Yes, we're still here...

It has been so nice being home with Liam and Tim this week. We haven't done much, which is great. We have had time to just sit together and love on our little guy. He pretty much just sleeps and eats. We have to wake him up every 3 hours to eat. I take the 2am and Tim takes the 5am. We'll see how that goes considering Tim goes back to work tomorrow (Mon). Liam is up to 55mL's - almost 2 oz of breast milk. We increase his feeds a few mL's every 2 days.

Our first outing was on Friday morning to the doctor. Liam checked out just fine. He weighed in at 5lbs 15 oz and 18 inches long even though he was still not due for another month! It is crazy to think he is supposed to be in my tummy yet. I can't imagine what it would be like if I was still on bed rest.

OK -I better try to get some rest because 2am comes too fast! I'll post more pics soon.

We're HOME!!!

This is Liam waiving goodbye to all his wonderful nurses that helped take such good care of him!
Taking a little cat nap while waiting for the doctor to give us the discharge instructions.

Three strikes and your out right? Well, at least in Liam's case. Today was the third time they said he was going home and we are outta there! Tim took a half day off in anticipation of Liam maybe going home. They wouldn't give us a for sure answer because he didn't finish his 16 feeds in a row until 11:00 today, and then the doctor had to give approval after that. We didn't get the official go ahead until 2:30 and we were gone just after 3.

I finally got the car seat checked yesterday and we both took infant CPR today. So everything was set, we just needed Liam! We are a little nervous about being home, no nurses to rescue us, but we are ready. He is on a monitor for his heart rate and breathing, so that is reassuring or it just freaks you out because the alarm is really loud. It hasn't gone off yet and we hope it stays that way.

He has really got the eating thing down, lets hope he has the sleeping thing down too - even though we will have to continue to wake him up to eat every 3 hours until he gets a little bigger. It is so fun to watch him sleep. He makes little noises and it sounds like he is laughing. It's so cute. We're going to try to catch it on tape. It's just something that you hope you will always remember once they get big and start to talk back!

We apologize for not really calling anyone and letting you know we are home, but we have just enjoyed this time together and wanted to sit and relax and be together - it's been a while. Thank you for all the prayers and support, Liam so often reminds us that God is good.

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Low Hemoglobin

Liam was up to 8 feeding in a row as of this morning. Then I called to check up on him and he decided to get really tired. His nurse ordered more labs to check his hemoglobin again. It was still pretty low (8.2) even though he was on iron, so they decided to give him an infusion of blood. He had to get an IV, which he hasn't had in a long time. With all this going on, they thought it best to let him rest during his feedings, so back to zero and we start the count over again. We really thought tomorrow we were going to be bringing him home. They even have all of his discharge papers ready. I think this is the third time they have given the hint that he will be going home and Liam decides otherwise. We are trying to stay really positive. It may take a few days for him to catch up and regain some strength again. He did take his 5:00 and 8:00 bottles tonight, 2 down, only 14 more to go!

This is after his infusion. He was really tired and didn't open his eyes too much. They took his arm out of his shirt to put in the IV. You can really see how chunky his arms and cheeks are getting. Even his little hat is getting too small.

In Liam's Word's...

"Dad, seriously, would you put down the camera already? I think we have enouph pictures, besides, I need my diaper changed and I'm hungry."

"Oh, this pipe tastes so good. I think I will just close my eyes and go to sleep."

"I love my blankie. Do you see it has my name on it? Mommy said that her friend Kathy got it for me. Her mom makes lots of these. Mine even has cars on it!"

"This is grandpa and me having a good talk. He said I have to start eating better so I can come home. He said I would really like it there and I will even have my own room with no other kids in it!"

1 Month Old

I just thought this picture was so funny!

It looks like he is saying "arrrg," like a pirate.

This is Tim and I giving Liam his first bath.

We have to do twice before he can go home.

Aren't these booties adorable? One of Mom DeHaan's
small group friends made them for us. They fit perfect!

