Surviving!

We are surviving having three boys at home and at this point I think that means we are doing pretty well.  Brent and I have done a fairly good job at keeping Lennox and Paxton on a schedule.  We've had a couple of nights off of the schedule and we've quickly realized with two babies keeping them on schedule is the only way to survive.  We've had several doctors appointments in the last week and a half and all have been relatively uneventful.  Paxton weighs 5 pounds 6 ounces and Lennox is weighing a hefty 6 pounds 11 ounces.  Conley has become a great big brother!  He loves to give the boys sweet hugs followed by a poke in the eye or nose.  He also likes to help burp the babies. We've had some wonderful, much appreciated (by both Mommy and Conley) visitors this past week, including our cousins Owen, Leighton, and Lily Ryan.   Here are some pictures of the past week. 

All the Schwartz boys!

Paxton

Hanging out in the bouncy seats

Ready for a walk

Ready for a walk

Sweeping

Leighton and Paxton

Owen and Lennox

Conley and Lily Ryan

All the cousins!  Yep, Conley didn't put pants on that day!

Dancing with the cousins

This past Saturday was our 5 year wedding anniversary!  Thought I'd post a few of my favorite pictures  of when all this craziness, we call our life, got started!

Owen and me 

One of my favorites!  Sure do miss my Mom!

Jones girls

Silly boys

Paxton's Home ... Finally!!

Paxton got to come home today!  Hooray!  We are so excited and thrilled to have our family together at home!!!  This past week was a little crazy, so here is a quick recap.

Last Tuesday, Paxton had a swallow test done and he failed miserably.  The liquid started out as the consistency of breast milk, on the very first suck he aspirated.  Then the liquid was thickened at little and he still had some leak into his airway.  Finally they thickened the liquid to the consistency of honey and he did fine.  So the NICU staff watched him for the next 72 hours on the formula thickened with rice cereal (you can't thicken breast milk with rice cereal so he was put on formula) and he was doing great.  We thought we were all set to be discharged yesterday, until Paxton's labs came back -- his hematocrit (blood level) was really low, he was pale, and just not acting like himself.  It was determined that he needed another blood transfusion (He had one about a month after he was born).  He was given blood and by about 9pm last night he was a completely different baby.  He did great last night after the blood and was discharged this afternoon around 4!

Conley did great when we brought Paxton in -- he acted like Paxton had been here all along!  I can't tell you how proud we are of him -- he has adjusted so quickly to having two little brothers.

Just a reminder of where we started and how far we've come.

Lennox - Discharge Day

Lennox - Day 1

Paxton - Discharge Day

Paxton - Day 1

Lennox and Paxton on 4th of July

Conley relaxing after a hard day of wrangling the little boys

Daddy relaxing with the little boys

Waiting for Paxton

Just a quick update...  We are still waiting for Paxton to come home!  He is still doing very good, but he just hasn't gotten eating quite down.  He is still dropping his heart rate a few times a day during feedings.  We've discussed this a number of times with the NICU staff and no one is comfortable sending him home while he is still doing this.  Basically, when you give Paxton a bottle you cannot take your eyes off of him -- you have to watch him every minute and make sure he is pacing himself and breathing.  If he is trying to take the bottle too fast, then we have to pace it for him by removing the bottle from his mouth.  Brent and I have expressed to the NICU that this isn't realistic at our house at the moment -- If he were our first baby then it wouldn't be a problem, but with Conley and Lennox at home there is no way we can not take our eyes off of him for every feeding.  

Paxton had a consult with a speech therapist yesterday to assess his suck and swallow.  The speech therapist has ordered a swallow test, which will be done later today.  During this test they will give him thinned out Barium and take Xrays while he takes the bottle.  He may be having so many issues because he is having reflux that is causing the liquid to go down his airway, but we will find out for sure later today.

Paxton 

As for everyone here at home, we are all doing great.  Lennox is doing great and seems to have adjusted to living in this crazy house!  We are so proud of Conley, as he has become a great big brother.

Conley insisted that he sit next to Lennox while watching some cartoons