I tried posting (twice) yesterday, but the computer kept eating my posts. Oh well.
Yesterday, Jaxon was upped to 8 bottle feeds a day - which means that they try all by bottle and gavage whatever he doesn't nipple. I had decided that, with each day and each milestone, I sort of feel like we're contestants on a baby version of Survivor or something. Each day, there's been a new challenge which Jax has done an amazing job of meeting head on and overcoming. We were so sure that the 8 bottle thing was the last challenge and started getting excited this morning when I realized that he had done 5 of the 8 required bottles and drank more than 50% (usually closer to 65%) of each of them. A couple of them he's drank 100% of the 56 mL. The other night, between bottle and his first breastfeeding attempt, he drank 70 mL! Today, the occupational therapist was feeding him when I got to the hospital and she said something about how he had just done bottle 1 of the 8. I asked her what she meant, since he'd been doing 65% or more by nipple for the last 24 hours and he should have been on bottle 7 when I got there.
They've changed the percentage that he needs to drink to 100%. Heart, meet floor.
And so, the bottle count is back at 1. Chances are good that he'll drink 100% of his next bottle as well. These requirements, though, make me weary of more breastfeeding attempts. I've started breastfeeding at least one of his feeds a day. He's done fairly well most of the time, especially considering that it's harder for him to get the mLs by breastfeeding. Thing is, I'd rather not tire him out that way, find out he hasn't gotten the required 56 mL, which means he has to do the rest by bottle and have him not be able to get the 56 because of being tired. We already know that when he comes home, he won't be breastfeeding exclusively because of the effort that it takes, the nurses have said it could take a month or more before he's strong enough to breastfeed at all feeds.
A new baby was brought into the NICU today and need to be in the isolation room, and so Jax and his 2 roommates were moved into the "normal" nursery. The plus side is that now, any family that wants to visit him when we're not there can at least see him through the window. Downside is that it's a lot noisier in there, with the nurses station right on the other side of the wall and there is very little privacy. Not that there was a whole lot where he was before, in the main room of the NICU or in the little room with his roommates, but this is...very open and has constant traffic through it.
Chances are good that we only have to deal with it for a couple days, the babies that were moved into there are the ones that the doctor(s) say will go home in the next couple days. That's a good sign, at least.
I did all the "teaching" with the nurse today and they were going to do Jaxon's hearing test and the first part of the hepatitis vaccine. It's just to do the car seat and some other test that has a three letter name but I don't remember the name and then he's just waiting to come home!
I hate waiting.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
5!
Jax is getting the hang of the whole suck, swallow, breathe thing. He's done awesome with his bottles in the last 24 hours. So awesome, in fact, that they are upping his bottle feeds to 5 tomorrow. Yahoo!!!! We're that much closer to HOME!!!!
The feeding tube has moved again. Not because the nurses decide that it's a good idea. The first time it was moved from his mouth to his nose was because Jax decided to pull it out. Josh and I just assumed that it was because they'd started feeding him bottles and not having the tube there helped him be able to suck better. Not so. Jaxon had hooked his hand in it and pulled it out. So it was moved to his nose, because there it's harder for them to pull out. Riiiiight. This afternoon when I got to the hospital, the nurse told me that the feeding tube was through the other nostril because Jax had pulled it out again. Now, there is no space for a little finger to hook in there and pull it out. Mostly because it is taped all the way to his nose.
Hopefully, they'll just decide to get rid of the feeding tube completely...that would be awesome. Fingers crossed that we do well with nippling 5 bottles tomorrow!
Tub bath tonight! We didn't get to do one last week and his nurse tonight said we could probably do one tonight before the 10pm feeding. It could be an adventure, knowing how Jax feels about baths.
The feeding tube has moved again. Not because the nurses decide that it's a good idea. The first time it was moved from his mouth to his nose was because Jax decided to pull it out. Josh and I just assumed that it was because they'd started feeding him bottles and not having the tube there helped him be able to suck better. Not so. Jaxon had hooked his hand in it and pulled it out. So it was moved to his nose, because there it's harder for them to pull out. Riiiiight. This afternoon when I got to the hospital, the nurse told me that the feeding tube was through the other nostril because Jax had pulled it out again. Now, there is no space for a little finger to hook in there and pull it out. Mostly because it is taped all the way to his nose.
