My 2 preemies at Halloween 2008. Sean is 11 and 5ft tall and Nick the ham - wearing a 70s wig - is on the charts alongside the full-term babies, and is almost all caught up on height and weight at 17 months

G'Day Mate!

Glad you could make it - I've just put a shrimp on the barbie

Happy 1st Bday baby!

Nick is 1 yr old May 9, 2008! He's 17.5 lbs and 28" tall. He's in the 10th percentile on the full-term 1 year old chart for height and he's *almost* on the chart for weight. Adjusted he's about 50th percentile. So he has just about caught up! The dr. said he's right on for a 9-10 month old baby.

Oh and he decided sitting isn't good enough anymore - he pulled himself up from sitting to standing last night at Gram and Papa's house. He thinks he's pretty tough :)

So big!

What a difference 8 weeks makes! TOP: Coming home day July 2, 2007 (4lbs 11 oz.) and BOTTOM: Aug 30, 2007 (> 9lbs -I'm not sure how much).

Nick's due date is today!

Well today is the day Nick was due to be born...if he hadn't decided to grace us with his presence 3 months early! He's 6lbs 12oz. - not a bad weight for a newborn! He's caught right up so far.

Jacuzzi

Just hanging out and relaxing in the tub~ Life is good!

You know you're the parent of a preemie when...

Some of these are mine and some I found on the net...all are completely true.

You know you're the parent of a preemie when...
1) You can recite your baby's medical chart by heart backwards sideways and in pig latin but can't remember what you ate for breakfast.
2) You constantly get asked "Oh, are you a nurse?" when you spout off a string of medical terms.
3) Your friends get teary eyed when their babies get shots, and you can hold your baby down while they get a catheter or a new PICC line and not bat an eye or flinch.
4) Your "newborn stories" involve bowel sounds, desats, and a gross sound effect used to describe the air leak around your son's ET tube.
5) You realize that he will be 2 before he can fit into any of the outfits that friends and family gave you at your baby shower.
6) You cherish that stuffed animal that they used in NICU to place on your baby in the incubator to make him feel more secure.
7) You buy hand sanitizer in bulk.
8) When, as soon as you find out you're expecting baby #2, you quickly count the months to see if you'll deliver during RSV season.
9) You know what RSV is.
10) When the thought of a law that requires children to use a booster seat in the car until they reach 80lbs makes you wonder how they will ever let him get his license using a booster seat.
11) You can convert your babies weight from grams to ounces in your head.
12) People can't get over how small he is at 5lbs and you just laugh because you know he's gained 3.5 lbs since you first held him.
13) You actually know how many CCs make up an ounce.
14) You turn into Kung-Fu Mom when someone tries to touch your baby.
15) You want to scream when someone says that she just wants to have this baby already - at week 28, 32, or 34.

Vampire nurses and such...

I can't believe I drank the whole thing! Now I need a nap. Oy!

Weekly weight check and doc visit today - I guess getting up every 2 hrs to feed him has been worth it - he now weighs 5lbs 6oz! They want him to gain 1/2 to 1 ounce a day and he's gained a whopping 9oz. since his last appt 6 days ago! I'm telling you this kid has an iron grip - he's got some serious plans ahead of him for his miracle life.

Had to let the vampire nurse prick his heel again for a hematocrit level. It was a bit low so he's now on an iron supplement - otherwise Nicky Nick got another gold star on his health chart!

Little firecracker

One thing I forgot after 9 yrs...babies don't sleep much! Well he sleeps well but he's eating 1-2oz. every 2 1/2 - 3 hrs - so I guess it's me who's not sleeping! :)

He's doing great. Sean thinks he's a doll to play with - he's always brushing his hair or wanting to feed or change him. He's a great big brother already! People ask how old he is and I never know whether to say 8 weeks or 36 weeks. Technically he was supposed to be born July 26 so he's really minus 3 weeks! He's just barely fitting into preemie clothes so another couple pounds and he'll fit into newborn.

Wow!

Monday July 2, 2007 - Home Sweet Home
Coming home day! Went to the hospital to feed Nick and watch a CPR video - then Sean and I had our last lunch with just the 2 of us at Chilis. We ran over to the bank to get a check to close mom and dad's house then went up to the lawyer's office to sign. All done! The house is theirs it's so cute. Then we went back to the hospital to pick up Nick. He was all dressed in the new outfit that Grammy gave him and we headed home. Still can't believe the ordeal is over and he's home!

July 1, 2007
Went to the hospital about 4 times today! He's awake so much longer now that it's hard to just feed him and leave. He passed his car seat test - they strap him in it for an hour to make sure he can breathe ok and has no issues with keeping his head straight. Thanks to the great people that work with Bri at BB&T for giving us gift certificates - we were able to get a very nice stroller/carseat! It even fits a 5 lb small fry very nicely.

June 30, 2007
Called this morning to see if he was eating at 8:30 and they said he did great...and to please bring in his car seat to test out because he's going home Monday!!!!!! He also got his NG tube out last night! No more tubes for good now, he's just on bottles. Had a very good day no desats or crazy stuff at all. 4lbs 10oz today.

