Reincarnated As A Mother

Thursday, September 3, 2009

A Big Day For Baby Kean

Kean must have felt like a celebrity today. He had a steady stream of adoring visitors. This is my mom's sister, my Aunt RoEen (who is like my second mother) holding him. My Aunts' Daleen and Beverly also came in with my mom and Reese. He was very awake today to take in all the adoration. Smart boy. And this is "Grandma the Great"-- my grandmother and Kean's great grandma. Today is her 91st birthday and much of the family came in to help her celebrate. That's my Aunt KLynn on the right. In case you don't know, my mom is the oldest of 9 girls-- 13 children in all. And are you sitting down? I'm one of 86 grandchildren and Kean is great grandchild number 259-- yes, it's not a typo, 259.
My Grandma is one of the great wonders of the world. She can run circles around me (even when I'm healthy and not coming off 11 weeks of bed rest). If you know my mom-- you then know how my Grandma is... Isn't she a cutie? I mentioned that Reese and my mom came in yesterday to help give Kean his second bath. Reese never stopped smiling or singing to him.

Reese wore her yellow Minnie Mouse heels with the red polka dot bows. Nurses from far and wide dropped by the room to check them and her out. How did my children become so dang social?
Kean, by the way, LOVES his baths. He just kicks back and relaxes like he's at some top spa.
I didn't lie. There's not a single picture where Reese is not smiling huge.

Reese had so much fun bathing Kean that she wanted to do it again today. His baths are scheduled every three days. So she'll have to come up for the next one.

On the medical/progress front-- we had his best day yet for nursing. He latched on for 15 minutes and then another 5 and sucked vigorously. Kean is rooting around and seems to get the breast routine-- he's latching right on with less and less work. So he will be a "breast man" before this is all said and done. He's awake more and more each day. He's still forgetting to always breathe (not as bad as yesterday though)... but the nurse did have to give him a little oxygen boost today. The Occupational Therapist worked with him for a while yesterday and switched the type of bottle they've been using on him-- and that seemed to help. So hopefully, we're inching closer to getting him home in my lifetime.

3 comments:

Cindy said...

Oh, how precious these pictures are!
Reese and Kean will be great buddies.
Kean sure must be loving all this attention.

Marti said...

Lonni,

I do believe that some day, Kean is going to sue you for at least one of those photos! ;)


Wow, what a family! I always wondered because it seemed like you had a world of support. It's because your family is big enough to populate a world! How wonderful!

And Reese is such a doll! I could just eat her with a spoon! Maybe if I could get some shoes that matched hers?

Sherri said...

Wow, I thought my grandma had a lot of kids (11). Your grandma deserves the title "Grandma the Great"! You just wonder how it's possible to birth that many children and not end up in a mental institution?

Loved the pictures. Reese looks very excited to have a brother!