A great day

Today was definitely one of the best days of my life. Cade ate well all day and we got to spend the whole day with him. Yesterday Susie asked me what my favorite part of all this was so far. At that point it was the first time I walked into the nursery when Cade was under the hood. He was crying and fussing and I started talking to him and gave him a finger to hold onto. He latched on and calmed down and then he opened his eyes and just gazed into mine. We locked eyes for quite a while and I was completely hooked. He went completely docile and the time we spent with eyes locked had a total narcotic effect on me. It was absolutely incredible.

So it would take something even better to top that and that something happened today. After his 9 AM feeding we decided that Susie needed to get some rest so she went to sleep in her bed. I laid down on my bed on my side with Cade nestled in next to me between me and a pillow with my arm around him. He was just laying there cooing and before I knew it we were both fast asleep. I woke up about a half hour later when he moved a little. It was our first daddy-son nap together and after a day and a half of watching him sleep under a hood it was indescribable how good it felt to take a nap with him.

We had some visitors today and we got a couple pictures of friends holding Cade. This is Davi Tanner. She and her husband Jared are great friends and hosted a surprise shower for us a few weeks back with some of our friends.



LaDonna Taylor came by too and we snapped this picture of her holding Cade. She is also a great friend and is responsible for our fashionable hair cuts. We're looking forward to taking little Cade to her when it's time for his first cut. If you look closely in this picture you can kind of see how he already is working on some smashingly handsome sideburns, because he wants to be just like his daddy. :)

The obligatory glo-worm picture.

My first poopy diaper. I wasn't quite ready with the wipes when I got the dirty one off so he soaked his onesie pretty good. Live and learn, I guess. I'm sure I'll get plenty more practice soon enough!

Since he's been feeding well they are taking the feeding tube out of his nose tonight! We'll get lots of pictures when we get him back after that. Tomorrow morning he will be circumcised, and they'll watch him after that. They haven't given us a definitive answer, but they're going to watch him for a while and we're guessing he'll probably get to go home on Friday! We have had the best experience with the hospital staff here, and owe a lot to them for taking such good care of Susie and Cade. We're going to let the nursery take care of Cade tonight while we get some much needed rest. I'll update more tomorrow.

Eating Well!

Just a quick update to let you know that he's eating very well! They want him to eat 15 cc of formula at each feeding. Up until his 9 AM feeding he didn't have enough stamina to finish and we'd have to feed him the rest through the tube in his nose. But at 9 AM he took down all 15 cc's by himself and then at his noon feeding he sucked down a cold 21 cc's like a champ. So if he continues to eat well they'll take the feeding tube out of his nose and we can start thinking about heading home! Please keep the prayers coming. They are much appreciated.

More good news!

Last night at midnight we were able to feed Cade ourselves and finally hold him for a while! They are supplementing Susie's colostrum with formula at this point to make sure he's getting enough protein in his diet. We went down to the special care nursery and it was just unbelievable to be able to rock him and hold him and spend some time with him.

I love this picture with his tiny hand gripping my finger as he ate. The nurse told us that for some unknown reason if you let him grip your finger, he'll actually suck better as he grips harder. They're not exactly sure why that works, but it's just another one of those things that God has built into us.

Not quite sure about the whole burping process yet. :)

He rests very well when mom is holding him.

Making footprints! He was a little fussy at this point.

And then this morning they brought him down to our room to let us feed him. They want him to take 15 mL of formula at a feeding. He gets tired out before he can get that much down so we're still using the feeding tube to push the last 5-7 mL directly into his stomach. It's actually a very good way to do it because he doesn't get too tired but he still get's all his required nutrition. He's been making poopy diapers all night but we keep dodging changing our first one because he keeps doing it after we leave. That's what nurses are for at this point. :) Here's a picture of Susie holding him here in the room.

Here's a short video of Cade in our room. We are so thankful for time alone with him. Again, we appreciate the prayers coming our family's way. I'll update more a little later.

Out from under the hood!

We are so excited because they've taken little Cade out from under the oxygen hood. His breathing looks to have stabilized, so they are cautiously optimistic that he can now breathe on his own. They are looking for three things: breathing, eating, and temperature regulation. He's got the first down at this point. He still is feeding through the tube in his nose, so in the morning if his breathing is still good they will work on getting him to eat correctly. Then they'll see if he can regulate his own temperature without the help of the heating lights.