This is Uncle Kieth, Aunt Mary and Ashley. They came to visit on Sunday. They each got to hold Liam, but he just wanted to sleep!

Today Liam is 1 month old. I can't believe it. It sure does fly by. I can't imagine home much faster it will go once he is home. He is really improving. Yesterday he had 5 bottles in a row. It takes him about 25 minutes to finish 1.5 oz, slow and steady wins the race, right?

Well, Liam's nurse last night said that their census is way up. There was 96 babies in the NICU and 7 more on the way. Her goal was to discharge all the babies in Liam's room in 48 hours! Yeah right! I told her good luck and I could help her out with one of those babies! There are 8 babies in Liam's room right now. I thought is was full with 6! It gets really tight in there, so we probably won't have any visitors until he comes home. We want him to get maximum rest in between feedings so he does better. It is so busy in his room, I'm surprised he can get much sleep at all, but he doesn't seem to mind. he continues to gain weight, last night he was up to 5 lbs 2 oz. Way to go Liam!

5 Pounds!

As you can see, Liam likes to lay with his arms up.

Liam now weighs 5 lb 1 oz! He had a bit of a ruff weekend. Sunday night he continued to drop his heart rate so his nurse decided he needed some blood work done. His hemoglobin was a little low, so they started him on iron. They said this may be why he was D-stating (dropping heart rate). They also put him on caffeine again. This helps him to remember to breathe. It takes him a few days to catch up. Today was better than Monday and hopefully tomorrow will better yet. He is definitely getting chubby cheeks and already holds his head up. Our new goal is for Liam to come home when they say he can come home! (Thank you Mr. Obvious)

A few of Liam's visitors

These are a few of Liam's visitors this week. He hasn't had too many because we can only have 2 visitors at a time. It's hard to fit everyone in - especially when grandparents get first dibs! They love to visit Liam and he loves it too. We are hoping that Liam will be home within a week or two, so if you want to see him at the hospital - call us soon, otherwise as long as you're not sick, you can visit when he is home.

This is Tory Yount, one of our pastors wives. (clarification - we have more than one pastor - our pastor does not have more than one wife!)

This is Missy (the church wife). She thinks Liam looks like her.

Proud Great Grandma and Grandpa DeHaan - the oldest holding the youngest in our family (at least currently - this family grows fast).

Uncle Matt checkin' out the little man. We think Liam picked up a lot of Matt's qualities, especially the apnea. Aunt Joni and Austin came to visit too, but we don't have a picture of them. They were busy checking out the fish tank when the camera was out.

Kelly came to visit too, but the pictures went on her camera - check out her blog!

To all you Blog Stalkers out there - sorry we have not updated enough for you (Auntie Barbie). We will continue to do our best !!!


Here is the latest on Liam...


Day 23 :


We just got back from visiting Liam. He had another big day. His nurse said he was very awake and alert for his 8:00am feeding, so he got a bottle and finished it all! I was there for his 11:00 and 2:00 feeding. He is starting to wake up with out my help before he needs to eat. This is a great sign that he is progressing! He got 2 additional bottles today - both from me :0) and he drank all of those too. I hope this means we can continue to increase the amount of times he gets a bottle and decrease the tube feedings. I think Liam is ready to have the tube out! Monday when I was there to visit, he had pulled it out himself! Oops, too bad he had to get it put right back in.


As you can see in the picture on the left, dad had a hand in getting Liam dressed. He has this onesie in red and blue. In the picture on the right, mom is feeding Liam a bottle. The more you eat the sooner you get to come home! He is currently at 4 lbs 7.5 oz. If weight gain was the only requirement to come home, he would be here!


I had a meeting with Liam's doctor on Monday. I had a list of questions for him, obviously the biggest one was when can he come home. I didn't get an answer to that question. It's up to Liam. It does not go by weight or age, just development. I guess we will only get a day or two notice when it is time, so we better be ready. Our goal is to have him home before Thanksgiving.