Hopefully, they'll just decide to get rid of the feeding tube completely...that would be awesome. Fingers crossed that we do well with nippling 5 bottles tomorrow!
Tub bath tonight! We didn't get to do one last week and his nurse tonight said we could probably do one tonight before the 10pm feeding. It could be an adventure, knowing how Jax feels about baths.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Day 9 of NICU
Jaxon is making strides every day.
He's been doing a little better with his feeds through a bottle. His progress is sort of all over the place though on that one. This morning he nippled 17 mL and this afternoon he did 30. Tonight, however, we decided to try it again and hope for another good feed. He did 12. It was hard to keep him awake for it though and so the rest went through the feeding tube. Talking to a nurse today, I sorted out some of the feeding questions that I had. It was our belief that he had to FINISH all 50 mL of each of the 3 bottles before they upped the number of bottle feeds to 5 and then to 8. According to her, as long as he nipples at least 50% of the 3 bottles, they'll up his bottle feeds. That made us feel a little better, because for him to completely drink those 3 bottles right now seems like a lot of work. Well...and like Josh says....we can't make him drink the 50 mL if he's not hungry for it. At least we're getting somewhere with the suck, swallow, breathe thing. It makes the light at the end of the tunnel seem not so far off.
Today, when I arrived at the hospital, I discovered that he's been moved out of his "plastic box" into a crib. Yesterday, they had started weaning him out of the isolette, but the nurse had told me that it would probably take 2 days, instead of one since he was still working on the bottle feeding thing too. When they started weaning him out of the isolette, that also meant that he got to wear clothes (my students were relieved to find out that he no longer has to lay around naked all day where people can see him).
He's been doing a little better with his feeds through a bottle. His progress is sort of all over the place though on that one. This morning he nippled 17 mL and this afternoon he did 30. Tonight, however, we decided to try it again and hope for another good feed. He did 12. It was hard to keep him awake for it though and so the rest went through the feeding tube. Talking to a nurse today, I sorted out some of the feeding questions that I had. It was our belief that he had to FINISH all 50 mL of each of the 3 bottles before they upped the number of bottle feeds to 5 and then to 8. According to her, as long as he nipples at least 50% of the 3 bottles, they'll up his bottle feeds. That made us feel a little better, because for him to completely drink those 3 bottles right now seems like a lot of work. Well...and like Josh says....we can't make him drink the 50 mL if he's not hungry for it. At least we're getting somewhere with the suck, swallow, breathe thing. It makes the light at the end of the tunnel seem not so far off.Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Happy Dance
Jax has come so far in the last 6 days. It's crazy how resilient the little guy is!
Sometime Sunday night, they took him off the nasal canulla. He's done awesome without it. He's also done suntanning, no more jaundice!
We were told that once Jax gets to 50 mL on his feedings, they'll take out the IV. It just so happens to work out that tonight at his 7:00 feeding, he will be at 50 mL and his IV will probably come out tonight after he's finished off his TPN and lipids doses. It'll be so nice when his head is nearly clear of all tubes! They were going to leave the needle in his head, but the IV is starting to go bad, so they will be taking it completely out. I'm so excited to go back to the hospital tonight and for that needle to be gone! Last night we gave him his first bottle! He did so well, he drank half before he got tired out which was pretty good for his first attempt. Who would have thought that we'd be celebrating being able to suck on a bottle?
They've moved his feeding tube from his mouth to his nose. For now, he'll only do 3 bottle feeds in a day until the occupational therapist ups it to every other feeding. It's crazy to me that there's a therapist to sort out how to teach a baby to suck at a bottle. I totally understand it, but it's still a little strange sounding to me.
Take one last look at that IV on his head....it will be missing from pictures from now on!!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sunday update
Jaxon is doing well, he's a strong little guy! (And adorable...)
