Our Zachary a Preemie Story

Updates :) May 31, 2011

2011-05-31T13:34:00.002-05:00

Well it's been a while since I've updated the blog nothing huge has been going on other than a lot of growing and a bottomless pit stomach :).

He's been working with a speech therapist now for 4 months or so and it's made a HUGE difference. He's constantly asking about new objects for the words, trying new words and able to say the items on many of his flash cards. He loves playing the memory game on the ipad. Course he also thinks the ipad is his mini computer... lol. Future MIT student in the works (we can hope). He's very mechanically inclined and if there is something that moves or does some action he must study it and see how it works.

Saturday, May 5-28-2011 Zach asked his dad if he could go in the bathroom and use the potty. He actually used it.. #1 .. but it's a start. Sadly, he didn't ask the rest of the weekend but I'll take it. I tried to get him to use it several times after but nada. Now if we could just get him doing it consistently that'd be wonderful. I'll take little by little, step by step.. it's better than nothing. He's 2 1/2 and that's not bad at all especially born as early as he was.

The terrible two's are hitting full force lately. We're hearing a lot of "Noooah" .. "NOOOOOO!" ... etc.. Time outs are a daily occurrence.
Overall he's a loving, sweet boy but definitely has his moments. He just moved up to the 2-3s room the next step before pre-school woot. Once he's potty trained fully they'll probably move him up from there, that may take a while.

Zach loves the pool and water.. no matter how much he shivers he refuses to get out. Generally, I just have to tell him he needs to get out and get warm. Bathtime is his next favorite activity.. or just running around naked LOL.

So that's what's new :) ... hope you all out there in cyber land are doing well!

S

Zachary Updates woo :)

2011-01-17T01:27:00.003-06:00

Well it's been pretty quiet as he eats 6-7 meals a day and is growing like a weed .. upwards :) but tonight he was doing some pretty amazing things!

Well tonight he started counting to .. 2 first time ever. Then he stacked blocks 6 high (tried to go higher but they tumbled) I think he was trying to impress me so I wouldn’t put him back in bed. He’s in his new room now and his crib has been converted to the day bed (middle transition it has) … which we’re having a problem keeping him in it. Some times he’s fine other nights like tonight he just wants to get up and play. So he started climbing HIGH on his furniture.. no fear I swear.. so he could change the CD in the CD player.. no joke. Apparently, he got sick of listening to the Daycare music cds.. He started doing the “yes” head movement tonight as well and then motioning that he was hungry and just using more hand signals and words than he ever has. Guess he had a brain explosion today or something. He’s never been so communicative where we could actually understand him. He’s also found that taking apart appliances, toys with screw drivers is fun… unscrewing lenses off things taking the 5 pieces apart, trying to put them back together.. We did get him a construction kit /bench etc for Christmas but he’d much prefer the real thing o.O. Anyone know of an Engineering based pre-school? :P hehe

He fights sleep so badly now that he can just get out of his bed. He's also started where he wants us in his room or to be in our room to fall asleep o.O. We always read him a book at night but now he's asking for more books etc.

He's getting sneakier, more cunning and really coming into his own ohh and saying NOaaaaa.. NOaaaaa... just like his older sister.. but with a more whiny pitiful voice lol. Love some of the new things.. could do without some of the others.

Live keeps on movin' :)

Sarah

Zachary's First Day at Daycare 5-7-2010

2010-05-08T02:50:00.003-05:00

Well Zach did surprisingly well. We'd taken him by Thursday so we all could check out the place. This is the same Daycare that Alexis used to go to back when it was Children's World. Thankfully, it's been completely remodeled. Brand new playground and equipment/toys. The Toddler room is 2x as large and huge. The prices are reasonable and the staff is great some of them I knew from before.

When I dropped him off he was good, no tears, no crying he just wanted to play :P When I came to pick him up they said he had a great day and needed minimal help no more than the other children which it's a room for 18mo - almost 3 yr olds. Mind you he just is 18 months this May 4th so he's one of the smallest in there but he's keeping right up with them. There's another little girl in there that just moved over from the infant room so he's not the only one.

Zach was sitting feeding himself some applesauce (spoon on the floor lol) and he smiled when he saw us then... as soon as he realized we'd come to pick him up he started balling! He did not want to go home LOL. He wanted to stay and play with all the new toys and friends he'd made. So I think we can say pretty surely he likes Daycare and would much rather be there than home.. (can't blame him).

Today they made Mother's Day Posters it was really cute :) Not sure how much he had to do with it other than pasting lol and that's pushing it.. but it was really cute and I loved it even if he had minimal participation. I'd forgotten how much I missed those cute signs and little crafts they make from the heart :)

I did really miss his fussy little head though. He's so much fun to snuggle, love on throughout the day and really keeps me cheered up and always makes me laugh no matter how stupid things are during the day or work getting me down. So it's hard not having him around but at least I'm 100% x more productive and that's important.

I may have to find him some new shoes though the ones I bought were the lightest I could find and they're still pretty heavy and clunky. So that may be a weekend task :)

So overall a positive experience all around being that I've had him home or with friends for the past 18 months I'd say we did well this far along :) I tried to hold out longer but he was just getting to be too much with work intensifying. The kind of work I do doesn't do well with broken concentration :P He also needed a lot more attention than I could give him and even when my friends watched him he really wanted to be with kids his own age and lots of them. We've known for a while he loves other kids at restaurants he'd rather look at, communicate with, play with other kids than eat :P Sucks for trying to save money though which we are doing but at least this place won't break the bank :P Also, if it gets to cost prohibitive I can switch him to half days only problem is since I'll be going in the office more I could only do that on certain days.

So new things with Zach:

- He's 29inches tall and 20.5 lbs 18 months actual (15 months adjusted).
- one side of his molars are in the other side are still cutting and he's still teething time to time. He's not putting as much stuff in his mouth but still does more often than we'd like.
- first thing he learned at Daycare was ... how to pick his nose and eat it o.O. On the bright side this will help with his congestion problem.. on the other hand EWWWWW lol.
- He did also learn to wash his hands and now anytime there's soap or lotion he promptly rubs his hands together.. too cute and he's so proud when he does it :)
- He was running barefoot from shelf to shelf when we took him the first day and we'd never seen him do that before.
- He's been starting to use more two work (baby speak) sentences he said something today I still have no idea what it was but he clearly was speaking words. So he's picking stuff up from the other kids (just hope no swear words LOL).
- He can walk inside/outside and from room to room. He can do circles standing and crouch to pick up items and carry items long distances. When the PT came 2 days ago she said he'd progressed about 4 months in 2 weeks time and she said we may not need her much longer.. that's always a good sign. Same thing the OT said that he was progressing so fast that soon he'd be all caught up and not need her anymore. That would just leave the Dev Specialist and then maybe the speech therapist in 6 months if he's still not talking normal words yet.

We got him a toddler soccer set and are trying to teach him how to kick. We work with him on balancing on one leg and he seems to be getting the concept down of how to kick. He prefers to pick it up and throw it in the goal though lol it's cute.

He still has very little hair about 1 cm in length if that.. and it's very light so he still looks bald.

That's about all I've got for now I'm sleepy :P Hope you all have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Zachary's Big Day!

2010-04-10T00:27:00.002-05:00

Well after coming home from a long day at work Zachary smiled and greeted me then decided to walk 4 steps from me toward the other side of the kitchen. All of us stood watching in amazement this boy who can barely walk with you holding his hand he's just starting that. Nope he decided he was going to trek out on his own!

If that wasn't enough in one day to try he started clapping .. well half clapping his left hand against his steady right hand. He definitely has some right side issues.. That may be because the left side of his brain still hasn't caught up we knew from the MRIs large sections of his brain hadn't grown yet when we took him home. The Right side of his brain (left body) is much more developed and the differences you can see are huge now!

So 4 Steps woot! and Clapping..

Later after dinner I was singing just randomly (yeah I do that a lot) Baby You Got What I Neeeeeeeed. He sang back.. Oh Baby you ... LOL was really cute.

So we're wondering what other amazing things he'll do in one day! His OT, PT, Dev Spec /Speech therapist will be very happily surprised!

Now to keep nurturing the steps to becoming walking he's still scared of falling. Then pray we can keep up with him!

Molar updates.. Left side top /bottom are about half way in. The right side are poking through but not fully in yet.

So that's my update for today :)

Sarah

Zachary update 3-4-2010

2010-03-04T02:22:00.002-06:00

Hi all here's an update on how Zachary's doing now 13 months (gest) 16 months actual.
He's finally cut a molar (it's just peaking through) but the sleepless nights from it are over for the moment. Only a bunch to go o.O.

We're working with the OT, PT, Developmental Specialist and bringing in a Speech therapist. His OT needs are lessening as his fine motor hand skills come along. He's still not walking so the PT gave hims some inserts and shoes to wear an hour a day to get him used to standing properly without being on his tippy toes. Just in two days of wearing them he looks much better when he's standing. He's been standing really well up to 30+ seconds w/out holding onto anything he just can't seem to get the steps down. His left leg he'll try but his right leg he's not shifting his weight off of it to actually move.

He's been more verbal lately but we've no idea what he's saying :P He'll often say Mom, Momma when he wants something but that's about the only thing he regularly says. That and "no" shaking of the head lol he loves to do that. Zach is exerting his will more and getting some "terrible twos" behavior. No full-blown tantrums yet but definitely some fits of anger, screams, crys, scratching, biting you name it :P

He's still sticking everything in his mouth to our dismay. He's chewed the furniture, books, pens and everything else he can possibly get his hands on. Sometimes I wonder if a puppy would be not as bad o.O.

He's still a great eater and starting to learn how to feed himself with a spoon. He's not doing too badly with the spoon other than the occasional miss and getting food all over his forehead.

It's been a month now since I've been going back into the office 1-2 days a week. So far he's enjoying the time with Amanda and Cohen so that's a great relief while I'm at the office for long hours. I miss him but he's having a great time and she does a great job with him. Zach definitely is interested in other babies he is constantly trying to have contact with them in restaurants etc. The only thing keeping him out of daycare is the walking issue. Sadly the day cares will put him with the infants instead of toddlers if he's not walking yet it's just one of their policies. He meets every other requirement except the walking. The PT thinks probably in about 2 months he'll be walking which that's not too bad :) As long as he's walking by the time Amanda has to go back to work we're good which should be August.

If you haven't checked out the flickr photos in a while check them out. We got photos taken early February and they turned out really cute. Family is good we're just really busy! Until next time,

Sarah

1-30-2010 Zachary Update

2010-01-30T21:36:00.002-06:00

Well Zachary is fast approaching his "gestational" 1 year. I'm calling it his re-birthday lol. He was originally due the week of my birthday :P So for my birthday we'll prob have a small re-celebration for him. We still need to adjust probably only for another year or two then he'll be caught up more or less.

He's currently cruising around furniture with really good command. His specialists and myself really believe he could walk on his own (without hanging onto things) but it seems to be a confidence issue atm. It's funny you hand him something that takes his mind off of holding onto furniture (like handing him a cup) and he'll stand there without leaning/holding onto anything for support. When he realizes he's standing by himself he immediately sits. It's kinda funny.

He also loves to climb. Anything and everything is a climbing opportunity. He'll climb up on chairs, on boxes, the stairs and even to the point where he'll reach up, grab on things.. be hanging off (feet not touching the floor) LOL. He's so capable of walking he's just got some fear of it.

He's got several words he can say in addition to vehemently shaking his head "no" when he doesn't like something. So far I've heard him say "Mom, Momma, Dad, dada, my and i want (only said it once). He's said a few other things not sure if it's random but not consistent or clear enough for me to tell what it is.

He's definitely sleeping better through the night now. Goes to be anywhere from 9pm -10:30 and wakes up 8-9amish. If he's going to Amanda's he will generally get up at 6:30am without much trouble.

He's also pretty much done breastfeeding. He had started to only do it early in the morning or late at night when he wanted to go to sleep. He's no longer wanting that anymore either. He used to cry and be upset if he wasn't able to nurse before sleep but he's stopped that all together now. When he hits his soft blanket in his crib he closes his eyes and looks for his stuffed bear and that's all he wants. He also likes to cocoon himself in his blanket (just like his dad I might add). Freaks me out he likes to roll up in it like a taco LOL. His dad has ALWAYS been that way.. so weird.. well the weird part is they like the blanket OVER their head. That's what really scares me. I always pull it off/down but seriously I swear they are clones sometimes :P.

Zachary is definitely into just about anything he can reach or climb to. Thankfully, the house is pretty safe from little guys. He loves opening the cabinets and playing with the pots, pans, bowls and then drumming on them. He loves playing on the full sized keyboard we have. I put it on Andy's desk, put him in his boppy and he just has a blast. Pretty much anything that's musical he loves. Ohh and he's started dancing it's really cute. He has this stand up activity table that plays music etc with all the things you can press. Depending on the song its playing he'll stand there and dance to it, it's super cute to watch.

Electronics ohh my! This boy loves anything with buttons, lcd screens etc. He's going to want a laptop of his own at age 2 LOL. We got him the spongebob laptop and he likes that well enough. The funny thing is that's for a 7 yr old LOL. He's constantly taking our phones, mice, well anything that can make something happen on the computer. He loves keyboards still. He's smart and knows what buttons will give some kind of window/etc on the screen. He's also adept at taking Alexis's keyboard keys off lol!

So needless to say he's a handful atm. He's been going to Amanda's for a few weeks now and seems to be doing well. So I'm not so "sad" or worried about him going to a sitter for the day while I'm at work. He needs the emotional connections with other people too and it's good for him to be able to see another baby "Cohen" I'm sure they'll have many good years of playing together :).

Well back to painting the older kid's room etc :)

Sarah

12-2-2009 Zachary Update

2009-12-02T17:00:00.002-06:00

Hi all,
I figure it's time for another woot woot update on Zach's progress. Well lessee he's up to 7 teeth atm. 4 on the bottom 3 on the top. He's able to crawl all the way up the stairs (of course someone behind him to make sure he's ok) the OT has us doing that to work on his core strength. He's pulling up to a stand better and keeping his balance better while standing. We go thim working on drinking through kid cups with straws it's the take and toss brand, they work pretty well for teaching them. He likes them better than the sippy cups.

We had his 1 year eye checkup (well more like 13 months) but who's counting. Anyhew Dr. Hittner said he has no reoccurence of ROP, no scar tissue, nothing his eyes are as good as they can be. No glasses needed, no more special eye exams just regular exams for the rest of his life. So that was wonderful news as there is always a concern that ROP can come back with preemies especially ones born as early as Zach was.

He's saying mommy and possibly I want.. so his speaking abilities are becomming a bit more refined even if it is only 1-3 words. I'll take any word combinations we can get. He does seem to be able to pattern/color match. He has a book with animils in it that sings to him nursery rhymes. The Dev Specialist and I were singing it to him and he started pointing at the yellow lions on each of the pages. We didn't ask him to do it but he kept repeating it. On any other pages there were similar objects (color etc) he'd point at them with his fingers. Mind you the lions were 2 different sizes one was large and one was small. I found that pretty amazing that at (that time 9 months adjusted 1 yr not) he was able to pattern match. So his cognitive is still pretty far ahead of his motor skills by far.

His motor skills although still lag behind a bit. He did seem to jump ahead 2 months worth of skills in about 2 weeks time according to his specialists he sees weekly. That was a nice change for sure. So he's now in this state where he pretty much feels comfortable with what he's doing motor wise and is back to working on speaking and cognition as he is talking a lot more than he was.

We're also gearing up and getting ready for him to start being watched by our dear friend Amanda for some of the week so I can go back into the office. Not sure how long this transition is going to take but I asked for 2 more months. I'd already been working on this but it's getting to the point of necessity.

So we hope you all are having a wonderful Holiday season and check out his new photos I just uploaded a bunch today!

Sarah

Zachary Turns 1

2009-11-09T02:15:00.002-06:00

Hi all thought I'd send an update now that Zachary is 1 yr old.

