:(

Today Carter should be 1 week old. His due date was last Sunday. Instead he is 9.5 weeks old and getting so big! He was actually 5 lbs for a couple of days this week. Then he lost a couple ounces. Guess he didn't like the extra bulge or something. The good news this week is that he got his feeding tube out and has been eating from his bottle really well!

The bad news is he has really bad reflux and has been spitting up almost as much as he eats, he isn't really gaining enough weight, and an x-ray on his bladder etc. showed he has complications called hydronephrosis and VUR. Basically his urine is backing up his ureters into his kidneys which is why he had the UTI in the first place. On a scale of 1-5 his condition is a 2 on one side and 3 on the other. Anything a 3 and up generally needs surgical repair. Below that can be fixed with other procedures. There is a also a chance everything will resolve on its own. So he will undergo testing and regular scanning for the first year and if it hasn't resolved itself after a year they will have to operate to fix it. In the meantime he gets a very low dose of antibiotics every day to prevent infection getting into his kidneys. I know it sounds strange but I am relieved to find out the news. I've felt like he has had so many tests in the last three weeks and everything has come back normal, but I still felt something was wrong. It feels better just to know what is going on rather than keep wondering.

Still no answer on when he'll come home. He is meeting the "eating good" requirement, but not gaining weight. So we'll see what the docs say. Could be any day now we hope.

I'm ready for our family to be together again. It doesn't feel like Carter is part of our family at home. It's like we have two families. The hospital family with Josh and I and the baby and the home family with us and our other kids. Wherever I am I feel like I should be at the other place. Our big kids are doing well though. I stayed home with them and was excited to tell them I got to be their babysitter for the day. Pacer looks at me and says,"No! Go grandma's house right now!" The little turkey! I guess I should be glad they are taking all of this so well.

Here is what they did on the day Josh got to stay home and be the babysitter. I wanted to squeal like a little girl just looking at the pictures. These are all from our backyard wall.