Pics

Sleeping / Daddy's & babies

Michelle, me, Felicia / Grant, Blake & Grey (Nicu budds)

Blake's bath / Silly daddy

Wuzz Up? / First Halloween Blake and Hannah

Me & Blake / Uncle John & Blake

Happy family / AuntE, Uncle John & us

My boys / Helping daddy open his birthday present

Oh I'm stuffed! First Thanksgiving / Nummy num nums

Rob's car that got broken into / Us at Caden's party

Daddy and Blake / Lolly pop tasting

Hi Nana and Papa / Us in the snow in Houston

12-10-08

So it has been quite a long journey for us but Blake is finally getting to be a normal baby...almost. Anyway, I took him for his second flu shot and asked if they would weigh him because he seemed like he had gained a lot of weight. The week of Thanksgiving he weight 13 lbs 7 oz at the doctor who gives him his synagis shot and he was 23 1/2 inches long. So they weight him yesterday and he is 14 lbs 5 oz. He gained a lb in two weeks. And he is now 24 inches long. Holy cow the boy had a growth spurt. Blake got to go to our friend Felicia and Aaron's little boys's Caden's second birthday party. Besides Caden, he was pretty much the only little baby boy there. Lots of little girls for him to look at. Later that night, rob decided to let Blake lick a lolly pop. I wasn't to happy about it, but all the guys thought it was funny. Blake loved it and was drooling over it like crazy. Today Rob brought home the new insurance info from his new job. So they told us originally what the price was supposed to be per month. Apparently that person was misinformed and that was the price for each paycheck...OMG I am freaking because now we are going to have to pay double which is the same price as the cobra we had to pay for, for the past month. Does it ever end? Can we just start 2009 already please? We did get a surprise this evening here in Houston. It snowed....and a lot too! We bundles Blake up and took him out in it to play. The first time we went out, he loved it. The second time he wasn't too thrilled and wanted to go back inside. So Grandma took him back in and Rob and I stayed out and played. Blake got to see his first snowfall and that is so awesome since it is his first Christmas! Oh I forgot to update about our friends from the NICU. Isabelle got to go home last month for Thanksgiving. She went home on oxygen and an apnea monitor like Blake, but she is doing fantastisc....better than Blake did with his....they are going to take her off her apnea monitor soon since she isn't having any episodes...Thank you Lord! We love them to death and are so happy for her doing so great! So next week my parents are flying in from Ohio for Christmas and I can 't wait! They haven't seen Blake since Labor Day when he was a lot smaller and still on oxygen and monitors. I am super excited about getting to spend Christmas with them and all of our family in Kerrville. Ok, I have rambled enough so I am going to bed now. Night.