We had his birthday on November 1st at 12pm. Grandma Nancy and Cheryl were there, Amanda, Chris and Cohen and Jaime, Melanie with their son Oliver were also there. We decided to go with pizza for ease of food etc. We made some sherbert punch and had an HEB chocolate cake yuuuum. Zach didn't really seem to know why everyone was fussing over him but he seemed to enjoy the gifts and cake. Did I say cake.. yes he ate an entire piece of cake and enjoyed slamming his hand into it and shoving the food in his mouth lol. I have some photos to upload but need to install the updated versions of photoshop etc since I have Windows 7 now have to reinstall everything.

Zach really loves all his new toys and I've taken to rotating them out since there's so many now this will keep him from getting too bored. We had our 1 yr checkup with the doctor and the doctor was clearly impressed with Zach. So much so we don't need to go back for another checkup until February woot! He did get labs taken and 4 shots when he was at the doctors Friday. Thankfully, he really didn't seem to have any issues with the MMR I was really worried as I remember Alexis having problems with it. They did confirm for me that the MMR (from their office at least) does not contain Thermerisol woot. I tell you that stuff is bad any shot anyone in my family has gotten with Thermerisol in it has made them violently ill. Zach did fine on Friday after the 4 shots + lab blood taken. Usually, he'd be pretty ill like after his first flu shot last month. Thankfully, he was fine I was surprised. I declined to get the chicken pox vaccine and the 2nd round of flu shot. The flu shot was because 1 he was so sick from the first dose and 2 they didn't have any of the thermerisol free version left. The chicken pox vaccine I staunchly don't believe in. I believe in kids getting the disease and getting the anti-viral to clear it up fast. At least you know the immunity lasts longer when they have the disease and don't have to get the backup vaccine several times throughout their life with a possiblity of contracting chicken pox as an adult which is deadly. ... Forget that imo.

We got to go to Zach's friend's birthday party today and he really enjoyed all the food and attention :). There was no lack of either at Oliver's party. He passed out near the end and we had to go since he wasn't waking back up lol.

As of this week he started getting up into a sitting position from crawling, started to climb up on things to try to maybe stand (looks that way), he finally takes steps when you hold his hands and tried to walk across the room and clearly trying to use his hands more to communicate. We've been working with him on baby sign language and I think he's finally starting to get the idea of it. He's also starting to do hi/bye with his hands although crude atm I'll take it. So in the span of a week he's really started to do a lot of amazing things that just 1-2 weeks ago we never saw him even try or attempt to do.

This week he'll start work with the developmental specialist and PT. We've been working with an OT for about 7 months so the other 2 specialist should help him even more. We may not need PT forever but I figure due to some of his stiffness we should have the PT look at him just in case. It's included in the Early Childhood Intervention costs (most of which insurance pays) so I figure why not.. get my money's worth :). If anything the PT may have more ideas besides just massage etc to help loosen him up on especially his right side.

Anyhew we're really happy with Zach's progress the doctor said he's up to 17 lbs 3 ounces. He's been eating up a storm sometimes devouring more food than his 12 almost 13 yr old sister. Hard to believe but he out eats her no joke. He's thinned up a lot so he must have one hell of a metabolism and be growing like mad. I'd kill for that kind of metabolism :P His height is finally well into the full-term growth chart, his head and weight are touching but still right at 1% ish or so. I'm just glad he's on the chart many preemies especially those at his early birth don't even start touching the full-term chart till they're 2+ yrs. I thought for sure his head would be farther up there becuase his head is getting huge hehe. Nice thing is though you look at his growth curve and he's got a perfectly stable curve no spikes/dips etc it's a perfect curve. So even if he stays down at the bottom they say it's not really good to have large spikes off his growth curve as that can be a sign of issues. So I'll take slow and steady :).

Hope you all have a great November and I'll try to get some more updates as the month goes on or any interesting developments come about.

Sarah

October 15, 2009 Zachary Update

2009-10-15T22:32:00.003-05:00

Hi all it's been a while since an update mostly due to the fact we haven't had any doctor visits but we'll have one coming up next month.

Last week he got his regular flu shot (don't worry not touching that H1N1 flu vaccine with a 10 foot pole). The flu shot I got him was the themerisol free one (preservative free) that's also the same one we get for everyone in the family. He did spike a low grade fever and slept most the next day but after that he was fine. We're supposed to get a second dose but I don't think I will. Everyone in the house will be regular flu vaccinated and he doesn't go out in public all that much enough to warrant it imo. We get enough toxins every day w/out adding more to our kids through questionable vaccines that can't be proven to be effective or not.

So.... He's up to 4 teeth now he just cut another one on the top. This one is one of his main front teeth it's huge lol. That explains his recent fussiness and chewing everything in sight.

No idea what he weighs but I'm guessing 18-19 lbs easy or more. He's currently wearing size 12 months clothes and up to size 18 mo pants. He wears size 3 baby shoes.

We still work with an OT weekly and will have a consult with a developmental specialist and a PT just to see if we're on track since he'll be 1 on 11/04. He's finally getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth like he wants to crawl but just can't quite get it down yet. Alexis did that for months and never did crawl. I imagine he will since he's a very feisty, mobile baby. Zachary is into everything at all times you have to watch him like a hawk. He's very curious and wants to put everything in his mouth or stick his fingers in it .. like light sockets. I have covers on them all but you take one on off to plug something in and he goes for it like bees to honey lol.

He's definitely more needy these days and constantly cries. "Mama ma ma ma Mama" until I come back into view no matter how close I may be lol. He gets frustrated a lot when he can't do something. His brain is far ahead of his motor skills and you can tell that really frustrates him. I imagine he's got the problem like people who've had some kind of accident and the brain is willing but the body is not. He knows what he wants to do but just can't quite get his body to do it.

He still tries to play on a computer no matter where you are or what you're doing and he'll fight you for it so he can whack on the keys lol. I did fine a few nice infant games on the pc but he still hits the windows key a lot and it does all kinds of crazy things. He's really a lot of fun even if a bit wild hehe. Kinda like my personality but looks like Andy. However, there are times he has patience like Andy so .. there's aspects of both personalities in there.

He loves to walk around in his walker.. and I don't mean sit he actually stands up and walks with it. You'd think he could do that w/out the walker but he can hold onto furniture but not go anywhere. Put him in the walker and he's all over the place. Technically, he's a bit too big for the walker now but he loves it so I keep it for him.

So overall, he's been doing really well and other than that one low grade fever he had after the flu shot he's not been sick. He definitely has dust mite allergies and we found that he's allergic to peas (but only skin topically) so it's not even that bad. He can eat them we just need to try to not get them on his skin (easier said than done). I'll be uploading more photos on flickr shortly. I'll make sure to take some photos of him in his monkey costume for Halloween (same one I made for Alexis all those years ago).

Sarah

9-06-2009 Zachary Update

2009-09-06T15:08:00.002-05:00

Zach is doing very well and although he's still not crawling he's finding creative ways to deal with it. He will often roll many feet to get to something he wants to "stick in his mouth" or otherwise explore. He's finally started going forward in his walker so he's zooming all over the place these days. He's able to sit up with some help he's just now starting to be able to correct more to sit w/out as much support. He still loves to whack on the keyboard and play WoW and gets very upset if you don't let him hit the keys when you're on hehe. He's still enjoying his jumper and jumping very high in it and gets really excited when you bounce with him hehe.

On Aug 31st, 2009 he said Mama several times. Now I don't quite think he has the understanding that Mama is me yet but at least he's saying it. He's started doing da da di daaa a lot to but not quite dada yet. He's laughing a lot more for random funny things people do not just when tickled etc. For the most part he's a pretty happy, fun loving kid. He's been cutting another tooth next to his bottom two and that's been causing some late night crying, wake ups and down right miserable evenings. It's to be expected I just wish he would like cold stuff in his mouth to help. I guess the Orajel and Tylenol will have to do for now.

Zach can eat all sorts of things now and he usually eats Stage 2-3 baby food plus anything we're eating we can squish up well for him. He loves to chew on things with the 2 teeth he has but we still have to be careful. Zach's getting very efficient at feeding himself cookies, cheese doodles etc. He loves his Dad's brisket purred with sweet potatoes and gets upset when it's all gone. He's definitely a good eater! He's getting to be a big boy and really filling out his size 9 mo clothing.

Actual age right now is 10 months adjusted is 7 months. His cognitive is closer to his actual age and motor skills around 6-7 months. I'm not too concerned with him not crawling 1. because preemies love extension and not flexing and you see that in everything he does which makes crawling difficult. 2. Alexis never crawled not a day in her life.. she would get up on her knees and rock back and forth and just stay in one spot. One day she just picked herself up and started walking. Alexis is perfectly fine and I didn't notice anything odd with that, one nice thing was she wasn't too hard to watch because she was fairly stationary. Zach though he finds ways to move around the whole room.

Another thing he's been doing lately is "escape aristing". Meaning ... he has this rocker/chair fairly large and it will accommodate up to a toddler, it has straps to keep them in etc. So one day he was being pretty quiet and mind you he sits not 1 foot from me so I didn't think much of it.. just thought he was playing with the hanging down toys and maybe falling asleep. Well 2 mins later I hear him playing on the floor with his other toys and I had to take a double take. How he got down from the chair which is 8 or so inches off the floor down to about 4 feet away to where his toys were. He was just staring up at me smiling and having a great time.

So. next time I made sure to strap him in better and he just screamed and carried on. He eventually quieted down then I watched him this time when he wasn't looking. He would turn his entire body sideways. Hold onto the bar that goes over top that has the toys dangling down.. Shimmy down a bit slowly, turn more, shimmy down.. readjust hands .. keep doing this for 1-2 mins till he gently sets himself down usually facing the chair (he learned how to not hit his head)... then he'd gently set himself down and then roll to his toys. I was pretty amazed when I saw him do that because that's a pretty complex action that he had to come up with on his own. So we call him an escape artist now because that was pretty impressive. He does it nearly every time he's in the chair now.

It's funny if you put him on the floor he doesn't want to be there on his mat with his toys.. So you put him in the chair.. after 3 mins he gets bored and shimmies down to play on the floor then he's happy. :P I guess he's just going to be one of those kids.. if he didn't come up with it forget it :)

Zachary Update 8-19-2009

2009-08-19T04:55:00.002-05:00

Zach had another appointment with the Pedi on Friday. He's up to 15.8 lbs almost 16 lbs !! That boy is a good eater. He's barely touching the full-term growth chart and about 6-7 months adjusted in age. His Pedi is so happy with his progress we don't have to go back and see him until Zach is 1 yr old. We haven't gotten labs back but it should no longer show some slight anemia we've been giving him high iron foods and putting vitamin in with iron for a while now.

He's playing with his toes/feet a lot more and loves to feed himself finger foods. He's now grabbing at the spoon a lot trying to feed himself (I guess we go too slow).
I'm still breastfeeding him and I'll continue it at least until he's gestationally 1 yr old or as long as I can. He's got a 2 toothy grin now it's really cute when he laughs. I've been trying to get a photo of it but every time I get the camera ready for a shot he makes a weird face at the camera lol.

He's spent a pretty good summer with Alexis and I and it's going to be hard when she goes back to school. She's been a real help with him while I work during the day!
He's also 26 inches now and wearing 9mo - 12mo clothing so he's getting big fast!

He's not yet crawling but he's getting close. The OT got him to sit tripod today on his own so that was a great achievement. Hopefully, he'll be able to do more than just prop up on his arms soon but that's better than he's been. He's a little behind motor skill wise but cognitive he's advanced even for actual age. The OT believes his love of eating is helping that along.

So all in all he's doing quite well and he's starting to get bored with a lot of his toys etc we're going to have to get some upgrades soon to keep him occupied :).

Z

Zachary Update 7-28.2009

2009-07-28T12:12:00.004-05:00

Hi all,
Just a heads up I uploaded the Corpus Christi/S. Padre photos for Zach.
Zach Slideshow

Also, he cut his second tooth on 7/18/2009 I thought for sure he was cutting another this weekend but I didn't see any evidence of another. His 2 are coming in pretty well they're a good amount past the gum line now and he's enjoying chewing everything :).

He's about 15.5 lbs atm and he'll go for his next checkup mid August. He's been doing very well with the OT every week and she's started him on some simple table foods since he was showing the interest of feeding himself. He isn't crawling yet but still tries very hard. He can sit up with support not quite on his own yet. He's definitely becoming more independent.

He still really likes his boob time and I don't see that ending any time soon but at least he's starting to eat more solids. He's really smart and communicates well and the only time he gets cranky is when he's teething badly.

S

Zachary Update 7-11-2009

2009-07-12T04:21:00.002-05:00

Officially Zachary has cut his first tooth July 11th 2009. No amount of oragel, tylenol or hugs would appease him. We eventually just went to breakfast and he fell asleep on the ride there. He's doing great and I'm pretty sure he's cutting a few more.

I tried to get some photos but the lighting wouldn't cooperate.

Just wanted to let you all know about his first tooth! Hope you're all having a fantastic July!

Sarah

Zachary Update 6-29-2009

2009-06-29T01:38:00.002-05:00

Hi all thought I'd do another update since he had a doctor's appointment last week.

He's offically 14 lbs and officially hitting the full-term growth chart.. He's about 10% in for head circumference, 5% for length and 1% for weight. This boy is a great eater and doesn't have the nickname "beefcake" for nothing. He's gestationally 5 months actually 8 months.

I had to swap out his clothes to the 6-9 months size today and he's fitting perfectly the 6 mo. He grows any more and he'll be onto the next set already o.O. That drives me nuts I think I can wait a little longer and make his clothes last .. and BAM .. already almost getting tight lol. He's a growing weed.

He's doing better with his trying to crawl but still can't quite do it. He's kinda scoots around (pivots) but he's definately improving. He really enjoys scooting backwards in his walker and is sometimes (by accident) going forward. He's getting better at chewing on toys but still prefers fingers :). Today was the first time I've ever seen him take any signifcant amount from a bottle, a whole 3 ounces! That for him is a miracle. Ever since I introduced the sippy cup (one for 3 mo + where they kinda have to suck to get it out) he's been doing really well. He likes the sippy cup and does well with it. So I switched to fast nipples with the bottle and bam he's doing a lot better with it now. I can't say he'd always do well with it but we can hope :). Only problem is he will still only take a significant amount from the bottle from me and still gulps lots of air.

I'd like to say his Dtap shot last week went well but all I can say is it went "better" than last time. I don't think if I was sitting in the back with him if he'd of done so well. I had to stimulate him the whole way home to keep him breathing. Once I got him home and held him he was good. After 12 hours he was nearly back to normal just sleeping a lot. So not as scary as last time but still my poor kids just don't do well.

Zach has started doing something new which is just so cute and funny he started crying like he wanted something yesterday so Andy was holding him on his lap. As soon as Zach got to face the keyboard /monitor he started playing on the keyboard making the charc run around/jump etc. Just getting all excited and stopped crying immediately. Well Andy went to put him in his bouncer chair and he started wailing again .. Andy picks him back up and sure enough he starts using his fingers quite accurately on the jump/space bar then movement keys and starts laughing and happy noises. I just had to get video of it. If I find a decent place to upload it I'll post it for you all it's just too funny. He started playing on my keyboard about 1-2 weeks ago, at first I thought he was just liking the clickyness of the keys. But then I noticed he kept looking up at the monitor to see if it had any effect on my character in WoW lol. So now that's all he wants to do when he's in the office with us. I don't know too many 5 months old that want to play so badly in WoW .. it's kinda .. funny/weird etc. I was concerned too becuase I don't want him to have too much exposure to computers lol but well he wants what he wants. I guess the colors and key movements could be good for his reactions lol. He really does seek out certain keys on the keyboard this kid is sharp as a tack!

I'm going to upload a bunch of photos.. I've been lagging behind on the uploads :P
So overall other than some slight anemia he's doing well. Most of his labs have cleared up so well we won't need to get any more labs for those things. We just need to keep an eye on the iron now.

So hope you all are going to have a wonderful Fourth of July!

Sarah

Zachary Update 06-08-2009

2009-06-08T17:24:00.000-05:00

Zach and I will fill this entry out together :)

(space bar smash with his foot)

Now that we got that out of the way hehe.

