him, he is being adored and held and loved. Every time we are there with her, she says the kindest, sweetest things about our baby (and what parent doesn't love that?!) and she is such a genuine person!

The other day when I was at the hospital, I went to the parent's lounge for a break, and when I came back to Conner's bedside, Vicky was holding and rocking Conner. (When I had left, he was sleeping in his bed). It was just a simple act, an easy task, but it meant the world to me. It meant that my baby was being taken care of in that special, maternal way that nothing beats. It meant that he didn't just have a nurse that was recording his daily activity, charting medicines and doing her job, but that she truly went the extra mile in providing my sweet little baby with love and affection.

Today Conner had another Swallow Test done. It showed that he has improved in a lot of ways since his last swallow test that was done 10 days ago, but he still didn't 'pass'. The nurse practitioner that came and talked to me today about the swallow test results put a real downer on the situation (didn't focus at all on the positives of him improving) and when she left, I felt sad. I felt like my baby did the best that he could and all she could say was that he 'failed'. My heart felt heavy. I was holding Conner in my arms, and he was sleeping so peacefully. I looked at his little face right next to mine and rubbed my cheek against his soft head. Vicky was standing next to me, at her computer making some notes, and when the nnp left, she turned to me and said how sorry she was, and asked me if I was ok. I couldn't even answer as tears rolled down my face, but I tried to mumble an "I'm o.k." Then I heard her sniffle, and I looked up, and she was crying with me! We have such an amazing nurse! We love Vicky and we are so thankful for her and her remarkable way of being not only the best nurse for our baby, but a wonderful support to myself and Paul.

"This is the favorite part of my whole Day!"

Paul meets me at the hospital every day after work. He is so happy when he gets to pick up our precious little Conner boy and be with him. Everyday, when Paul is rocking him and holding him, he says "This is the favorite part of my whole day!".

I think Conner has Paul's big beautiful blue eyes...and super long eye lashes! Why is it that boys always get that? No fair!
I cannot wait for when we have Conner home and we can play with him all we want. Yesterday was Conner's 6-week birthday! :) It is so bizarre to think that Conner won't even make his debut to people until he is 2 months old! (he still has about 2 more weeks in the hospital). Paul and I love Conner beyond belief. He is just this incredibly sweet little baby who hardly cries, and has been through so much in his short little life time. He brings us so much joy and we are so blessed to have Conner in our lives!

Wonderful Doctor

Today I had my 6-week appt. with my obgyn. When he came into the room, he asked me how I was, and we chatted a bit. Then he asked about Conner, and I started crying. I usually don't cry when people ask me about him, but today I was extra emotional. I started to tell him "Well, he is still up there (referring to the hospital), and he is having some issues with eating.." and my Doctor got a surprised look on his face, and said "Wait, what do you mean, still up there?". It turns out that my doctor was not aware that Conner was born with a heart defect, since it wasn't discovered until a few days after he was born. So when I explained to my doctor that Conner has Tetralogy of Fallot and that he has been in the hospital since he was born, he was stunned. He said that he had had no idea that I didn't have my little baby at home with me this whole time, and that somehow/somewhere the lines of communication didn't get back to him about our situation. He said he felt so bad that he didn't know and sincerely apoligized...while he was saying this, my doctor got teary-eyed, which of course made me cry more. I felt such a genuine concern from him and that he really cared about me and my sweet little baby. I have never felt that type of kindness from any other doctor my whole life. I would highly recommend him-his name is Dr. Layne Smith and he is at Alta View Hospital.

This was the first time that I did "skin to skin contact" with Conner. The nurse that suggested it was so cute and excited for me to try it! She talked about the emotional bond that it creates and also explained that Conner can actually get antibodies from me through doing this, which can benefit him. It was such a sweet experience! I LOVED it and I'm sure that Conner did too! As the nurse laid Conner on my chest, I felt an overwhelming sense of purity and innocence from Conner and it brought me to tears. I felt his warm body against mine and could feel his precious breathing softly on my chest. After just moments of being placed on my chest, his heart rate slowed down and his oxygen level went up- wow! It truly was a special bonding experience for us.

I just had to post this adorable video of Conner staring at me! I was holding him, and then I looked down at him, and he was totally staring at me with his big beautiful eyes! So Paul grabbed the camera, and recorded him just staring at me! I love his big sweet eyes, the wrinkles on his forehead, his little open mouth, and everything about his cute face in this video!

Wow...this is definitely one of those times where I wish I had kept up on this whole blogging thing... now I have tons and tons to write about with the birth of our precious little Conner boy, and everything that has gone on since. Just the super super basics for a minute, and then I hope I will be able to write out the details in the next few weeks.

Conner Paul Staten was born February 12, 2010 at 9:57pm. (He came 3 weeks early). Weight was 6lbs 2oz, length was 17 1/2 inches long. Conner has blond peach fuzz on his sweet little head and his heart defect is called Tetralogy of Fallot. He will have surgery to correct this defect when he is 4-6 months old. We did not know about his heart condition before he was born. Conner has been up at PCMC for 4 weeks, 1 day, but we are hoping that he gets to come home this weekend!!! He has to be able to take all his feedings orally and then we can bring his home! (right now he is taking about 1/2 from the bottle, and 1/2 through his feeding tube). We just started working on breast feeding with Conner, and I hope he can continue to get the hang of it!!!

Ok, that will have to do for now. Hopfully I will be back very soon to continue the story. :)