12-1-08

Well Blake is now 7 months old. He is 13 lbs and teething like a little monkey. It looks like two of his bottom teeth are trying to pop through as well as two on the top. Ok that is so not normal and shouldn't be happening, but what about his entire life has been normal. November has been a hard month for us. We sold our house in order to help pay for mine and Blake's medical bills as well as to try and get us caught up on our debt so that we will be basically starting over. Since I can not work, we made the decision to sell the house and move in to my mother-in-laws for a little while to catch up. I am sure we will drive each other in sane but I guess you have to do what you have to do. So our house sold in 12 days. YEAH what a blessing. I was sad to leave but since we are wanting to move to the northside of Houston anyway, it is just a step in the right direction. Robert has started a new job which is also a blessing for us. It is way more pay and for a company that respects him as well. Now the downside is that we found out that we will owe more than just our out of pocket for our medical bills. They have a limit on certain things that if we go over (such as my room for the hospital. They will only pay so much for a room and the overage I am responsible for and it doesn't count for the out of pocket amount. And they are charging us penalties for not calling ahead and getting approval for the hospital where I delivered and was admitted. OK WHAT THE #@$!) So the money keeps racking up towards the bills. Then we get a call two days before we were supposed to close on our house telling us that we will owe $6550 at closing. Another WTF! We were only supposed to pay 300. So our loan company originally told us we would not have a prepayment penalty because we had owned the home more than two years. Yeah they lied and should have told us it was for a 3 year term. So since we sold the house 4 months early of our 3 years of living there they penalized us. AHHH. Now we owe my super super parents more money on top of what we already owe them. So Thanksgiving went well. We just stayed home and relaxed and watched Texas whoop up on the Aggies. HOOKEM! Ok they totally got sold out on the BCS but whatever. Blake filled up on Sweet potatoes, green beans, and squash. He was my little stuffed turkey! So Friday my mother-in-law Marie and I went to Lowes. Someone pick-pocketed my purse and stole my brand new G1 phone that Robert got me for our anniversary. Ok one more thing to pay for. I had just gotten it Monday and only had it 4 days. GRRRRR. Then Saturday night someone broke the window out of Robert's car trying to steal stuff....hahah nothing to steal in there. So now we have to replace the window. Then today I tried to get my screaming child into the car along with the groceries and ended up leaving my purse in the cart. OK so when i went back it was totally gone. I freaked out and finally broke down. But then Robert tried to call my phone and this lady answered. She had picked it up and tried to contact the few numbers that were in my phone (my old phone I have to use since my new one was stolen) to track me down. There was an angel looking out for me. I am so appreciative to her. All of Blake's contacts were in my wallet as well as everything else important. Anyway so I am praying 2009 is going to be so much better for our family. He did give me one scare the other day. He was asleep on my chest and I guess he fell a little too deep alseep and stopped breathing. He was listening to my heart and breathing patterns and I guess his brain tricked him into thinging it was his and he just stopped. I had to pick him up and stimulate him for about 10 secs to get him to come around. I was so scared. I know 10 secs doesn't sound like a lot but it is when you get put in a situation. Last night Robert was eating some dark chocolate and Blake wanted it. He got so mad and gave Robert the biggest go to hell look I have seen come from a baby. We were laughing so hard. He was staring Robert down like crazy. He kept trying to pout his lip but we were laughing so hard he finally started laughing too. It was too cute. OK now that I have rambled and vented I am going to bed. Goodnight.

officially three months old 11-8-08

So on the 5th Blake was officially three months old...adjusted of course. He is starting to teethe now and is trying to chew on whatever he can get his hands on. He is getting to where he can pick up small toys and put them in his mouth. Only a few things because he uses his palms and hasn't quite got the grasping with fingers part down yet, but he is getting there. He holds his head up really well when upright, but can't quite lift it up when he lays on his tummy yet. He is at 12 1/2 lbs. and 23 inches long. He has started on his Synagiss shots which is for his lungs. He will be on that at least 6 months. He has to have it since he had Chronic Lung Disease. It is a shot that will help him from getting RSV since he is around strangers a lot with all his doctors appointments. It is a very big shot so I feel so sorry for him when he has to have it. They are switching his contacts to a new kind that just came out recently in a high presescription that he needs. It is a mix between hard and soft. They are silicone and should fit and work better for him. His hard ones aren't fitting so well right now. We had fun with some friends on Halloween. Blake had several different costumes and outfits. He was superman, a giraffe, a skeleton (from his grams) and also wore his first Boo shirt that his Grandan and Grammie gave him along with his beenie hat and socks from his Popo and Grammie. Lots of love from so many grandparents haha. He wasn't too thrilled with all the outfit changes. Since he was never really able to get his infant pictures made, we took him this past week and had some done along with some Christmas pictures. He didn't last long, but we were able to get some really cute ones out of it! You can check them out at a website we made through Shutterfly.
http://pokludafamily.shutterfly.com/
Hope you enjoy them!

10-26-08 6 months old today!

Yeah Blake is 6 months old today! Little turkey is getting so big. He goes for a check up tomorrow to the Pediatrician so we will see what his new weight is. On the 5th of Nov he will be officially 3 months old! haha He is getting so big!

BILL!

Holy crap! I just got the bill from St. Davids and apparently our insurance has not paid anything yet for just Blake's account so our grand total for JUST the hospital alone (Blake's bed and stay)and nothing else is (drum roll please.....................) $587,430.70 Yeah you heard me right Five hundred Eighty Seven THOUSAND, Four hundred Thirty dollars and Seventy cents. OH MY.... That is on top of the specialist bills, Neonatologists bills that bill $1,750 a day just to see him once, xrays......you name it he has a bill for it. So the amount above is only for his bed stay! HA Oh and there is the case of my bills as well. So you know what I will be doing first thing Monday morning when my insurance opens up. Anyway Rob thought I was having a heart attack when I opened the letter because he heard me scream from across the house and came running. Guess Blake really is the Million Dollar Baby (well half a mill)!