He's about 13 1/2 lbs and 4 1/2 mo old (gest) - 7 1/2 mo (actual).

Zach has been doing very well lately, he's starting to roll to the side from his back, roll from his tummy to his side then his back etc. He just started doing this in the past week and is mastering the skill quite well. He pulls up his legs and wiggles back and forth with his hips until he gets to the side he wants to roll onto. (thump another hit on the keyboard with his foot). I'm guessing he's approving of what I'm typing.

When he's on his tummy he's able to push up with his arms a good ways only for a few seconds but it's a start. He'll be crawling in no time if he keeps up this progress.

He's been teething a lot lately and grabbing whatever he can to his mouth. He loves chewing on fabric mostly his baby blankets. I got him a lot of teether rings and teether blankie that crinkles. He loves taking our fingers and shoving them in his mouth that's his favorite chew toy at the moment.

Zachary also loves his walker and propells himself backwards by leaning forward then jerking back against the back part of the seat and that makes him move fast. He's been coordinating his feet to push off at the same time and he can go pretty far on the floor that way.

I've not been feeling very well this past week due to a nasty head cold and ear infections but Zach has been doing great hasn't gotten sick just some allergy issues.

Overall, Zachary is doing pretty well he's a bit behind on his motor skills but when you adjust for his gestational age he's nearly right on target. We've been able to work out a lot of his stiffness through massage and exercises.

I'll be posting some photos on flickr shortly for all to enjoy.

Special Thanks to Laural for making Zachary the sweet book for his first 4 months of life. It's a wonderfully hard bound book that matches up his photos with blog entries of his progress. It's a special keepsake that I'm sure we'll enjoy for years to come.

Sarah

Zachary Update 5-19-2009

2009-05-19T11:56:00.000-05:00

Zachary is doing well and growing big! He's 13 lbs now and getting long. Think last visit he was over 24 inches. His eyes are very brown now and more the color of his father's eyes. He wears 3-6 mo clothing and is starting to fit into the 6th months clothes. He grows like a weed! He's still bald as can be with some peach fuzz on the head.

He's babbling/talking more, we think he says I luv oooo which is cute! He does a lot of gaaa gooo as well we're not very sure what gaaaa gooo is but it's used for several situations with him. Sometimes he'll just randomly yell now Woaaaaah or Oweiiiii lol. Startles you if it's really quiet then he does that.

He's still mostly breastfeeding with a bit of solids mixed in. I'm going very slow with the table food because he can still greatly benefit from the breastmilk till he's gestationally 6 mo. He's gest about 3 3/4 months now.

All his doc visits have been good. The docs been impressed with his growth, he's almost on the full-term growth chart. The doc believes by the time he's 9 mo gest he'll have caught up. Preemies tend not tocatch up to their full-trem counterparts till they're 2 - 5 yrs old, so it's remarkable he's caught up so fast.

The other day I was dropping off some paperwork and the lady who was taking the papers was watching a girl that was born 3 days before Zach and full-term. Well she was 12 lbs and maybe 1-2 inches longer than Zach. Zach was nearly 2x her size width wize and they looked about the same age. Even though Zach is actually 6 mo old he's gestationally 3 mo at that time. However, put him with a full-term 6 mo old and they don't look too different in size and he was actually bigger 1lb bigger lol. The major thing you notice though is he's more appropriate activity level of a 3 mo old he's not crawling, or rolling and he's just now starting to batt at, grab for etc toys. Only in the last 2 weeks he's mastered thumb sucking for the first time ever. He still can't pull things to his mouth other than my hair lol but he's starting to try.

Ohhh and he's teething hardcore! Sometimes he gets low-grade fevers 99 or so and he's miserable but man he's trying to chew his fingers and yours off if you'll let him lol. I'm going to start calling him chompers lol.

He loves watching other babies he seems facinated by them. He's very curious and seems really smart. Cognitively he's at a 4-5 mo level, motor wise he's at a 3 mo level. He's slowly improving on the motor side. Communication is his strong suit and it continues to be where he excells.

He's pretty much like any other typical baby at this age and he's getting better about sleeping at night.

Sarah

4-22-2009 Zachary Update

2009-04-23T02:57:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not updating sooner but it's been very busy!

Zachary is doing well we had his circumscion over the past few weeks and we've been dealing with that. All done now but there's some unpleasant maintenance we need to do for now on out... he's not a fan. He's now about 11 1/2 lbs and growing bigger each day! He'll be 3 months gestationally next month and get his 6th month checkup. So far I've been able to keep him from getting sick. He has general allergy/stuffiness now and then but nothing major other than a stuffy nose. Some saline and suction and he's good to go.

We work with an OT every week and as far as communication skills he's far advanced of course he had some extra time to learn that :). His motor skills are a bit off and some of his vision seems odd. The OT and pediatrician wanted me to take him to his eye exam early so I did. Dr. Hitner didn't find anything out of the ordinary with his eyes and couldn't get his right eye to do the weird (non-alignment) we notice from time to time. She also said he doesn't need baby glasses and his ROP has not returned. Thank GOD!

Although Dr. Hitner wasn't concerned about the occasional eye misalignment the OT is still. Dr. Hitner is a world famous pediatric eye surgeon/doctor she said it's probably more likely neurological and normal for his stage of development 10-11 weeks gestation. She also saw him since he was born in the hospital. I wasn't concerned with it but when the OT and Pedi were concerned then I got a little worried. The problem is if the eye isn't aligning right ie causing double vision etc the brain will "turn off" one eye to compensate. I really don't want that to happen, she said that would not happen if it's only intermittent. We go back in November for his 1yr check-up so hopefully it will have cleared up by then.

We had some photos taken professionally around Easter so hopefully they'll come back soon and I can scan them in and get them uploaded for everyone to see. I've got a lot to upload to flickr as well from the past few weeks.

Just in the past couple of weeks Zach has now started to look at objects w/in a foot of his face. Tonight for the first time I saw him grab/pick-up a ring that was lying next to him. He loves kicking a toy his grandma bought him, it's meant to be hammered on but the OT suggested letting him use his feet.

I took an infant massage class suggested by the OT becuase Zachary has a lot of tightness in his right side. This can really impeed his reaching, looking etc abilities. So I've been working on him daily and the improvement is amazing. I never realized a small baby could be so bound up with tight knots in their muscles but man he had a few in his neck, back and near his elbow. Most are worked out now and his range of motion has increased a lot.

So hope everyone is enjoying Spring and I'll try to write more often :) or at least when there are major developments.

3-24-2009 Zach Update

2009-03-24T18:35:00.000-05:00

We had to go and get the remaining shots today thankfully these aren't the nasty ones that make him sick. He's got a slight fever but other than that he's fine. Gave him some Tylenol and he'll be good to go in a few hours. Not like the last set of shots. The nurse said it was probably the pertussis (whopping cough) that caused his severe reaction to it last time.

Synergis is more of a medicine than a vaccine but it keeps them from getting RSV so I'm all for it :). He never has a bad reaction to that shot.

He weighed in at 9lbs 12 ounces today so he's nearly 10 lbs! He's definately a growing boy :).

I just uploaded some new photos of him on flickr. Hope everyone is doing well and we're just trying to rest and grow bigger ;).

3-14-2009 Zachary Update

2009-03-14T00:22:00.000-05:00

Whew.. it's been a busy, tired, crazy past few weeks.

To update you all :) I think I posted after his first pedi appt being the first 5 days he was home. He weighed in at 7lbs 15 ounces. He'd gained nearly 10 ounces since he'd been home in 5 days that was stellar.

So 2 weeks later (being this week) he had the high risk clinic appointment (all preemies go there after their hospital stay to evaluate if a regular pedi is ok or if he needs to be seen by them too). So he weighed in there at 8lbs 9 ounces on Tuesday. That's an average of 26 g per day. Their goal for him was 20 g so he's doing a lot better than they ever hoped.

Then today we had his second pedi appt (Friday) and he weighed in at 9lbs 3 ounces. So that's 10 ounces in 3 days! Needless to say he's a crazy good eater rofl.

Overall, not much to report other than his reflux issues have somewhat gone away. I've stopped giving him the meds as he didn't seem to need them anymore. I'm not seeing any adverse effects of doing so if anything no more low-grade fevers. The acid in your stomach really does fight off infections very well. He can't afford to not have it. I'll take the chances with reflux (that he really doesn't have much anymore). The milk that splashes up doesn't have acid in it so he should be fine.

Today he had his 4 months shots (not all of them I'm slowly graduating them after last time). Well once agian within an hour he started apnea on me THANK god I had the monitor on him. I had to take him to a lab to get his blood drawn and just as I'm getting him to the door his apnea monitor went off that'd he'd stopped breathing. I stimulated him and he came right back (sigh). I told the Doctor this was going to happen he swore up and down Zach should be fine now that he's older. Mind you he was supposed to get 2 more shots and I only got the absolutely necessary ones. Like the pneumonia one (I agree he really did need that one regardless the consecquences) he gets pneumonia he can die or be hospitalized up to a year easy and we don't want that. But it seems it's the PDT combo shot that's messing him up badly. The last time I couldn't tell which one it was but I doubt it's the pneuomonia one since he didn't get that last time and the only one he got both times was the PDT one. MMR used to give Alexis a lot of problems and I don't even want to know how badly that's going to mess him up.

So I get into the lab and expect they're just going to do a heel prick and take a little vial like they did in the hospital. No they hook his arm up and take 4 adult sized vials. Needless, to say I almost flipped. I was like listen he had problems in the hospital when they took 1/20th that amount and you think this is going to be ok. They're like he'll be fine! Well I tell you they better hope so after all he's already been through that day or I'm soo going to be up in their business!

So while I'm driving him home his apnea monitor went off 4 more times! Talk about giving me a heartattack. To boot it was very wet and raining out. At one point when he didn't start breating I had to swerve through 3 lanes of traffic nearly causing an accident to pull into the Sams by our house so I could stimulate him to get him breathing again. I rushed him upstairs as soon as I got home and put the oxygen on him. He hasn't needed that but 2x in the first couple days when he came home. Even then we did it just as a precaution he really didn't need it.

Once he had the oxygen for about an hour he was good and I was able to take it off. He's had to be held just about all night due to not feeling well. Sadly in 2 weeks I have to go back to give him his next couple shots. Though the synergis he didn't have a reaction to last time so we should be good. The Hep B shouldn't be too bad either (I hope).

He's got his circumsicion appointment next Thursday and I'll be taking the oxygen just in case. He'll probably have fewer problems with that than those stupid shots.

He hates his multivitamin and almost always throws it up. I am starting to wonder if he really even gets any of it. Sad thing is he needs it for the vitamin D that doesn't pass in breastmilk. We've got the Early Childhood Intervention people starting work with him now. He almost didn't qualify (which is a good thing). But the continued problems with bottlefeeding (he won't take a bottle at all now). There are times I need to go and do stuff like our friends are getting married etc when I can't be home for several hours. Also, there are some gross motor skills things he should be soon trying to do and he's not quite there. Technically he's gestationally 5 weeks old and it's amazing he's testing at a cognitive level of a 3 month old. He normally wouldn't be doing half of those gross motor things they want him to for antoher 1-2 months. So anyhew they're going to start working on some simple gross motor skills with him. I figure it can't hurt :) He'll sit and watch Baby Einstein videos for an hour + or play with his Baby Neptune floor gym for an hour and get mad when you turn it off, it ends or you pick him up. So, if I had to pick things for him to work I'd MUCH rather it be gross motor skills rather than the cognitive part.

I've finally had to put up all his preemie clothes they were getting way too tight. A lot of his newborn clothes are getting too small too. So I've broken out the 0-3 months clothing. Most of that is still pretty big on him but at least it's not too tight.

So it's been a rough day. Thankfully, we've had almost all wonderful days and very few rough days. I'll keep udpating as there are significant thigns to note :)

2-25-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-26T01:33:00.000-06:00

Today was Zach's first Pediatrician appointment. They got us back quickly so Zach wouldn't be exposed to germs lord knows the Pedi office is a germ nightmare.

The doctor reviewed the discharge paperwork and we went through everything. Basically, a lot of follow-up appointments with specialists. They weighed him and he's 7lbs 15 ounces, he gained 10 ounces since he's been home that's 2 ounces a day! Honestly, that's crazy awesome gain. The last few weeks at the hospital he was lucky to gain 5 grams a day if not lose. Tells me he wasn't getting enough at the hospital, which doesn't surprise me since they were trying to force the bottle on him. He's 20 inches now too so he's sprouted quickly. I was pretty sure he was going through a growth spurt with all the cluster feedings but now he is for sure.

His adjusted age is 3 weeks old (ie 43 weeks). So he's doing pretty darn well weight wise for his adjusted age.

The doctor agreed with me for taking him off the Reglan. He's been a MUCH better baby since we got him off that awful crap. He's more focused, not antsy during feeds anymore, he just seems more "there". Also, a lot less sleepy. The doctor discussed weening him off the prevacid soon too. That, I'm thinking he kinda does need atm so until he starts solids I'll keep him on it. He's worried about there not being enough acid in the stomach to kill off bacteria which is a valid concern. He's not convinced the reflux is as bad as the doctor was making it seem (I agree). From looking at the radiology report from the upper GI they did it was not significant reflux and minor at best.

So it was a really nice visit, we'll go back in 2 weeks for a follow-up and blood work to make sure all his levels are in check. Preemies have a host of blood work issues that only labs can tell.

He's doing well now at day 6 at home. He sleeps 2-3 hours feeds well sometimes even goes back for seconds :P. We're slowly working in a bottle or 2 so that when Grandma needs to watch him in a few weeks he'll hopefully take it. He's been refusing the bottle since he's been exclusively breastfed at home. That's not always good because we have to give him his vitamins in milk and his other medicine in milk rofl. I've resorted to putting the vitamins in peppermint tea lol that masks it JUST enough that he'll drink it down pretty quickly.

I'll keep you all posted on his progress and update the photos as I have time :)

S

2-22-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-23T03:29:00.000-06:00

I'm happy to report Zachary is doing well. He's breastfeeding 100% of his feeds and won't take the bottle even if I try. He knows he can get boob so wants nothing to do with the bottle. Sometimes I just try to give it to him if I've pumped off thinking he's done. He'd rather try to eek out a little of what's left instead.

He seems more awake, alert and just overall in better condition since he's been home. He doesn't make any more sad noises and he's back to his normal self with the happy noises and laughing a lot more. He's smiling a lot more too. Seems very interested in his environment and loves all the toys etc we have for him. He especially loves his floor gym it's a Baby Neptune Baby Einstein floor gym with all sorts of toys and things to look at it is good for tummy time and back time. (I attribute a lot of this since I've taken him off the Reglan it seemed to really affect him mentally).

I was reading about breastfed babies last night and come to find out the act of breastfeeding does all the things Reglan is supposed to do. Starts the parastalsis type movements to get food moving and emptying of the stomach faster. I already was trying to get him off of it but I just stopped it completely after I read that. Ie. no weening should be necessary because he wasn't on it long and breastfeeding is doing what Reglan was supposed to do. So I was correct in thinking he didn't need it. Funny how the doctor NEVER mentioned that. Yes, lets give a brain damaging, permanent damaging drug KNOWING he's breastfed and it does the same thing. So day 2 no side effects of taking him off Reglan he doesn't spit up any less than he did before and if anything he seems to eat better now, he's not as ansty during feeds and seems WAY more focused during feeds. I can definately tell a difference since he's been off the Reglan he seems like a much happier baby and is sleeping 110% better!

Seriously, WTF is wrong with these doctors. I can't belive she questioned that I would be breastfeeding him exclusively ROFL. She really didn't think 24 hours a day I would BF him, uhm.. newsflash I did it with my daughter there's no reason I wouldn't do it with Zach. I've been pumping off breastmilk for him for the past 4 months every 3 hours. It's pretty much the same thing sooo.. actually he empties my breasts faster than the pump so in some ways he's better becuase I get back to sleep sooner than if I'd had to pump. /rant off.

