The Cubby Chronicles XXVIII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Jake's been in either the ICN or the TCN for almost 2 months & its safe to say we're all a bit run down. When people see pictures of me & remark 'you look tired' its a pretty clear indication that more sleep could be used (though for the record Kristin always seems to look fine in pictures).

Of course, rest is at a premium because we're either constantly at the hospital, at work, or going to & from the hospital (~ a 45 min trip each way). Here's a quick average day for me in the past two months:

8:00AM - Wake up, feed dogs, head to hospital
9:00AM - Arrive at the hospital, hang with Jake & talk to doctors/nurses about morning rounds
12:00PM - Head back to Raleigh to work at the System Office building for the afternoon *
5:00PM - Drive back to the hospital
5:45PM - 6:30PM - Hang with Jake
6:30PM - 7:30PM - Dinner break--usually at Elmo's or Nosh (I recommend the Boo BLT)
7:30PM - 9:30PM - Hang with Jake & watch the evening assessment (when he's weighed)
10:15PM - Arrive back home, do house chores, feed dogs
11:30PM - Go to bed
3:00AM - Call hospital to check on Jake overnight

*--just as often I'll pick up Kristin & we'll both head to the hospital to visit all afternoon

First off the goal is to have at least one of us at the hospital most of the day. When I'm at work at the System Office Kristin would be at Duke & vice-versa. Kristin is working half-time at her job & while I'm working full time I'm often at the hospital all day.

I'm extremely lucky as I've got a job where I can work from anywhere for the most part & I have an understanding boss who lets me do so (and who's a big fan of the blog). We also have kind friends who help us out by letting the dogs out in the evening when neither of us are in Raleigh.

Keeping up this kind of schedule gets pretty exhausting & I suppose its starting to show. The driving also wears on us, especially when we're going back & forth multiple times each day. Its not cheap either--we figure each trip to go see the Cubby costs us $8.

Of course he's well worth it at double the price* & since he's bigger now we get to spend most of our time actually holding him instead of where we were 6 weeks ago--just looking at him or touching him. Looking back at previous posts, I haven't spent much time talking about his personality but he's a very calm & amenable guy. He hardly ever fusses about anything & its even rarer to hear him cry.

*--maybe even 3 times but certainly not 4

Since no one wants to see pictures of me (and for the record, I'm not actually sleeping in the picture above), here's a bonus Jake picture on the house.....