10-17-08 Off Oxygen

Just a quick little update. Blake went in for his OCRG Oxi Sleep test this morning where he slept for 6 hrs and they studied his oxygen saturation levels and breathing patterns. He did great. He is still having high levels of periodic breathing, but he was able to hold his O2 levels at 97% and higher. He did great, so his pulmonary specialist has taken him off his oxygen and is leaving him just on his monitor for the next month just to be safe. He has been so happy today with out the tubes taped down to his face. He has smiled all day long! I still try to reach for oxygen cords when I stand up to walk with him until I remember "oh yeah, no more cords" haha. So my little Pinochio has one less wire holding him down. We can carry him around freely with out worrying about his O2! YEAH! Oh and he weighed in at 11 lb 3 oz.

10-10-08

Aunt Gwen with Blake

Proud parents!

Passed out after a long weekend

My diaper cake Tiff made me

Me and Mel...NICU mommy's

Me with Bella

Are you kidding me? Mine is plenty thanks!.. Me with Grant, Blake and Grey

Me and Katy with the boys...Blake sees me, Nicu Fams

Strike a pose

Taking a break from his oxygen

Cissy with Grant, Katy with Blake and me with Grey

Cuddling..my tired boys

Blake's first football game

He is so sweet!

So Blake is now 11 pounds! Yeah. That is so great. He has come so far. He is 5 1/2 months and adjusted he is really 2 months old. He has started smiling more now and is being more vocal. His sleeping is better at night but during the day he does whatever he wants. We went back to Austin this past weekend for my 10 year high school reunion...Rob was not thrilled to be going back to Austin so soon. Blake went to his first football game Friday where my team got the pants beat off them, but we had fun. Saw some old friends and Blake met a bunch of new kiddos. My best friend Tiffany had a "Meet Blake" party for us Saturday where we got to see a lot of friends and some of our close NICU friends as well. My friend brought her twin boys that were next to Blake in the NICU and they hung out so we could take pics and catch up. My best bud Gwen came as well as other good friends of ours. We had a really good time seeing them. Tiffany baby-sat him Saturday night so we could go out for our party. He was so well behaved for her. He got to go on a picnic Sunday where we caught up with old friends and met their new little ones. We also went by the hospital and saw the staff and our friends Mel and Tim that are still there with Isabelle. She is getting so big...up to 5 lbs. We also met some new friends that are at RMHC that were sent in from Galveston during Ike. Her name is Becky and her son is fighting for his life. He was 26 weeks I think but is having a much harder time and isn't doing very well so we brought Blake by to see her and cheer her up. They bonded very quickly. Our prayers are with Devin and his mom Becky...... This week I have been sick and trying my best not to get Blake sick. I have had a really bad upper respiratory infection and feaver and am just now feeling more like myself a little. He saw his pulmonologist today and next Friday he will have his sleep study to see how his breathing is coming along. Cross your fingers. Not much to update on right now. Just that he is doing good. We miss everyone and would love to hear from you.

Pictures

Go to www.myspace.com/jannapokluda to see recent pics of Blake. More coming soon. Just click on the picture of him at the top of the page there and it will take you to photo albums.

9-25-08...one day away from 5 months old!

