We Graduated!

As of 11:20am we are offically living life as a family of 3 OUTSIDE of the NICU. After 5 weeks and 5 days (40 days) of a NICU stay we graduated to real life!

The next steps for us are to enjoy Sawyer in Florida while we wait for ICPC (interstate paperwork) to be completed. We are calling it our family honeymoon! We are in beautiful Florida and we get to just enjoy our beautiful boy and the beautiful place we're in! 

Sweet stretches trying out the new outfit before we leave the hospital.
* yeah.. I made the hat :D*

Officially ready to head to the apartment!

My good lookin' man carrying the love of our lives. God is good. 

Food. Uff

As of today, I'll have been in FL for 7 weeks. Five and a half of those weeks I spent at the hospital 12-13 hours a day. I was staying at an apartment around 30 min away. This means that my only time to make REAL food was at night, or over night. One of the nurses we met was gracious enough to lend me a croc pot. LIFE SAVER! Honestly. I am not sure I could have functioned as well without the use of that.

I used the croc pot to make chili, chicken (many times over), and meat for stir fry.

The chili that I made lasted for about 6 or 7 meals. If you can handle eating the same thing over and over again this was a fantastic option! Now, I'm sorry to inform you all, but I can be a very unhelpful cook... I don't always use a recipe.. Nor do I remember half the time what I put in a dish. I can give you some tips though:
- use tomato sauce AND diced tomatoes.
-Let the chili sit on low for 6-8 hours. Chili is best when it's sat a long time and the flavors can get to
 know each other.
- You don't have to use a croc pot chili specific recipe. Any chili recipe will do. You're cooking it on
 low so you have some leeway.

Chicken. I used the croc pot to cook 2 pounds of chicken at a time. When it was done (so in the morning because I put it in before I went to bed) I would take it out and while it was hot I would shred it. This made the chicken useable for many different types of food. I mostly used it for on top of salads. I would buy organic prepared lettuce, a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette from Trader Joe's and I also would cut up some strawberries. Throw that on a bed of leafy greens and BOOM clean eating at it's finest! I can eat the same thing many days in a row without much complaint so I had a chicken salad pretty much every day for 4 weeks.

I also used the chicken to make quesadillas. I didn't buy any butter, but I did buy a jar of coconut oil and I used it to "butter" each side of the tortilla. Then I cooked it in a pan and whoa... Mind blown! I liked it better than butter! I kept a jar of pico de gallo on hand for such occasions. I also kept a bag of yummy chips on hand to enjoy as a midnight snack too.

For the croc pot I also made One-Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls. Thank you Pinterest. This was used over lettuce, as is, and as a chip dip. It is clean, yummy, and versatile. Even my husband was able to enjoy it!

As far as other foods I kept on hand: I always had 2 doz eggs on hand. One dozen I would hard boil and keep in the fridge for a protein hunger buster. The other I used to make my fav: sunny side up eggs. Eggs are quick, full of protein, and yummy!

For breakfast I always have a smoothie. It's just my way of getting my daily fruits in. I also feel significantly less bloated when I eat a smoothie for breakfast. I made smoothies for myself only so I decided to splurge and buy all fresh fruit. My smoothies consisted of:
*2 healthy spoonfuls of full fat, organic yogurt
*1 banana
*1 orange
*a few strawberries
*maybe some pineapple or mango
**When I'm home I also add a scoop of protein powder, but a girl can only do so much 1,700 miles away from home.**
To deal with the loss of protein powder I would eat a hard boiled egg as well. Usually around 10 or 11am I would start to feel hungry already so I also would eat a small bag of almonds.

Ok, I better be done... this is a long blog about saving money and time on food, but still eating clean... with no photos... SORRY! Blogger fail to forget to take photos. Sooooo as an apology here's a cute photo of our son the day before we were discharged eating.

I mean... we are talking about food after all. 

Family Honeymoon

It's a joy that even after a week, waking up every 3 hours to feed Sawyer is seriously enjoyable.

I don't even mind that in between those times I wake up listening for any grunt, coo, breath, or snort I can catch to know he's breathing still. 

So far our family honeymoon - the time we have to spend in FL while we wait for the interstate paperwork to be completed to release Sawyer from FL - has been nothing short of wonderful. We can't take Sawyer out in places with lots of germs since his immune system is compromised, but we can moby him up and take him on walks! We're slowly installing the love for sun, water, and warm in him.

First time using the moby on Siesta Key Beach.

Becoming moby pro's at Marina Jack.

Really enjoying our first hike at Mayakka State Park. 

David and I love to hike and the other day we went to Mayakka State Park! LOVELY! It's a beautiful park that always has alligators sunning! Apparently you can rent a kayak and row downstream... in the water... the same water with giant, water dinosaurs... ummm cool. And ummm no. HA! But it's gorgeous!

Sweet birds just chillin. They didn't seem phased by all of the commotion. 

If you look really close in the middle, there is around 6 gators. 

Sometimes, being a photographer, and having the landscape
work with me, brings some serious satisfaction. 

I can't hardly explain what it means to finally be 24/7 parents to this precious boy God gave us. How did we get chosen to be given this perfect little boy? It's so much fun, it's emotional, it's a blessing, it's a little daunting, and it's more wonderful than I could have ever dreamed it to be. 