He still has the monitors hooked up to his chest and feet, but they've dressed him up for us and he sure looks handsome! He still needs a lot of rest and a lot of prayer, so please keep it coming. We'll update more in the morning. For now we're going to try and sleep before his midnight feeding. The nurse told us if he's doing well at that time we'll probably get to hold him again! If so, I'll post some more pictures of that! Thanks for everyone's prayers, thoughts, and well wishes. We've been getting a lot of calls, text messages, and emails. I've tried to keep up with all of them but please don't be offended if I haven't gotten back to you yet. We are amazed at God's provision and timing and are comforted by the fact that His hand is big enough to hold the entire world and caring enough to hold our little baby. Enjoy the pictures!

Cade Phillip Gronseth - He's here!

Hey I just wanted to send out a quick update. Cade Phillip Gronseth came quite a bit early and surprised us a whole lot, but we are so happy to have him and can't wait to show him off! He was born yesterday, June 23rd, at 7:44 PM. At birth he was 5 lbs, 11 oz, and he was 19" long. Susie was 34 weeks along, so he was about six weeks early. They initially attempted to slow the contractions down, but she kept dilating, so they took him.

Because he was early his lungs are not fully developed. He's been in a special care nursery, and the nurses in there have been taking great care of him. The only major thing they are doing right now is keeping him in an oxygen enriched atmosphere under a hood (pictures below). The air around us is 20.9% oxygen. The atmosphere his little head is in is at 30% oxygen, so it's not a huge difference, but it's enough to make a difference for him.

They tried taking him out of the hood early this morning, but his respiratory rate went up too high and they had to put him back in. At this point there isn't a firm date of when we'll be able to take him home. They're evaluating him hour-by-hour; he could come home in a couple days, or it could be a couple weeks. But we are praising God that he wasn't bad enough off to need to be flown to a more serious care unit in Evansville. I will write more about him and Susie and the delivery when I can, I just wanted to get this post out there to let everyone know how he's doing and see what he looks like! Thank you so much for your prayers. They are important, and little Cade still needs them. His lungs are still developing, but the doctors and nurses are pleased with his progress right now.


Here's a picture of him right after he was born (not for audiences of all ages). :)

This picture brings tears to my eyes when I look at it. This is right after he was born before they took him to the special care unit. When I look at Susie's face, I can see every single emotion she poured out and every single emotion I was feeling at that point too: relief, exhaustion, love, apprehension over Cade's health, unexplainable joy, and many more. I can't describe what it felt like to be with Susie during Cade's birth. She was a super-woman. Completely natural, with no epidural. She set her mind and was determined to do it that way and was incredible.

This is Cade in the special care unit. The white, red, and black monitors on his chest are monitoring his heart and respiratory rate. The gold heart is monitoring his skin temperature. He's under a heat light and the gold heart gives feedback to the lamp to heat up or cool off, kind of like the thermostat in your house. The plastic hood is to keep his head in an oxygen enriched atmosphere. The oxygen/air mix comes in through the blue tube at the top. I'm not sure, but it could be Air Liquide oxygen. :) The cord going into his left sock is to monitor his blood's oxygen content, which, along with his respiratory rate is a very important indicator of his lungs' function. There's also a blood pressure cuff near his right ankle that they hooked up as well. Another thing they hadn't inserted at this point is a small tube going in through his nose down to his stomach. When he's too tired to eat Susie's milk they feed it to him through that tube. If he were to eat every three hours it would wipe him out at this point and he wouldn't have the strength he needs to continue improving. They also left his umbilical cord longer than normal (it's sticking out of the diaper) because if had needed to send him to Evansville the cord is a handy place to insert an IV. I know it looks like a lot, and I can completely identify with the words of the song "Wires," by Athlete, but everything serves a purpose and he's really not as bad off as it looks.

Proud daddy with his son!

Late last night we brought some of Susie's milk to the nursery and they let us feed it to him. Afterwards they let me burp him! He kept nodding off in my hands. He was so cute. You can see the feeding tube in his nose that I mentioned earlier.

Proud mommy with her baby at about 3:00 am this morning when we fed him. It was so great to hold him!

Susie's parents, Lynn and Velma, made the drive when they found out she was in labor and arrived around 1:00 AM, so we had to take picture with everyone!