They've turned down the amount of air that goes through his nasal canulla from 4 liters to 1 liter. He's still doing all of his breathing on his own, they just need to keep that pressure in his lungs as a precaution. Soon he'll be rid of that completely. And we will do a happy dance.
He's still under the bili lights, but should be done with those soon. (I will miss seeing him suntanning with his sunglasses, but I will be glad that he's over the jaundice.)
Jax is taking his feedings through the feeding tube. They'd started him off at 2 mL at a time and now he's up to 8. He won't start feeding with a bottle until he's gotten rid of the nasal canulla.
His weight is going up ~ I don't speak in grams like the nurses do, so I'm not sure how much he's gained. I hate the metric system.
The nurses we've met are nothing short of amazing and awesome. (Most of them anyways...) They've been very helpful with answering our questions and letting be as involved as we can possibly be. It's nice to be able to feel like you're doing something more for him rather than just holding him. I'm not complaining about the cuddling part, but I don't like that all we can do is hold him and bring in what I've pumped for his feedings. I hope, when this is all over, we can find a way to show those nurses exactly how grateful we are for the work they do to take care of Jax as well as the other tiny babies.
Tonight, we are going back to do some kangaroo care (skin to skin cuddling. It's lovely.) AND....we get to give him a bath. :) Yay! Last night Joshua changed his first diaper EVER and today he got to help with the 4:00 feeding. (Makes it sound like we were visiting the zoo or something.)
They've turned down the amount of air that goes through his nasal canulla from 4 liters to 1 liter. He's still doing all of his breathing on his own, they just need to keep that pressure in his lungs as a precaution. Soon he'll be rid of that completely. And we will do a happy dance.
He's still under the bili lights, but should be done with those soon. (I will miss seeing him suntanning with his sunglasses, but I will be glad that he's over the jaundice.)
Jax is taking his feedings through the feeding tube. They'd started him off at 2 mL at a time and now he's up to 8. He won't start feeding with a bottle until he's gotten rid of the nasal canulla.
His weight is going up ~ I don't speak in grams like the nurses do, so I'm not sure how much he's gained. I hate the metric system.
The nurses we've met are nothing short of amazing and awesome. (Most of them anyways...) They've been very helpful with answering our questions and letting be as involved as we can possibly be. It's nice to be able to feel like you're doing something more for him rather than just holding him. I'm not complaining about the cuddling part, but I don't like that all we can do is hold him and bring in what I've pumped for his feedings. I hope, when this is all over, we can find a way to show those nurses exactly how grateful we are for the work they do to take care of Jax as well as the other tiny babies.
Tonight, we are going back to do some kangaroo care (skin to skin cuddling. It's lovely.) AND....we get to give him a bath. :) Yay! Last night Joshua changed his first diaper EVER and today he got to help with the 4:00 feeding. (Makes it sound like we were visiting the zoo or something.)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Check ME out! :)
How do ya like my shades? Jax is a little jaundiced so he was catching a tan when we stopped by to visit on Friday night. (This is already improving, so hopefully by Monday he'll be not yellow.)
3:00 am.....we were just a little tired, but who needed sleep at that point!?!?! So technically, this is our first family picture. 
Just nappin....
Not so yellow, and not so swollen :) Starting to look like a "normal" baby. Yay! Now we just have to get rid of those icky tubes. Especially that IV in the head.
Jax's first bath....more so just his hair being washed....less than 24 hours old and he needs his hair styled.
Just nappin....
Not so yellow, and not so swollen :) Starting to look like a "normal" baby. Yay! Now we just have to get rid of those icky tubes. Especially that IV in the head.
The adventure began...
Well, Jaxon has arrived and did he ever make an interesting and unexpected entrance to this world!
Late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, I started to wonder if my water was leaking (don't ask me why I thought it was just leaking, but I thought that could happen. Guess it can't.) That was at either 2:14 am or 2:47 am....all I know is it was 2 something and there was a 4 in there somewhere. I didn't mention anything to Josh because I was pretty sure that if I was leaking amniotic fluid, that a trip to the doctor could fix it. Plus, I didn't think it was a big deal and didn't want to worry him with something that, like I said, thought could be patched up ;) When I got to preschool, I called the hospital to talk to a neonatal nurse just to see if what I thought was happening was even possible. While I waited for her to call me back, I called Josh to see if he'd be able to bring our taxes to the tax guy just in case I ended up with an appointment that overlapped. I am pretty sure that this was the last sane moment in the day.
