Our little boy

Our little boy
Our Little Miracle

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Lights, Camera, Action!

"They're baaaaccckkkk"

After many trips to the mailbox and day after day of wonder, we finally have a power cord for our computer! I felt like Ralphie Parker checking the box for his Little Orphan Annie Decoder ring..............EVERY time I went to check for this stupid thing.

It is finally here, and it works.............horribly. Thank you Dell corporation for making computers which have no replacement components that fit. Seems like a real savvy business strategy to me.

At any rate, we are up and running temporarily and I have photos of the little man.

Away we goooooooooooooo

This is just after we arrived a while back and found the roof blown off the incubator. This was the first step to his getting into a "big boy" crib. That photo is next.

Unfortunately, the "big boy" crib resembles a jail cell from Shawshank or something.

So then he breast fed............no photos for that ha ha.

That brings us up to speed with some photo reference. There is a very funny thing he does where he wedges his hands under the nasal prongs or the feeding tube and basically tries to rip them out. It is almost like he is in there shouting "AWAY WITH THESE INFERNAL THINGS"

A couple days ago, he was throwing his first "real" fit complete with crying and wailing, and his first tears! During this tirade, he got a hold of the feeding tube and straight up yanked it out! It reminded me of an incident that my Mom and I had one day and to her I just want to say.............I thought it would affect you but it affected me more. I was reminded him how important that feeding tube was and that just cause he breast fed like a star right out of the gate, he can't just go ripping out his food supply or anything. He complied.......against his wishes.

Yesterday, we found him bare faced.............no more nasal prongs! The doctors have decided to give him a go with absolutely no assistance breathing. So far so good on that front, and we are praying that continues.

He has 4 "checkpoints" that he has to pass in order to come home with us:

1) He has to hold and control his own body temperature-CHECK
2) He has to be able to sleep on his back-CHECK (since he went into the crib he has to sleep on his back only)
3) He has to be able to feed properly and not have issue feeding and breathing and processing food-CHECK (so far)
4) He has to be "incident" free in terms of his breathing for a week-WORKING ON IT

So..........we are getting closer...........much closer.

I asked the nursing staff how long the longest child has been in the NICU and was told "yearS" Yes, that is a capital S for years of time.

Hearing that makes our 74 days seem like nothing. To us, though, that time has seemed like horribly long. We have watched families come and go and we feel like we are the grandparents of the hospital. I have seen families walk in with the same look I had my first day.

Pale, scared, confused looks have been common. We are trying to be strong and show people that success stories are happening in the NICU and that, while it may seem like the sky is falling, there is support and we can all make it with God's blessing and positive support for both the children and the families.

On that note, please put Kelia in your prayers. Long story short, she has an infection and was born smaller than our little man............she, and he parents are in need of some divine counsel and all the prayers they can get will be helpful.

We can't begin to describe how strange this experience has been, and we seem to have gone through this process with the minimum of night phone calls from doctors............they are not so fortunate thus far. God help rest their souls and protect that baby!

So....................

That is about that. I hope that updates fairly well. We will have more frequent updates in the future and thank you all for your patience and understanding on these computer troubles.

More importantly, thank you all for the support and well wishes. It is a support group like we have that keeps things like this from breaking us down. God bless you all!

A couple cute photos to close the night;

Our little man! Love you buddy!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Catching back up.....

So, while there is still no power cord for our computer, I have access to a computer for a little bit and thought I would do a quick update on the goings on all week.

Because this is not my computer, there will be no photos so the stories might not be as well told, but the updates have not been as frequent as the news so here goes.............

First of all the wind HOWLED through the area and blew the top of the incubator right off! Not literally of course, but it sounded better than he tore the roof off the mutha! All kidding aside, about a week ago they took the roof off the incubator and he was in a "big boy" crib.

He loved it and the doctors figured he did so well that they would leave it off and let him get acclimated to life in the real air.

He also had a couple tests done and his progress is going well in terms of the valve outside his heart (The PDA) and lung development.

Fast forward to about 4 days ago when he "decided" to call it a lifetime in my arms and turned the most unbelievable shade of blue you have ever seen and had all his vitals take a dive so severe it pretty much stopped my heart too!

The nurse came running as I screamed my face off and she was able to get things back to normal, but he scared me something fierce and I have now decided that holding him past an hour is just not a good idea for me. He seems to really take a turn at 1 hour for some reason and so to avoid ever seeing that again..........might just be best to wean him back to Dad ha ha.