Blake will be 5 months old tomorrow. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. He went to see his pediatrician yesterday and weighed in at 10 lb. 6 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. The boy has some major legs. His muscles are so big in his legs and arms. The doctor said you can already tell he is going to have a sports build like his dad. He got his second round of immunizations yesterday. Oh by the way we are now finally back home...yeah.. Houston we have electricity! Now we just have to replace our fence. OK so he got his shots which of course he cried and made the most pitiful face so I started crying because I hate to see him in pain. After that appointment he went to see his cardiologist who gave him the all clear on his blood pressure. It is finally back down to normal. So after a long day visiting doctors we were headed home when his apnea alarm went off. It beeped a couple times so I started to look for a place to pull over, then it went off so I thought OK he is breathing again but was still trying to find somewhere to pull over. A few seconds later it started going off again. This time it didn't stop. I freaked and sped up cutting people off trying to find somewhere, anywhere I could pull over. There was no where. So I started doing like 100 to get to a place I saw up in front of me. I pulled in, slammed it in gear, jumped out to get to the back and he was so not breathing. His face was pale white and his lips were turning a bluish purple. I did everything I could to get him to breathe again. He finally did and started getting color back in his lips and face, but now he did not want to wake up. Boy did I make him mad rubbing his legs just to wake him up. Talk about giving me a heart attack. Once he was stable and I felt better I made sure he had NO blankets and turned the ac on high right on him so he stayed awake. haha. No more deep sleeps for him. He slept the entire rest of the day at home with me hovering over him constantly. I am so glad he is still on that monitor other wise who knows what would have happened. He is feeling much better today and went to see his Pulmonologist...one more of the many specialists he sees. We love his Pulmonologist Dr. Robertson....even though he is an Aggie....I am sorry, we love all his doctors, we just like giving Dr. Robertson a hard time because he is an Aggie and he hates it when Blake wears his burnt orange outfits. haha. So we went and saw him. He said for sure one more month on oxygen. If he continues to have these spells he is putting Blake back in the hospital, so I told Blake NO MORE SPELLS! PLEASE! He also said that Blake's jaw sits back a little farther than most babies and that could be one factor causing him a harder time breathing. He is going to keep an eye on it and if he notices it not growing or getting any better he might have to have surgery....ahhhhh no please. My brother had the same issue and had surgery when he was in junior high. That was so horrible for him. I do not want to see Blake go through the same thing. Well that is about it for now. Oh I found out my best friend Tiffany is going to have a little BOY! Whoohooo a playmate for Blake. I think she is due in February or March. All my other friends have had girls so he has plenty of girlfriends and now a best bud to add to it. He is also doing good with his contacts. He goes for his checkup on those on Monday. I am falling more and more in love with this little man every day.

Catching up to 9-20-08

Ok I hope I can remember everything, but I am sure I can not. Blake was in the PICU as you know and was released that following Monday with Oxygen ( he was in there a total of one week). The doctors gave us the ok so we were able to fly to Ohio for Labor Day weekend to see my parents. He did wonderful on the plane ride. It was of course crazy because we had to get his oxygen through the airlines for the plane, have the one waiting at the airport for when we got there and so on. But he slept the whole time except to eat. The flight attendant gave him his first pair of wings....even though he is already our little angel (aaahh) Blake made many rounds visiting people. He got to see all the super State Farm employees that work with my mom and have been praying for him. My mom's office had gifts for him which were of course adorable and they got to see and hold him. He then went to meet all the wonderful people at my dad's lab who have also been praying for him. They threw us a surprise baby shower which was a lot of fun. He was a very popular man there. Thank you to everyone at State Farm and Grove City Medical Center for everything you did for us and for the wonderful presents and love you gave our little man. So we then went shopping...whoohoo at the Carter's outlet by the lab and used the gift cards we got at the shower. Wow that was fun, we got so much great stuff. My parents had to ship it back to us since we couldn't fit it all in our suitcases. lol. So that Sunday we had Blake christened at my parents church. It was really nice. Blake wore my christening gown that my mom had made for me when I was a baby. Robert wasn't too sure about putting Blake in a dress :) My grandmother got to also meet her first Great-grandchild who gave him lots of love hugs and kisses and also got to feed him. My parents also spent a lot of time with Blake. My mom sang to him and told him stories and my dad and him had starring contests. My brother and sister-in-law also got plenty of practice with him. I told them he was birth control haha. Everyone said my dad was glowing when he was around Blake...that is good. They also gave us a break a couple nights and took shifts with my brother and sister-in-law taking care of Blake throughout the night. What a blessing in disguise. We got some much needed rest. Blake went to his first fair at the Canfield Fair in Ohio where we compared his size to a thousand pound pumpkin, guess who won. All in all it was a wonderful trip. Oh before we left he weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz.

Now when we got back to Houston he got his contacts. They showed me how to put them in and take them out. He of course hated every minute of it and wanted me to stop. I have to take them out every week, clean them and put them back in. It is a chore and takes one of us to hold his arms down and the other to put them in. And of course, I have to be the bad guy putting them in because Rob doesn't want to do it. Thanks...haha He has been seeing a lot better though. I have still caught his eyes crossing a little bit from time to time but it should start to get better.

Blake is now under the care of ECI...Early Childhood Intervention Team. They are going to visit him once a week for 30 minutes to help him work on skills that he is behind on. Since he was so premature, he is lacking some of the skills he should have, mainly his fine and gross motor skills. We are currently working on rolling over, tracking with his eyes, grasping things and responding to voices. Poor thing, we are doing so much to him: giving meds, messing with eyes to put in and take out his contacts, taping, pulling tape off and re-taping his oxygen tube to his face, putting his monitor around his chest....he has had enough and he tells us so regularly.