Chunky Monkey

My little guy is a roly poly 4lbs 9oz as of last night! He was extremely sleepy when I got there for the 8:30 pm bottle. He was having desats around 85% (limit is blood O2 levels <88%) because he was taking shallow breaths or forgetting to breathe at all so I popped the bottle out to let him catch up and he wouldn't wake up after that so he got the last 10ml by tube. The nurse this morning said he took all bottles throughout the night and did well. So for his 8:30am feeding again today he was sleepy but finally finished it - I don't think he's a morning person he must take after Daddy! :) He was having really bad desats - like around 80% - so the nurse gave him a shot of oxygen. No idea why he started doing this now - I squeegee'd his nose but it wasn't stuffy. She thought maybe he was moving his feet and the monitor wasn't picking up very well because he hasn't been having desats like that and hasn't had oxygen in several weeks. Hopefully he will pull out of this desat trend today and get the NG tube out of his nose which would help!

This is a picture of Nick's condo. Doesn't he have a great view of the beach? It was actually painted by Sean's 2nd grade art teacher Olivia Scott. And I used to work with her husband back in the environmental lab days- small world huh?

4lbs 7.5 oz

Nick was 4lbs 7.5oz when I called last night. Sean had a swim meet 4:30 - 9:30 (and I thought soccer games were long holy smokes!) so I couldn't make the evening feeds. The nurse had given him a bottle at 8:30 which I think is the 1st one he's gotten from anyone else besides me. She said they were going to try a bottle at every other feed which is 8:30 and 2:30. I called this morning and he had gotten one at 5:30am (he was probably too tired at the 2:30am feed so they waited). Well we weren't sure he would be interested in a bottle at 8:30 for me...but sure enough he was! He drank 37ml in 5min flat (pass the Alkaseltzer). He keeps it down fine even though everyone is pretty surprised he's got such gusto when the bottle is about as big as his leg! That is 24 calories/ounce.

I came home for an hour and Nurse Kristin called and said Nick was wide awake if I wanted to give him the 11:30 bottle - heck yeah! So 20 min later I was parked in the special care nursery feeding him again...I could probably sit there all day rocking away. He took yet another bottle - 3 in a row. Very good job, baby!

What do babies dream about?

I've got a long to-do list sitting in front of me and look where I am *sigh*. I'm busier now than when I was working - and I'm so good at procrastinating. Some days it just seems like the hospital will never end. Then some days I can't believe he's 7 weeks old (or minus 5 weeks from his due date!)! Since he's closer to home now I've been going over twice a day but not staying as long. I give him his 2:30 and 8:30 bottles and when he falls asleep I put him back. He's so funny he drinks the 1 ounce in like 5 minutes then he moans and looks like "Oh my God why did I do that!" Like that Alkaseltzer commercial I can't believe I ate the whole thing! I'm thinking it'll be 1.5-2 weeks til he's home. They aren't pushing him too hard so he's still only getting 3 bottles a day (NG tube for 5 feedings to let him rest) . So he's got a ways to go. He did get his big boy bed today how exciting! That means he meets 1 of the criteria for him coming home (1. keep temperature steady 2. take all feedings by bottle 3. have no desats (apnea) and no bradys (bradycardia)

The swim meet was cancelled last night due to lightning so I did go for Nick's 8:30 bottle. He was getting a bath when I got there...he loves that! He was 4lbs 5.5 oz. His eyes were swollen from the eye exam poor baby. I gave him his bottle (35 mls) then he fell asleep from exhaustion - it's hard work for such a little guy to master the suck -swallow-breathe skills (which usually happens at ~34 weeks gestation). He was smiling and dreaming - what do babies dream about?

Out of the box!

Nick is getting 3 bottles a day now (35ml). I go the hospital for 2 of them (2:30 and 8:30) and the nurse tries to do 1 during the night - but so far he's been too tired to drink that one. Last night they opened up Nick's incubator like a DeLorean to room air and he has kept his temperature up just fine. So tomorrow he may get his very own crib like a big boy. He's 4lbs 4oz. now and actually has chipmunk cheeks - he's fair and looks like his mama and he's just now getting blond eyelashes. I went to feed him his bottle at 11:30 and the Dr. was there to give him his eye exam...good news - no sign of ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). He has premature blood vessels which is normal at his age (almost 36 weeks) and we'll get another exam in 2 weeks to make sure he's progressing. The blood vessels are in level 2 if you look at the diagram in the ROP link half way down the page. After that he was too tired to take his bottle so he got it by tube. Sean has a swim meet tonight so I won't be back to the hospital til tomorrow.

Good days

Friday June 22, 2007
Nick is 35 weeks old (adjusted) and weighs 4lbs 2oz. I went to see him at the 2:30 feeding (tube) and just held him. He was alert and hungry and looking for a bottle but they are only allowing 1 bottle a day to start. He had a few beeps from the pulse ox* but not too bad. He can't have any of those desats if he wants to come home. Sometimes he has those when he's tired or if his neck is tilted too far back or forward. The Duke nurses would say he was looking for chest hairs. :)

We're hoping to increase it to 2 bottles in a couple days if he does well and drinks the whole thing. Went back for the 8:30pm feeding - Bri wanted to feed him. He drank the whole ounce yay! He was in a very good mood after that and Sean got to hold him too. He's MRSA + on the 2nd swab too. He's not infected with it - he just has it on him. Who knows why. Especially after 4 weeks being negative?!