So today, Thanksgiving, we head down and they surprise us again.

This time, he got an entire new home. No more incubator! He is in a real life crib now that looks like it was built in the 1920s or resembles a child jail cell. I will post photos as soon as I can.

Couple that with the fact that he latched and was able to breast feed in the first attempt he has ever had, and we have a bunch to be thankful for. Needless to say there will be no photos of his feeding experience you sickos ha ha.

We pray that this Thanksgiving finds all of you among friends and family, enjoying all that God has blessed you with. We sure are!

Photos of everything will be coming when that darned power cord arrives.......we are NOT thankful for the Dell corporation.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Maybe some headway

My family is in town and has a computer!!!

Needless to say we have been frustrated in that we still have no power cord for our computer......thank you Dell!

I will be updating using their computer tomorrow with stories, and I am hoping photos too.

Thanks for your patience and we will be back in business soon!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Sorry for the delay folks

So........

It turns out that our computer power cord has decided that it has done enough in life and has decided to crap out on us. This leaves us with no computer for a few days.

I am at a very good friends house borrowing the time to shoot a note out saying that more posts are coming.......soon.

Very cool stuff has happened, but needs photos to describe. I will be uploading those as soon as the new power cord comes from the manufacturer. Thanks for your patience.

I can tell you that he has had all his 2 month immunizations, which went well, as well as another eye exam which went great. The doctors are saying he should be good to go in terms of his vision and eye development. I will explain more about that later.

He has also had another echo cardiogram which has not returned results yet and another x-ray of his lungs, again, no results back yet.

I will leave everyone with this small story....................

A fierce storm ripped through Seattle a couple days ago knocking power out at our house for about 12 hours or so. The winds were so strong where we live they knocked trees down and scattered debris all over the roads (by the way I just love the word debris........one of my favorites in our language).

At any rate, the U was not immune to the winds ferocity........and little man was the recipient of some of its power.


While that is very cryptic, it will all make sense when I get photos up later on..........trust me it is a very good thing so please do not be alarmed............great things have happened!

STAY TUNED!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Water, water, everywhere

Bath photos are included, complete with commentary;

This time, I got involved and was not just the photographer. Julie prepared him in the incubator while I filled the yellow tub with water. Julie was the first to get "acquainted" with the massive dookie he left behind in his diaper. It was so gross...........and no Tucus, there will be no photos of his bowel movements at any time ha ha.
A view from over Nana's shoulder. Giving a premature baby a bath is quite the production. You have to hold them in a very specific way to clean every nook and cranny. Bacteria grows so readily between the folds of a baby's skin that it is imperative to get under the neck, behind the ears, under the arm pits, and under the bean bag..............that one was just for you DC!

After his bath, he smelled MUCH better and so we put him in an outfit that one of our friends got for us. He looked so cute and he loved his outfits.

After dressing and some swaddling, it was time for cuddles................

Nana's turn...............she chatted him up for a while. Story time and prayers were plentiful. She made sure to tell him to eat his veggies and clean his room..........oops, that was me.


Then the "Big Man" got to meet the "Little Man." Papa got a little bit of time that he chose to extol him on the benefits of choosing the putter over the sand wedge from the fringe. Little man listened intently, then fell asleep.

It was a good day.

To update the progress, the doctors have turned the pressure on the nasal prongs down to 2.5 L/m and are continuing to wean him on the way to 0. He is scheduled for immunizations and a couple check ups (cranial ultrasound, echo cardiogram, etc.) so there should be some exciting stuff coming up.

Stay tuned, and have a wonderful day!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Another bath

I never thought that babies could smell like that!

WHHHHHOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

He needed a bath and QUICK. So we bathed him today and he is nice and clean and ready to take on the world.

Nothing too huge to report today but there are a couple of prayer requests if possible;

The little baby next to us is doing some "experimental treatment" and needs some lifting up. Also, a couple in our same room is getting ready to take their son home. Please pray for his continued maturity and growth.

I will report back tomorrow with some of today's bath photos and such!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Not a whole lot to report

So, nothing too new inside the incubator.

The doctors are still weaning him off the nasal prongs. This seems like it could be a bit more time, but they sure are confident that things will be just fine for him.

They did say that they anticipate some extra doctors visits after he comes home and that he may go home "on oxygen" due to the way he has handled oxygen intake and such. This is not too shocking, but kind of let us know that there is still a long road ahead to ensure that this wonderful baby boy has the opportunities to handle life the way he deserves. God's blessing and hand be with him on his journey, not just this short term journey, but his long-term journey.

