Familiar View, New Perspective

I took this side profile picture of Roscoe a few nights ago ...

Does it look familiar?

This reminds me of 1 Corinthians 13:12 which says "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known". I'm not implying that Roscoe is the completion of the gospel / church (see v.10), but rather that it gives me another perspective (a rather literal one) on seeing "dimly" and seeing "face to face".

When looking at the ultrasound, I saw the rough outline of Roscoe's face. I knew that he had a nose, mouth, and forehead. I couldn't see the details of his nostrils, lips, eyes, or expressions until he was born. That helps me appreciate the cloudy view that Christians had in the first century when God wrote this passage through Paul. It also helps me appreciate the clarity that comes later and makes me wonder what details we should appreciate now that they couldn't see back then.

Content and Interested

We took the videos below earlier this week, showing Roscoe lying content in his bed. He was interested in me talking to him, the black shape of the camera, and the curtain behind me. I like when we can see his little wheels turning like this.

Swing with a View

Roscoe is older than most of the babies in the NICU. I think there's one here who is still older than he is. Since he's older, he gets bored with the same old "newborn stuff" and when he's bored then he's cranky. The nurses moved Roscoe to a spot in the same room, but by the window. That way he'll have plenty of action to watch during the day with the constantly changing scenery.

From what I've seen so far, he really likes it. I usually have to bounce him around to comfort him, but when he's looking out the window he's much easier to console. Looks like we might have a hiker or nature buff on our hands!

Head Control

We've started working more with Roscoe on his neck strength. His head size is actually around the 3% mark, where his body is below the 1% mark. This leaves a big head to be controlled by tiny neck muscles. Since preemies commonly have weaker necks and cores (but stronger legs) we've tried doing neck exercises with him to show him that he can control the direction where his eyes and mouth go. He's getting better!

Kicking and Looking

On the day Roscoe was supposed to come home, we received this on our doorstep. It was a sweet gesture by Alisha's sister, who had arranged to send the flowers before we posted news about the delayed exit. It brightened our day a little, and hopefully we'll be able to show Roscoe his flowers when he comes home for real:

Here's a video that we took last night. Roscoe was kicking up a storm, so we grabbed the camera and tried to catch it. In the video he's kicking a lot less than he was previously, so we tried to stimulate it by moving the blanket against his feet. Near the end of the video, we held up a mirror so everyone could see his reaction to seeing his reflection.

Tomorrow we'll show another video we took that shows him working on neck control!

Real-life Banner

This morning, Roscoe's favorite artist sent me a real-life picture that he took this morning:

which looks a whole lot like the banner he painted for Roscoe months ago:

With this kid, every day is looking like it will be an adventure! :)

Overnight with Roscoe

This is a video that Alisha took at 4:30am of Roscoe in our room on Sunday night. Across the hall was room 106 where all of the usual chatter, crying, and background noise was going on. In our room it was quiet and dark. Alisha noted that he slept really well overnight and didn't wake up crying. He was peaceful like this all night. 

He is laying in a standard new baby container with his beloved monkey pacifier sitting on his chest. We are hoping that this means he'll be able to rest more fully when he comes home, and hopefully that will translate into accelerated growth.

Thank you for everyone's comments of support on facebook. It was helpful for Alisha and I to see the mutual frustration of Roscoe's supporters. As Romans 12:15 says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn". It was also very helpful to be reminded how thankful we should be that he is healthy enough to talk about coming home, and to remind us that maybe Roscoe's departure from the NICU has been postponed so that he (or we) can effect someone else positively.