6-30-08 4 lbs!

He hit 4 lbs 1 oz today. He is doing great on high flow and is showing the doctors he does not want to go back on cpap. He only had 1 A&B today. He is still on the antibotics for his ear infection but there is no growth on the culture so that is good. That means it did not spread to his blood and they were able to contain it to just his ear canal. His blood platelets are low so they are going to keep him on the antibiotics a little longer to make sure they keep the infection contained and kill it out of his system. That is about it for today. He is doing good.

6-29-08

The shower went great. I got to see all my friends and family. I got some really cool things and go to see Blake's new little girlfriend Hannah that my good friend Felicia had. She was precious and was being passed from person to person. Everyone wanted to have a chance to hold her. She is a normal size newborn but compared to Blake looks so big. It is too funny how newborns look huge compared to preemies. So the doctor called and said that the surgeon thinks it could be flluid instead of a hernia. It is too hard to tell for sure right now so they are going to watch it over the next couple of weeks. Mom drove back with us to Austin so she could see Blake. We spent all night up there at the hospital. She got to hold him and while she talked to him he was just smiling away. We got some really good pictures out of it. When I was putting him up I changed his diaper and he gave me a nice present and pooped and pee'd on me. After I cleaned up the lovely poop, I was in the middle of pulling his tabs down to secure the new clean diaper when he launched a surprise attack with the pee. My hand was cupped over him and he drenched my entire palm along with my sweater. He weighed in at 3 lbs 15 oz and is 15.75 inches long. We came back later that night so I could hold him and he was in a great mood. Every time I kissed his nose he thought it was the funniest thing and tried to laugh. He smiled so big for us and was making us laugh by making faces. I think we finally got to bed around 3 am and had to get back up at 5 to take mom to the airport to leave for Ohio. He is really enjoying being off the cpap and likes the nasal canular. So much easier on him.

6-27-08 High Flow!!!

Ok let's see I am going to try and remember everything to update for Friday. Blake was 3 lbs 11 oz. He developed an ear infection, his ear drum blew so they started him on an IV and gave him antibiotics. They found what they think is a hernia. His intestines are in his testicles. There is a surgeon that is coming to look at it. If it is a hernia, he will have to have surgery soon. Normally you can push a hernia back up into through the hole it came down through, but this one is not doing it. They took him off cpap and put him on the high flow nasal canular. The doctor said not to be surprised if they have to put him back on cpap, because of his apneas, so they kept the cpap machine next to his bed just in case. I held him twice during the day after he was put on the high flow. He did ok the first time but the second time he had a harder go of it. Guess he was still trying to adjust to the canular. He just did not want to be held and let me know it. So after I left there my best friend Tiffany and I drove to Houston so we could make it to the shower that next day. We left at 11:30 pm, yeah we are crazy. We drank very large glasses of coffee to stay awake. Of course we get there around 2:30 am and the first thing I want to do is work on the house and I could not go to bed till I got some things accomplished. So around 5 in the morning we finally went to bed. Oh and he does have a little birth mark that the nurses call stork bites. It is in between his eye brows. The cpap tape pulled on his skin and some blood vessels burst leaving the mark. The doctor said it should go away with in a few months...we hope. And hopefully now his nostrels will get to heal now that the cpap tubes are out. He still has the little canular tubes but they are not as big.