After waiting through 4 years and 1 month of infertility, and 1 year of adoption, I am blown away by the grace and mercy god has given me to fully and deeply love this little boy. 

Whoa Nelly

Well... They told me it would come up fast. I knew it would be fast. Apparently, I wasn't understanding exactly what that meant. 

I had the discharge nurse in here today discussing what will be happening  over the next few days. My little Mr. Sawyer-pants is a week or less from being discharged... At 34 weeks tomorrow... And only 3 pounds 11 ounces, Sawyer is ready to bust on out of this joint! I don't know how he's done it, but he's just a big boy in a preemie body. 

God has protected Sawyer in ways that amazing me! Through a tough pregnancy, a premature birth, and growing in the NICU Sawyer doesn't seemed phased by any of it. He just thinks he's doing what he's supposed to. 

Tomorrow will mark 5 weeks that we've been in the NICU. Today is 5 weeks for Sawyer. It's been a real joy to grow my baby. He was born at 28 weeks and 6 days gestation (that's how far along the birth mom was pregnant with him), and now, for the majority of his maturing he's known me as his mama. I've fed him, held him skin to skin, talked to him, cared for him, and grown me a baby!

I walked in this morning to see Sawyer with no feeding tube taped to his face! 

This afternoon was Sawyer's official 48 hours of bottle feeding only. 

Last Monday he got off of his breathing support.

This Saturday he decided to try to eat from a bottle. 

This Monday he's decided to only eat from a bottle. 

Today, the discharge nurse is preparing me to leave soon...

His progress has literally been daily! Whoa! 

32 Weeks

Three weeks ago today at 1:30am David and I left our home in MN and drove the 2.5 hours to the airport. We were going to meet our baby. He had chosen to arrive early after 28 weeks and 6 days.

I can't believe that 3 weeks ago we touched down in FL at noon. Then, 3 hours later we met our son... I feel like I don't have the words yet to share Sawyer's story. I've tried. 

2 days after we met him he was legally in our custody and we could spend all the time we wanted with him. Since then we have spent 12-13 hours growing a baby! He's done so well! He's gone from 2 pounds 4 ounces back to birth weight at 2 pounds 9 ounces 2 weeks later. He's now 2 pounds 12 ounces and an inch and a half longer than he was at birth. 

He is right on track and doing exactly what he's supposed to do.

Here he is on December 26- the day he was put in our custody.

This is him at 32 weeks on Wednesday, January 14. He was 3 weeks and 1 day old. 

His tummy is bigger, his harms are softer, and his skin is more mature! He's longer and heavier! So far, we're successfully grown' a baby!

Set backs

Yesterday was an exciting day! My little Sawyer David had gained another ounce putting him at 2 pounds 12 ounces and THEN, the doctor decided to try Sawyer off of his CPAP. it was so exciting to have him reach that step already! He was only 31 weeks and 5 days! Normally, they wait until 32 weeks to try removing the CPAP. Each big step Sawyer takes towards doing things on his own means a step closer to being discharged! He has already spent the last 3 days with his top popped on his isolatte maintaining his own body temp. 

The next big steps are for him to continue gaining an ounce a day or 30 grams a day, breathing on his own, and eating from a bottle. Eating from a bottle won't even be tried for another week or 2. For breathing on his own they won't be in a hurry to take him off of his CPAP for a little while. Whenever they feel like he's breathing easier. 

I received a phone call at 11pm that the doctor had checked over Sawyer and thought that it would be good to put him back on his CPAP. He was working very hard to breath and he was just too little to be spending that kind of energy breathing. It had even caused him to lose 2 ounces in 1 day. 

So today, I walked into my sweet boy all hooked up again to the clunky CPAP. His little face is mostly covered in tape and tubes. I am grateful for technology that allows my 2 and a half pound baby to survive. I am also ready to see my baby without the tubes and having his sweet cheeks be free of any extra weight. 

He is small and it's normal for babies to go off and on the CPAP a few times before being able to be fully off of it for good. 

I never knew the weight of the worry and love I would have for my little boy. It's a great responsibility and I hope I do God and him proud. 

Here's to my baby being 3 weeks today and getting bigger every day!

Resting

I have tried on multiple occasions to write Sawyer's adoption story and I just can't get it out of my head and into words yet. 

So I'm staring with today! Sunday, January 11.

I walked into Sawyer's room today to a very big surprise! The top to his Isolette had been up and he was swaddled. The nurse told me he's just been running so hot that they're trying him on room air to see if he can maintain his own body temp. It's been like that since 7am and he's been a champ! It's all just one more exciting step towards groth and development!

The nurses are constantly telling me that I need to get out. I spend about 13 hours a day with Sawyer caring for him. My mantra is -I'm growing a baby.- This is the sole purpose to my being in FL right now. To love, care for, and grow Sawyer into a thriving boy that can go home. I am LOVING my job right now! He's so much fun and the progress that he makes is so rewarding! Today was 79° and mostly sunny. I took advantage of this and the nurses advice and went to sit at the beach for an hour. I put on a tank top and just stared at the beauty of the water. 

God gifted us with a beautiful son. I can't wait to share my love of the beach with him. 

All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. -John 1:3