Pics From 12/8 Christmas Shoot

We got what we wanted for Christmas this year!

More Video Per Request

Sammy turns his head to look at his friends.


He is just laying around here.

Cousins Visit (Through Glass)

Aunt Christine and cousins Malia and Erin came to see Sammy today. While they couldn't come inside because his immune system is not developed (talked about previously), they still wanted to come over and have a peek through the window. Samson is in for some good times with these two.

Sammy Hiccups

Cozy Inside

The snow was falling today, but we stayed nice and cozy inside. I told Sammy a joke, which he thought was hilarious.

Debbie and Sammy cozy up later.

Health Details

I've described Samson as healthy, but I guess I should provide a little more detail for those who had been worrying/praying for him. Before Samson left the hospital, he did well on both the eye and hearing tests. Body movements and physicality are all great too. Because he was born so early, we do have to be careful of his exposure to RSV and other illnesses, as this could cause re-hospitalization. We are always washing our hands and using hand sanitizer before touching Sammy.

Unrelated to the premature birth, we had been worrying about the size of the ventricles in his brain. Prior to the birth, we had many ultrasounds and an MRI on his brain. The MRI showed the "mildly enlarged" ventricles were the only abnormality; they were isolated. After he was born, the doctors seemed less concerned about this "Ventriculomegaly", and the ultrasound performed just before we left the hospital actually showed a decrease in ventricle size (this is good). They did however see a small hemorrhage (Grade 1 IVH) that will require a follow-up ultrasound in a month. We were told this is common for a preemie and is usually not something to worry about.

Chicks Dig Handsom Samson

Grandma Vicki and Uncle Mike came out over some icy roads for a visit today. Sammy is the first grandchild for Debbie's side, so he is getting the "first grandchild" treatment, which he of course loves. Sammy was able to show off his bottle drinking and gazing around skills.

Mike brought a gift Handsome Samson decided to try out even though it is bit too big for now. Top of bib says, "CHICKS".

Sammy Scares Lloyd and Exhibits Potty Genius

Lloyd is our 20+ pound cat. When Lloyd was created, he must have been taking a nap when they were handing out cohones. "Fraidy cat" is a good way to describe him. When we first introduced our two cats, Lloyd and Annie, to Samson, Lloyd approached very slowly, crouching down cautiously in a slink. It took sometime for him to relax.

After a couple days, we put Sammy in a playpen, and allowed the cats to roam around. Suddenly, as happens from time to time, Sammy let out a thundering toot. Lloyd looked like he'd seen a ghost. He went into the low slink, eyes dilated, looking at the crib like a big dog was ready to bound outward. I think he may eventually get used to the baby sounds, but I doubt it. Lloyd isn't all that smart.

In other news, Sammy accomplished a very difficult task today. As his diaper was being changed, he peed up over his face and onto a wall and also pooped out down over his feet. This was the first time we'd seen it go in two directions. Overall, his potty tactics are quite impressive. He has figured out that going when his diaper is off means he won't have to sit in it. Potty genius!

More Pictures From His First Week At Home

First Days At Home

Sammy did excellent on his first day at home. He was relaxed and happy with Mom and Dad, even if we swaddled him up in a blanket. No more foot pokes for blood samples and no more leads and foreign objects on his person. Debbie had been at the hospital during the nights for quite a while, and I put in a few nights towards the end as well, so we had lots of practice getting up in the night to change diaper and give him his milk.

On the second day we got into the Christmas spirit a bit and had a little photo shoot. Here is one of the pictures, and I will post more later. That second day we had to venture back out into the real world for a pediatrician appointment. This went well, but was kind of odd taking him into a waiting room with lots of children, which we have been told to avoid for the time being.

Samson Goes Home

After a 39 day stay at the hospital, it is time for Samson to go home. He is 36 weeks and 1 day gestationally and doing well enough on his feeds and breathing to leave the hospital. Sammy weighs out at just a hair under 6 pounds.

Debbie and Sammy share a last moment in the room. While the hospital treated us very well, Debbie, Sammy and I are very happy to be home. We are all looking forward to having some time together without doctors, nurses, and monitoring devices. Samson is healthy (and strong), but we will need to be careful not to expose him to germs because he was born before he could get all the immunities from Mom.

Sammy Gets a Bath

This is the first time Mom gave Sammy a bath. He was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but everything turned out okay.

I'm not sure who was more excited for the bath, Mommy or Sammy. We missed out on his first bath, which occurred in the middle of the night (before Debbie was spending the night) after a big poop explosion all over himself and one of the nice nurses.

Sammy Eating More On His Own

Sammy was 5 pounds and 6 ounces last night. He is now up to 5 out of 8 feeds doing bottle or breast. On some of the feeds if he hasn't gotten the whole amount, they supplement some through the tube.

Sammy gets some nice sleep.

Samson Grows

Samson weighs 4 pounds 5 ounces now. He has grown quite a bit the last few days. The picture was from Thursday night when he weighed just under 4 pounds. He was moved to a crib on Sunday and is wearing clothes now. He is fed mostly through the tube still, but just started
doing a bit of breastfeeding once a day.

We are beginning to get a little more cuddle time with Sammy. He is doing well still and even was able to shoot some poop onto Debbie's shirt tonight when she was changing his diaper. He is still only 33 weeks and has some occasions of bradycardia(slowing of heartbeat from not breathing) and drops in oxygen saturation, but these are to be expected at this stage.

The First Couple Weeks

Sammy did well the first couple weeks in the hospital. He would stay in his warm isolette(incubator) most of the time and sleep. Once per day, we would get to take him out and hold him a little. He is four days old in this picture on the right.

For the initial feeds, he drank the couple ml of milk on his own. Later when the amount of milk he needed to drink grew larger, it was gavaged through a feeding tube inserted into his nose. He never really got too close to liking that tube. On a few occasions when he was feeling a little fed up, he grabbed onto it and yanked it out.

In addition to the feeding tube, he also was equipped with a pulse oximeter(on his foot or hand) to measure heartbeat and blood oxygen saturation, and leads on his chest and stomach to detect respiratory and heartbeat. He no longer needed to have an IV at this point.


Sometime along here he started to wear clothing. He went through the outfits pretty fast, especially if a new nurse was around and the nurse was gung-ho about changing the diaper (usually Debbie and I would change Sammy's diapers). Well, Sammy is like grown-ups in his potty habits, where he likes to be free of all obstacles including diapers before he lets it go. It was fun to watch if you weren't in the danger zone. I'll just show a picture of a dressed Sammy, resting after the action.

Samson Is Born

Craig and Debbie welcome their new baby boy on October 30th at 10:42 AM. Our 'still to be named' bundle of joy was 3 pounds 12 ounces, 15.75 inches. Debbie was on bedrest for over 10 weeks, which allowed us to reach a gestation of 30 weeks and 5 days. We were in the hospital for a few days prior to the birth as well, giving us the opportunity to give him steroids for developing his lungs.

He was able to breathe room air from this first day forward, not requiring a respirator. Dad spent most of the day with son, as he got acquainted with being in an isolette.

On the first night, Debbie was able to see him for the first time since the birth. Despite the puking episode from Mom, the meeting went well. He didn't mind cameras, although he would prefer if we turned off the flash.

On the second day, we decide on the name Samson Douglas Connell.