It'a Slumber Party

Tonight we get to sleep over in the hospital parents room with Jack. He is hooked up to the apnea monitor that he is going home with, otherwise it's like a test drive. Hopefully all will go well overnight and we'll be that much more ready to have him home. We both figure that we will be a little sleep deprived but a lot more prepared. He is still episode free (knocking on wood as I type). He also gained some more weight and broke the 7 lb mark (now 7 lbs 0.2 oz yes the 0.2 counts). So we'll see how things progress. It's 7:49pm right now and we have him in the room. Mary is feeding him and he seems content. Depending on how I feel I may update through the night and give you all a status of our sanity... I know we haven't even had him by ourselves for an hour yet.

11:30pm--- Jack is awake for his first feeding of the night. He has been grunting and talking a lot with some gas pains. So far everything is going well, now hopefully for some sleep.

4:00am--- Well, all is still going well. Jack woke us up around 1:30, he was pretty hungry. I guess he didn't get as much milk from Mary as we thought he did. Now it's about 4:25 and he is hungry again.

8:00am--- Time for Jack to eat again. Wow we made it through the night. No episodes, we didn't end up rocking back and forth in a corner and Jack seems to be no worse for the experience. Mary and I are a little sleep deprived, but glad we got to spend the night with our son. We can't wait to get him home!

Scarface

So Jack decided he was tired of all the nurses saying how cute he was. He said, "I'll show you!!". Now he has a wonderful scratch right across his nose (Say hello to my little friend). We immediately cut his finger nails when we saw the damage he could inflict on himself. When he gets gas pains he grabs at his face, and I think that's when he scratched himself. Other that Jack is doing well. No episodes and he's still gaining the weight, now up to 6 lbs 14 oz. Tomorrow night we are rooming in the hospital. They turn us loose to take care of Jack by ourselves. Of course the nurses are right outside our room should we have questions. We are resting up tonight because when sense a little sleep deprivation coming tomorrow. Between worrying about Jack and him grunting with his gas it will be interesting (we're a little nervous too).

The plan that I've heard is that they are going to train us on the apnea monitor. Have us do a sleep in night and then Jack will go back to his nursery pod for one more night. If things all work out he could be coming home on Thursday. We will keep knocking on the wood and keep our fingers crossed that our little guy will be home this week.

Chug Chug Chugging Along

Jack is still doing very well. Hasn't had an episode since his minor one last week. He gained some weight overnight. He has officially surpassed Mary's birthweight. He's now up to 6 lbs 12 oz. Jack still has a little ways to go to catch me, but he also has about 3 weeks before his predicted due date. He is also eating alot more now, and he's getting very good at breastfeeding. We are very proud of all the progress he is making. Every once in a while a nurse comes in who hasn't seen him in a few weeks and they are amazed at how big he has gotten.

At the evening care time a group called the "binky patrol" came by a gave us a homemade blanket. They go around and donate handmade washable blankets to families/babies that have serious illness or prolonged hospital stay. I put a link to there site on the side if anyone wants to check them out. Anyhow, Mary and I would both like to say thanks to them, Jack will surely love his new blanket. Jack also had a visit from Mary's friend Olivia (she's the person that's not us standing over him in the pictures).

Oh So Close

Just 18 hours from making it to the one week mark Jack had another apnea/bradycardia episode. We were getting ready to leave for the hospital when the doctor called us. It really took the wind out of our sails. We were getting used to the idea of having him home soon, and really happy he had an end in sight. Well, he will be in the NICU for at least another week. When he goes home they'll send him home with an apnea monitor. They aren't sure what could be causing him to have these episodes, hopefully he will just outgrow them, and soon. Other than that 1 episode he did fine. He is eating all his food and is now 6 lbs 8.6 oz. He is getting so big. Especially when compared to his first pictures. So, the timer starts over again, we fully expect him to make it the full week. We've had a talk with him. We are very glad it happened at the hospital and not at home, we probably would have panicked.

36 Weeks Old

Jack is still doing well, still episode free. Tomorrow we can talk to the doctor again, hopefully he will have some good news for us. We think that Jack might get his developmental discharge eval. He may also become a Kaiser star, the therapist wants to video him getting his bath, for instructional classes. We'll see what happens. He gained some weight also, now up to 6 lbs 6.5 oz (hard to believe he has tripled in size since being born at 2 lbs 1 oz). We are very excited that he is doing so well, but a little nervous about him coming home where we don't have nurses there to field our questions or check on him. We probably won't sleep for the first few nights (I have to get back to graveyard hours sometime). All that Jack needs now is to make it episode free for 2 more days, pass his car seat challenge (which should happen on Friday), and have his hearing test. Oh, that and we have to fill out all kinds of crazy discharge paper work, and double/triple/quadruple check that his room is ready.

Getting Closer

Hello, sorry for another late post, and lack of photos today. Jack is still doing well. He is episode free since last Friday. Still keeping our fingers crossed that he has outgrown that part of his stay at Kaiser. He tipped the scales today at 6 lbs 5 oz (well 4.9 oz, but we round up). He had another eye exam, which he passed with flying colors (no not the which line can you read on the chart type). He won't need to have his eyes checked for another year.

The doctor came in and checked out Jack, but we found out we are on the no talking list until Thursday. Not really a serious thing, it's all because that is when Jack will be re-assessed for going home, and the doctor jokingly put us on the silent treatment. Jack also played musical rooms today. He got switched twice, it more of a good sign because they tend to move the more stable babies. It also seems that all the nurses know who Jack is, he is very social for having no social skills.

