Mariah gets presents too!

Carissa came to visit us before we were discharged from the hospital and brought Mariah presents, since Landon was getting all kinds of attention. It was so sweet of her to think about my little pickle. She brought her a Mrs. Potato head and Elmo slippers. When Mariah put on the slippers she wanted pictures taken and would say, "Elmo cheese!" it was so cute.
Today Landon is doing well. He had his IV taken out about 3:00 this afternoon. The doctor says that his tummy is capable of handling the amount of fluid he needs to stay hydrated. By midnight he will be taking 42cc at every feeding. He is super alert for a little 35 week baby, and has been waking up for most of his feedings.
His billi level went from 11.9 to 11.6 overnight. They are keeping him under the lights the rest of today and tomorrow and will recheck his levels Saturday morning.
We are so blessed by his progress and pray that he will be home soon.

So … we have a name … Landon James Perez. It took us forever to name this poor kiddo. His birth certificate was signed just 10 minutes before we were discharged. It was so hard to leave the hospital without a carseat in our hands.

The update:
Landon is making progress. He is taking to the breast very well especially for a 35 week old. They started his feeds at 3cc and slowly increased by 3cc every other feeding. He got up to 21cc and a nurse asked if I would like to breastfeed and weigh him before and after to see how much he was getting. I was super so excited and so we gave it a shot. The first feed he took 32cc, the second time he took 28cc, and the 3rd time he took just 10cc (this one was at 9:00pm, I think he was pooped out by this point). The doctors were impressed by his progress and have decided to wean him off the IV fluids, since his tummy can tolerate enough fluid to keep him hydrated.
He is a little jaundice and was placed under lights this morning. I keep telling him that orange is not is color, hopefully he will listen. We will check his levels again in the morning and determine whether he needs the lights for another day.

Mariah was able to see him yesterday through the window. She waved and blew kisses, and said "aww, baby sad, hug baby." It will be interesting to see what happens when he is able to come home.

Everyone has been asking for updates on our new addition. I figured this would be the easiest way give updates.
From the beginning:
Friday April 24th I went to an Ob appointment. My doctor put me on moderate bed rest and recommended that I try to take it as easy as possible. She indicated that she thought this little bug was going to come early but hoped to keep him cookin for atleast 2 more weeks. Saturday morning and began having random contractions. By lunch time they were beginning to be more uncomfortable. I called my mom who was in Utah at the time, buying a prom dress for my sister. For 5 hours she tried to convince me to call the doctor. Finally I did and they had me come in. Upon arrival (6:00pm or so) my contractions were 3 minutes apart and was dilated between 4-5cm. I was given 3 doses of terbutaline and an IV bolus over the course of a couple of hours hoping to stop labor. About 5 hours later my contractions were beginning to come more sporadically. The IV bolus made for a full bladder and constant trips to the bathroom. During one bathroom break about 12:20am my water broke. Over the next 7-8 hours the docs decided to leave the bugger in hoping to give him time for his lungs to mature. Originally they thought they would wait about 48 hours, but at 9am they decided to induce labor with pitocin. I was still waiting for my mom to return from Utah, desperately hoping she would make it back in time.
The pitocin was started around 10:00am, my mom showed up about 11:00am. Throughout the beginning of labor I worked on a powerpoint presentation for a class presentation on Monday.
Labor progressed slowly. Took about 4 hours to dilate to 6 cm. 6cm to birth was quick with a total of just over 30 mins. Our baby boy arrived at 2:58pm and was doing well. He weighed it at 4lbs 13 oz and 18.5 inches long. We were able to spend some time in the delivery room with him before they decided to take him to the special care nursery. He began showing signs of respiratory distress. In the NICU he was given 25% oxygen through tent ventilation. They slowly weaned him down to room air over the course of 3 hours. He was able to remain off O2 all night and spent most of his time sleeping.