Another Month Behind Us

Well, it's the last day of January and all is going well. Jack gained some weight yesterday, now up to 5 lbs 11 oz. He is still doing good with his breathing and has kept his heart rate up. He had his first two feeding from a bottle this morning. He took just over half from his first and he devoured his entire second feeding. He wasn't too awake for the first feeding so we'll let it slide. Not much else going on which is a good thing for now.

It's Been 8 Weeks

That's right everyone, Jack is 8 weeks old today. He is still doing very good. He got his second full bath today, which he really seems to enjoy. No crying or fussing, he sits in the tub and relaxes while he gets clean. He did about one and a half feedings through his bottle today. He is doing a very good job with his eating & hopefully they will let him have more and more of his feedings through the bottle. Jack did lose about half on ounce yesterday, now at 5 lbs 9 oz. Also good news on the bradycardia & apnea episodes. He hasn't had a documented episode for 1 week. We are happy to hear that new and hope he keeps it up until come home time.

Yesterday, while at home, Mary and I practiced putting the car seat in. It was fairly painless and we're just going to leave it in. Sometime next week I'm going to go to AAA, they will check to see if I have it properly installed.

Mmmm mmmm good.

Today Jack did his first official bottle feed. He did very well. I got to do it, and he took his whole feeding amount. We thought that he might get overwhelmed or too tired, I guess he was hungry. Jack weighed in at 5 lbs 9 oz, something is either wrong with the scale they had been using, or the one the used today because there's no way he gained half a pound in one day. Also, if you pay close attention to his little leg there is a monitor on it. No, he is not on house (err nursery) arrest, they put a monitor on all babies his age/size so nobody tries to snatch him. Think of it as a lo-JACK device for babies....yes pun intended.

Not much else is going on with baby Jack. The nurses all tell us he is doing wonderfully and he is making excellent progress. We like that kind of news.

More Hurdles

The post made it in a little earlier than yesterday's. Jack lost 2 oz overnight probably just burning more calories maintaining body temp and stress from his head ultra sound (we hope). The ultra sound was good. All previous problems are getting better or have resolved, and nothing new has surfaced. Today he had his follow up to the bottle feeding evaluation. The nurses were surprised by how much better he had gotten and are recommending he get 1 or 2 bottle feeds daily. As he gets better they will increase them until all feedings are on breast or bottle. When that comes he can have his feeding tube removed and be a little closer to going home. Jack also got moved to a regular hospital crib and out of his isolette. It's not quite as roomy as his last bed, but it's for the bigger boys. One last improvement was the doctor discontinuing the monitor that check his oxygen saturation. They felt that his breathing and heart rate was doing just fine. He also hasn't had an apnea or bradycardia episode in 5 days (2 since switching to room air).

Last but not least Jack got a visit from Grandma & Grandpa Passalaqua who were very surprised at the progress he has made since their last visit. Keep up the good work Jack!!!!

A Breath of Fresh Air

First off I apologized for not having a post up until now. I had to go into work for some training on a new computer system (and to conserve time off). Anyhow, Jack is still making great strides. Overnight he was weened completely off of his oxygen, so he is now breathing just room air. That is one giant tube off his face and only one more to go (but it's a little smaller). Hopefully we can start to get him bottle/nipple feeding. So, Jack makes it over another hurdle (maybe he'll end up being a track star after all these hurdles). He lost a little weigh, but still technically at 5 lbs 3 oz (the weight loss maybe from them taking off the oxygen tube). Like I said I was at some training so I only got to be there for the first part of the day, but when I checked in with Mary she said he was doing fine.

I'm starting to get a little nervous at the thought of him coming home, but a good nervous. I hope he keeps making these strides the next few days to weeks.

PS--Just got an update from Mary that his feedings went up to 47ml.

Making Strides

Jack is doing well today. He lost about half an ounce over night but is still at 5 lbs 3 oz. He is outgrowing his preemie outfits and getting ready to graduate to new born clothes. They are starting to ween him off of the oxygen. He is gradually being moved down until he's off. When we were last in there he was down to about .10 liters per minute, and that was down about .9 liters per minute from his last care time. He also got his second eye exam done and the results looked good.

Mary's friend from Philadelphia dropped by to meet Jack. We had a nice day, Jack just keeps growing and getting better. We a so thrilled that there is a glisten of light at the end

No Bottle for Now

Jack is still chugging along. He's up to 5 lbs 3 oz today about 2 oz gain from yesterday. The doctor is going to be discontinuing his caffeine sometime this week. The therapists came in to check to see if Jack was ready to try some bottle feeding. He did Ok ,but his levels dipped a little bit. They told us what Jack was doing was very age appropriate, and they wanted to wait to put him on the bottle. They are going to come back on Thursday to re-evaluate his situation.

Aside from that everything is going nice and steady. We get to hold Jack a few times a day, during his care times. He behaves, and the nurses have told us that his episodes are a lot fewer and farther apart.