Thanks to hurricane Ike we had a mandatory evacuation for La Porte. We went to Kerrville and spent time with my aunt's. Thank you thank you Aunt Cindy for taking us in for a week. I know I have said it but it was very generous of you. We really appreciate all you and Uncle Robert did....and you too Aunt Jan. Blake started getting a little sick while we were there and started vomiting a lot again. He also had a slight fever. He is doing better now. He has been alert a lot more during the day and evening too. This next week he will go to see all his specialist that he didn't get to see due to the hurricane. We got very lucky with our house. All we lost was our fence. Thank you Lord. We are still however out of electricity and came home tonight and are staying at my mother-in-laws so Rob can go back to work Monday. His job has been so wonderful working with us. We were not able to come back sooner because we have to have some kind of electricity for Blake's monitors and we had to have oxygen delivered to Kerrville since we ran out. What a mess! Marie's power just came on a day or two ago so now we have a place to stay in Houston and they are starting to get stores open as well. Oh, and we also drove down to Concan to visit my family there on the Frio. If you ever go there make sure you visit Frio Dry Fifty Store and Neal's Cafe. Oh yea I almost forgot, my aunts sent Rob and I to dinner and they babysat Blake for a couple hours so we could have an evening alone. How sweet was that. Thank you!

Wow I can't believe in 6 days Blake will be 5 months old. Holy cow where has the time gone.
Oh and another update on my friend's little girl Isabelle that is still at St. David's Nicu. She is doing fantastic. She has come a long way and I believe has just been moved to a nasal cannula like what Blake is on. Her lungs have improved drastically and she is just as feisty as Blake. They are able to hold her daily now and she is growing like a weed. She is still fighting infections so please still keep them in your prayers.

Since staying at my aunt's house the last week, Blake started staying up during the evening, going to bed at around 12:30 am and sleeping till 5:30-6:00. Some nights he still does every three hours but for one period of time each night he sleeps a good bit. I just hope he continues this trend once we get back in our house. He is also holding his head up a lot better on his own. He still is a bobble head lol but he is getting better at it. We have started him with about 30 mins of tummy time in the evenings for him to work on his head, rolling over and other motor skills. He hates it. Of course spoiled man wants to be held. Rob and I have to go clean the house and remove debris tomorrow while Marie babysits.

Once I can charge my camera, I will download pictures. We tried to weigh him on the scale of our own the other night and he was somewhere in between 9-10 lbs. We will see this week when he goes to the doc.

Will update soon

Sorry I have not updated. It has been very crazy around here. We are currently in Kerrville due to mandatory evacuation for La Porte from Ike. Blake is almost 10 lbs, still on oxygen and being a bohemian! lol I promise I will fill in with pics and details very soon! Thanks for your patience

8-23-08 weekend

The PICU ward here is brand new, so they don't have that many patients. When we first got here it was Blake and one other girl. A few more kids came and went during the week but now he is the only one. This afternoon there were three nurses on so he was getting pretty spoiled. He has been holding down his feeds this week. He had one or two large vomits at the beginning of the week so they knew I wasn't making stuff up. The nurses were joking saying he was having excercist projectile vomits. The only thing missing was the head spinning. All his tests came back pretty good. They think he might have had a viral infection that wore out of his system by the time we got him in and settled. They also think his meds were causing havic with his reflux. He has seen many specialists. His Pulminary specialist came and saw him and took him off his Theophllyne. That was the med that helped him with his caffeine level and respiratory additive. With out it in his system he began having apneas. He thinks it was making his reflux worse. A side effect of the meds is hypertension and aggitation of his reflux. So his bp has been better with it out of his system. They did an oxi test the night before and found he does a lot of periodic breathing so they put him on oxygen Friday and did another oxi to see if it made a difference. It did help reduce breathing issues so the Pulmanologist is going to keep him on the oxygen. He said since Blake's lungs are underdeveloped still it is going to have to be something he grows out of. Basically he thinks Blake will have to be on oxygen for the next 2 months, but could get off of it sooner. They have also stopped his BP medicine because his bp has dropped into normal range since being off the Theo. Now we are just down to 2 reflux meds, vitamins/iron and a stool softner. Poor man had to have a supository every night because the soy was backing him up and he would scream from not being able to go. Boy did he go once he got it. Blake got to meet all the many specialists possible that an infant can see. We will have to follow up with them so they can monitor his progress.