6-25-08

Yesterday his doctor was not there, I am not sure what happened but for some reason he was not able to come in and the other doctor that I had spoken with was there. He did talk to Blake's doctor on the phone however and they decided not to put any extra additives and just go up on the feeds. They only increased it to 11 cc's every hour but they are going to keep raising it as long as he does well. He also said that Blake has been doing great on the level 7 pressure and if Dr. M has not taken him off his cpap by Friday, when he gets back he will consider taking Blake off and putting him on the high flow nasal canular (of course as long as he has done great). He said he likes being the one to take preemies to that next step so he is looking forward to it as much as I am. All the doctors are impressed with the corner he has turned on his breathing, now we just have to get his growth to catch up. He had four A&B's yesterday and five today. I know that sounds like a lot but it really isn't for him. He had 10 on Monday when he was having the problems. I kangaroo held him last night for an hour and started getting dizzy at the end. I called one of the nurses over and before I even said anything she asked if I was ok. She said I was pale white. I told her I was dizzy and felt funny so she helped me put Blake up. Once I started feeling a little better I went home and went to bed. Guess my bp was just a little out of wack or something. His doc was back today but only got to look at Blake a little late this evening because he had two babies he had to perform major surgery on earlier in the day. From what he saw he was happy with Blake's day. At his afternoon suctioning, Blake did excellent. Pete the RT took him off his cpap so he could suction all the nasty stuff out and Blake stayed in the 90's on his O2 level the entire time. He really liked not having those tubes down his nose and throat. He was great each time I held him except for this evening. I held him about 45 minutes tonight and towards the end when one of the nurses and I were talking about him getting off the cpap and how great he was doing he decided to make liars out of us. lol He started d-satting while I was holding him. He never bradied, just his oxygen went down low. No matter what I did to him or how I positioned him he didn't want to come back up so we put him back in his bed and got him tucked in and he leveled off. He did better, guess he just wanted his bed back. I am going back to La Porte for the first time in two months...Wow Blake will be 2 months old tomorrow...well today since it is now 12 am in the morning and I am just typing this. So Happy Birthday Blakey. 2 months, he has come so far. I can't believe how fast time has flown, of course I spent almost half that stupid time in the hospital haha. Anyway, I am going back to La Porte for my baby shower this weekend and I am so nervous and excited. I get to see all my friends and family but I am leaving Friday and won't be back till Sunday. That is the longest I have been away from him. I know he will be in good hands, but if he gets off his cpap Friday I won't get to see him till Sunday. That is ok, all the more to look forward to. I have so much to do when I get home to get my house ready and everything done...or at least a list for Robert to do. Haha. My mom is also flying in for the shower and will drive back up with me Sunday and fly out early Monday from Austin so she can see Blake. Well I guess that is about it. I am going to go to bed now.

6-23-08

So not a good day today :( He began having a lot of A&B's this morning up through lunch. He also had a whole lot of residual in his vent tube which looked like medicine mixed with milk and bile. They did an x-ray to check the tube placement. It was in the right place so there was not a clear answer why he was having residual. They went ahead and advanced it a little further in his intestines just to be safe. The doctor went ahead and ordered for his cpap pressure to be turned down to 7 to see if it would help. Maybe he was getting too much air in his belly making him reflux. It seemed to work and he did better through out the day and only had one A&B. I wasn't able to hold him till this evening because he was not stable enough. His doctor will be back tomorrow but the one there today talked to me for a while. He said he is a little worried because Blake has stopped growing and actually lost 20 grams this week, where he was supposed to gain around 200 grams for the week. He is hovering between 3 lbs 5 oz and 3 lbs 6 oz. The doctor does not want to make any decisions and wait till Dr. M comes back tomorrow. He said that many doctors feel strongly about different ways to promote growth. They are already adding additives to his milk but they can add more. The question is how much. If they give him too much, he will develop an infection in his stomach which can be fatal. It is not a good thing at all. So the question is how much is too much for him. We will see what his doctor says tomorrow. They are also having me try and split my milk from the first part of the pumps and the last part of the pumps. Apparently the second half of the pumps is the fattiest part of the milk and they want that seperate to try and put weight on Blake. I did get to hold him tonight for 30 mins. He was awake for half of the time. I gave him his bath after that where he fussed at me for getting him wet. OH I completely forgot. Last night I got to hold Blake for 2 whole hours. Of course my arm was numb by the time I put him up. He did so great and his temp went up while I held him. That means he was warm and cosy. They worry about his temp dropping when he is out of his isolet bc he can not yet hold his own temp at a normal level. He had a great day yesterday, so we don't know what changed to today, but his evening was a lot better. I guess it was just his two steps forward, and one step back. We will see what the doc says tomorrow when he takes a look at Blake and his chart.

6-21-08 ***8 Weeks Old Today!***

Blake comfy

Blake and daddy kangaroo care

Blake has had a great day so far...it is 4 pm right now. He only had one A&B yesterday and so far none today. He got quite mad at me today when I was holding him because I could not get his passy in his mouth. Everytime he cried he pushed out his tubes. Once I got it in his mouth he was happy and went back to sleep. The doctor that is there today called me a little while ago. He said that Blake is having a great day and he is very impressed with how well he is doing today. If he continues to do well until tomorrow they are going to try and lower his peep from 8 to 7 so a little less air going in. They also said if his tubes come out into his tummy they will leave it there to see if it makes a difference or not. They did not know before if it was one thing or another, but now that he is off his rate they can see if the tube placing makes a difference or not.