Here's my little slugger in my arms at last! They let us hold him outside the hood briefly but we had to keep the hose pointed at his face. You can see it in Susie's hand to the lower left. We tried to keep it out of the pictures as much as we could. There is no doubt the hardest part about this is not being able to scoop him up and hold him, so this moment was amazing. If you're a parent out there you'll know what I mean, and if you aren't just take my word for it: There is NO way to put into words all the feelings and emotions running through me right now. It is so intense, and it hurts so much to see him hooked up to stuff, but I know he's improving. Being a dad is incredible. I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Thank you to all for your prayers. Please keep them coming, especially for his little developing lungs. God has a plan for this little guy's life, and we can't wait to see it!

Choosing a Name

Hi! This is Susie. I thought I would be guest columnist for this post to relay some of our thoughts about choosing a name for Baby Gronseth. We get asked the question, “Have you chosen a name?” quite a bit and have faced quite a few raised eyebrows when we reply that we have not. It is not that we have not thought about names. We would love to call our son something other than “Baby G!” When we first found out we were expecting, we began talking about name possibilities. One boy name and one girl name stood out to us in particular. The gravity of choosing the name really sunk in when we saw that our child is definitely a boy. We realized that whatever we chose was going to be his name, a piece of his identity. We decided then to not rush into our decision.

We would like to choose a name that carries special significance for our son, just like the names chosen for us. For those who do not know, my dad used to call my mom “Susie.” When I was born, they decided to pass along the name to me and mom went back to her real name of Velma Sue. My middle name is Lynn, which is my dad’s, granddad’s, and great-granddad’s middle name. Matthew means “gift of God,” quite an appropriate name since he was born on his mom’s birthday. His middle name of Phillip comes from his dad and granddad.

Honestly, I used to secretly wish that I had a more common name, something like Brittany, Ashley, Allison, or Amy. I had four “Amy’s” in my class about the time of middle school. I can’t say that I have ever met anyone my age whose real name is “Susie.” I used to look through the personalized sections of gift shops searching for my name emblazed on magnets, necklaces, or key chains. Most of the time I found “Susan” or “Sue.” I rarely came across “Susie.” In fact, anytime that I did find something with “Susie” on it, I’d usually buy it, whether I really wanted it or not. It was just the satisfaction of actually finding my own name on something.

As I’ve grown older, I have come to appreciate my name more. I like the uniqueness of it and the story behind it. I have met some people, however, that changed their names once they became adults. A name change can offer a new identity and a fresh start (and increased hits on your website if you change your name to something like “KentuckyFriedCruelty.Com”). I find it interesting that celebrities often go by stage names rather than real names, for instance Reginald Dwight, a.k.a. Elton John. Some get so used to being identified by their stage names that they end up officially changing their name.

A little over six years ago, I changed my name. Many people that we have met in recent years probably do not know me as “Susie Brown” and would think it weird to even call me that. When Matt and I got married, I found it difficult to give up any part of my maiden name, so I officially kept it and added my married name to the end. While my newly married signature started out as being “Mrs. Susie L. B. Gronseth,” over the years, it has shortened to just “Susie Gronseth.” It seems that I have grown into this new identity of being a Gronseth.

I have come to find that I married into a wonderful family. Because I bear the Gronseth name, my actions are associated with this family. I have thus become aware that I need to conduct myself in such a way worthy of this name. (Should I decide to become a famous terrorist and wreak havoc across the globe, people would then associate the Gronseth name with terrorism, and my in-laws would most likely have trouble traveling anywhere for rest of their lives because of their association with me. So, I probably won’t do that.)

The wise King Solomon said that a good name “is more desirable than great riches” (Pr. 22:1) and “better than fine perfume” (Ecc. 7:1). So, we take the task of choosing a name for our son very seriously. We want his name to have special meaning for him, a constant reminder of who he is. We know that God has already given this child a name and are praying for insight as to what that is. We likely will name him once he is born, so that we have a chance to see what he looks like. In the mean time, we have gotten such great name suggestions from family and friends, including “Goober,” “Grover,” and “Plaxico.” Feel free to keep those suggestions coming!

-Susie

30-week Ultrasound Pictures

Hey just wanted to get a quick post up with pictures from our 30 week ultrasound. The doctor gave us some of the live 3D pictures. Amazing. The technology is amazing, but the One who knits us together tops the technology by more than I could hope to put into words. Again, how do you argue that an unborn baby is just a piece of tissue?

So do you think he looks more like me or Susie?