Dad is doing good. His surgery went great and he is back at home now. He still has to have a nurse come to the house every day and give him shots of thinner and Kumadin and draw his blood. We are going to fly to Ohio for Labor Day. The doctors gave us the all clear so my my dad will finally get to see Blake. He hasn't seen him since he was 3 weeks old.

8-15-08

Well little Mr. man has been having some troubles. He isn't holding down his feeds very well so we went back to the pediatrician. He even vomited up the bottle he ate while he was there all over the room we were in and on daddy. Nice. So she believed us when we said he was vomiting everything. She switched him to a non milk base formula called Nutramagen. We thought that would work. He seemed to do better on Saturday but by Sunday he could not hold down any of his feeds and all his meds came up with them. His doc called every day to check on him. By Monday morning he was very dehydrated. His pediatrician had us come in. He hadn't gained any weight and had some apnea while at home that morning. I am glad he was on his monitor because that sucker went off and I had to wake him up because he ws not breathing. So while we waited at the office to see her I overheard someone asking how long the wait would be. The nurse said she didn't know becuase there were four patients in front of them and they had to admit one. I thought to myself "man I wonder who is getting admitted?". HAHA boy was I surprised when she walked in and told me that I needed to take him directly over to the hospital where he was going to be admitted into the PICU (pediatric ICU). He had another short apnea spell while I was checking out. His pedi came over right after the office closed to check on him. She told me I was not allowed to stay the night because I looked like crap and I needed to go home and get some good sleep...which I had yet to get. He is always waking up needing to be burped through out the night becuase of his reflux. He has yet to have a good comfortable sleep. So once they got him settled in I went home that night and slept till 10 the next morning, fell back asleep till 2. I had no idea how tired I was.

8-13-08

Blake saw the Ophlamologist today. Due to my backgroudn and genetics...he has reallly bad eyes. I prayed and prayed he would never get my eyes, but he did. First his eyes moved back to a stage 2 which is not good, but that is not the part she is concerned with. Apparently he is very very far sighted. She did some tests that showed he is a +7 in both eyes. If it is not treated he will develop a lazy eye and it will cross making him loose vision in that eye. So to correct the problem he is going to have to be put in hard contacts. Yes I said contacts. He could get glasses but they will be to thick and will put too much pressure on his little nose closing off his tiny nostrils making it hard to breathe.

Oh my dad got put back in ICU. They found more clots in his lungs so they are going to do surgery tomorrow and put a filter in by his heart to make sure if any ever break free they won't get into his heart. They are treating him with thinners again.

8-12-08 First visit to the Pediatrician

Blake met his Pediatrician today. I absolutely love her. The Neonatologists from St. David's called and filled her in on his history so she was well informed about him before she met him. She is very caring and listened to all my concerns. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 inches long I believe.

8-9-08

Ok let me see if I can remember things here. Blake passed his oxi sleep test so they let us room in on Friday 8-8-08. He had a kinda hard night. We did not get any sleep. He fussed and had a lot of reflux. We learned how to give all his meds and he threw up on me covering my pants one time. lol the nurse got a good laugh from it. We got to go home on Saturday 8-9-08. He did good on the ride home. I was really sad to leave. We had been there so long, the staff was the closest thing I had to family around me. I made a lot of friends and Blake made even more. They took wonderful care of us and I will miss everyone from St. David's NICU like crazy. I got used to calling Austin and the Ronald McDonald House, home. So his ride home went pretty well. Rob rode in the back with him and I drove since I get so car sick. He only had a couple spit ups. We stopped in Brenham at a Dairy Queen to eat and feed Blake. I really appreciate the bathrooms that have the baby changing stations, because that one did not and it really stunk trying to change him in that gross bathroom. So anywa we made it home safe. Rob had my mother-in-law tie blue baloons to the mailbox, in the hallway by the front door and in the living room. They also got us a cookie cake that of course Rob and my brother dug into before I could get a picture of it. Boyboy (our greyhound) welcomed Blake home. Mason and Maddie (the two Shih-Tzu's were at my mother in laws.) He was very careful and causious. He gave him a small sniff and kiss on the back of Blake's head saying welcome and then went and laid down for the rest of the night. He was not too sure what to think about Blake crying. The night went pretty bad and we got no sleep. He was very fussy from pain from his reflux and gas.

back in

Ok just a quick update. They re-admitted him to ICU yesterday. He has not able to hold down any feeds and was having some Apnea. They have started running tests and trying to switch some things around to figure out what is going on. He is probably going to go back on oxygen from the sounds of things but we will see I guess. Wish us luck.