When we got there this evening Blake was awake. We were talking to him and at one point he closed his eyes real tight and started to squint and turn red. Then his little eyes filled up with tears. I don't know why but he was very sad. We unwrapped him and changed his diaper and then got him ready for Rob to hold. He felt better at that point. Blake's temp was down tonight. Since Rob is pretty much a walking heater, the nurse let Rob kangaroo hold Blake to try and bring up his temp. It worked, well kinda, it brought it up from 96 to 97.4. We put him in a long sleeve sleep sac and wrapped him up tight. His temp went up and about 4 am it was in the 99's. Well he only ended up having one A&B the entire day. So that is just one on both days he was off his cpap rate and just on pressure.

6-20-08

Daddy and Blake

Cpap- the 8 is the flow air going in and the 21% is the room air, his rate and Pimp are turned off! Hopefully soon the 8 will go to a 6 and then off completely!

Cpap machine

Me suctioning his spit while giving him a bath.

Wide awake while we dry him off..looks like little alien eyes, haha.

Happy boy! More of an accurate size...compare him to Rob's hands.

Blake looking at his daddy after his bath....all clean! Wow he looks big in this picture...wish he really was.

You lookin' at me?

Blake half dressed in his onesie.

Well sorry for not updating for a couple days. I have been at the hospital until late at night (early in the morning) and by the time I get back to the RMHC I am exhausted and go to bed. Let's see. They reduced his rates on his cpap the other day because he was doing a better job of breathing this week. He has had to have suppositories every day to help clear out his intestines. Boy does it ever clear them out. He did have a little more A&B's when they went down on the rates but he was trying to adjust to them. His weight has been fluctuating and today he was 3 lbs. 5 oz. I ran into my doctor in the hallway at the hospital. He is sending me to an Internal Specialist because my bp is fluctuating still and he thinks I have developed Hypertension. That bites if I have because that really increases my chances of developing Superimposed Preeclampsia again. (not just regular preeclampsia but severe.....that really bites). So on to the good news for today. They took Blake off of his rates on his Cpap and went cold turkey to see what he would do. They are keeping the constant air blowing in so that his lungs stay inflated, but he is doing the breathing on his own now. He has done so great today on it. As of earlier he had not had any Brady's at all. This week he has turned a complete corner and has been doing great. I don't know what it is but something kicked in. They told me last week when he was getting over his infection that they felt like he would be on his cpap machine for atleast 4 more weeks. Now if he continues to do well with out the rates he might get off the cpap machine in a week or so. WOHOOO! He looks so big in the pictures we took of him at his bath tonight but he really isn't and is only 3 lbs. He looks like a newborn in the pics and when you see him in person, he is so tiny. It is funny that way. He was wide awake for the bath and did not even fuss that much. He held Rob's finger while I washed him. When his passy fell out of his mouth at one point, Blake pulled Rob's finger to his mouth and started sucking on his nuckle. I started laughing because it was so cute. Earlier in the day Rob held him for an hour and Blake just slept the whole time. He was out cold. Very comfortable in his daddy's arms. I kangaroo'd him tonight before his bath and he fussed until they put him on me and as soon as he hit my chest he got quiet and went right to sleep. I found some teenytiny onesies and shrank them even smaller to where they are the right length for him but are still a little wide. He still blows bubbles and spits up like crazy but who wouldn't with all those tubes in them. Little man slobbers so much they have to change out his tabe constantly because it gets wet and peels up, then his tubes come out, so we can't have that. He was very pale to me the other day but they started back up his other shot for his bone marrow that promotes red cell growth and he is looking a little better. They did a blood work up today and said it looked pretty good. They also added more fortifiers to his milk that gives him extra calories and vitamiins. Anway that is our update for today as well as the last couple days. I get a little sidetracked so I don't always update every day, especially if there are no changes, but I am trying hard to write on here as much as possible.