Growing...

Things are going well at the Rasmussen-Mancuso household. Nicholas continues to impress us with his growth (10lbs 15 and 21 inches long). His incisions are healing nicely. We think the pressure shifted a bit for Nicholas as now that his inguinal hernia's are repaired, he has an umbilical hernia. The umbilical hernia is common amongst infants and 70% go away on their own. Nothing to worry about until at least the age of 5. While admitted after surgery, we noticed Nicholas's blood pressure was a little high. We've had it taken twice since admission and it is still elevated. We'll watch it for now. Sometimes the umbilical lines inserted after birth cause a little irritation with the kidneys (which are one of the main regulators of blood pressure). So, hopefully, something he'll outgrow.

Last weekend some of Denise's R.'s college friends came up to meet Nicholas. They came bearing gifts that Nicholas loved opening. It was as if Christmas or his birthday came early. We had a wonderful visit with the "Friends" and Nicholas looks forward to having lots of playmates soon as they are all pregnant. We are taking our first big car trip for the Memorial holiday. We are headed to Marblehead, OH to our lake house for the weekend. It's amazing how long it takes to pack for such a small little guy. I'm sure we'll forget something. We'll survive as long as we have oxygen and food.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and don't forget to honor those that have fought for and lost their lives to protect our freedom.

Holding steady

Nicholas continues to do well post surgery. His incisions are looking good. He is still on 1/8 of a liter of oxygen. We have our follow up with Pulmonology on June 7th. and we will see about starting to wean him. We did our own little experiment when Nicholas was admitted to the Children's Hospital here in Madison (which is a very nice facility); we took his oxygen off for just a few minutes to see how he would sat and he did fairly well for a few minutes. He was on a continuous pulse ox, so, we figured we'd be ok. We saw his pediatrician last Thursday and Nicholas tipped the scale at just 10lbs. This week, Nicholas will get his 4 month immunizations.

Last weekend Mommy M. went back to Cleveland for cousin Kaitlynn's first communion. We wish we all could have gone but we're not able to be air born just yet given our oxygen requirements. Nana, Papa and GG (Great Grandma) came in for reinforcement. Nicholas is never starved for attention when either set of grandparents are here, as he is typically held for the entire visit! We also got our vegetable garden planted which I'm sure Denise M. is sad she missed out on planting.

We've picked out some pictures we've taken in the last week. Nicholas still has a good set of cheeks, but he's finally growing into them. He has such a good demeanor and is such a good baby. We can't wait to introduce him to all of you as he gets bigger.

Surgery was a success

Today was Nicholas's bilateral hernia repair and circumcision. His surgery was performed at UW American Family Children's Hospital in Madison. We were the first case of the morning (always best) and the surgery went well. As you can imagine, we were most concerned about the anesthesia portion of the surgery and most relieved when they told us he was extubated and breathing well on his own. One interesting thing that we did learn from the anesthesiologist is that Nicholas's airway is constricted and smaller than normal, which puts him at an even higher risk of serious complications from something as simple as a cold. We will see our friends from pulmonary prior to being discharged. We are going to spend the night at the hospital for observation and expect to be discharged in the morning. Nicholas continues to show what a "tough" little guy he is and is slowly bouncing back to normal. He is having discomfort and pain, but these little guys are only given Tylenol (I'm sure we would all expect something a bit stronger for pain).

For those of you interested in his weight, his is now 9 lbs 13 oz. and he is solidly into 0-3 mos sizes. His preemie and newborn clothes all look so small now.

We finally have a proper nursery for Nicholas as his crib and dresser were delivered last week. We went with a "Jungle" theme and we are incorporating some of our safari pictures of mother and baby animals. He is still getting used to his crib but everyday seems to get a little easier.

We hope all the mom's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! Our first Mother's Day proved to be very special (made even more special with the cards, flowers and well wishes that so many sent).

Nicholas's first and last day in court

Today we went before Judge Gonzalez and Denise M. officially adopted Nicholas. It was a great day and a quick judgement; the pictures took longer than the actual hearing. The hearing took place after a four hour home study and lots of paper work. The first picture is of Nicholas and the judge and the second is of our lawyer and the guardian ad litem for Nicholas in the case. We are both looking forward to Mother's Day this year as it will be extra special. Nicholas is 4 months old today - or 3 weeks corrected, depending on how you "count" the time. Overall, he is doing very well. He continues to eat about 3 ounces every 3 hours (1/2 breast milk and 1/2 formula). We estimate he is just over 9 lbs now. His next official weigh in is on Monday prior to his surgery.