Update coming soon

Hey guys sorry I have not updated. It has been crazy around here. We are at home now and I promise I will be putting an update on here this week. We are not getting much sleep due to Blake's horrible reflux but we are getting by. Hope all is well.

8-6-08 Officially 1 day old

Mommy and Blake

Mr Blake Pokluda- 40 weeks gestational...Due Date

He fell asleep with his paci in the corner of his mouth like a cigar.

Blake getting his hearing test done....hooked up

So since yesterday was Blake's due date, he is supposed to start over on his corrected gestational age. So he is 1 day old! haha even though he is really 15 1/2 weeks old. I think I already said this but they doubled his blood pressure medicine. It seems to be working and is keeping it stable. I hope I can remember all the updates here. Let's see, he had an MRI yesterday. They gave him medicine to make him sleepy but he woke up during the MRI so they had to give him a second dose. I think he had a bad reaction to it because he got a small fever later and began throwing up every time he ate....basically everything he had eaten. Even when he wasn't eating, he threw up. The doctors last night ran his blood and did an xray on his belly. Everything looked ok. They said they are going to run it again tomorrow morning because there was a slight elevation with one thing but they think it will be fine. His MRI was normal, nothing new which is fantastic. He had an eye exam this morning. Before I had explained about the different phases and stages. Well he is now in a phase 3 where he has his periphreal vision. He began at a stage 1, moved to a stage 2 (where there is some scar tissue seen), moved back to stage 1, down to stage 0, and today was back at a stage 1. So he is going to have to get checked again in a week or two by someone in Houston. According to the doctors, he is on an Apnea countdown. That is where they count down 4-5 days from his last A&B. As long as he does not have any with in those days he gets to go home. So far he has been good. If he has one, we have to start all over which would stink. Tomorrow he is getting "snipped" circumcised. They did his hearing test today and he passed. He might have some damage in his left ear because it took a long time to pass the left side, but he will just have to be checked again when we get home. Tomorrow night they are going to do his sleep study. If there are no problems, we get to go home. They are going to do his car seat study during the last few hours they will put him in his car seat and see how he handles it breathing wise. The Theoflin which is the caffeine with a twist has been helping out so much. He is alert more and feeds better. Over the past few days he has been spitting up more and was constipated. The doctor also upped his Reglin and Prilosec because the dose he was on was from when he was around 3 lbs. He had to have a gliserin supository yesterday to help him potty because he was backed up and in pain. Poor thing was constantly crying and hurting. I think his reflux has gotten worse. When he trys to eat he cries with an actual painful cry, not a fake one, and has tears coming out of his little eyes. He is so hungry but it hurts him to eat. I think the increased meds will start to help. We also decided to try something new. I went and bought the Born Free bottle that is supposed to help reduce air. He used it twice today and it was amazing the difference. I was originally so scared to take him home just because of the discomfort he has been in recently during and after eating and all the spit ups and vomits. Well when he drank from the bottle he didn't get any extra air, rarely had to burp and didn't spit anything up. He also ate 90 cc's both times and wanted more. The nurses and I cut him off because we were scared he would throw it up like he has been doing, but nothing came out. I was so excited. It is funny how the littlest thing makes such a big difference. So if he passes his sleep test tomorrow night, we get out Saturday. We have to do a "room in" where we stay there at the hospital for the night with him in a room and we take care of him. We have to get used to giving him all his medicines. He is going home on four meds and a monitor. So it looks like we are finally breaking out of here on his 16 week birthday! Tonight he got his bath and was 6 lbs 5.9 oz.

Ok so they found more clots in my dad's lungs and have been treating him but he is very stubborn and has not been relaxing like he needs to so the doctors sent him home today after a week in the hospital. They are hoping he will relax better there at home so the medicine can do its job. A nurse is going to go to the house every day to give him meds and shots of Kumadin in his stomach...OUCH! The docs told him he can't fly for several weeks so of course he is livid that he can not come down, but DAD IT IS OK! We will not have the welcome home party till you and mom can come down, I promise! Please please please rest so that you can be top of your game to come visit. Trust me I will let you change all the diapers and give all the feeds in the middle of the night you want haha! And I can tell you first hand your grandson has smelly gas and poops like no other so they are all yours to handle! :) Ok I love you guys and please rest and relax....