Anyhew he's doing well, I can't weigh him as well as when he was at the hospital but doing the weigh myself, then weigh with naked baby it looks like he's gaining very well :). His first doctor's appt is Weds. so hopefully we'll see massive weigh improvements. I'm thinking we will becuase he's fed on demand :) and boy this kid can eat like nobody's business. You'd think he was breastfed all along and never bottlefed.

He's super cute and making more and more eye contact. He's got huge eyes and we're pretty sure they're turning brown sometimes you can see a bit of brown in them when the light hits them just right. He's about 20 inches long (using tailoring tape measure) so he seems to have grown in length pretty quickly.

I'm working on finishing out the Baby Einstein videos that my mother-in-law started for him. There are a ton of those videos out there it's going to take a while to collect them all.

02-19-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-19T21:04:00.000-06:00

Well for the day nurse he had sort of a rough day (well supposedly) when I came in I found his pulseox monitor not on his food very well so it was giving bad readings.

I did the "car seat challenge" last night and he did wonderfully. He got hungry near the end so I gave him a pacifier and apparently I wasn't supposed to "stimulate him" during the test so the doctor failed him and re-did it this morning. For those of you thinking this is a load of crap.. yes, I think she was just trying to screw with me any way she can. Ohh and when they re-did the test when I wasn't here he destated low for them. (I wonder now if someone didn't mess with his pulseox or even both to look if it was on his foot). What makes me go hmmm... was that if he truly did destat as low as she said (which seems impossible since he's never done that before, ever) she didn't seem concerned. That kinda tells me she may have known it was off or did it herself. So the result of this is we have to go home in a laydown car seat. I don't plan on using it since he did fine last night they can "bite me". I wasn't here for the 2nd test so I have no idea what they did or didn't do. For all I know they didn't burp him enough after feeding him that'll cause destats too. Honestly, this is really just getting retarded with some of these things. He does VERY bad lying completely flat so I bet he'd do worse in the lay down one than the sitting up one. Last night he was so happy in his car seat (until he got hungry) that he didn't want to get out to eat hehe. He wanted to stay in it and was satting very high oxygen wise.

We're in the what's called "care by parent" time at the moment. This is where he's only hooked up with our take home monitor (monitors heart rate and breathing). All of their monitors are off of him. So far he's been a little sleepy tonight but doing well. I'm starting to see a trend with him at this time of night that he only eats a little bit then sleeps a long time. Then he'll wake up and be famished eat tons and then stay up. So I think early evening/mid night is like his overnight lol. Hopefully, we can shift him where he sleeps these long period more during later night :).

So he's sleeping well at the moment and very quiet. I'm sure with all the monitors off and the nurses not bothering him as much he's sleeping much better.

The doctor decided to do an echo today to make sure the PDA really was closed or not. Funny how she orders all these tests last minute that I'd asked for a while back that she said was unnecessary then. Also the upper GI yesterday. I'd asked for both of those a while back when she suggested he may have reflux (as most babies do). The only way to truly tell is with an upper GI. I wanted that done before medication to see how bad it was or if it was minor. From what the nurse who sat in on it said it barely came back up but the doctor made it sound much worse than it was and she wasn't even there lol. Way to try and justify the nasty meds she's been giving him.

So do I think she's trying to Cover Her As... of course I do. I'm glad they did the echo and upper GI though gives me peace of mind of knowing how he's doing etc. We'll get the final results of the echo tomorrow. The tech who did the echo said it looked good overall and she didn't see the PDA so if it's there it's so small that it's not causing any issues. His heart looked good. To me everything looked normal so that's good :).

I do wish my last day here was a bit more positive I kinda got in the doctor's face about the car seat thing and explained that was not fair for her to fail him after he did so well last night. I was not told I could not do anything to him while he was in the seat since I'll be riding in the back seat with him on the way home. It's not like I'm driving alone with him places. I surely don't plan on that for a while.

His day nurse although nice she'd never had him before and I suspect that's why she had so many problems with him (well dstats that can be attributed to the pulsox monitor not working right).

All in all I didn't have any problems with him since I've been here and he's been doign well since. So.. this just backs up my position he does better in my care and therefore should be home where I can care for him 24/7 and then it won't be a problem anymore. I'm tired of him doing wonderfully when I'm here then I have to leave to go home and "something" happens. Odd how the 12-18 hours I'm here a day he doesn't do this. So anyhew I'm glad to be getting out of here tomorrow. Come hell or high water I'm getting him out of here. 4 months is too long IMO.

.. looking forward to some much needed rest and my 10 weeks off from work :)

S

2-18-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-18T17:34:00.001-06:00

Only good news today to give. After several rather rough days there's some light. I did have to push the issue and get the Case Worker, his Pediatrician and a few others involved but in the end it was worth fighting for.

So first off, he had his upper GI done today. This is something he needed to confirm the GERD (reflux) and make sure he wasn't aspirating. Aspirating during feeds can cause pneumonia which can be fatal to preemies. Thankfully, no aspiration during the test however, he's having some significant reflux. He was already on the Zantac and that was helping some but she's now putting him on Prevacid it's just harder to get because you have to go to a compound pharmacy for it.

So he's been doing really well with the breastfeeding no bradys no destats and the only times he did those things were while bottle feeding. So I had told the doctor yesterday that I needed a firm reason why he was still here and if she felt he needed to stay longer than a few days to get the transfer process started to get him moved back to the hospital he was born at which is about 15 mins away from the house. So at least if the Pediatrician and Neonatologist felt it was medically necessary for him to stay hospitalised then he'd be closer to home. Parking is free and I could go home to eat meals instead of eating out every day. The financial toll daily here is really starting to negatively affect my bank account. I spent $10+ on parking a day + 1/5th a tank of gas there and back + $23+ on meals at the hospital. Needless to say him being here hemorrhages money.

So the doctor was waiting on his test results before calling me. She was clearly avoiding calling me before and Zach's Pediatrician had to call her several times before getting in touch with her. I re-iterated about the transfer knowing she hadn't called the case worker. (I'd called the Case Worker that morning to see what needed to be done for the transfer since I knew the doctor was stalling). She wanted to try to use the Simply Thick again and I was honest and plain and told her that after the last Tues - Sat without a poop that I'd rather not since he'll be breastfed at home and it's only an issue with bottle feeding. The Simply Thick bound him up so badly he literally didn't poop for 5 days and was in terrible pain every time he passed gas etc. I told her that "not to be rude" but she's not there all night with him as he's crying and whimpering in pain when he's trying to poop/pass the gas. When he can't burp because the thickener keeps the burps from coming out. He's already got pooing issues and burping issues without a thick substance. So yes, it works wonderfully on keeping them from spitting up but HE DOESN'T currently spit up. It can help some with the reflux but if you fill him up he'll still reflux no matter what you give him. The Simply Thick is also used to help them suck swallow rhythm better but he does fine breastfeeding, once again only a bottle issue which he does fine with his suck/swallow there too (nothing out of the ordinary for full-term baby).

So after repeating myself about 3 times stating why are we working on an issue that's only a problem in the hospital. Why would we try to give him something that even has a possibility of causing him discomfort and pain? I think she finally understood what I was getting at. I told her I completely understand why they want to try it again but I think for him the downsides outweigh the benefit. Plus, at home he'll be breastfed 90% of the day so it really won't be an issue. I asked her if it was really medically necessary to keep him here when we're working on a problem that won't be a problem at home? He won't be going to a day care for a long time and that's about the only time he'll be bottle fed. She wanted me to assure her that I was only going to breastfeed him at home ... after I'd said that was the plan I don't know how many times. He does very well breastfeeding at the hospital the 12-18 hours I'm there. The only time I have to bottle feed him is if I pumped off and he's hungry and my milk hasn't refilled.

After we got the go-ahead from the doctor the Case Worker started on the prescriptions and the multitude of doctors he needs to see when he's out. Mostly for follow-ups. A Cardiologist (to make sure the PDA is closed), an Audiologist for a hearing test (although he passed the first one beautifully they like to do a follow-up to make sure due to him being a VLBWP - very low birth weight preemie), the Pediatrician 5 days after he's home, a Urologist to get his circumcision done and the eye doctor in a year to follow-up and make sure his eyes are still doing well.

Thankfully, he'll have a monitor sent home with him and as soon as we get the training on that we can do the care by parent 24 hour where he's only on the take home monitor and we do all of his care. I generally do all of his care anyway when I'm here so it's no biggie.The people that do the training for that will be here tomorrow at 1pm. I probably won't stay tonight as long as I usually do so I can be well rested for Thurs-Fri.

He just got his RSV vaccine (that's a nasty virus that often causes pneumonia etc in preemies and those with compromised immune systems). He'll get his second shot of that in March. He didn't like that at all ROFL. I just got taught how to give his meds talk about precise.. 1.13 ml of Prevacid lol. One thing I know about that is it's weight adjusted so important to make sure he's getting that adjusted as he gets bigger.

Overall, he's kinda tired today after his upper GI but doing well and sleeping good. He needs a good sleep :). Last night he was up to 7lbs 8.1 ounces hopefully he continues to gain. Small gains but gains all the same. I'm hopeful his discharge from here will continue to go well and we'll be home by midday Friday.

Sarah

2-17-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-17T14:11:00.000-06:00

He seems to be doing well today the doctor called me and said he had some bad Brady's during the night. Everyone went up to watch the CPR video last night so we left around 8pm. He was really tired when we left so I'm guessing that had a lot to do with it. The doctor said she'll be putting him back on oxygen for his feeds he doesn't need it any other time but it should help with the brady's he is having. I'd asked a while back about sending him home on supplemental oxygen at least so I'd have it if it was needed. She seemed ok with that so hopefully we'll have it as long as he needs it for his feeds. Though when I feed him usually he doesn't need it becuase I know the signs of him about to brady and usually catch it. An unfamiliar nurse (They get a different nurse every day usually) would not know to look for his signs and has a greater chance of him bradying. Hence, why he just needs to get out of there. However, there's a lot of things we're starting to have concerns about.

I told Zach’s doctor today that if she didn’t think he was ready to come home in the next few days to prepare to transfer him to Memorial City Hermann. There’s a couple reasons for that… most of the nurses and us don’t feel he needs to be there anymore so if he gets transferred out here where they have limited space they’ll most likely agree and send him home. Secondly, I’m starting to doubt the abilities of his current doctor so .. this is a way of getting a second opinion w/out stepping on toes.

Also, with Alexis (she broke her right hand/knuckles Sunday) in the condition she’s in at the moment she needs a lot of help and I simply can’t be up at the hospital for 36+ hours at a time (I often spend overnight for his feedings). It’s getting too expensive, too time consuming and just a severe drain on the family and we’ve all about hit our limit.

He's overdue for coming home and we all feel a change would be better for him (he's been there now almost 4 months). Not to mention it’s a heck of a lot closer to home for us. He doesn’t need acute care at all so really the hospital is unnecessary at this time which we’re convinced they’ll see.

2-16-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-16T17:49:00.000-06:00

Well it was another one of those times where I decided to spend the night and I got only a 30 min nap. Zach decided he wanted to be awake from 5am - 9am during the time I was planning on sleeping. By the time I got him to sleep it was time for me to get breakfast and get working. I had a few meetings today so even though I was tired I still had to attend and try to stay mentally fresh.

Zach's having a mostly good day he's been pooping every day since Saturday. Thankfully that Simply Thick crap is out of his system now. The doctor has made no more mention of when he can go home and I think tomrorow I might press the issue again becuase quite honestly it's getting a bit rediculous at this time. We were past our "countdown" last week and he's had 0 brady's in his sleep which is what she was looking for. His feeding issues really aren't anything that can't be controlled and simply breast feeding him fixes 99% of all his problems. So in order to get him home I just try to breast feed him as frequently as possible so he doesn't have a lot of issues during the bottle feeds. He gets too over eager and chokes on it sometimes etc. On some of the medication they have him on for "reflux" it makes him very antsy during feeds so it makes it a nightmare sometimes to feed him. Thankfully, he usually gets in a kinda sleepy state when he's breastfeeding so I don't always have those problems. Hence the trying to feed him more that way.

He's 7lbs 6.7 ounces so his gains aren't stellar for the week but he's not declining. He's now fully transitioned to breastmilk no longer having it fortified. We just need to make sure he's still gaining weight and doesn't need the fortifier. That may be what the doctor is waiting on (I hope) because that's something we'll know by Weds more or less how he's doing. Not that I want to be here that long ... mind you. We're working on our 4th month here and I'm truly just tired of this place. I work here the past 5 years that's bad enough but to have to be here and sometimes spend the night staying here for 48+ hours is really getting old.

He's considered 42 weeks this week. This is equivalent to when I had Alexis she weighed 8lbs so he's not too far off her weight. I bought him a thing that goes on the side of the crib it's a jungle theme and has the zeebra, lion and giraffe light up, big mirror for the rest of it and it plays jungle theme songs. He has several days now just sat and stared at it for 30+ mins. He laughs at it, smiles at it coos at it. I can say I think the PT would be proud and can say for sure now he doesn't have attention problems lol. That boy can focus qutie well.

Soo.. anyhew he's doing well and gets stronger and bigger every day. I'm very proud of him and all that he does and gets better at each day.

I'll be uploading some photos in a bit there's a ton since the last update.

Sarah

2-13-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-13T15:27:00.000-06:00

Well I'd hoped to be saying he'd be coming home this weekend but it clearly does not look like the doctor intends for that to happen. Soo looks like we're stuck here for a while. She still wants his heart rate drops and dstats (oxygen sat) to improve they're not bad persay but sometimes they are moderate/borderline.

He's now on reflux meds and although I have no problem with Zantac persay I've got a problem with the other medicine she has him on. First off I don't think it's necessary and secondly it's a psychotropic drug that can have bad long term effects. Also, there's a class action lawsuit against the makers from parents who say it neurologically damaged their children with clinical evidence. So needless to say I want him off that as soon as he's home. Bad thing is the longer he's on it the more you have to "ween" them off it /sigh. That's one reason I was hoping he'd be going home this weekend so I could call the Pediatrician let him know my concerns and see if 1. there's an alternative, 2. did he think it was really necessary (breast milk goes through the system faster already he doesn't need help with that) and 3. Could I stop him on it becuase I feel it's damaging to him. He is so much more ansty now during feeds it's very difficult sometimes to get him to eat.

So needless to say I'm sick of this place and just about everything that goes with it. I spend way too many hours here but I'm afraid not to. They do give him good care don't get me wrong but he does 110% better when I'm here. That means all the closer he gets to coming home.

Although I'd hoped he'd be home by Valentine's day I guess it wasn't in the cards. Pray for us that we get out of here ASAP.

S

2-10-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-11T04:10:00.000-06:00

Zach continues to do well off the oxygen and no more feeding tube since Sunday. He's not needed any supplemental oxygen (that I am aware of and not while I've fed him. He does seem to like to brady some when he's trying to burp/pass gas. The doctor swears that's normal and isn't planning on sending him home with monitors. She says she'd only be concerned if he was bradying in his sleep which he's not.

I finally asked when she thought he'd be going home and she said he's in his "watch" period where for 4 days or so she keeps an eye on him and sees if he'll need supplemental oxygen at home, monitoring and no brady's while he's sleeping. If not and he's continuing to gain weight and eat well she thinks he can be home by end of week - early next week.

He's up to 7lbs 7 ounces and gained very well. He's been steadily eating more and more and almost up to what I would consider normal for his weight. He's up to 70-80 ccs per feed and sometimes feeds inbetween. So he's eating very well now, honestly it's impressive the amount he's been eating and how often. Burping continues to be a problem frequently. I tried a few different bottles/nipples today and I found one that works pretty well w/out overwhelming him. I haven't tried the drop ins yet.

His MRSA has also cleared up for the past few weeks he's come up negative for it which is nice :). We've pretty much gotten everything we need for him to come home I want to get a play gym for his crib as he does seem more interested in things these days. Also, a floor play gym so we can work with him on some things the PT suggested.

He had his hearing test yesterday and the brain scans showed that his hearing is perfect. She gave us a cute little passing paper for his baby book.

