Wow...time flies when you are sleep deprived haha. Our new baby Harriet Hope Eastabrooks was born on 12/29 and was nearly 2 weeks late weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 3ozs. MariClaire had 18 hours of labor (although only 7 min of pushing!) and was able to successfully deliver at home in the birthing pool as planned. Harrison was amazing during this and our 2 nurses were excited to be on shift during the experience. Hattie has passed all of her screenings with flying colors and is an amazing addition to the family.
Harrison has been doing well and has impressed us with some pretty long HME breaks with the longest being on Christmas at 2 1/2 hours! He has been stable and the only issue we've had was a dislodged J tube the day after it was routinely replaced. We went back up to Seattle Children's to get it fixed again and it was so fun to run into a couple residents that we loved who took his case and stopped by before we left (yay Nico and Natalie!). He
has had a reoccurrence of his seizure-like movements, so we're trying to figure out what they are and how best to manage them. It's slow going in the outpatient environment though. They seem to be minor, few, and minimal compared to when he was on Miralax so that is reassuring.
Christmas was low key but wonderful. We were surrounded by my Mom and MariClaire's parents anxiously awaiting little Miss Hattie. I was hoping for a Christmas baby but she had other plans. Harrison loved watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special but didn't seem all that impressed with The Grinch haha. It was nice being able to wheel him into the living room and have everyone together, enjoying the spirit of the holiday.
Our nursing situation has been our saving grace. It is a LOT to try to take care of a screaming, hungry newborn while also handling all of Harrison's cares. I know having multiple children is commonplace but I feel like it's particularly challenging when one of them is as medically complicated as Harrison. I know that it'll get better but right now it can feel overwhelming, especially on the weekends when we go 14 hours between nurses.
Well that's all I have for now. We're both sorry that it's been so long since we last updated. The Littlest Dictator, I mean baby is occupying the majority of our energies haha.
-Jonathan
Harriet is JUST beautiful! It fills me with SO much joy to see you all at home enjoying life as a family. Sending strength and love as you navigate challenges and feeling overwhelmed! You are seriously rock star parents. Give Harrison my love! 💗
So happy to hear Harrison is doing good.
Congratulations on the new addition toyour family