Now that I have written a long blog I am going to bed. I have to meet a lady at the hospital at 8 am to pick up Blake's monitor and get trained in how to use it. Night.

8-3-08

Holding Blake after two weeks gone

Rob feeding Blake

Burping Blake

So comfy

Sleeping

Aren't they cute

Sweet baby boy

Well we were supposed to be out by this past week but his blood pressure is not playing nice. They put him on some meds, then doubled the meds then doubled them again today. They were not lasting long enough till his next dose, so we will see how this round of up'd meds goes. They put him back on his Theophylline today. He had a sleep study test done last night and he did good except for his oxygen staturation levels were in the low 90's while he slept and they need to be in the high 90's. His lungs are still not 100% so they put him back on the meds which is caffeine with a twist basically. It is more for respiration rather than plain caffeine. His Dr. did the sleep test just to see how he did so he would know whether to put him on just caffeine or Theo. He got his answer. He has been feeding ok but falling asleep easy or not wanting to wake up at all so that is another reason they put him back on the Theo. Hopefully he will have more energy with the Theo and will take more from his feeds. Rob came up this weekend and saw him. Blake greeted him with some burps and toots. He loved his bath tonight and got upset when I took him out of it. He also did super on eating and ate the most he has ever eaten. He ate 70 cc's. Yeah. I think the Theophylline is helping. As you can tell by the pictures it was all about Robert this weekend. lol just kidding. So we were supposed to originally get out this past week and then they said this coming week, but since they are having to still deal with his bp and raise his meds they are saying next week, but we will see. He didn't get his hearing test done like they said. Guess it got cancelled or something. It is ok cause it will get done before he leaves. If he cooperates and his bp gets under control we might be out by this weekend (I wish, but doubt it). Here's hoping. Oh he is 6 lbs 2 oz as of tonight. He lost an ounce but that is ok. He is going to be walking by the time we get out of here...ahhh stop growing! haha

7-31-08 6 lbs!

Me, Tiffany and Alyssa

Naked boy

Enjoying his paci before his dinner

Whacha lookin' at boy???

Hi sweet pea

He just loves staring at mommy

He hit 6 lbs yesterday! Well actually 6 lbs 0.2 oz. The surgeon saw him and doesn't think he needs surgery...praise the Lord. He said for us to keep an eye on his testicles to make sure it does not get worse. He still thinks it is just a hydroseal and won't be harmful towards Blake. The Nephrologist came and saw him and started him on meds for his blood pressure. They just went up and doubled the dose today because it wasn't lasting long enough in his system and only worked for a couple hours. He weighed in tonight at his bath at 6 lbs. 1.2 oz. So I got a not so great phone call first thing this morning. Some of y'all already know. My dad developed a blood clot in his lungs and was admitted to the ICU there in Ohio. They are going to keep him for about a week on meds that will hopefully dissolve it so he doesn't have to have surgery. Anyway, I am asking for prayers for my dad please. Also one of my best friends dad was in a roll over accident and needs prayers too. His name is Nelson. On a better note my best friend Tiffany is finally pregnant. She announced it today to everyone. Of course I knew the day she found out, but I couldn't say anything so now that I can I am so happy for her. They have been trying for a while. As soon as her and Clint got a foster child she got pregnant...haha can we say nice timing. That is ok I know they will do great and be just fine. Blake gets his hearing test tomorrow. That is a sign that he is going to get to go home soon. He might need that caffeine back that they took him off of. He did not want to wake up all day today. Not even to eat. He just wanted to sleep. Boy needs a shot of espresso, haha. Poor thing has had awful gas...oh my goodness it is stinky. It made the nurse tonight take a step back...I started laughing and told her "I told ya so". Normally he does it just for me, but tonight he blessed her with it. They are going to move him back into Bay 5 later tonight...this morning. They discharged a lot of babies so all the ones they moved to Bay 7 are now going back to Bay 5. I feel sorry for the nurses who have to move him because he has soo much crap that goes with him. He has a bouncer, boppy pillow, clothes bag, socks bag, dirty clothes bag, mobile for his bed, tubs of medicine, and much more. Can we say spoiled? Just a little :)