7-9-08

Nurse taking his nasal canular off for pictures

Wide eye'd awake...poor stretched out nostrils

Trying to smile

What's up little man?

Talking to us...

Blake mad...his bed and mobile that he loves to stare at

Blake looking at his daddy

Me Blake and Rob

Blake at 10 weeks

Happy Daddy

The pics above are from this past weekend when Rob was here. They took his nasal canular off for pics. He did good for a little bit and then started to d-sat some so they put the oxygen back on. We are getting there though. So not too many changes since I posted the other day. Blake is 4 lbs 6 oz. He is gaining mini ounces. He has gone from 4 lbs 6.4 oz slowly up to tonight he was 4 lbs 6.9 oz so hopefully tomorrow he will hit 4 lbs 7 oz. His bed has been moved a couple times. I said before he was moved down a couple spaces. Then last night they needed a place for a new admit so I volunteered to get moved into the isolation room because he would have his own room to himself. So last night we were in there. The 24 week twins that they were making room for by moving Blake the first time were born Monday night so when I came in yesterday they were there and a lot of commotion was going on. There was a little boy and a little girl. They were the same size as Blake had been 1.3 and 1.4. The little boy was really sick and the doctors were saying it wasn't looking good. Before they moved us to the isolation room I was rocking Blake and the nurse had pulled the curtains around me because there was so much going on next to us with the twins. They brought the mom and grandmother in and I could hear her talking to the little girl and asking all the same questions I had asked. I was looking at Blake and tearing up because I knew what they were going through. I just held him tight and stared at him. They called for the dad to come up because they were not sure if the boy would make it or not. They did everything they could for him so it was just a matter of his strength. The parents are mine and Rob's age. Last night on the way out I ran into the grandmother and I talked with her and let her know that they were really good there and how Blake had been 1.4 and now is 4 lbs and doing so good. She said she really needed to hear from someone that a baby their size can pull through it. I told her if they needed anything to let me know. I have been here long enough to know what everything is. She told me that the little boy was really sick and had an infection because his sac had broken and he developed and infection while in utero and his lung collapsed. Well when I came in this afternoon I immediately saw that his isolet was no longer there (his was in Blake's old spot) but his sister's was still in her spot. My heart sank for them because I knew what that meant. I looked a little further over and saw they had moved Blake back into his spot again. He was back where he was before but under bad circumstances. Apparently there was a baby that came in that needed to be in isolation so they moved Blake back to where he had originally been since the little boy died. Yes I liked my old spot where he had been for the past 10 weeks but I would rather that the little baby boy that passed away be back there, than be in that spot. The parents came in later to visit the little girl Isabella and the nurse went through everything with them that they had gone through with us. They asked all the same questions we had gone through. I heard the nurses tell them stuff that I know they had told me, but I was so out of it and in shock after his birth I couldn't remember them telling me those things. I know they had, but it was all a blur. So I understand completely what they are going through and it is so hard to watch other people go through it. I try to keep Blake quiet while they are in there because I know it will upset them that another baby is where their son should be. I try to whisper to him and not laugh or be silly with him either because I don't want to upset them. They need time to deal with it. I know it took me a while and Blake was still alive and it took me a long time with both my miscarriages, especially the second one.

On a better note, they went up 1 cc to 14 every hour on Blake's feeds. He has been handling his feeds in his belly pretty well. He has had residual when they check it and he has been spitting up when he gets upset. He just has to get used to it....I hope. He is still pooping a lot so I know the food is giong down. I tried explaining to him that we have a schedule to keep and needs to get better so we can be out in the next 4 weeks. Haha, yeah right, he is stubborn and wants to stay till the last day. I am excited that we are getting closer, but I am also scared because I don't know how it will go. I almost want them to send him home with a monitor so I can feel a little bit more secure about things. We will see. But, he is growing every day. Oh yea, I gave him his bath in a tub last night. He liked being in the warm water. He just didn't like when I stopped with the warm water and he got cold. His hair is still sticky from his IV he had in his head...he had a second one the other day, but he is done with his antibiotics so no more IV's...hopefully. Anyway, I apologize for this blog being so long. I just wanted to share about the twins and ask for you to pray for that family. I know they could use them right now. Thank you. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends that care so much about us. Love you all!