02-08-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-09T02:01:00.000-06:00

Well the day started out like most others me wishing Zach would stop getting so much air when he eats and would take all the bottle and stop being so hungry inbetween feedings. So I finally got to see the weekend doctor she's seen Zachary just about every weekend since he's been here so she's really familiar with his case. She sees the weekly changes in him etc whereas sometimes the weekly doctor does not notice them as much.

So I was explaining that he was doing better with the blue nipple (faster flow) but that he was still getting hungry much earlier than the "scheduled times" and about the air/burping issues. So she looked him over and checked his charts over the past week and felt it'd be worth a try to remove his feeding tube and oxygen and see how he does for 24 hours. I was amazed we go from tons of feeding issues to this. So I was skeptical but hopeful he'd be able to hold his own.

So 12 hours later I do have good news in that he's been fine and his oxygen saturation as remianed high. For one feed I had to give him oxygen for 2 mins but that was it and I've not had to for the last 2 feedings. He was trying to burp, pass poop and eat at the same time. He's not too great at the multitasking yet :P So that's understandable. But so far he's been wide awake for each feeding and ready to eat. The doctor wrote the order so that he can eat on demand whenever he likes as long as it doesn't go past 4 hours between feeds which is awesome. I'm sure the nurses don't care for that but I'll be here a lot until he goes home to minimize problems with that.

So hopefully, after his regular doctors sees how well he's doing she'll finally schedule his final checkups (ear doc etc) and let me know when we can get the heck out of here. I'm so ready to just be with him at home out of this hospital room. I want MY BED and MY Food. I'm so sick of the cafeteria food and I was sick of it 5 yrs ago when I started working here ROFL. You know I'm desperate when I'm taking leftovers to the hospital LOL.

So I have only good things to report tonight. Oddly enough he's doing better (oxygen saturation wise) off the nasal cannula than on it .. go figure. I can only guess since that feeding tube is out of his nose/throat it's a lot easier for him to breathe. I know it's MUCH easier to burp him now no more 15 min session it's 30s - 1min and he burps just like a champ.

S

2-6-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-07T01:36:00.000-06:00

It's been a pretty crazy and busy week. This is Zach's 40 week's gestational week. He was due on or between Feb 1st - 6th. He's 7 lbs .6 ounces. So far this week we've had a possible Vitamin D deficiency worry (one of his labs were elevated for bone break down - not high just elevated). They tested him again and found his calcium/potassium levels fine so he ended up not having a vitamin D deficiency. So that was one thing less to worry about.

Then, we had his MRI done Tuesday, results in Wednesday and what the Neonatologist was saying (just reading from the report) did not sound that great. Further research online didn't make it sound any better. They had found DEHSI (Diffuse excessive high signal intensities) on his MRI - Generally relates to White matter damage in the brain. Now in about 80% of VLBWP (Very Low Birth Weight Preemies) you'll see DEHSI. The thing is these scans they're using to find this are very new (within the last 5 years) so they don't really have a lot of data to show what DEHSI means long term. The do know that if they find a lot of DEHSI on a scan that generally the children at 5 yrs will have mild to severe learning or motor skills impariment.

So with that being said when the doctor told me they found it on his scan I was immediately alarmed and wanted to know more. The MRI report was vague at best. It also said that his Myelination is normal for age. He's had no hemmorage or masses. He's got some areas where his brain has not grown yet (very normal in preemies) that the radiologist said was atrophy. However, I'd asked for a Neruologist to consult due to the vague report he stated "You can't lose what you never had". He explained that the radiologist should not have used that term. Basically, the preemie's brains take a little longer to finish growing than a full-term normal baby. He's perfectly fine in that regard and may take up to 2 years for his brain to catch up with other full-term babies. So his cranium is full size but his brain doesn't completely fill it up in all areas which is normal for a preemie.

So the Neurologist was great he explained that although they found DEHSI on his scan it was so minimal that they almost didn't note it but they were erring on the side of caution. That's good because the less of that he has the less overall damage to his white matter he has. Meaning, long term his fine motor and mental abilities will be minimally impacted. The Neurolist said that we just need to watch him for the next 2 years and as long as he's reaching his milestones with adjusted age (give or take a few months) then we don't even need another Neuro follow-up. If he's not then we should get another MRI at age 2. So, that's one less thing to worry about.

While reading some of the reports about preemies and MRI scans I was reading about extreme low or high muscle tone in preemies and that both can be a sign of neuron damage. Zach has always had high muscle tone and could pick up his head/body, push off with his legs and attempt to crawl for the longest time. He was able to do this nearly since he was 1 month out of womb which is exceptional. Most newborns can't pick up their heads, crawl etc. So when I read that can be a bad thing I asked for a PT consult just to see what they think. Too much muscle tone can cause the tendons to stiffen etc and cause problems for walking etc later. The PT did her workup today but I've not spoken to her the OT she called in said that she didn't find anything of concern so that's good I'll know more of what she thinks on Monday.

So the OT is for some feeding issues. I'd been reluctant to have them use the blue nipple on bottling him becuase it's a faster flow. Some of the nurses want to use it because it's easier for him to suck and get milk ie less work /time for him. The less time he feeds the more energy he has to grow. However, faster flow nipples is the main reason babies get nipple confusion and won't take to breast anymore. Problem is when they use the green slower nipple with him he works so hard to get the milk by the time he's down to 10-15 cc's left he's too tired to finish or thinks he's full and gives up. Well the OT being called in means they're using that as a last effort so he can go home. We can't take him home until he's on all feeds no tube, and takes all from the bottle/breast and doesn't need supplementation. If we can't get him to take full bottles they'll suggest a G Tube (it's a tube that goes directly into the stomach). I really doubt we'll have to get that far considering tonight I've successfully 3 feedings in a row gotten him to take the entire bottle with the blue nipple. So seems like that's going to be our choice atm. Hopefully, for the rest of the weekend he'll continue on this trend and I'll have good news for the OT. Hopefully, she can help with him getting too much air while he feeds not sure there's any help for that but hey I'm open for suggestions lol.

So it's been a rough week as you can tell a lot of worrisome things and most turned out ok thankfully. With luck we'll get his feeding issues worked out and his oxygen requirements will continue to be minimal. He's had some brady's (heart rate drop) last couple days with this new lower flow oxygen as long as it's not excessive they won't turn him back up. So with luck he'll stop having them soon and it won't be an issue anymore.

S

2-3-2009 Zachary Update

2009-02-04T02:49:00.000-06:00

He was pretty tired today what from no idea he had a good night the previous night. He's up to 6lbs 14.4 ounces so just barely under 7lbs. Monday one of his labs came back that they thought maybe had a Vitamin D deficiency but the X-rays did not show any breaking down of the bones. So he doesn't have Rickets or anything along those lines. The labs were just elevated and there are more things than just vitamin D that can cause the labs to be off. They'll monitor it and hopefully that won't continue. His Calcium and Phosphorus levels are good.

He finally went in for his routine MRI today I asked to go with just to see what it was like. Kinda boring TBH lol. Very loud and boring. He did fine the first half of the scan the second part that the MRI machine made some loud ticking noise upset him a lot to where all he did was scream. Bear in mind he was velcroed down and he was still finding a way to move lol. So they only got half his brain scanned and the hope is that's all the doctors need. Otherwise, he'll have to go back down for the other half and hopefully he'll be more cooperative or they'll have to sedate him. I kinda doubt they're going to ask for another MRI since it was just a routine/checking to make sure all is ok scan.

His oxygen is usually around 21% (what we breathe) last few days so that's good only having to be bumped up a few times. He's had a few more issues with spitup getting caught in his throat (mostly from him pushing to try to get out gas/poo) so that's a new not pleasant development. He brady's pretty hard when this happens and the worry always is he'll get some of it in his lungs. Thankfully, nothing in his lungs and we've able to get him to overcome the bradys/dstats pretty well.

I got in the mail the request from the doctors for how long they have requested him to stay and it has it through Feb. 11th. So he'll probably be there through at least then. I'm getting more and more feeling he'll be there past that date. He's just not progressing on his feeds well enough to get that tube out. Today he was mostly fed by tube all day just too tired to breastfeed or bottle feed. So we'll see, he's doing well overall and a few setbacks here and there but nothing to be unexpected. I feel pretty blessed that we've dodged a few huge bullets and just pray we can overcome these few milestones that are left to get him home and get him on a more normal baby schedule.

S

2-1-2009 Zach Update

2009-02-02T02:25:00.000-06:00

He was doing well today, big sister came with to visit/hold him etc. He did well most of the day other than some burping up incidents where he had some hard time with some spitup. He's ok just a bit scary for a minute while we worked out some of the spitup.

He's still 6lbs 8ounces. He's been pooping a lot more regularly now with the new fortifier which seems to be keeping his intestinal distress to a minimum. He was very awake for a lot of today which was nice to see. He's getting more and more hungry which is a good sign.

His PDA although is still open they barely hear it so it's closing again so that's a good sign. We finished putting together all the items for his homecoming on Saturday. Crib, bassinet, swing and cleaned the house top to bottom. So now we're just waiting on him. Still no word when he'll be home but this week he's considered 40 weeks and full-term. So it'll be any day now (we hope).

S

01-29-2009 Zachary Update

2009-01-29T13:47:00.000-06:00

I've got great news this morning! First off last night he had another eye exam and the doctor said that all his vessels have grown out into Zone 3 without stopping early, the ridge is gone that started forming on his retina and he no longer has any signs of ROP. So whereas he was stage 2 ROP for a while it has all reversed and gone away. I've been very OCD about his oxygen with the nurses etc over the past couple months since we learned he was starting to get ROP. So I'm so glad that the efforts paid off!

Next, his main doctor took him down to 1/2 a litre for his cannula. He's been on room air 21% since I got here. He was higher when I first came in then he pooped (finally rofl) and is back down to room air! So it's a miracle he's not had to be bumped up while on the 1/2 litre that means his lungs are ready to go w/out the oxygen or very very close.

I talked to the doctor about the possibility of him going home with supplemental oxygen. Meaning I'll have it on hand if he needs a few puffs here and there but he wouldn't have tubes up his nose. She said that if we can get him down more on the litres probably to a 1/4th etc and he's still on room air and only needs it for eating/pushing etc then we can do it. So hopefully he'll continue on his recent trend of staying on room air 90% of the day so we can work towards that.

Personally, I'd like to have some oxygen on hand if he needs it but not be giving it to him all the time. He clearly doesn't need it all the time anymore.

He's also up to 6lbs 6ounces (course he's now pooped 2x quite a bit after 2 days of not pooping) so he may be down a bit tonight when they weigh him. For the week though he's up a lot so he's gaining well!

So all in all a great week he's had so far. I really think he's wanting to go home he's definately acting like it. He's doing what the nurses describe often that when the babies are ready to go home they'll just one day start needing less and less oxygen they'll start eating better etc. He's definately starting doing all that.

We still haven't been told when he may be going home the doctors are just watching him and seeing how he's doing. I'm glad they're taking it slow with him I'd hate to take him home before he's ready. I think we've worked out the feeding issues with calories etc. We seem to have a good balance of weight gain ratio to work done etc. So really the last step is getting him off that tube in his throat then we'll be home free. It gives us some time to work on getting the oxygen down low so I don't mind working on the feeding part so much if it buys us some time :)

S

1-26-2009 Zachary Update

2009-01-26T16:39:00.001-06:00

He's doing pretty well today and that's good considering yesterday he didn't wake up for a 12+ hour period. We noticed that the third day being off supplemented milk(extra calories) that he just wouldn't wake up for feedings at all. He'd fight you if you did his vitals so we knew he wasn't sick but he was just too exhausted to even wake up. Usually they ween them down from 27 calories they ween to 24 then to just regular breastmilk which is 20-22 calories not just cold turkey. On top of all that he didn't gain weight for 2 days and 3rd night he lost a bit. Needless to say I was getting concerned since we had to tube feed him most of the day yesterday. So I talked to his Doctor and she put him back on supplemented milk up to 24 calories. Within 1-2 hours after he got the extra calories milk he was awake and back to his more normal self. He was even breathing better.

So the rest of last night went well and he gained weight (course he hadn't pooped yet by the time he was weighed). Since he pooped a HUGE amount this morning he's probably at 6 lbs 1 ounces. He's also 18 inches long.

Today they took him from 1 liter down to 3/4ths a liter for his oxygen pressure. This is a good sign slowly weening him down. Awesome thing is he hasn't needed any higher amount of oxygen he's still been getting down to 21% occassionally (that's what we breathe) he keeps that up they'll turn it down again until hopefully (I pray) that before he goes home he'll be off of it.

They keep talking about sending him home on oxygen I'm just going to be more aggressive with the nurses to keep it down. It's more a function of them being lazy and not wanting to micromanage his oxygen. IMO tough crap. If he goes home on oxygen there's no mixing so it's 100% all the time which is VERY bad for his eyes which his are still growing. He's still not on full feeds and they toned him back to 4 feeds a day from 6. They still think he's having issues because he won't take a full amount they're trying to give him. He thinks he's full so he stops. Other than yesterday he often will play etc after being "done" in his opinion, which tells me he doesn't stop becuase he's tired he stops because he thinks he's full and wants to play/explore.

That's a hard concept to sell the Doctor on. She's just a fill-in while his doctor is on vacation anyway. I'm not too worried that we can't get him back on full feeds once she gets back. At any rate the longer he has that tube that longer we have to work on weening him off the oxygen :P So although it's annoying to not be able to feed him w/out that tube most of the day at least it buys us some time. He can always use the extra rest anyway.

So all in all he's doing well, no date yet or even talks about when he'll be going home. They usually do circumsicions 1-2 days before they go home and that's not been scheduled yet either so still a few weeks off probably.

S

1-23-09 Zachary Update

2009-01-24T01:28:00.000-06:00

I'm still a bit under the weather so I stayed only up part of the day. I stayed for the weighing tonight he didn't gain and is still at 6 lbs .5 ounces. He's gaining overall for the week and that's what matters most. He seemed kind of sleepier than normal today, you can tell he's just not the same when I'm not there. We're coming up to two weeks before his original due date, he'd be considered full-term if he was born right now. Even not being there in two days he looks/feels a lot bigger than he did. He's definately growing fast. Not much else to update sometime no news is good news.

1-21-2009 Zachary Update

2009-01-21T14:31:00.000-06:00

I'm still sick and worse today. I spent the day and evening with Zachary yesterday. He nursed fairly well not having nursed for 2.5 days. He's up to 5 lbs 12 ounces now. The doctor came in and said she can't barely hear the PDA anymore so they're pretty sure it's closed or nearly closed. They've now upped his fluid intake to normal levels for his size so he's up to 54 cc/ml per feed 8 x a day.

He's still pretty stuffy never really cleared up from the cold we all had a few weeks back. Some of that could be the cannula and feeding tube in his nose too. I won't make it up there today I'm still too sick and shouldn't push it.

So good news overall and hopefully he'll be able to take the new feed amounts without problem since that is so much greater than what he's used to.

01-19-2009 Zachy Update

2009-01-20T02:50:00.001-06:00

I've been sick past couple days so unable to see Zach but Andy told me he's doing well and looking good. He's been dropping the milk off for me while I've been under the weather.

He's up to 5lbs 11 ounces and all that much closer to 6lbs! Found some more clothes for him at a thrift store today some still had the original tags on lol for 18$ I paid $1.50 lol.

I should have more to update tomorrow when I go to see him and stay with him while I work :).

S

12-15-2009 Zachary update

2009-01-15T22:54:00.001-06:00

It's been a crazy past few days his brady's after eating relating to gas/bowel movements and sometimes GURD (reflux) have been getting worse. Some pretty bad where they need to pull out the supplemental oxygen.

He had a pretty bad day with them yesterday and last night today they've been off an on but none too serious that he didn't recover quickly. Trick is to get him to burp very very frequently. Problem is once you stop him BF sometimes he doesn't want to feed after and you know he didn't get enough.

He is definately hard to get to burp a lot of times and that causes him to dstat and then brady so every few sucks he has to be stopped.

He's also sometimes very piggy he acts like he wants more food and then over eats till he spits up. He did that tonight fed himself silly then spit up a lot. Was a like a fountain of milk rofl. So sometimes you can't get him to eat enough and other times he eats too much. I do hope some of these eating issues he grows out of soon.

