The Cubby Chronicles XLIII

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.

When we brought Jake home, my buddy Ben remarked that we had excellent baby timing. Since we were going to be shut-in for awhile at least we'd be able to watch the fall sports, specifically lots of college football.

Being Michigan alums, Kristin & I are both big fans of the football team & were excited to see how the new coach & offense would play out. Unfortunately, if you follow college football at all you know its not going so smoothly.

Overall, things are in stasis here in Raleigh, although not for long. Jake still has symptoms of MSPI though there are small signs that he's getting better. Kristin says that he's been less fussy at night & he's now only having blood in every second of third diaper.

We were due for a doctor's visit this morning, but we pushed the appointment back to Monday. Apparently the presumptive President-Elect (is that capitalized?) is staging a rally right outside Kristin's office & all the streets were blocked going in & out of downtown.

The big news happens tomorrow as we take the Cubby back to Duke Hospital for his hernia surgery. For those unaware, Jake was born with a small Inguinal hernia & needs a quick operation to get his intestines back where they belong. We've been assured its a simple, common procedure & the surgeon has done it many times.

He'll go in tomorrow morning for the procedure, recuperate & stay overnight, then finally be discharged on Halloween. I don't think there will be any blog updates for the next couple of days (real out of the ordinary, I know) but I'll probably put out some Twitter posts that can be read right here on the site (in the right-hand column under 'Jeff's Twitterings').

We actually had the option to get the surgery done while we were in the hospital but nurses told us he'd do better under anesthesia when he was bigger (he barely met the weight minimum when we left) & we just wanted to get him out of there & home. As mentioned, it's as simple as operations get & older toddlers who have it done leave the same day in the afternoon.

So we'll be back at Duke though the accommodations will be a little different. Since the Cubs is a big boy (& has been exposed to the outside world), he'll have his own private room on the pediatrics floor instead of going back to the intensive care nursery.

While this has its strong points (each room has its own lounge chair, tv, etc...) it also means he doesn't have his own nurse & while we can stay overnight apparently the hospital thinks only one of us needs to rest or sleep at a time (the lounge chair converts into an [uncomfortable] bed for 1).

My guess is Kristin will stay with him overnight & I'll sleep over at the Deans' place. Then, he'll be back home in time for some Halloween fun (to save the suspense he'll be a pumpkin) & ready to watch this weeks Michigan game. Check back tomorrow for the Twitter updates (of course it's completely elective) and...