*(Pulse Oximeter - The "pulse ox" continuously measures the baby's blood oxygen. There is a tiny light which is attached to the baby's palm, foot, finger, toe, or wrist by a piece of adhesive elastic. A cord travels from the light to a machine that displays the amount of oxygen being carried by red blood cells in the baby's body. Each hospital is different but 85-88% blood oxygen is the cutoff from our experience. Ideally we like 90%+.

Thursday June 21, 2007
Decided Nick was more awake and alert when we went at 8:30 so I went at that time tonight. He was wide awake and raring to go. He drank almost the whole ounce in about 3 min! Then he got the hiccups and tried to drink a little more but choked so that was it. But he only had 6ml left. Unfortunately he turned up MRSA positive again :( I don't know how that happened as he was negative for 4 weeks in a row. So he's on contact isolation which is basically for the nurses (extra gown and gloves) it doesn't really affect us. He just had the bacteria in his nose he doesn't have an infection and we definitely hope it stays that way. Nasty bug!

We'll get the results of the 2nd swab tomorrow night. He's off the reflux medicine (zantac and reglan) and seems to be doing fine.

First bottle

Nick was transferred to Cary and did great on the ride. He's all moved in to his new pad and is settling into the new routine. He's getting 2 more MRSA swabs to be sure he's negative since this is a new hospital but other than that all is staus quo. We all went to see him last night and I got to give him his 1st bottle. He was very alert and when he started sucking his eyes got wide and I could almost hear him thinking "Wow nothing ever came out of my pacifier before this stuff is GOOD!" :)
He drank almost the whole 1oz which really surprised me. I thought he would choke or gag on the first bottle but he was a pro. He fell asleep toward the end so we put him back in his condo and nurse gave him the rest of his feed in his tube. He'll get 1 bottle a day to start - then we'll work up to all bottle feeds. He's 3lbs 10oz. tonight and should be going home in 2-3 weeks!

Road trip!

Since Nick is now MRSA negative and doing so well, he no longer needs a level III NICU so he's going to a level II. He's getting transferred to Wake Med Cary this afternoon - which is only 8 mi away from home as oppsed to Duke which is 25. So that is good news! He's almost what the nurses call "a feeder and a grower" - it means he has no health issues or problems, he's there just to grow big and strong enough to come home. Once he gets the hang of the bottle he'll definitely be ready to graduate. I held him for an hour then changed his diaper and put him in his preemie Elmo outfit for the trip to Cary.

Sean came home (after 6 weeks) at 4lbs 6oz. so we're getting close!! I remember taking Sean to his 1st Dr. visit and one lady looked at him in the elevator and said "He's so small!!!!!!!!!!" I'm like "What do you mean he's huge!" Well when you're born at 2lbs and a few spare ounces, 5lbs seems like a porker!

Thank you to all the doctors and nurses at Duke who were so awesome! Forgive me I don't want to miss anyone (I didn't start learning names until a couple weeks into the game): Kim K., Annette, Alicia, Lori, Michelle, Ashby, Kathleen, Randi, Rachel, Karen, Kaleigh, Julie, Lisa, Mary, Tana, Shanda, Nicole - you're great you made all the difference!

Kick some MRSA butt!

Nick got a perfect score - 4 negative MRSA swabs in a row so he has moved out of the contact isolation room! He's doing well eating too. They started a few weeks ago with 2hrs on and 2 hrs off and he's now 1hr on then 2 hrs off. If he does well they'll do 30 min on and 2 off. They're getting ready to try a bottle so he has to be able to take the food faster than 1-2hrs! Things will be speeding up now...not sure if he'll go to Rex or not - it's up to them. I like Duke, the nurses and doctors are wonderful and they know him there.

He was 3lbs 9.5oz but he hasn't pooped in a day or 2 so that could be a bit off! I told you everyone spends a huge amount of time contemplating baby poop! :D

97 degrees and no A/C :(

Our A/C units (yes both of them!) decided to konk out a couple days ago. I'm already dying and it's supposed to get up to 97 degrees today. Someone is coming out "sometime today" - who knows when - so I probably won't be able to get to the hospital. I'm bummed. Hopefully it'll be an uneventful day in the ICN.

Transfusion #2

Nick weighs 3lbs 7oz today! His hematocrit was a bit low so he had his 2nd transfusion today - so the blood might be adding to his weight a bit. They had to put an IV in and try a few times because his little hands were still bruised from the one on Monday (NEC scare). He did well with it but was a little puffy from the fluid so they upped his lasix (a diuretic). I held him for about an hour and a half today. The nurse had to give him a bath because she used the old glycerine chip trick and he filled 3 diapers. He was chilly after his swim so when I got there he was bundled up like an eskimo baby.