Doing Good

Jack has had a nice weekend. Nice and uneventful, and that's how we like to keep things. He gained some weight yesterday and is now up to 5 lbs 1 oz (2290 g). He's still doing well on his current oxygen level and hasn't had a bad reports back to us. He is still eating well and we're waiting to see if he's going to be moved to a regular crib.

He got a visit from Mary's cousin Penny. He likes his visitors.

First Milestone Reached

Jack had a nice day today. He reached the 5 pound mark today, that is the first hurdle towards coming home. He has been doing well since they switched him over to his new oxygen set up. He's now set at 1 liter per minute and he's been holding his levels pretty steady. Last night he got to have part of a feeding from a bottle. The nurse said that he did very well. He had a little trouble burping but he made it just fine. The doctor has said he want the therapist to check him out before he gets the OK to start full time on the bottle, so we will wait until the beginning of the week to see what happens. The heat has been turned off completely on his isolette and he is maintaining his body temperature nicely. With that step done he will probably be moved over to a regular crib (another step towards going home).

Jack had another nice day, we want them to stay this way. Hopefully he can get bigger and strong enough to make it home with in the next 2-3 weeks.

Whale of a Time

Jack is still doing well. He had a small episode early this morning around 6:30am. I guess he was trying to poo and held his breath until his heart rate dropped. It wasn't nearly in the same ball park as the one he had 2 weeks ago. So we had a talk with him and told him not to hold his breath whilst pooing. He did gain a little weight yesterday, he's now up to 4 lbs 14 oz (2220 grams).

Today's big activity was our first time giving him a bath. We went and got him a nice whale bath tub yesterday in preparation. t was a very quick bath, he seemed to tolerate it well and he got nice and clean. That is all to report, the post is early today because I have training tonight and won't be able to get it done later.

Cut and Paste

Hi folks. Nothing new to report today. Really nothing at all. Jack is still doing well, eating the same amount, weighs the same as yesterday, and oxygen levels the same also. It's good not having a long list of things to talk about.

33 Weeks Old

Jack has reached the 33 week mark. He is still doing well, seems to have less and less times when his heart rate dips. He weighed in today at 4 lbs 12 oz, up slightly after his loss yesterday. It's very nice to seem him getting better and better each day. Mary started doing some recreational breast feeding. She holds Jack after she pumps and he tries to suck away. He still isn't certain about all this stuff. Per the nurse he still hasn't mastered the suck/swallow/breath reflex, so they won't actually have him on a bottle or breast until about 34 weeks.

We are going to go to get him a baby bath tub. We are going learn all the bathing basics. Not much else new, just resting and getting things closer to being ready for Jack to come home.

Up and Down

I really like having nothing much to report to everyone. After Jack's big weight gain yesterday he lost 1 oz (20 grams), putting him back to 4 lbs 11 oz. He is also now eating 45 ml of milk per feeding, he's good at that. We are now playing music while we hold him and he seems to like it. He seems a little calmer when the tunes are playing. We can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow.

....and Going, and Going, and Going....

Well folks, another late post. We are back at the house for the night resting and getting things washed. Now that Jack can wear clothes we need to wash a load every few nights along with his isolette blankets. Jack had another huge weight gain yesterday. The nurses told us that he is now up to 4 lbs 12 oz (maybe he hadn't pooed yet when they weighed him). We hope that it's his true weight and he'll gain some more today. We'll get him plumped up before he comes home. The doctor increased his feedings to 40 ml, and have decreased the oxygen flow on his vapotherm machine to 2 liters per minute. Hopefulle he keeps up the good work and doesn't have any problems or repeats of last Monday's incident.

Other than that, nothing much is new. Mary and I each hold him once a day and it's so great that he is getting big enough to interact with. It's also nice to see that his eyes seem to move around with purpose now and not just randomly moving around.

Still Getting Stronger

Jack is still doing well. He is getting bigger and stronger each day. He gained a little weight yesterday. Now he is up to 4 lbs 7 oz, pretty soon he's going to grow out of his preemie clothes. He is also now 17 1/4 inches long, 3-4 inches longer than when he was born. The doctors keep increasing the amount of his feeding. He is now at 40ml and he had been eating and digesting it all.

It has been nice that we've had a week of incident (well major incidents) free days. It helps us to sleep better at night, and makes the light at the end of this tunnel all that much closer.

Six Weeks Old

Hello all. Today Jack is 6 weeks old. It's hard to believe we've already been at this for that long. Seems like 1 or 2 weeks ago he was born. We're not sure if there was an error in the weighing of Jack or if he just lost a little but he's down to 3 lbs 5 oz today. I tend to think there was an error in weighing because he jumped about 3-4 ounces in one day and that just isn't right. Jack is still doing well. He is off of his antibiotics, which means they took out his IV. He is still doing well with his body temperature and was wearing a cute preemie outfit that Grandma Christi got for him today. His feedings are now up to 35ml, that is where he was before his incident on Monday.

Jack got a visit today from Great Grandma Nan. She thought he was the cutest little thing ever (we don't disagree). She was in town because she had to stay at the hospital overnight after her angioplasty. Grandma Patti also stopped in to say hello. It was nice to get a pic of Jack with Great Grandma Nan so we could send it home with her.