The nurse called back around 10 and I asked her my question and she got kind of frantic and said she'd make an appointment with my doctor and call me right back. And then she hung up on me. Should have taken that as a bad sign, I guess. By the time she called me back, it was a little after 11 and she told me that I needed to come in the ER entrance and go up to the birthing center to be hooked up to some machines for outpatient observation. So I call Josh and tell him that I will be dropping off the tax stuff for him to deliver but since my day of preschool is almost over, it'll be a short bit.
My parents happened to call while I was checking into the hospital and when I mentioned where I was they came down to keep me company. I figured I'd be there a couple hours and then home....yeah right! They hooked me up to some monitors to check the baby's heart rate and ran some tests to see if I really was leaking amniotic fluid. Josh happened to show up at 1, just to check things out and see if we knew anything yet ~ he happened to show up just as the midwife was coming into to give me the results. My water had broken, and we had two options: wait it out and risk infection or induce me that day. She had already consulted with the other 2 midwives and they had decided that induction was best since my water had been broken for so long and that I'd be moved into another room and hooked up to IVs for antibiotics. Our helpful nurse asked Josh if he would go home and get the bag that we had packed....there was no bag! We thought we had 5.5 weeks! She also mentioned a car seat ~ which was at home, sitting in the closet in the baby's room. Again....that whole 5 weeks thing.
They moved me to a private room and Josh went to run errands and tell work that he wouldn't be back, while we all tried to wrap our heads around the situation. We started making the necessary phone calls and trying to sort out things while we waited. My parents helped us track down a camera (both of ours had dead batteries because we thought we had a little time yet to prepare), Josh went home and grabbed some random clothes to get us through the day.
They started me on antibiotics and at 3 started to give me pitocin. I'd been having contractions since I got to the hospital, according to the monitors, I just couldn't feel anything. I didn't really feel anything til 7pm and even then what I felt wasn't any worse than the Braxton Hicks that I'd had while I was pregnant. I didn't really feel any contractions until 9:30. They were pretty bad at 10:30 and I wasn't very conversational (ask Josh!). I had Nubane at 10:30 and 12:15 ~ that was lovely. It didn't help the pain, but I did feel drunk and got to sleep a little bit.
Jaxon Scott was born at 12:55 a.m. and weighed 5 lbs. 6 oz. He's 19.75 inches long with a full head of black hair. :) He is in the NICU since he was premature and his lungs aren't quite developed yet. On Wednesday morning, he was given surfectant to keep his lungs from sticking together and it seems to be helping. He was on a CPAP machine to keep pressure in his lungs, but it had been taken off when we got to the hospital to visit last night ~ now he just has the nasal tube and is breathing room air with a little bit of pressure. He's a little jaundiced, so he's been put under bili lights and given some awesome sunglasses while he catches a tan. He's doing remarkably well, and best case scenario could be home by Wednesday. Worst case, he wouldn't get home until his due date ~ May 22nd.
Well....we're headed back to the hospital to cuddle Jax! Thank you though, to all our friends and family that jumped into action when we said we were going to be having the baby early! We are so grateful for all the amazing people in our lives :)
Late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, I started to wonder if my water was leaking (don't ask me why I thought it was just leaking, but I thought that could happen. Guess it can't.) That was at either 2:14 am or 2:47 am....all I know is it was 2 something and there was a 4 in there somewhere. I didn't mention anything to Josh because I was pretty sure that if I was leaking amniotic fluid, that a trip to the doctor could fix it. Plus, I didn't think it was a big deal and didn't want to worry him with something that, like I said, thought could be patched up ;) When I got to preschool, I called the hospital to talk to a neonatal nurse just to see if what I thought was happening was even possible. While I waited for her to call me back, I called Josh to see if he'd be able to bring our taxes to the tax guy just in case I ended up with an appointment that overlapped. I am pretty sure that this was the last sane moment in the day.
