Dylan Tracy

"Honor your fathers and your mothers. Honor the names that you bear, because some day you will have the privilege and the obligation of reporting to your ancestors (and to your Father in heaven) what you have done with their name." 

-George Albert Smith-

When we were deciding what to name Dylan, we talked about it for months. He was close to being Timothy James, or Dylan James. Or Dylan Taylor. But ultimately we decided to go with Dylan Tracy, for a number of reasons. Dylan doesn't have any special meaning.. we just liked Dylan :) But the middle name was the tough part.

There are 4 grandkids on Taylor's side of the family, they are ALL boys, and they were all born within 17 months of each other. We all teased Taylor's dad, telling him sorry..but we aren't naming our boys after you. Tracy is just too girly! 

As Taylor and I got talking about it though, we realized that Dylan didn't sound so bad with Tracy after it. And we started imagining his dad's reaction if we told him Dylan's middle name would be Tracy. And I always wanted Dylan's middle name to be meaningful, not just some random name we thought sounded good. And all the sudden, we couldn't not name him Dylan Tracy. If Dylan gains half the wonderful characteristics that Taylor's dad has, he will be a pretty awesome person. We hope he will live up to his names. And Tracy's reaction did not disappoint. He was so pleased and excited, and we are so excited too. 

I love my little Dylan Tracy!

He is 4 weeks old today. I can't believe how fast that went. My life has definitely turned upside down since he was born (well let's be honest, even before that). I had no clue what being in the NICU entailed. 

First off, I'm glad that Dylan is my first baby. I don't know any different, so it doesn't seem so odd to me that I go home at night and he's not with me. In fact, it WILL be weird when that does happen! But I can't wait. I can't wait to take care of him at home, and have my little buddy with me all the time. I dream about Dylan at night, and think about him all day long. Earlier this week in the middle of the night I said to Taylor,

 "Hiii Dylan!" 

And Taylor replied, 

"No.. I'm Taylor, not Dylan."

"Yeah.... but you're with Dylan!" 

And Taylor just started laughing. All I remember from the encounter is Taylor laughing at me, but I was totally asleep for the rest of it. But seriously...I need my baby at home.

 Happy boy! A lot of the nurses comment on what a good baby he is. I don't think I've ever heard him cry for more than 5-10 seconds. He'll let out a squawk and then calm down usually. He does NOT like having his diaper changed because the wipes are cold. But other than that, he's really good to put up with being poked, prodded, having tubes in his mouth, an IV in his arm, getting bile suctioned out of his tummy, and getting tons of enemas.

They told me to plan on him being in the NICU until about my due date (August 30th) but it's going to take longer than that I'm pretty sure. They tried feeding him some milk through a tube in his nose a couple weeks ago to see if his intestine were starting to work, and he threw it all up. Then he threw up bile for 3-4 days. It was really sad, just nasty green bile coming out his mouth and nose randomly. So they didn't try again until Saturday, and this time he kept it down!! So they are currently feeding him less than a teaspoon of milk every 3 hours, and it's all staying down. So his intestines are definitely starting to move things through, but he hardly ever poops unless he's given an enema.. so they aren't fully functional by any means yet. Once he starts pooping regularly, they will start feeding him a more normal amount of milk for his weight/age.

I am thrilled though. These are the first signs of life these intestines have given and it's a big relief. Plus, we have milk coming out our ears. Or at least out of our freezer for sure. 

The milk is stacked 2-3 high and goes all the way to the back of the freezer. Plus I have probably 50 bottles at the NICU, and a bunch of milk in Taylor's grandparents freezer also. It is out of control! Start drinking this baby!

So all in all, Dylan's doing great. He's taking his time, but that's okay. We adore every little thing he does. Taylor finishes his first semester of PT school this week, and I am so pumped. He's done an awesome job and will end with very good grades. I can't imagine how hard it was to stay focused on school during my whole hospital stay and all the birth drama there was. He only missed school the day Dylan was born, but otherwise he's been there and managed to get all the studying/homework in to still get good grades. I am so proud of him! And we are really going to enjoy his 12 days off before fall semester starts!

Sorry for the hairy chest picture- Daddy likes his skin on skin time too :) But I think Dylan looks like a little angel in this picture. SO sweet.

Sunday afternoon with my babe.

That little scab is the only physical evidence of everything Dylan has experienced his first 4 weeks of life. His belly button definitely won't look like a normal belly button, but isn't that amazing?? When I think of how much intestines were outside, and what his belly looks like now, it's just a little miracle. He now weighs 5.6 lbs too, so he's gained about 2 lbs since he was born. Yay Dyl!