Yesterday Julie went back to work and so we saw him at 2 different times. Julie spent time holding him in the morning and I went down around 7:30 pm and held him for a while. It was great and he cooed and made noises for about 20 minutes with me.

Julie has had that experience of him "talking" to her before too so it was cool for me to be the one holding him while he communicated. The nurses came over and were laughing at all the sounds he was making. It was cute!

So that is about that for today. I will be checking back in later and we wish everyone a blessed day!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Dirty hands?

Well, as promised, photos to come. In fact, I will post photos in order to describe how the day went;

We got to the NICU around 1:30 and knew what we were in for. We were greeted with a bright yellow tub prepared for his, and our, first bath. Be sure this is not the first time Julie or I had bathed, but.........you know what I mean.
We started by placing warm water in the tub, then Julie placed him into the water. He loved it! In fact, he made no real peep at all while she bathed him. She started with his eyes. She used cotton balls and sterile water for that part. Then it was on to.............
Washing his little head. She used a special brush that is non-abrasive, but really cleans his hair. He loved that too!
She rinsed him off and he let out a huge yawn!
Then we dressed him in his first clothes. No more just diapers, it is onesie time! We were not prepared for this part so we did not bring along a couple choices for him. We just used one that they have in storage for NICU babies. It is so tiny!

He was a bit chilled after his bath so we swaddled him and put a "Crystal hat" on him to get his temperature back up. THANKS CRYSTAL, he looks great!
Wrapped up like a gordita, or Ricky Bobby's arm, you be the judge.

So there he was, dressed up like a big boy and swaddled for warmth. I got a couple great videos of him getting dressed and of him starting at us. He was a perfect subject today! Way to go little man!






So............enjoy the pics and the vids, but stay tuned. Things seem to be readying for a change very soon. Being a big boy comes with certain "differences" that we had not been apprised of earlier. All is good, but it should be fun watching things progress in the next couple weeks!

Thanks again for checking in and have a great day or night, where ever you may be!

God Bless!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Stay Tuned

No news to report today, but there might be some awesome photos tomorrow.

Stick around!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Quick update

We are about to head to bed, but I figured we better get a quick update in.

Little man is doing great. He is over 3 pounds now and has lengthened a bit too. He looks great, and is doing awesome.

Today he had a second eye exam to be sure that things are developing with his vision. It turns out that while low levels of oxygen in premature babies is unsafe for a number of reasons, too HIGH levels of oxygen in premature babies can damage the blood vessels behind the eyes and affect vision up to blindness.

We got to the hospital just as the eye doctor was getting there so I figured I would watch the show.

To put things in perspective for you all, I am not a huge fan of blood or gross stuff and have been known to pass out at simple blood draws..........not just my own blood draws, but blood draws in general.

Hearing this, the doctor told me I should probably not watch as this procedure caused many a med student to pass out, according to him. I offered to take photos for the blog and he laughed and told me that nobody would want to see this.

So just to show him, I watched. And now I am paying the price. I can not get the image from being seared to my retina. It was absolutely appalling. I will spare the gory details here, but just let me tell you that his eyes were forced open and a "spear" was inserted below the eye ball to provide enough space for the doctor to look behind the eye............it was unreal and so gross.

So, now that you all are hungry ha ha...............everything was great. His eyes are progressing nicely and he should be good to go. The doctor will check them again in a month or so, but he was happy with what he saw.............even if I wasn't ha ha.

Anyway, we are both shot. We are off to bed and will have more updates later.

Julie goes to work on Monday again so please be in prayer for sound sleep for her to avoid exhaustion or sickness.

Thanks everyone and have a great night!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Back to it

I GOT TO SEE HIM!!!!!!

Julie and I went down before I went to work today and she got to hold him for about an hour and a half. It was amazing to see how he has changed, even in just a few days. He looked so much larger and really looked good.

Julie showed off a new trick and took him out of the incubator all by herself. It was awesome.

So, updates.............

He is still off the C-pap and they are liking his progress, even though he has had more issues being off. He is progressing very well and seems to be waking up more and more. Julie took some great photos of him with his eyes open. I will post them here tomorrow for you all to see. HE IS WATCHING!!!!!!!!!!!

For now, we are beat and are headed to bed. Peace be with all of you!