Jack Henry - a retrospective (part 2 in a series)

As explained in an earlier post, we are posting compilation pictures to see the changes in Jack Henry.


This most recent set of pictures cover Jack Henry's second week of life. :)

And the campaign goes on...

Fare well, ye running mate of mine.


Yes, my good friend and Vice Presidential Candidate, Avery, is leaving the Rabbit A/B pod today. She has been called away to more important work in using her fiscal expertise to assist the Federal Reserve in addressing monetary policy issues.

Nonetheless, our power ticket of Jack Henry and Avery will proceed on in our determination to lead the way for the emanicipation of babies everywhere and especially in the Rabbit A/B pod.


Even though Avery has left the NICU at the request of our government, she has pledged her support toward our ticket as a sign of solidarity with you, our future consituents.


As pictured with her loyal entourage (aka "parents"), she has already been engaged in some additional projects beyond strengthening the U.S. dollar in that she has begun designs to reconstruct a major north-south thoroughfare in west Houston as well as to compose a new ballet. Quite the diverse talent!


Yet, in case you are considering our opponent, Johilbar, just remember with whom you may be placing your future! In case you have forgotten, I have included a recent picture of the opposition candidate as a reminder.

Jack Henry - a retrospective (part 1 in a series)

You have witnessed Jack Henry's first days and weeks pass by in words and pictures, but over the next few blog posts, we are going to put up a a compliation picture to see how much he has grown over the weeks.

This is the first of such pictures in an ongoing series and it covers the first seven days of his life in sequence from top-to-bottom.

Click the picture to see all seven pictures enlarged to normal size.

NOTE: Many of the pictures in these compilations have not been posted to the blog before.

The plan is to post these compilations on a periodic basis. In putting together the above picture set, it was striking to remember how significantly he has changed in such a short period of time.

While it has been scary to have Jack Henry come early, in many ways due to the remarkable prenatal and neonatal care that we have received, his early life and development has gone relatively smooth.

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If you have spoken to me in person recently, you have heard me say it - yet, here it is again: I feel strongly that having Jack Henry delivered early has been an incredible gift in that we have received a sneak preview that most everyone has to wait patiently and anxiously for. He has changed in ways that we would have never experienced if he were still in the womb. This is a small part of what makes his presence so special to his still-developing parents, but it is time that we will never forget. ;)

Learning the 4 Rs

Jack Henry has been learning the 4 important Rs. Of course, everyone knows what these are ... Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and Rhythmic gymanistics.

Today, we will examine one of these Rs with a photo or two. Since the selection of which 'R' wasn't put up for vote, we're going to cover reading.

As Jack Henry has already exhibited, he can be a semi-prolific blogger, which covers the R of wRiting.


Yet, in case you were wondering where he receives his inspiration for his writing, you have to realize the Elaine reads to him quite often.


While the topics of which Jack Henry has been versed cover the current events of the day to various economic issues, some of Jack Henry's favorite reading materials come right from the NICU library, compliments of the Child Life coordinators. He has done a marvelous job of coaxing his Momma into reading from many, various tomes. In particular, he is a devout reader of educational books.

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On a mildly serious and responsible note... yes, you are still reading the same blog about Jack Henry. :) As Jack Henry is unable to hear the weekly readings at Mass, we have read these to him each Sunday since he was born as we packed a Sunday Missal with us to the hospital.


As you can see, we did happen to use the Sunday Missal as a backdrop in the picture of the crocheted booties. Yes, I'm sure that this will be covered during the next confession with Fr. John. At least, there is proof that we brought this to the hospital for Jack Henry's use and ours. ;)

Nonetheless, it just so happens that the Gospel reading from this past Sunday (4th of Lent) seemed to capture an aspect of being in the hospital. In the Gospel of According to John, the story of Jesus healing the blind man is retold. The story starts off innocently as Jesus's disciples ask Jesus why the man that they had just passed was blind - was this the result of the man's or his parents' sin? This was a common thought in Jesus's time as well in the centuries following his earthly ministry ... and perhaps even until today. Yet, Jesus points out that the man's blindness is not related to sin, but in fact an opportunity for God's providence to shine through the man's pain and suffering. Jesus heals this man lack of sight through the man's faith as this also hastens Jesus's own fate to the cross as a result of this public display of ministry and healing.

While we have struggled with the aspect and challenges of Elaine and I desiring to have a child of our own, we became quite reminded how so many gifts have been given to us during our several months of hospital time in having Jack Henry. The struggle of his life coming to be has given us the wealth of new respect for the dedication and care of medical professionals as well as many new friends that we have such deep respect for in how they helped us in our journey. This is truly a current blessing that we would not so richly treasure if it weren't for the heavy burden that we needed help carrying.

I'm #1

Hello, all. It's been an eventful past month, but I've managed to survive in spite of my parents.

So, yes - today, I'm #1... well, I have officially turned one month old today!


Yea me! :)


Sure, these parents of mine scare the pooh out of me without a doubt, but they're turning out to be not so bad.


They seem to be around all of the time, which is cool, but I do find that it kinda crimps my style with the ladies.

Cheers to being #1. I can't wait until I'm really old ... like those 3 year olds. Wow - they're practically ancient!

How to make a baby burrito

Look out Martha Stewart, today we are going to learn how to make a baby burrito.

Here's the ingredients for your shopping list:
1 small baby
1 medium-sized warm square blanket
1 small hat
2 gentle hands
1 heaping cup of patience
2 squirts of Purell
1 pinch of help

Step 1: Find your baby.

Step 2: Apply Purell liberally on your hands to sanitize.