He's up to 5 lbs 7 ounces he was the same yesterday. Overall for the week he's up though so that's what counts. Still no word on when he'll be coming home and at the rate he's going it'll be mid Februrary I'm guessing unless something turns around significantly.

On a positive note his ROP is now regressing ie. His vessels in his eyes are growing out into Zone 3 finally and not stopping growth in Zone 2. Also, the ridge that started to form on his retina seems to be smoothing out and going away. So it appears that his stage 2 ROP is reversing. Some lucky babies this happens about his gestational age. We won't really know how well they're finished until he's 40 weeks gestational -42ish. His vessels are almost done growing though and they didn't stop early in Zone 2 and that's what the worry is. Very thankful they've continued to grow woot.

Thanks to all who have been following Zach's progress and sending your loving thoughts and prayers! Doubt we'd of gotten this far without them.

Much Love,

S

1-12-2009 Zachary Update

2009-01-12T23:43:00.000-06:00

He had a mostly ok day. He did brady a few times some pretty bad but for what I'd consider a kind of good reason eating too much while nursing rofl. He sometimes wouldn't burp easily so the air would impede him breathing that's when it'd happen. We'd eventually get him to burp then he was fine.

He did lose 10 g today so he's 5lbs 3ounces that's after gaining 45g yesterday. He was at his highest at 5lbs 6oz this week so he's working on getting back to that. The transition to nursing 3x today he was bound to lose a bit. I was hoping he wouldn't have but they will probably put him back to only 2 feedings tomorrow I figure. It's a lot of work for him to nurse that's what they're worried about with him by doing too much work to feed he expends more energy than gains from the food. He ate a lot more than he normally gets fed and overate a few times to the point he spit up rofl. He's a little piggy hehe, but in a good way. So it's slow and steady we may have to cut back on the nursings so he can get back to non-brady stable then slowly add them back in. Takes a lot out of him when he brady's so hopefully that will lessen tomorrow.

He overall though seemed well today despite his issues during feeding.

S

1-11-09 Zachary Update

2009-01-11T17:00:00.000-06:00

Today the little munchkin is doing well despite the rough week he's had. He went down in weight overnight from 5lbs 6 oz to 5 lbs 2 oz the day before he gained 70 grams so it's not unusual for them to drop the next day usually do to poling times etc. Today was the first time I nursed him without giving him any of the supplemental fortified breastmilk. Only problem I notice is that he feeds for 15 mine needs to be burped.. Gets sleepy or just looks around then in10 mine he wants to eat again and he does this cycle for about an hour and a half I'm having to hide it from the nurses they'd have a cow if the knew I was letting him feed that long instead of giving him supplemental via the tube in his nose. Personally he's had no bradys or destat since I feed him like he wanted today. Whenever we give supplemental after nursing he always destats and sometimes Brady's and is constantly pushing and looks in pain haven't seen any of that today. Just normal gas and nothing that seems to be causing him pain or dicomfort.

So I think tomorrow I'm going to press the issue of more frequent feeding with less amount that way his body can deal with the food better. My daughter was the same way she ate every 2 hours and we never had any issues with her.

1-09-2009 Zachary Update

2009-01-09T16:56:00.000-06:00

Well I'm happy to report he's back to his normal feeling well self etc. He does need to get another shot today Hep-B but it doesn't have thirmersol in it so I'm guessing this 1 will not be as bad as the 4 he got the other day.

He didn't want to wake up for nursing but he'd take the pacifier and suckle vigorously so I asked the nurse again if they had nipple shields. I'd heard they do well for babies that have trouble latching on. His problem is more 1. He doesn't want to wake up :P and 2. He's not opening his mouth wide enough.

When he's fully awake he nurses perfectly doesn't need any aids or anything. But the shield worked really well much better than I had expected! He got more milk in a shorter amount of time so I was impressed. Needless to say if he's sleepy again I'll keep trying it. It's always better if they can nurse unaided but I have no problem getting him to learn faster with some help.

He's gaining weight well and they went up on his feeds again to 40 ccs x 8 per day. He's probably right at 5lbs or barely under. He lost a bit one day but gained it back the next day. He usually gains 30g -50g a day depending on how active he was throughout the day.

So overall much better than the scare we had the other evening/night. He hasn't had any brady's at all and only a minor dstat here or there and only associated with feeding which is normal for him.

His eye exam also came back with good sign. It's not progressing any worse still stage 2 ROP and his vessels have grown out even farther and almost into Zone 3 which is where he's home free. Most of the ridge that's started to form on his retina will go away in a few weeks to a month and it just requires follow-up eye exams at this time. So hopefully that will continue to be the case and his eyes will recover well.

S

01-07-09 Zach update #2

2009-01-07T23:34:00.000-06:00

Mr. Zachary definately does not like shots or eye exams. I'm still at the hospital with him been here since around 7:45am. He did well at his 12pm feeding but I'm guessing the shots hadn't started affecting him yet. He had them right before 12 pm. So I'd hoped they weren't going to be bad. I showed up for his 6 pm feeding and he didn't look well at all so I figured I would just hold him and not try to breastfeed. I didn't know he's had his eye exam or his eyes dialated so when I picked him up he started bradying badly it got so bad several nurses had to give blow by supplemental oxygen. We finally got him stable and his nurse found out he'd just had his eye exam and was very apologetic. Babies always destat a lot after exams that plus his shots were to much for him. So basically he can' t even stand to be moved right now normally holding him helps but he's just not able to tolerate being moved. So I'm hanging out with mr mansy till he's more stable. He's brady'd many times since that inital one and he's going to be exhausted tomorrow but hopefully he'll feel better and the shots will have worn off.

1-07-2009 Zachary update

2009-01-07T10:21:00.000-06:00

He's been doing well so far last night and today. He's down at around 30% oxygen which is very good and hopefully he'll get abck down in the mid 20s soon. They're going to lower the liters of the cannula down to 1 litre in the next couple of days.

He's getting his 2 months shots today (poor guy) so hopefully he won't be too fussy since they're letting me try to breastfeed 2 x a day now. Oddly enough immunizations go normally (no adjusted age stuff) so he'll get them at 2, 4 months and so on.

He was enjoying looking around the room today he can only see things up to maybe 2 ft away and not well. Only stuff right up next to his face can he see fairly well. So I got out one of his rattles for him to look at, it's the first time he seemed truly interested in looking at it. So I put it by his head before I left to give him something to stare at while he falls back asleep.

So all in all a good day so far :)

S

12-06-2008 Zachary Update

2009-01-06T16:18:00.000-06:00

He's doing pretty well today and had a good night. He's been in the 30s for oxygen and was down to 31% before I left a bit ago. So hopefully he'll be back down in the 20s soon again. His nose is starting to clear up and although he's still occasionally having to be suctioned it's not nearly as bad as it was.

His breastfeeding today was fairly successful he got half an ounce about the same as he got the first successful time. He's up to 4lbs 15 ounces and gaining more and more each day.

I asked the doctor this morning about his ROP Stage II progression and she said that since he's almost to Zone 3 Growth (ie the vessels almost done growing to the retina) that his ROP just requires monitoring and the slight ridge that's formed should fade in a few weeks - months. So hopefully this next eye exam this week will show that the ROP isn't worsening and hopefully if anything it's getting better. Apparently, where his ROP is it deals with your peripheral vision which is important :P so they're monitoring it closely.

They're saying his lung disease is improving a lot but we may need to start considering him coming home on oxygen. I do hope not as I figure he's still got 3ish weeks to go before homecoming and a lot can happen in 3 weeks.

S

Zachary Update 01-04-2009

2009-01-04T22:48:00.000-06:00

Well he was doing pretty well today not too many brady's or dstats (nothing out of the normal for him). His oxygen requirements have been going steadily down and he was at about 26-28% most of the day. The lasic (medicine to remove fluid from his lungs) really seemed to work well. Hopefully this continues and they'll start lowering the water agitation currently added to his cannula. He's still at 1.5 litres. As he gets bigger a lot of these issues will go away.

He's up to 38 ccs x 8 feedings per day. The amount of milk I'm brining to him is starting to be significant :P Not too much of a big deal but it's taking more pumpings to get him the milk he needs for one day. That's a good thing in my eyes. I've not gotten to try and breastfeed him again since those first 2 times but I'll probably ask tomorrow as it's been several days and he's as stable if not more stable than he was when we did it the first time.

He was negative for RSV thank god that's a really nasty virus that can cause pneumonia and many other bad things. He definately has a nasty head cold but nothing serious that warrants anything other than suctioning. He's not had any fever or too low temp etc issues from the head cold. He's just a bit stuffy.

2 days ago he was up to 4lbs 10 ounces with the expectations he'll be up to 5 lbs this coming week. No word from anyone on a "go home date" other than expect it to be around his due date which was in the Feb 1- 6 range. So we've got some time to go before really worrying about him coming home.

He had an eye exam the other day and he's in Zone 2 growth (zone 3 is where the blood vessels are finished growing). With really little babies like him they see a lot of abdnormal growth and the blood vessels may stop growing early in stage 1 - 2 or 3. They've seen a few extra branches on his but nothing to be really concerned about. At this time he'll just continue to have some eye exams every few weeks to track the progress and see if there is any what's called ROP or not. When ROP gets really bad it causes blindness and the surgery for it really may not help though in some kids it does in some it doesn't. Hopefully, we won't hear any bad news on the next one either. So far, nothing majorly concerning the doctors has come up regarding his eyes just things for them to watch etc.

I should be more frequent with my postings over the next week as I go back to full-time office again after the long break tomorrow.

01-01-2009 Zachary Update

2009-01-02T01:17:00.000-06:00

Well today he was more tired than yesterday it seemed. I was able to attempt breast feeding for the first time yesterday and he did really well. Today, he was too tired and really didn't do much. He had a few brady's overnight and those tend to tire him out a lot. I'm going to try waiting until 3pm again like I did the first day to breastfeed him as he seems to be more awake then and have more energy. Midday just isn't a good time for him.

He had another eye exam today the doctor didn't say anything but she didn't seem like she had any pressing issues. We'll get an overview from his main doctor regarding her findings tomorrow. He was doing so/so after the exam and they say it's normal for them to dstat for a while afterwards.

Andy held him for the first time today after his eye exam while he was eating. That seemed to calm Zachary some so he wasn't dstating so much after the exam. Andy was very happy to finally be able to hold him.

They weighed him yesterday but I didn't call to get the weight and I forgot to ask today but I'm sure he's up to 4lbs 12+ ounces. He's nearly 5 lbs!. I know he's up to 45 cm almost 18 inches. He's growing fast.

They still swear he doesn't have an active infection of the MRSA just that they found it in his nose. He's progressively having more boogers and snot and sneezing/coughing. The coughing not so much as the sneezing. I personally, think they should do a culture to see if anything is growing in there becuase his oxygen requirements have been slowly getting higher in the low 40s now which he's never needed before. I think tomorrow I'm going to insist they do a culture and blood check to see if he has some kind of active infection something left unchecked can grow into pneumonia.

The nurses just keep on saying he's not exhibiting any of the normal signs of illness. Well that may be true but that doesn't mean he doesn't have something. Green snot usually = some kind of cold/infection etc.

Anyhew.. I'm going to bug them about it tomorrow again. They've always been very good at listening to our concerns and usually act on them before we have a chance to finish asking or they've already done something about what we're asking on. This is the first time they seem to not be concerned. I wish I felt that way I'm just worried he might go from just green snot to something much worse.

S

12-30-2008 Zachary Update

2008-12-30T23:44:00.000-06:00

So far he's doing well on the nasal cannula 24 hours + and going strong. They've now moved him to the level II NICU (that's the next step up). He's got his own room but that comes with a catch. One of the reasons they moved him was he was ready for level II and not needing the acute care in Level III. The other reason is he's been found to have a colony of MRSA. Now he doesn't have any active infections from it persay so they're not giving him any antibiotics but they're going to keep him in isolation meaning we have to wear gowns, gloves, masks when we see him. That's going to stuck for the next week /sigh. Upside is his private room will have a couch in it and we can rest there and it's a lot more privacy since I'll be starting to feed him soon.

Course now I'm more paranoid than I was about germs. I already have hand sanitizer everywhere in the house and already get on people about using it. I'm going to have to get more anal about it too. The reason we have to wear gowns and masks is so he doesn't infect us. I'm worried now that this nagging nasal congestion which is common for me could be something worse since it's not going away. Which if it doesn't get better in a few days I'm going to the docs and making them do a culture which they almost never do. Last thing I need is some nasty skin infection from it where I lose some flesh or worse it goes to my organs especially after all my organs have been through in the past few months.

On a more positive note he's up to 4lbs 7 ounces and he's 45 cm long which is 17.7 inches. He's eating 36 ccs x 8 per day which is a whopping 288 ccs. So he's gaining weight fast and eating a lot! He was even hungry before it was time to be fed which is rare for him after they raise his feeds. So I wouldn't doubt it if they raise his feeds again. This is going to be troublesome to make enough milk to give to him during a few feeds I'm already up to 2-3 pumpings for a days worth. They won't let the milk be more than 48 hours old though I'm still pretty sure I'm within the time lines some of the nurses thought I was cutting it close by sending it the evening previous. Hence why I take fresh milk every morning now. IMO 6 hours over the deadline really isn't going to make a huge difference when breast milk is good for about a week in the fridge :P.

Anyhew I ramble on hopefully when they check him again for MRSA (next Monday or so) it will no longer be present and we can stop with the isolation proceedures. I've yet to see his new room/floor but I'll see it tomorrow when I go. I have a feeling I'm not going to want to hang around long if I have to stay in scrubs the whole time not to mention I tend to break out when wearing those gloves for any period of time. I've been able to hold him for about 1.5-3 hours a day but I'm guessing for the next week or so that's going to be considerably less which upsets me becuase he's been doing so well when being held. His oxygen requirements and his feeds go much better when he's held.

WRU super magic to eradicate this superbug .. sucks supposedly something like 60% of hospital patients (or more) are at the least carriers of MERSA. I know that 2-3 other babies in his pod (he just left from) had it and he was one of the last to not get it. Well hopefully I'll have good news come the next week or two and this nasty bug will be gone.

S

12-28-2008 Zachary Update

2008-12-28T22:05:00.000-06:00

He was doing somewhat ok he looked paler than normal and brady'd at least 2 times while I was there. They may need to weight adjust his caffeine again which we noticed last time he was bradying a lot (ie heart rate getting dangerously low). It was our eldest's birthday so we didn't get to stay very long today. I did hold him for about an hour and a half. He's very happy while being held.

He's up to 33 cc's at each feeding so he's growing fast! He's now 4lbs 1 ounce! He's more than doubled his at birth weight. It's amazing how fast they grow. He feels to me like a normal size baby now :).

Funny story yesterday he got his feet down on my legs (as he loves to do) and decided to pick up his head and entire body with he legs and arms. I wasn't expecting this and had my head down near his and he nearly bonked me in the head ROFL. So I'd say it's a good sign he's feeling better to have that kind of energy. He's all muscle!

Not sure if they're still going to try him on the cannula tomorrow or the 1st but I'm hoping they up the caffeine before trying again just in case.

All in all a busy but productive day. Zach's doing better and better each day and that's all we can hope for!

S

Zachary Christmas Update

2008-12-25T15:24:00.000-06:00

Well he was doing very well today I held him for a long time becuase every time he thought I was moving him to put him back he'd start crying like you were killing him. Also, he had a good hold on my hair (he loves it) and if you tried to move it or take it out of his hand he'd throw a royal fit lol. So I'd say he's feeling pretty well today.

Some volunteer groups had Santa come around to visit all the babies and they took photos I've got Zach's photo with Santa on the flickr site. Also, they dropped off blankets from project linus. Our Girl Scout Troop had been thinking of doing them for kids in the hospital and it's nice to see there are lots of groups that do they did a wonderful job on the blanket Zach received.

He's up to 3 lbs 14 ounces almost 4 pounds ! He's getting big and heavy that may not sound like a lot but you'd be surprised how much that weighs hehe.

