Ethan's First Fourth

Surprise, Ethan spent his first 4th of July in the hospital. It's a much more calm atmosphere than little Beirut (as Gibson called it) in our neighborhood. For three straight nights we have had fireworks going off from 9pm until the early morning. Ali said she heard them going off at 5am this morning when she was up. It's a fair bit ridiculous, yet awesome at the same time.

I guess I should apologize for not posting for a few days, but there hasn't really been anything to post until today. Which is a good thing of course.

Ethan had his Grandma and Grandpa Hunt up yesterday and met his Aunt Kelly for the first time. He was very active around 10:30am yesterday before his 11am feeding, but he was a little more subdued for his family members in the afternoon.



Bob, Heather and Keegan also stopped by the hospital for a visit. Keegan was small, but not this small. Pretty fun watching Keegan scoot around crawling everywhere. Before we know it, Ethan will be doing the same.

Grandma and Grandpa Konneker went to see Ethan today and to all of our surprise, he had his IV out. Having the IV out is a big step as it means he is eating enough to keep his fluid levels up. He is currently at 32cc's (or just over an ounce) every three hours. The amount has shot up from roughly 8cc's only three days ago. He is definitely an eater, normally taking from a bottle. (Although he just wouldn't take the bottle this morning, so we went with the feeding tube, to put it directly in his stomach.) Also to our surprise, he was out from under the lights. No more jaundice - at least for now.



Ethan is still forgetting to breathe every now and then, and to Ali and I, the episodes seemed to pick up this weekend, happening more than we have seen previously. This causes his heart rate to drop and the alarms to go off. He always figures it out and comes out of the apnea himself, and that is really what the doctors are caring about. They say its normal for him to have the episodes and if they had to intervene, then they would worry.

Still no timetable for a trip home - but that's ok, we still don't have a car seat anyway. (It should be delivered on Monday.) We are still hoping to get Ethan home by the end of the month, but we know that he is better off there for now than at home.

In other news, we bought a new laptop today, it should also be delivered this week. Once I get it hooked up, Ali will be able to take the computer to the hospital as well as use it all over the house. I have one more day at home before I return to work. I am anxious to see what type of schedule I work out for myself, going to the hospital in the morning and at night. The hospital is not close enough to my office to run over at lunch - unless I want to pay for cabs both ways. I am still studying to take the next part of the CPA, I rescheduled a test I was supposed to take last Tuesday to later in the month, so I need to get back on that track as well.

I put a new album up - scroll down on the left.