Sick again

This just in, increased stress leads to a breakdown of the human immune system. The little man is doing great, but his old man is sick again.

I woke with a sore throat, tried to work through it, thinking that nothing was all that wrong, and now I am laid up and sick as a dog. People are not able to see him with any symptoms of a cold and so I am on the outside looking in again.

Julie went to see him and said he is doing well and that things are good again today. I will update tomorrow as I am headed to bed tonight early to try to fight this thing off.

Thanks everyone!

Birthday time!!!!!!!!!

It's little man's one month birthday today!

In honor of his one month birthday, I worked and Julie went down and hung out with him. She got to hold him and cuddle him. I am so jealous of her during those times. I would give anything to trade her places, but that is not quite how God designed it now is it?

So after work we headed down and hung out with him. He did very well!

It was, again, evident that he loves that ol C-pap as he had more incidents today than normal. They had him off it for about 11 hours, which is good.

He looked great and I got a couple wonderful photos of him;

His eyes were open a good amount of time today! He has the greatest look when his eyes are open.

So the day was a good one!

The day before, not so much......................

Nothing bad on his end, but I had a very tough day. My Sister and her family left to move to Australia today. Needless to say, it was a difficult thing saying good bye to them. Being Uncle Tom is one of the greatest things I have ever been in my life. Having that label is better than any I have ever had before. They are going to do great Down Under and the kids are going to turn into awesome men and women. "Good on ya Richard, Michelle, Caleb, Tommy, Ellie, and Joey!

Lucky for us, they took a few hours out of their trip to visit and I got a couple photos of Auntie Michelle and Uncle Richard checking out the baby boy;

I am so happy to have this photo. My sister getting a chance to touch my son is something that I never thought would happen. 

In all, it was a very good weekend for the little man, but a tough weekend for me.

I will check back again tomorrow with an update on the little man. For now, we are going to go to bed and catch up on some z's. God Bless!

Emotions aplenty

What a day!

He is doing very well. He gained some weight and was looking great. All the tests that have come back have shown nothing glaring so that is a real load off.

We had a great day with him today and had a couple great friends down to see him. Brandon and Eva were able to come down to the hospital and see him.

Brandon was "fortunate" enough to be on the other end of the line when I was rushing Julie to the hospital so he saw the little guy very shortly after he was born. Seeing him this time gave us some perspective since he was so small then and has really come a long way.

After Brandon and Eva took off, Julie and I went to a car seat for premies class and we both rocked the house. Once Julie figured out how to use the "foot" of the base of the car seat, we got our 4 pound doll that simulates our baby into the seat and we were off and running, figuratively, of course.

When we returned to his side, my Mom and Dad were there and so he got to spend about an hour with Nana and Papa.

They are in town visiting as well as my Sister and Brother in law and their 4 children. I think I told you all that they are leaving for Australia, permanently, on Sunday so this is it for a while in terms of seeing them. Having them gone will be difficult. I can't even describe how I am going to feel tomorrow as I spend my last day with them for a while.

My Sister is a wonderful woman and I love her so much and appreciate her friendship more than she will ever know. Her husband is a star of a human being and is lucky I was cool enough to introduce the two.........that is a story for another blog ha ha. Their children..........well, being Uncle Tom has been one of the 3 greatest things I have ever had the pleasure of doing in my life. They are so full of life and such awesome kids.........but I am babbling and starting to cry so that is that.

I will, most likely, not write tomorrow since the day should run very long and will, no doubt, be full of emotion so if I don't update, do not be alarmed. I will be back the next day.

Have a great night and lets all pray for my Sister and her family. I love you so much Tucus!

Good day

Julie got to hold him for about 2 1/2 hours today! What is so great, is that she finally fell asleep with him in her arms. It was one of the most amazing scenes my mind could have concocted and it was actually happening in front of me.

I loved it!

As far as his health, a few things to report. We had no update on the blood work or spinal fluid tests. They have upped the C-pap to pump more pressure into his lungs so that he has less "incidents." The C-pap is used to pump pressure into his lungs to assist in their inflation and to prevent them from partial collapse. His lungs are not in danger, but because of their lack of development, they require assistance to inflate.

It is very common in premature babies.

At any rate, they have pumped up the pressure to allow for an easier time breathing. If there is a "down side" to this process, it is simply that he has been on a lower level of pressure prior to today. Kind of a step back, but nothing so significant that it scares us.

Other than that, he has lost some weight today. He is down 39g today. This could be because he gained a significant amount of weight a couple days ago (60g) and his body needed to even out. They do not seem to be too concerned about this either, so no biggie!

So in conclusion, we had a great day with him and it was wonderful to hang out with him today. Julie looked so peaceful asleep with him on her chest. I wish I would have brought the camera to capture the moment, but I forgot ha ha.

I will check back tomorrow when my Mother, Father, Sister, Brother in law, and Nephews and Nieces will be here. It is going to be a great weekend!

Tired again

Just got home from work and am exhausted.

Julie hung out with him today and said that he was looking good, but was struggling in terms of his apnea again. I am heading down to see him tomorrow and will have photos and more information.

Julie said his urine, spinal fluid, blood, and every other thing you can think of was being tested to see if anything was going on internally that would be causing him stress.

We will check back tomorrow once we talk to the doctors to let you all know where things are going.

Sleep well everyone!

Sorry for the late post

Last night I got off work around 10:30 and Julie and I headed down. Since we did not return until late late, I decided to forgo posting and head to bed.

So the updates;

They took him back off the C-pap again and back on the nasal prongs. This was exciting since it allowed us to see his face, but was a bit of a downer because it led him to have many more "incidents" with his breathing.

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

Today they put him BACK on the C-pap again. We are, again, very comfortable with this, but in order to have him released at some point, he will have to be able to breathe with neither the C-pap, nor the nasal prongs. In any case, he has stabilized as of this morning again and things seem to be going well.

We did not meet the new "team" at any point so that is still to come. It was sad to see some of the old "team" go, but we have been assured that they will check back now and then and will check back to see if we figure out a name. 

Julie took some awesome photos which are here for you to check out;

Today, Julie will be heading down to see him while I head to work. I hope to see him tonight, but will have tomorrow off to hang out with him a bunch. I sure miss not being able to see him a bunch!

Talk to everyone again soon!

Cuddle time

After work we went to see the little man. I got to hold him for an hour or so again, which was amazing.

Julie got to hold him for about 2 1/2 hours earlier in the day, which was great for them both.

He is doing very well and things are going good. Because it is after 1am and we have a long day changing the "team" tomorrow, I am going to head to bed. More will be coming soon!