Full Steam Ahead

Jack is still doing well. 3 days and counting since his last episode, we're hoping it just keeps on going. Today, they coaxed another poo out of him. He is still all blocked up, possibly due to all that iron (he gets extra in some formula and a special side dish of it as well). He did put on a little weight yesterday. Now up to 6 lbs 4 oz, Grandpa Dennis says he's an Italian eater. The nurse talked to the doctor today and they came up with a plan to re-evaluate his situation on Thursday to see how close he is to making it home. They moved him back into his big boy crib, he was in an infant warmer, because if he had an episode it was easier to work on him. They also took off the oxygen saturation monitor. So, everyone keep their fingers crossed that Jack behaves and can make it home very soon.

Finally a Poo

Jack is still chugging along and so far episode free. Last night after we left Jack had a nice poo, 4 diapers worth. It must have been a relief after about a day and a half of constipation. He weighed in this morning at 6 lbs 1 oz, that's up about 1 ounce from yesterday. We were surprised he gained at all after the poo he had. He did have a little choking incident while he was eating (per the nurse it doesn't count as an episode of apnea/bradycardia). He just tried to take too big a gulp of milk and started coughing. The nurse helped me out and told me how to correct it, now we know what to do when or if he does that at home.

So for those keeping track at home, it's almost been 3 days without incident. We are keeping are fingers crossed while we knock on wood, that this trend continues and he can come home very soon.

9 Weeks Old

I know I just told you he was 2 months yesterday, but today he is 9 weeks. He is also tipping the scales at 6 lbs (hooray!!!). I do apologize right now, but I forgot the new camera so we didn't get very good pics, only 1 to post (with a video). He is still doing very good eating his food, but still no pooping. The doctor didn't seem too concerned with that just yet. They gave him another suppository and hopefully all his system will clean out. Jack was also incident free yesterday. Hopefully, his big episodes of apnea and bradycardia and behind him.

I promise I'll remember the camera tomorrow.

2 Months and Doing Better

Hello all. Jack is 2 months old today, I guess. His birthday is the 5th of December, but he was eight weeks last Saturday. I'm just going to say he's 2 months today. He gained a tiny bit of weight yesterday (despite all his episodes). He is at 5 lbs 15.6 oz, he is just flirting with that 6 lbs mark. So far toady he is doing well. His last episode was around 3am and it was a smaller one. Nothing like the big ones he had during the morning yesterday. We are hoping it was all just a reaction to the vaccinations he had. He is still eating very well, and loving his bottle. He is still having some poo issues, hopefully he can get that under control.

Bad Day

Jack didn't have a very good day today. He had several bradycardia and apnea episodes. He had two in the morning while we were feeding him. Good thing is he had one while the doctor was in to look at him, so he now has witnessed what Jack does. We talked to the doctor and he isn't sure what would be causing Jack's episodes. He suggested that Jack maybe overly tired from his vacinations yesterday, or something unrelated. For now he recommended reattaching his monitor to see his oxygen saturation levels to give nurses a little pre-episode warning, and he is going to be laying on his belly for a while. We are hoping that all of this resolves by itself and quickly.

On the bright side of things Jack gained some more weight and is now up to 5 lbs 15 oz. He also took a couple of poo's without suppository assistance. Jack is still doing well eating all his food, he just needs to breath that air.

35 Weeks

Jack is 35 weeks old today. Another hurdle Jack has made it over. We talked to the doctor and the only thing keeping him from coming home is the apnea episodes. So, if all goes well (and we've talked to Jack about it) he could be coming home next Weds or Thurs. He is still doing well on his feedings, and usually sleeps about 4 hours in between his bottles. He is still having some pooping issues, but the doctor didn't seem that troubled by it. He suggested we get some suppositories from the drug store when we go home. The doctor seems pretty upbeat about his discharge. Jack also gained just over 1 once yesterday. Now back up to 5 lbs 14 oz, just 2 away from 6 lbs. He is looking more and more like what a new born would each day.

Sorry there aren't more photos posted today, but his overhead light was out. I'll try to get more tomorrow.

Doing Well

Jack is still doing well today. He has been taking all of his feedings. He doesn't have a set amount or time when he gets fed, but he's doing good. He is still having an issue going poo, and they have to give him a suppository to get things cleared out. I think that causes him some discomfort and an occasional dip in the heart rate. He got a visit from Mary's friend Allison today, she was disappointed because Jack wasn't awake when she came to visit. Jack lost a little yesterday and is now at 5 lbs 13 oz. He's chugging right along & getting stronger. The therapist also paid him a visit to observe how he was eating and if there was anything we could do to help him eat. She thought he was doing wonderfully and had no suggestions for intervention.

Time to Eat

Hello everyone from blog world. Jack ended his streak of episode free days yesterday. He had a big one around 7:30 & one smaller this mornings. It wasn't as bad as the episode he had about 3 weeks ago, but they had to give him oxygen with the bag mask. The doctor came in and took a look at him. It's possible that his feeding tube was causing an irritation in the back of his throat that trigger a response that made is heart rate drop. He also hadn't had a good poo in about a day so he may have been holding his breath while straining to push. To solve that problem the nurse gave him a laxative and it seemed to clean the system out.

So, Jack is now tube free. All his feedings are coming from a bottle, and he has no set care times. We let him wake himself up hungry and then feed him as much as he'll eat. The therapist came by again and checked on how he was doing eating from the bottle. He passed with flying colors and we got a few pointers on feeding him. The therapist is going to come by again on Thursday and give him a check up. She may also give him a discharge eval if all is going well. That doesn't mean he's going to be discharged, but it's a step closer. If he doesn't pass, we will know better the things Jack needs to accomplish to be discharged.

Jack also gained a little weight yesterday and is up to 5 lbs 13 oz, who knows how much of that stayed in after his laxative poo he had. Hopefully, he will stop these episodes with the changes made today. Jack was busy today, he also got a visit from his Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Mike (who somehow managed to dodge the camera again).