Introducing Theodore

This is a very serious attempt at positive thinking. I have the most wonderful news in the world: I have a beautiful son. Theodore Paul Middleton was born Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. on the dot. He was eight pounds four ounces and almost 21 inches long. He looked very healthy right away and was given and APGAR of 9. He has beautiful eyes that he rarely opens but that he looked at Mom with right away and whenever he was eating. 

He loves his fingers, and has extremely long toes as you can see below. 

The first day we noticed that Theo was doing a strange kind of twitch fairly often. It seemed to happen a lot when he was sleeping and he didn't seem to have control over it when it happened. We couldn't stop him from twitching when he was doing it. We showed it to a couple of nurses but were told that it was normal. On Tuesday, Theo looked a little yellow and was tested for jaundice. We were told he was going to have to stay in the level II NICU so he could get phototherapy for his jaundice. I was discharged that night so we had to say goodbye to our little guy, but we were sure we would have him home in a few days. The next morning one of the NICU nurses and a pediatrician saw Theo twitching and everything changed. A neonatologist was called in, and they started running tests. There was a fear that he was having seizures, and we needed to make sure there wasn't something seriously wrong with little Theo. 

On Wednesday, we were still allowed to feed him, and we went to visit him every three hours. I would breastfeed and then we would also give him formula to help flush out the jaundice. It was a bit difficult navigating all of his wires and monitors while feeding, but it was very comforting to be able to hold him and play with him for a little while every few hours. 

Yesterday when we came in, we were told that Theo needed to be transfered to Summerlin Hospital where they have a Level III NICU and a neonatal neurologist on location who can examine Theo. That was pretty hard to hear because up to that point it was still pretty difficult to believe that anything was very wrong with our beautiful, healthy-looking, strong boy. We watched the staff load him up into a special isolette and then put into him an ambulance and drive away. 

He went outside for the first time in this thing. And his unfortunately he didn't get to take his first car ride in the car seat we've been driving around with all week just in case. In the past few days, Theo has had dozens of blood labs run, a CAT scan, an MRI, three EEGs, a lumbar puncture, a PICC, phototherapy, several IVs, and doses of various medications. He has seen two pediatricians, two nurse practitioners, three neonatologists, one neonatal neurologist, and probably a dozen nurses. Through all of it, he has been a very very good boy and doesn't complain very much at all. Although, since they stopped feeding him yesterday, he is starting to complain more and more loudly. My son likes to eat, and intravenous nutrition doesn't seem to cut it for him. 

The best news is that so far all of the tests have come back normal. They haven't been able to find any kind of infection or brain damage that would cause seizures. It sounds like sometimes newborns have seizures for the first few days and then just grow out of them. Hopefully this is what happens, but we need to make sure he is ok. The twitches also seem to be going away, or at least, they haven't noticed any today. Unfortunately, he probably still won't go home for at least a few more days. It is very hard to leave him at the hospital, but it's good to know that he is getting excellent care. I have the sweetest, most beautiful son, and I am so grateful for that.