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
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Zach update 11-28-2008 (Turkey Day)
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
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
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Second Update for 11/25/2008
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
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
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Zachary Update 11-25-2008
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
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
Monday, November 24, 2008
Zach Update 11-24-2008
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.
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
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
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
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