Two Weeks Old!

Since I wasn't able to blog for the first two weeks of Eli's life, I thought I'd put together a photo gallery.

Paul shows off some tiny footprints in the waiting room shortly after Eli's birth. In the background, is Sister Mary, one of several nuns who were waiting for a pregnant friend to give birth, (I'd LOVE to know the back story on that!) who were apparently very helpful on the prayer front.



The NICU is an amazing place full of amazing people who work little miracles every day. This is one of our favorite nurses, Yola.
Every so often, most babies have to go "under the lights". This phototherapy is designed to help their underdeveloped systems eliminate biliruben which, if left unchecked, can cause jaundice. When they put the lights on, Eli has to wear a pair of shades to keep his eyes from getting damaged. It's not a pretty sight, but it works, and the following day, Eli is pleasantly pink.













Though there is a lot of high tech equipment around, some things about baby care remain the same no matter the size of the baby. Paul and I get to help out with this aspect of Eli's care. So far we have gotten to change his diaper, take his temperature, and help with his feedings. Here is Paul changing his first poopy diaper. I thought he was going to faint! :-)

As I mentioned in my previous post, Eli is a bit of a little piggy. He's already up to 8 ml (that's a little over 1 1/2 tsp.) of mama's milk per feeding (8 times a day). OK, maybe that doesn't sound like much but he is very small so we are pretty impressed. Here is Eli's stash which awaits his next meal.