Step 3: Take your warm blanket and fold the top corner over a quarter of the way down. Now, you will ask that "your pinch of help" to hold up the baby so that you can lay down the blanket under him / her with the folded-over corner underneath the baby's upper back.

Step 4: As the blanket has been placed like a diamond under the baby, pull the left side of the blanket over the baby and tuck in under the baby gently. Now, take the bottom of the blanket and pull it up towards the baby. Finally, pull the right side of the blanket up over the bottom part of the blanket that you just pulled up and tuck it under the left shoulder of the baby. Place appropriately-sized hat on the baby's head. (Yes, the example pictures skip this part - sneaky, sneaky!)


Step 5: Remember to have the baby's hands brought up towards the baby's face in the burrito wrap as this is good for the baby developmentally-speaking.


Step 6: Now, have your "pinch of help" hold the baby while you make a karate chop motion over the baby burrito.


Step 7: Ignore step 6. Hopefully, you read all of these instructions in full before starting to make your baby burrito.

Step 8: Examine the quality of your baby burrito.


Step 9: Have the baby admire you for your skills in wrapping.



Step 10: Ignore the first 9 steps and call a nurse for help. :)

33 weeks young

Jack Henry keeps plumping up as he progresses in age and today he has turned a ripe 33 weeks old (gestationally-speaking again), which is also known as being 4 weeks old.


Thanks for the shirt, Me-maw. I use this as a reminder for Jack Henry every weekend. It's part of his task list that we post-it note to his isolet. Ha!


As he's getting bigger, Jack Henry is working on feeding and growing and growing and feeding ... in essence, no dieting for him these days. :)


Jack Henry was stunned to hear that once again, he missed out on the cupcake celebration for his weekly birthday.


Yet, he went back to sleep once he realized that he'll get the good stuff in the breastmilk eventually!

A stylin' wrap

Jack Henry has gotten all dressed up in his finest duds today, but the latest fashion in the NICU to complete a baby's evening attire is swaddling.

This style comes straight from the catwalks of Milan to you by our very own fashion correspondent / model, J. H. White.

J. H., please describe who you're wearing this evening.

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Thanks, Stephen.

Tonight, I'm wearing a snow white, light fleece made of the finest vicuña wool. Notice the hand-stitched edging that adds panache, but a subtle refinement. As demonstrated in the pattern, you can clearly see the degree of mastery in the cutting and fusing by the migrant workers from Shēnzhèn. You can only pay top pennies per hour for this type of dedication.


Also, the designer comes from the studio of Dwell as part of line found exclusively at Tar-jay of Beverly Hills. These fleeces generally retail for upwards of $9.99 for three.


You can see how the fleece accentuates the sage green trimming of my body suit. This really brings out the yellow-green of the turtles of my onesie. This is truly all the rage!

Back to you, Stephen.

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Thanks, J. H.

In our next upcoming fashion segment - nose tubes: how can you stylize your tegaderm tape in this season's colors.

Getting dressed up with no place to go

Jack Henry has gotten to the point where he is old enough and big enough (from a weight perspective) where he gets to try to regulate his own body temperature. This is one of his next, big milestones.


Until now, Jack Henry has had his body temperature regulated by his bed. In essence, the bed would be set at temperature of 36.5 celsius and Jack Henry would follow along. If his temperature dipped below a prescribed level, the bed, like a pizza oven, would warm him up. Since he's so deep dish, he never got too crusty - ok, ok, I think that I need to go eat dinner now.


Ahh, better finish up this post quick, so here we go. Instead of the bed warming and cooling him to a certain level, the bed is switched to a different setting with a lower temperature and his body is supposed to keep himself warm. He should be able to do this as he is almost 1,500 grams now. Gradually, the bed is being reduced in temperature by 0.5 celsius increments from 33.0 celsius with an end result of 28.0 celsius (close to room temperature).


In doing so, he gets to wear clothes (onesies). Additionally, we will swaddle him when he is taken out of the isolet for non-nurtitive sucking or kangaroo care.

The end goal is for Jack Henry to regulate his temperate so that he can go from the isolet to an open crib. This will most likely happen when he is at 1,800 grams.

After he achieves this, his next (and hopefully final) task will be able to breastfeed and bottle feed all of his meals (i.e. no feeding tube).

The feeding tube - in slow motion

Here are the pictures from the replacement of Jack Henry's feeding tube. As mentioned in the previous post, his tube was switched from the mouth to the nose. This is being done to help clear the pathway in the mouth for breastfeeding.

For the grandmas in the audience, Jack Henry was fine during this whole little process. He squinted his eyes and furrowed his brow just like you would if someone were to placing something in your nose. He didn't cry and as you can see, he was totally cool at the end and back to sleep.


First off, the nurse measures the length of the tube that needs to be inserted so it properly reaches his stomach. (Note the numbers on the tube.) Otherwise, the tube eithers ends in his esophagus (too short) or in his intestines (too long). Also, the nurse will check at the end to make sure the tube went into the stomach rather than in the lungs.


The measurement process is to stretch the tube across his face from the mouth to the ear and then from the ear along his chest to the stomach.


Then, thread the tube through the nose on down to the belly!


See - happy baby at the end!

An unobstructed view

Jack Henry was due to have his feeding tube replaced today. His orogastric tube is being replaced by a nasogastric tube. Translation: the tube that went through the mouth directly to the stomach is now being replaced with a tube that is threaded through the nose directly to the stomach. More pictures on that in a minute.

In the interim, here are some quicky shots of him without anything on his face so as to help you judge who he looks like.

After the head shave, I think he looks like former Houston Rocket / current TNT announcer, Jon Barry.