They're going to try the cannual for a 3rd time on Monday 29th and if they don't think he's well then they'll try again on the 1st. We'll see he's doing much better with fewer and fewer dstats/Bradys etc He's had no Bradys or Apnea for several days so he may be ready for the cannula. The only thing is his oxygen has been going up a bit from 26% to mid 30s. They say it's from fluid in his lungs either he'll clear it out or they'll need to give medicine to do so. They're waiting to see a few days how his oxygen requirements are and decide if he needs medicine or not so far they're leaving him be.

He's up to 31ccs now on his feeds that a little over an ounce a feeding! He's growing fast and starting to take in more food which is good. He's been tolerating his feeds well :).

His Echo on Tues was good nothing is getting worse. They can't really tell if the PDA is any smaller it looks about the same size. Although we'd like it to be closing more at least it's not getting bigger. His heart looks good and the ventricles that are enlarged aren't getting any bigger so that's also a positive. So at this time they're not recommending surgery for the PDA they're just going to try go get him off the CPAP so his lungs are working harder and that should tell his body to close the PDA and therefore not need the surgery. The catch 22 is more stress on the heart can mean congestive heart failure in which case they'd have to do the surgery. So we'll see so far it's a waiting game.

Not much else to report other than we're waiting for him to grow some more :) most of his issues will resolve as he gets bigger.

Zachary Update 12-22-2008

2008-12-22T10:53:00.001-06:00

He's looking much better today definately has more energy. Fought like normal when adjusting his CPAP this morning. He's on 40% oxygen and I'm guessing that's because he had 1 prong out all monring till I saw it and had the nurse help fix it. Hopefully it's not from him getting sick because his lungs filling up can cause that too.

I was there during rounds this morning and they're taking him off the diuretics and sodium and seeing how he does with the echo tomorrow. They're going to give another round of lasics too that they hope will close the PDA. The doctor stated they may have to make him worse to see what's the best course to make him better in the long run. I really don't want to see that o.O but I understand the situation we're in and they really don't have much choice it's either that or surgery and they're trying to prevent surgery if at all possible.

So I'll have more to give updates on tomorrow and we'll see.

S

Zachary Update 12-21-08

2008-12-21T13:22:00.000-06:00

He's doing much better today I'm happy to report! He's got a lot of his energy back and was able to suck on the pacifier nearly the whole time he was feeding mid day. He overall just looks better today.

Grandma Nancy, Uncle Chris, Dad and I got to visit with him today. He seems a lot happier and his oxygen has been sitting at 30% most of today. He had no Brady attacks or Apnea of Prematurity (AOP) last night or today so far.

He's up to 3lbs 8 ounces as of today and up to 28 ccs x 8 /day for his feeds. Tuesday we'll know more about the echo and if they're going to try the cannula with him again.

S

12-20-2008 Zachary Update

2008-12-21T00:34:00.000-06:00

He was pretty tired still today just like yesterday. I couldn't hold him for long as he started Bradying soon after holding him. Graned he did seem to be having some gas pains and moving him may have moved some gas bubbles which caused him some pain. So I mostly let him be today so he could rest.

I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day for him and he seems more like himself. I read that most of the Apnea and Brady spells usually clear up by gestational week 44 that's mid to end of Februrary. So we'll just have to wait a while and see. His breating wasn't very regular today he was doing a lot of what they call periodic breathing hopefully it's a progression step of his lungs /breathing mechanisms.

Keep your prayers going for Zach he needs them right now to close his PDA and get off the CPAP and start feeding normally.

S

Zachary Update 12-19-2008

2008-12-19T15:37:00.000-06:00

Today you can tell he's tired from yesterday's ordeal (the Brady's) so he slept most of today not really intersted in trying to suck on his pacifier. I held him for a good while and he was fairly happy and didn't want to move. I wish I had unlimited time to hold him but alas I had to get back to the office the work waits for no one :P.

He's up to 3lbs 7 ounces half way to 4 lbs woot. So he's growing quite well. Haven't heard anything about the echo yet not sure if they've even done it yet or when they will. So he's pretty quiet and sleeping today will update soon again.

S

Zachary update 12-18-2008

2008-12-19T08:35:00.001-06:00

Well they tried him on the cannula again but that didn't last long. He did fine while I was holding him for 3 hours but as soon as I had to move him and put him back in the isolette he started bradying. He did it 4 more times while I went back to my office so by the time I returned at 6 to meet the hubby he was back on CPAP.

So eventually he'll get off of it but his brain still needs some time. They said usually the main reason they brady is their brain isn't fully ready to assume remembering to breathe all the time. The CPAP although he's breathing on his own always it keeps the aveoli open so if he forgets to breathe for a moment they're open and getting oxygen.

His first eye exam was good the doctor found no issues after dialating his eyes. So yay for the most part as we can tell now his eyes are forming normally. There's no way to see if there's sight loss until he's older but I'll take well forming eyes any day :P

Other than those issues he did pretty well Thursday. Hopefully, we'll know more about the status of his PDA Friday after his echo.

Zach update 12-17-2008

2008-12-17T14:41:00.001-06:00

He's doing well today not much to update other than they've been able to steadly go down on his oxygen requirements. He's been on around 25% all day so that's really good. He wasn't having as many issues with the CPAP coming out of his nose (by his doing or otherwise). That's always a good thing.

He's started while I'm holding him after he eats during lunchtime that he sees my hair and is facinated by it. It just plays with it and today he tried putting it in his mouth. I thought that was funny lol. I even got out one of his rattles and he just looked at it but w/out interest. Bring back my curls and he's all excited and just playing with it with his hands and making all kinds of cooing sounds.

So I'm glad to see he's cooing and finding things interesting to play with I'm guessing that's a very good sign and more than I expected him to do at this age. He's only 33 weeks gestation he'd normally have 5-7 weeks to go in the womb.

So all in all not much to update today he's doing well with few dstat incidents mostly only if the prongs come out of his nose and he comes right back on his own w/in a min w/out intervention.

S

Zachary Update 12-16-2008

2008-12-16T10:08:00.000-06:00

He was resting peacefully this morning so I didn't mess with him much tried to see if he wanted his pacifier and he was more interested in sleeping :P they've got him in his blue snuggy again it's really cute. I brought more socks for him since he seemed to keep running out.

He's still on CPAP and probably will be for several more days while they determine what to do about his PDA. It's not closing fast enough that they'd like and his heart ventricles (2 of them) are starting to enlarge to accomodate that excess blood being pumped through that extra artery. They're hoping the CPAP etc will encourage his body to close the PDA as the lungs request more blood support. The PDA being open puts strain on the heart so they're getting a consult from a Cardiologist on the matter. We'll know more after they do the echo at the end of the week.

He was down to 26% oxygen this morning which is stellar and still at level 5 for CPAP the lowest setting it will go to. This is all very good meaning he's breating well on his own and nearly down to the % of oxygen we breathe around 21%.

He was 3 lbs 3 ounces last time they weighed him and he's still 16.5 inches (42 cm) long ;).

Morning update 12-15-2008

2008-12-15T10:19:00.000-06:00

Well I came in this morning first day back working in the office I'm exhausted but went to see Zach as fast as I could get up there.

They had to put him back on CPAP they said he was Dstating too frequently while on the Cannula (oxygen only). So they'll leave him on CPAP for a while and try again. He's still on the lowest CPAP settings and they're just going to wait for his oxygen requirements to get lower they're still in the mid 30s. Originally, I thought they were going to wait till he got down to the low 20s to try the Cannula that's what they'd said previously. So maybe they'll wait longer this time and try again.

He looked good this morning despite his dstating yesterday and the CPAP being taped to his head again.

Probably will be more updates this afternoon since I'll be in to see him often I can update more frequently.

S

12-14-2008 Zachary Update

2008-12-15T01:47:00.000-06:00

Andy went to see the baby today and just as he got there they'd moved Zachary off the CPAP and onto the Cannula (sp). That's just some tubes to give him oxygen nothing else ie he's having absolutely no help on breathing. The CPAP gave positive pressure and he went on that on Thursday. I'm amazed they took him off the CPAP so quickly.

They say they'll start trying to bottle/breast feed once he works out his breathing and stops the dstat/apnea episodes. He's still doing them after he eats etc so it may take him a bit to stop doing that but once they subside they'll work on the feeding without a tube.

I'm really amazed at how fast he's progressing I mean usually it was weeks with the ventilator I'm not used to things moving so fast in a matter of days.

He's also up to 28 ml x 8 / day = 224 ml/day.

His Baby shower was really nice today we had a lot of fun and got a lot of great things for Zachary. I went to Babys R Us and Target and got most of everything else we'll need so I think we're mostly ready :).

The hope is he'll be able to come home mid January - Early Februrary. That's my best guess going by his weight, current progression etc. His original due date was first week in Februrary and that's generally when they get to come home. Of course he's doing everything kind of quickly soo who knows :P So I've only got good news to report for little Zachary atm. Tomorrow (Monday) I start my 4:45 am mornings (ugh). But at least I'll get to see Zach many times throughout the day and spend a good amount of time in the morning/evening with him :). Yay for work in the building connected to his hospital :P.

S

12-13-2008 Zach Update

2008-12-14T02:51:00.001-06:00

Due to getting everything ready for the baby shower tomorrow (well really today since I'm writing it late) this update is a bit behind.

He was doing pretty well when we went to see him. The nurse said he'd had a few apnea episodes and a couple DStats but mostly after he ate. He tends to hold his breath when he's got gas or making poo :). They said as long as that's the only time he's having those episodes he should be ok to stay on CPAP and not be re-intubated but if he starts having apnea and Dstating frequently during a shift they'll have to re-intubate. So far this hasn't been the case.

He also went down some on his oxygen today he'd been in the mid to low 30s so this is a good sign. The goal is to get him down to low 20s/high teens for oxygen before they'll consider putting him on the cannula (just oxygen up the nose).

I can tell the nurses have been working with him and the pacifier since he got it on Thursday when I was there. Today he took it happily and was sucking like he'd been doing it forever. Thursday when we gave it to him he not only didn't want anyone near his face but he didn't know what to do with the pacifier. Had to keep holidng it in his mouth and moving his tongue back into position. So needless to say it was nice to see him sucking on it like a pro and his stats went up high when he was sucking on it he seemed really happy and comforted by it. Didn't take him long at all to pick that up.

The nurse warned me on Thursday that some babies in the NICU who are on the ventilator for a while get "nipple aversion" and they don't like anything near their faces. He was acting really pissy when I tried to wipe his face and seemed scared like I was going to put that dreadful tube back down his mouth. So I kept working on touching his face in a gentle way and saying soothing things till he stayed calm while I touched his face instead of freaking out. After about the 4th attempt and some hours later I tried the pacifier and got him to suck a bit on it while he was feeding (tube). This way he associates eating with sucking becuase pretty soon he's going to have to work for his food no more food in the tube :P

So overall he's been doing pretty well and hopefully this stays this way. The CPAP does make his stats change dramatically because he's responsible for his breathing and that scares you when you see him go from 175 heartbeat down to 120 or less then back up to 150 +. He'll start dstating and you just pray he recovers quickly and he usually does but that's some scary 30 s or so while you wait for his brain to kick in and say hey... need to breathe here.

I'll keep you all posted on any new developments and how the baby shower goes tomorrow. We've got lots of great food, prizes and fun planned and I can't wait to see any of you that are coming!

S

12-12-2008 Zachary Update

2008-12-12T14:05:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a BIG day for Mr. Zachary. They took him off the ventilator and put him on CPAP he is now OFFICALLY breathing on his own. He was at mid 40s Oxygen all yesterday while he acclimated but that's to be expected. Yesterday he only had 1 Apnea episode and it was after he ate. He tends to hold his breath when he's pushing out gas or poo so that's not abnormal. As long as he doesn't start having apnea 1x + per hour he won't be re-intubated.

He's doing great today his nurse said. They've increased feeds to 25 ccs x 8 x per day woot. I know yesterday he was having a FIT when he didn't get fed right at the hour. I mean thrashing around in his incubator like the attitude of fine you're not going to feed me I'm going to rise up out of this isolette and Go FIND my OWN food ROFL. Yesteray I was trying to soothe him to calm him down but he was having NONE of it. All he wanted was food and he was going to continue thrashing about and screaming until he got it. Sooo, hopefully on the larger feeds he won't be screaming as much about next feeding time.

Today he's been down to 36% oxygen all day and at the lowest level for their CPAP which is level 6 (that's the pressure). They said once we get the oxygen down to what we breathe 21% ish or low 20s high teens then they'll look at putting him on the cannula (just oxygen up the nose). So he'll probably be on CPAP for 1-2 weeks hopefully that's it and his lungs are ready to do it on their own completely with no positive pressure to keep the air sacks open. The one nurse mentioned level 5 for pressure but yesterday the nurse said usually 6 is the lowest they go in the NICU so we'll see.

The nurse said he was fussing much less today so that's a good sign! Keep up the great work Zachary!

S

Zachary Update 12-10-2008

2008-12-10T19:57:00.000-06:00

He's been good all day and the evening. His oxygen has been in the upper 20s throughout the day. He's been tolerating all his feeds well and making healthy diapers.

Tonight at 12am they're taking him down to 20 bpm on his vent so that's the lowest setting he can be on before they take him off the vent completely. Hopefully, this will last and we only have to wait a few days before they take him off. With luck he won't extubate and restart the process all over. So pray for him that this is the final stretch as far as the vent is concerned.

They're running some labs in the morning for thyroid function to make sure that his needing sodium and potassium is just from the diuretcs and not something else. With all the thyroid problems in our family it's no telling but I do hope it's nothing and just due to the other medicine he's on to close the PDA.

So he's sleeping well and doing good overall.

S

Zachary Update 12-09-2008

2008-12-09T13:28:00.001-06:00

Hi all well just got off the phone with his nurse and she says he's resting comfortably in his blue snuggy that I bought him. Don't think he's been awake enough to enjoy his new rattles that our friends Jason and Laurel bought for him but when I go up next I'll be sure to take photos (I'll try to get him to hold one :P).

They've lowered his vent settings to 22 bpm and he's at 29% oxygen so they're weening him much slower this time than last time. I think after the fluid in his lungs due to the PDA still being open they're giving his lungs more time to acclimate. The xrays etc came back ok his tube is still placed where it needs to be (it's not coming out like last several times) and there's no more fluid etc that can be seen. The medicine did it's job.

They're still giving him supplements for potassium and sodium and he'll probably continue needing them as long as he's getting diuretics to help close the PDA.

His weight is still 2lbs 14 ounces and his length is up to 16 1/4 inches. The nurse said they probably won't go up on his feeding amounts until he's off the ventilator.

I asked a nurse the other day what the progression from the highest level NICU to the lower levels is. She said that usually they go from the ventilator to the CPAP and some kids ween off CPAP quickly. She said after they get him off CPAP he'll just be on oxygen in the nose and that's when they normally move them to the lower level (less acute) NICU and start them on bottle feeding/breast feeding etc. So we've still got a ways to go but I'm sure things will be much better by the end of December.

I've added a lot of photos to the Flickr site (check out the other public photos) if you want to see some of our recent Tree Farm and Tree Decorating day. I've also got photos up of Zach in his blue snuggy :) it's really cute.

S

Zachary Update 12-07-2008

2008-12-07T18:07:00.000-06:00

Went to see him today and he's doing so/so. They've had to move his IV line sometimes 2 x a day mostly due to his veins being so tiny they can't support the IV for very long with as much medicine as he's getting. He'll need the IV for at least a few more days while they make sure his lungs are all cleared up.

His lungs were having a couple different issues this past week: He was building fluid up in his lungs (some of the reason for the fast weight gain). So they've got him on 2 medicines to remove the fluid from his lungs and other internal areas it shouldn't be. This will help him to breathe a lot better and hopefully he'll be able to transition to CPAP soon.

His vent settings are still at 25 breaths per minute and his oxygen is usually 26-32% so he's doing very well as far as that's concerned. When he maintains 20 bpm on the vent then they'll work on moving him over the CPAP.

