Baby Quinton DC

This was the first time I saw Quinton.  We arrived about 10 hours after he was born.  He was born on my dad's birthday, March 26th.  Weighing in at 8 lbs even and 20.5 inches long.  

It was a really long trip once we knew he had been born and we wanted to meet him.  It was also the first time I met his Birth Mom Casandra.  Although I had been talking to her a lot on the phone it was amazing to finally meet her.  I felt like I really knew her already. (More about Quinton's adoption story to come.)

Casandra and I tried staying up all night because Quinton started having problems.  Casandra went to sleep and I decided to join her and try to sleep for an hour.  When I got back I found him like this!  He had started to retract and couldn't keep his oxygen up and kept spitting up, along with a few other problems.  

Quinton ended up taking his first plane ride.  They put a Nasal CPAP on him and loaded him up into the transport isolette for a ride that he apparently didn't really like, according to the nurses.  It was a little emotional for all of us.  We said goodbye to Casandra as we were going our separate ways, her back home to her family and us up to Reno to be with Quinton.

Quinton arrived safe and sound a couple hours before we got there.  The nurses hinted that he had a rough trip and didn't like the Nasal CPAP all that much.  Fortunately he was quickly weaned off of that to a high flow nasal cannula.  The CPAP was enough to open up his lungs and he went to a regular cannula shortly after.

I have to admit as a NICU nurse I had often dreamed of adopting one of the babies that I take care of.  It was a little surreal to be the parent instead of the nurse.  And I have to admit it was a little frustrating at times when things were not done the way I would have done things, but at least we only had to spent 3 days there.  Michael and I were so exhausted!  After not getting any sleep the night before Michael and I would take turns staying with Quinton, even through the night.  We didn't want his scores to go up resulting in him needing to stay in the NICU for longer.  Now I understand why all the parents are always so exhausted!

This was the day of discharge.  We couldn't leave the state so we were discharged and I just walked over to the Ronald McDonald House where I surprised Michael and the kids.  I didn't even tell Michael that we were leaving that soon from the NICU.

The kids were so extremely excited!  They were so excited that it took they a while to go to sleep that night having baby Quinton in the room with us.  It was so sweet and completely unexpected with how much they would love this little guy right away.  Jessa asked for a picture to take to school to show her teacher and her friends.

This rough and tumble boy was so tender and sweet to Quinton.  He would talk to him in a soft voice and asked if he could "pet" Quinton.

Mikey was so excited!  There were a few people there congratulating us and he says protectively, " this is our baby."  Then he asked me a couple days later, "Mom do you like my baby?"

I can't get this one away from the little guy.  She told me that she didn't want to go to school because she would miss him too much.  She loves to feed him and hold him.  She is greatly enjoying being a big sister!

We spent another night at the Ronald McDonald house and even got to be on the 6 o'clock news that night.  Here is the link http://mynews4.com/news/local/locals-cook-dinner-for-guests-of-reno-ronald-mcdonald-house  We are famous now.

We also went and visited Kellan's Birth Family since they live close to Reno.  They surprised us with these shirts!  They had bought them previously and made "Thing 5" last minute when they heard we had adopted.  Pretty good stuff am I right?!

We were able to go back through Wells to visit with Quinton's Birth Momma and his half brother.  It was great the we got to see them and she got to see Quinton without all his tubes and cords attached to him.  It was a great visit!

  

  

Grandma already made him several BYU blankets and I must admit he makes them look good.

We are so in love with this little guy already.  He has such a sweet content personality and he doesn't cry all that much.  He is almost 3 weeks old already!  The time with him is going by so fast!