Update on Joseph

Joseph is 

36 gestational weeks today and turned 5 weeks old yesterday.

Joseph has been doing really well over all. Last week was a big and successful week for him. He got off of the oxygen and started doing nutritive breastfeeding which is where twice a day we will weigh Joseph and then try and get him to breast feed and then weigh him after to see if he got anything. The most he got last week in a sitting was 10ml. SCORE. Then there were 5's 2's, 1's, 3's, 0's. Then after, we sit skin to skin and they hook up his feeding tube. 

On Saturday he was officially EXHAUSTED. He wouldn't really latch, and would breathe rapidly. He's worked his little body SO hard that week that finally he was shutting down. It's been challenging. He was still too tired today to get a feeding. The nurses say around 37 weeks is when it should just click for him. 

Last week when he was doing so well, I couldn't help but feel anxious for him to be home even that much more. It felt like it was just around the corner, but now with his exhaustion things are set back a little and that's ok. We will get through this. 

He is gaining a great amount of weight. He is now (as of last night) 4 lbs. 15 oz :) ALMOST 5 pounds. He may hit 5 pounds by the end of today or tomorrow. 

As a family, we are hanging in there with the juggles of going back and forth to the hospital. We do what we need to do. We SO look forward to our sweet boy to come home. We hope by Christmas.

What a blessing he is.

 We love you little Joseph boy!

  

love at first sight

 Well as you can imagine it's been VERY busy around here. It's been hard keeping everyone up to date with Joseph's progression. He is doing very well. He is one month old now and they took him off oxygen this week and we've been training in the breast feeding. He weighs 4 pounds, 12 oz. as of today :) WOOHOO! Still quite a road ahead of us but feel so grateful for his progression. Thank you for your prayers in his behalf. I will post updated photos soon. Sorry I'm so behind. For now, here are some photos of first hours of his life. 

Emma and Thomas love Joseph SO much and are always remembering him in their prayers. I think it was love at first sight when they were brought to the NICU to come see him, they were glowing. They are anxious (especially Emma) to have him home. We all are.

 Emma and Thomas just glowing when they first see their baby brother just hours after he was born.

 

Here is a note that Emma wrote for the NICU bulletin for the whole staff. How sweet :)

 The kids have been drawing Joseph some pictures to hang up in his station in the NICU. 

Here is Thomas' drawing. Notice the little red smiley face. He's been SO good at drawing those lately :)

 This is a note Emma wrote all by herself. The only words that she needed help to spell was family. Derek and I were so surprised and proud. It reads...

"We are your family

and your familys names are Emma and Daddy and Mommy and 

Thomas"

 This a letter Emma wrote to "Joey" before we named him. She liked the name Joey. Well she was close enough :) She can still call him Joey if she wants to.

more Emma drawings

She writes...

"Dear Joseph

I love you

You are the 

cutest baby ever." 

How true that is, how true that is.....

bed rest

It was such a challenge being on bed rest for myself and my family. As soon as the doctor gave me the orders on October 18th just days before Joseph was born, I didn't know how I could do it.

Earlier in the week, I had a melt down to Derek. I knew and feared the doctor was going to tell me bed rest at my appointment on Thursday. I didn't know how I would do it all with taking care of my family, my calling as Primary President, and my HUGE list of things to get done before this baby came at Christmas and taking care of Christmas. I then asked Derek for a Priesthood blessing. In the blessing it was said that "this baby would come when he/she was supposed to." I thought about that for a few minutes and hoped that that meant the baby will come closer to his due date.

Well, I was faced with a whirlwind of emotions when the doctor told me later that week that I could have preeclampsia and he wanted to run more tests. I held back my tears as long as I could after he left, then his nurse Rachel came to talk with me to see how I was really feeling. I lost it. My load  feeling heavy and I didn't know I would do this. Then of course Monday, Oct. 22nd, tests resulted that I did indeed have Preclampsia.

Well as soon as the word got out to friends, family, and neighbors we have been well taken care of ever since. My wonderful counselors and Secretary in Primary have totally taken over and carried more of the load. We've had meals brought to us, neighbors taking care of my children and so forth. We have felt SO blessed. 

My sweet family took such great care of me while I was on bed rest. This picture of Emma brushing my hair pretty much sums up how I was treated. Derek was such a champ during that short time on bed rest before Joseph came and still is as we try and balance life out between home and being at the hospital NICU with our sweet Joseph. We're getting through it. We are adapting. There are harder days then others, but with all the love, prayers and support we are getting through it. We thank you so much for the prayers, we are feeling them.

Frazier family Halloween 2012 part 1

 Just before I went on bed rest in October we got a lot of Halloween crafting on! First we made some foot print ghosts. Thomas and Emma kept saying how much it tickled to paint their own feet. I think they turned out adorable. They were hung on our front door window right away :) The kids have been obsessed with ghost sounds this halloween. At the beginning of the month Thomas did not like it when we made the sounds because I think he associated it with monsters, and he didn't like that. :) Then he warmed up to the idea of ghosts and we've had fun with them since. 

Project #2, we made ghosts out  of paper plates. They drew some cute ghost faces on them and had fun running around with them after completion. 

Project #3, We made haunted houses. I cut out the black houses and let the kids put them on colored paper and let them color in the windows of the houses and draw in the back ground. They turned out quite cute. I love watching Thomas concentrate on something with his tongue sticking out, so cute.

Emma's haunted house

Thomas' haunted house 

 Emma was drawing something halloween almost every day, here are a few for your viewing pleasure. :)

Here is a pumpkin Emma drew on for little "Joey". She already named the baby before we did. She was just SO ecstatic to have a new baby brother and was quick to decide his name. Of course she now calls him Joseph. :)

And we shall name him....

Joseph Friedrich Frazier