He's now wearing clothes so I took some preemie outfits I'd found at the stores having no idea they'd start putting him in clothes soon. So when I saw him in the unsoft hospital shirts I brought in the clothes I'd gotten for him. They put him in the cutest outfit I had taken for pictures it's a full piece with footsties. I really don't know how they managed that one with all his wires but they did. He looks super cute in it. I'll have the photos up on flickr shortly for all to see.

His weight went down a bit from yesterday where it peaked at 3lbs and he's down to 2 lbs 14 ounces but he'll be back up to 3 lbs this week in no time. Part of the weight decline was due to the fluid in his lungs etc that they were trying to get out so that's a good sign.

He looks like he's having a rough patch atm but the nurses belive that's probably due to all the blood draws and IV moves as that takes a lot out of him. He's starting to make smile motions with his face/mouth which are really cute if you caress his head in a certain way. It's simply too cute for words.

Other than that he's doing well and being that he's a little over a month old he's coming along great.

S

Zachary Update 12-04-2008

2008-12-04T13:54:00.000-06:00

Just got off the phone with the nurses and he's having a good day today. From yesterday afternoon he was at 35 bpm for his respirator at 26-30% oxygen which was better than it had been but he still had a way to go. This morning at 5am they turned it down to 30 bpm and then a little while ago they were able to take him down to 25 bpm which is stellar! Once he's back down to 20 bpm they will start to try to ween him off the respirator again! He's bouncing back faster this time than he did last time after he extubated. Hopefully he makes it on CPAP this time before he extubates. So he's on 26% oxygen and the low respirator settings and breating mostly on his own thankfully. His blood gas tests have come back good so he's tolerating the new settings well.

She said he's tolerating the 21 ccs of milk 8 x a day well and they may go up on his feeds in the next few days which is great news. He's needing a little more sodium in his diet atm but that's mostly due to the fluid restrictions so they can close the PDA. So he's doing well overall and getting better each day!

S

Zachary Update 12-03-2008

2008-12-03T11:20:00.001-06:00

Andy said he looked good this morning and said he was awake so he got to spend some time with him. He said the baby's hands are getting bigger and can almost go all the way around his finger the baby grabbed his finger this morning (sounds cute).

Zach's respirator settings are still pretty high at 40 breaths / min but his oxygen is down some 29% so that's a good sign they'll probably decrease the respirator some later today and he'll be on his way to getting ready for CPAP again.

His weight is 2lbs 11 ounces so assuming he stays on this curve he should be 3 lbs before too long.

I'll be calling the nurses later on to see how he's doing this afternoon and probably post another update.

Baby Shower Update: The Invitations should be in the mail and we look forward to seeing our friends and family on December 14th at 12pm (Sunday). If anyone needs directions email me and I'll gladly send them.

Sarah

Zach Update 12-1-2008

2008-12-01T15:55:00.000-06:00

Well it seems Zach having a rough patch today. He's extubated for a 3rd time. I could tell something seemed up with his tube yesterday when we were there. They had to keep going up on his vent setting from the low where he was at yesterday to 45 today. That was the first sign that something wasn't right with the tube. The xrays showed it'd almost come out so right before they were about to fix it he pulled it out. So he's at 45 breaths/m with 36% oxygen atm. So he's kinda had a big setback with the ventilator one day from being taken off it. So hopefully in a week or so he'll be ready to start transitioning back to cpap again. His blood gasses after the re-intubation are much better so he's improving now the tube is back in place.

They found some fluid in his lungs probably from the PDA so they're starting him on diruetics instead of the other medicine he was on to try and close the PDA and remove the fluid from teh lungs. This is a common treatment for PDA they'll try many different things unless it becomes apparent he needs surgical intervention. Most babies don't though or not until they're 1 yr old.

He's getting more blood today. That's normal due to the amount they take for blood tests and his bones just can't make enough to replenish. He usually looks much better after they give him blood on Mondays.

He's back to having IVs in (both feet this time) for the new medicines and preventative antibiotics. They don't want the fluid in his lungs to be from an infection or get infected. If there's no infection they'll take him off the antibiotics in 2 days. Just like last week.

His weigh in today was 2lbs 10 ounces and 41 cm long. So he's gaining/growing well. He's still at 20 ml eight times a day.

The nurse said he looks good now that they're done messing with him and his vent situation is fixed. I do hope he can get on CPAP before it comes out next time. He keeps picking up his head and bending his tube completely over or pulling on it. No kidding one day we're sitting there and he just picks up his head and turns it over completely on the tube. Needless to say the vent machine starting freaking out. I can only imagine what he does when they're not looking. The nurses can't sit there and watch him 24/7.

Anyhew hopefully he does well throughout the night and tomorrow goes better.

S

Zachary's Baby Shower

2008-12-01T01:27:00.000-06:00

It's official the baby shower will be on December 14th, 2008 at 12pm noon at my house. We look forward to hosting the shower and seeing our friends and family that can attend.

We're registered at Target and Baby's R Us and thank all in advance who think of us during this time.

We'll have finger foods and good fun during the shower.

S

Zachary Update 11-30-2008

2008-12-01T01:22:00.000-06:00

Well Zach looked well today. They've decreased his vent settings to the lowest they make them before they move them off the ventilator and to cpap. They anticipate that if his blood gas labwork comes back well several times in a row they'll move him off in the next few days. That's a good sign as he hates that tube and is constantly trying to get rid of it.

I guess they'll keep him on the tube feedings but that tube is much smaller and less invasive. I don't think his sucking ability is matured yet he's still too little only 31 weeks gestation. Perhaps in a few weeks they'll try him eating from bottles but I have a feeling it's going to be a while.

His weight seems pretty stable at 2 lbs 9 oz his official weekly weight will be taken tomorrow. I'll ask for his lenght too he's growing pretty well and went up a diaper size.

So overall he's doing pretty well hopefully this stays this way.

S

Zachary Update 11-28-2008

2008-11-29T11:30:00.000-06:00

Friday we went to see Zachary (well I went too) and got to do Kangaroo care again this time with much better results. Probably held him for 2-3 hours by then I was pretty tired (trying to make sure he didn't move so his tube wasn't out of place). He kept wiggling down lol and would not stay and I had to hold his tube after a while so it'd be aligned. Zach seemed happy enough but kept having gas (lol) and with each episode his stats would go down then he'd go back to normal. I thought for sure his diaper would be full by the end.. nope lol.

He's up to 2 lbs 9 ounces. He's gained quite a bit of weight over last week becuase at the beginning he was at 2 lbs 4 ounces. This is a great sign he's starting to catch up.

His pulmonary artery still has the hole in it (all babies have this and it usually closes by full-term gestation) we've still got a month or 2 to go before we need to worry about it not closing and surgery would be needed. There's a few more things they can try to make it close up. Hopefully that'll work or it'll close on its own and surgery won't be needed.

They went up on his feeds again so he's up to 19ccs eight times a day. So hopefully he'll keep gaining well and getting better and better. His oxygen has been in the 30s mostly and hopefully it'll get back down to the 20s like it'd been for a while. They've been able to tone down the respirator settings a bit (breaths per second) back to where they were so that's a good sign. When he's able to stay at 20s for a week or so they'll start trying to transition him again for the cpap that'll also help his pulmonary artery close.

So he's been doing pretty well and he seems to really like the kangaroo care. 3 hours is a bit too much for that :P but 1-2 hours is pretty nice.

New photos uploaded from our Thanksgiving visit with him be sure to check the flickr slideshow.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

S

Zach update 11-28-2008 (Turkey Day)

2008-11-28T00:03:00.001-06:00

Well we went early today to go see Zach so we could get back and finish up items for dinner. He looked good today he was pushing up on his legs and arms and nearly could pick up his neck. He was really trying at least. The nurses said that was a good sign that he was trying to get up like he is. As he gets more weight on him his muscles won't be able to support his weight like most full-term babies who cannot do much with their bodies. For now though he's got the strength to push off.

He's pretty adamant about how he wants to lay as well and if the nurses move him a certain way he doesn't like he does all he can to move into a different position.

His oxygen has gone up and down but hovers around 30% he was down to 20 for the past few weeks but probably due to his extubation ordeal it'll take him a few more days to get back to where he was. They also went up on the breaths they give him, they'd been trying to go down on the respirator settings to see if he's ready for CPAP. So that's been delayed a bit but nothing out of the ordinary.

So all in all he looks good today :)

S

Second Update for 11/25/2008

2008-11-26T00:18:00.000-06:00

Well we got back late from the NICU visit since I had talked to the nurses and they felt Zachary was good for Kangaroo care today. I had Andy come pick me up instead of going straight there after work.

Well it took the poor nurse 10+ mins to unhook/move all his wires/tubes etc so I felt kinda bad about that. Once she got him on my chest his stats all normalized and he seemed as happy as he could be. His stats were all over the place when we arrived as he was awake and just moving a lot. So I was happy to see that while holding him the Kangaroo Care seemed to be doing well.

After about 30 mins the nurse said she needed to feed him and check his ventilator tube becuase the monitor was showing some leaking. Same thing happened a few Sundays back and his tube extubated and had to be reput in (a rather traumatic experience). Well sure enough as soon as she got him back in the incubator his tube had come out. Zach had a lot of bubbles, saliva etc coming up when I was holding him but his O2 saturation etc was good so I didn't think much of it. Apparently, when they start having a lot of saliva, bubbles etc come up that usually means the tube is starting to come out (the bubbles push it out of the lungs).

So in a rush the on-call doctor/nurse practitioner etc came in and re-intubated him while one of them was using the bag/mask to give him air. After they got the new tube in and all situated he looked drained and tired (as one would expect). Then after about 5 mins he was wide awake and just doing all kinds of normal looking around, hand moving, tongue sticking out, leg kicking etc. He was staring a lot at his ventilator tubing and going crosseyed trying to look at it as it was right above his face, that was kind of funny. I had him track my finger in front of his face to see if he was really able to see the objects or was just looking blinding into the area. Sure enough he'd follow my finger when I placed that close enough to his face. I'm sure that's a good sign.

So although he extubated his vent tube .. again o.O and the Kangaroo care holding got cut short he seems to be doing fine. Even after scaring the doctors a bit tonight. They get really antsy when the tubes come out and they have to do some emergency procedures to get a new one in. I waited a while until they did the x-ray to make sure the tubes were in the right spots and they were. After they started the feedings and put him on his stomach (his preferred position) he started going to sleep that's when we left. I just didn't want to leave until we knew everything was good with him and he was settled for the night.

For those unaware with what Kangaroo care is and the benefits here's a link:
Wiki Kangaro Care Definition

Although I wouldn't say moving Zachary was the greatest idea today there was no way to know that his tube was nearly about to extubate. The nurses won't let or suggest Kangaroo care unless they really think the baby is doing well and ready. Better we find out about the tube when everyone is watching him than it to happen and the nurse be busy doing something else and not realizing it right away. So in a way perhaps it was a good thing to catch it when we did. Also, the skin-to-skin contact benefits for Zach far outweigh the risks I only wish we could have started it sooner as close contact helps premies so much!

S

Zachary Update 11-25-2008

2008-11-25T16:00:00.000-06:00

Hi all I just got off the phone with his nurse. He's had a good day so far they've started caffeine to get him ready for slow changes with the ultimate goal of going to cpap and taking out the respirator tube.

They've stopped antibiotics as they could not find an infection in his lungs or body. They thought he had pneumonia but he doesn't woot. They'll be taking the IV out of his arm when he wakes up and said we can do kangaroo care today if we wished. That'd be the first time we'd held him yet. I've gone with the hopes of being able to do so but every time he's either under the Jaundice lights or has a new IV or isn't doing well enough for it. Today would be the first time everything was going well enough to allow it.

They've added a bean bag arm/hand and he seems to like that they say he's sleeping much better with it. Thought that was cute and very nice of the nurses to request for him.

His weight is 2 lbs 4 ounces so he's gaining well. Overall this is probably the longest stretch so far of "good days" he's had. Hopefully this will keep up. They've stayed with the same 18 ccs(ml) x every 3 hours for feeds so that didn't go up.

So he's doing well at the moment we'll probably have new photos up on the flickr slideshow tonight or tomorrow so keep checking back.

S

Zach Update 11-24-2008

2008-11-24T13:29:00.000-06:00

Current weight is a bit more than 2lbs 4 ounces (probably more like 2 lb 6oz.
He's more than 14 inches long now.

Talked to the NICU this afternoon and some promising information. Some of you may or may not know he'd been fighting some lung issues the last few days and they've taken xrays etc and his lungs are still looking good so they thought maybe there was an infection. So far the cultures have come back without anything growing. He's had a lot of need for suction last few days so they sent off cultures. Thankfully so far nothing is showing up but they said it still could but if it does it's probably a minor infection. They do have him on antibiotics because of a suspected infection. He had a bought of jaundice again last week and that can be caused by an infection. He's no longer under the lights but does have the IV back in his arm now.

They've lowered his oxygen again (this is a good thing less is better) and they're starting the transition to lower the need on the respirator. Perhaps in a few days he may be on CPAP instead of a respirator. Hopefully this time when they try it he can actually take it. Last time he was in really bad shape when they tried of course he was just a few days old last time. They said they never can tell when they're exactly ready other than less of a need for oxygen and lower levels on the respirator. 20% oxygen is usually when thye start trying the CPAP, we breathe about 21% so usually when they get that low they're ready to start using their lungs on their own.

They've got his feeds up to 18ccs x 8 x per day at this time. That's about 144 ccs (ml) per day. The nurse said they may up them a bit more tomorrow. They're trying to get him to gain a bit more weight but he's nearly to the normal (mid line) range for weight for his gestational age. They're currently adding more calories to the breast milk to help that process along. He's definately filling out nicely as you can see from the photos taken every few days.

I'll review a bit of the past few weeks since I just started the blog today.

Zachary Ian was born on 11/04/2008 around 2100hr.
He weighed 1lb 13 oz or 821 grams. He was 13.72 inches long.
He was measuring at 27 weeks gestational this is what they measure premies by. You always go by gestational age even after they get home so you have the proper developmental milestone age. Take the original due date which was Feb 1st and minus the weeks off between that and when he was born from his age so we know where developmentally he is at.

So by tomorrow he'll be 30 weeks gestational. Most babies would still be in the womb for another 8-10 weeks. So he's got a bit to go but he's looking cuter and cuter every day.

So far he's been under light therapy about 3 times for jaundice. He's been on antibotics 3-4 times which is pretty good considering some preemies are on them nearly all the time in the NICU. I finally got all the nurses/head nurse etc on board with the fresh breast milk. We take it daily so he can get my immune system. One of the first things to go when you freeze breast milk is the antibodies which a preemie needs desperately. Preemies don't get the mother's immune system in the womb so they rely on the breastmilk completely. I believe that's one reason he's not needed much for antibiotics which I'm thankful. I'm sure after a few weeks it'll be even better and he'll be sick even less.

I've still not been able to do kangaroo care (that's chest to chest holding for an hour). He's either been under the lights or had IV's or not been feeling well enough. However, we've been able to rub his back and he loves his back rubbed and to lay on his stomach. They say it helps preemies to have back massages so we've been focusing on that he does seem to breathe better and get relaxed while we're doing it. He even arches his back /tries to move on his side/stomach so we rub it if we stop. It's cute that even at this age they know what they like and will move so you can keep doing it lol.

The nurses say soon he'll be able to see black and white he already looks around a lot when you talk to him he's just a lot easier to touch etc while he's sleeping. He's got a great grip on his right hand it's very strong however his left is a bit weak. I definately didn't expect that difference. With my daughter both her hands were pretty strong of course she was born 2 weeks overdue.

Well that's all I can think of to update past and present.

Welcome to Zach's Blog

2008-11-24T13:24:00.000-06:00

Well I figure this is going to be easier than saying the same thing over and over to the many people tracking Zach's progress. We love all the prayers and thoughts as we do need them at this time, keeping up with all the emails is getting difficult while trying to rest and get better.

Remember we're always adding more photos to the flickr slideshow. So if you want to see the latest photos please click here: Zachary Slideshow on Flickr

Enjoy and feel free to email us if you'd like more info!

S