The nurse called back around 10 and I asked her my question and she got kind of frantic and said she'd make an appointment with my doctor and call me right back. And then she hung up on me. Should have taken that as a bad sign, I guess. By the time she called me back, it was a little after 11 and she told me that I needed to come in the ER entrance and go up to the birthing center to be hooked up to some machines for outpatient observation. So I call Josh and tell him that I will be dropping off the tax stuff for him to deliver but since my day of preschool is almost over, it'll be a short bit.
My parents happened to call while I was checking into the hospital and when I mentioned where I was they came down to keep me company. I figured I'd be there a couple hours and then home....yeah right! They hooked me up to some monitors to check the baby's heart rate and ran some tests to see if I really was leaking amniotic fluid. Josh happened to show up at 1, just to check things out and see if we knew anything yet ~ he happened to show up just as the midwife was coming into to give me the results. My water had broken, and we had two options: wait it out and risk infection or induce me that day. She had already consulted with the other 2 midwives and they had decided that induction was best since my water had been broken for so long and that I'd be moved into another room and hooked up to IVs for antibiotics. Our helpful nurse asked Josh if he would go home and get the bag that we had packed....there was no bag! We thought we had 5.5 weeks! She also mentioned a car seat ~ which was at home, sitting in the closet in the baby's room. Again....that whole 5 weeks thing.
They moved me to a private room and Josh went to run errands and tell work that he wouldn't be back, while we all tried to wrap our heads around the situation. We started making the necessary phone calls and trying to sort out things while we waited. My parents helped us track down a camera (both of ours had dead batteries because we thought we had a little time yet to prepare), Josh went home and grabbed some random clothes to get us through the day.
They started me on antibiotics and at 3 started to give me pitocin. I'd been having contractions since I got to the hospital, according to the monitors, I just couldn't feel anything. I didn't really feel anything til 7pm and even then what I felt wasn't any worse than the Braxton Hicks that I'd had while I was pregnant. I didn't really feel any contractions until 9:30. They were pretty bad at 10:30 and I wasn't very conversational (ask Josh!). I had Nubane at 10:30 and 12:15 ~ that was lovely. It didn't help the pain, but I did feel drunk and got to sleep a little bit.
Jaxon Scott was born at 12:55 a.m. and weighed 5 lbs. 6 oz. He's 19.75 inches long with a full head of black hair. :) He is in the NICU since he was premature and his lungs aren't quite developed yet. On Wednesday morning, he was given surfectant to keep his lungs from sticking together and it seems to be helping. He was on a CPAP machine to keep pressure in his lungs, but it had been taken off when we got to the hospital to visit last night ~ now he just has the nasal tube and is breathing room air with a little bit of pressure. He's a little jaundiced, so he's been put under bili lights and given some awesome sunglasses while he catches a tan. He's doing remarkably well, and best case scenario could be home by Wednesday. Worst case, he wouldn't get home until his due date ~ May 22nd.
Well....we're headed back to the hospital to cuddle Jax! Thank you though, to all our friends and family that jumped into action when we said we were going to be having the baby early! We are so grateful for all the amazing people in our lives :)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Discussions and Doctors Appointments
It's only Tuesday and it's already been a good and interesting week.
These are just a FEW of the questions discussed yesterday afternoon at preschool with 4 and 5 year olds.
*Does the baby have a flashlight in there so they can see what they're doing?
*What kind of clothes do you think your baby will be wearing once it's born? (They were NOT impressed when I explained babies are born naked)
*How do you feed the baby now? (This led to an interesting discussion about where belly buttons comes from. After this question, I was expecting to be asked if the baby goes to the bathroom now)
*How did the water that the baby swims in get in there? Did you drink it all? Does that mean that babies can swim?
*Who will teach the baby how to laugh?
We also had to discuss blood and blood drives because there was a flyer up for a blood drive that the church is holding in May. Then we covered how they take the blood out of your arm, why they keep it, how badly you have to be hurt to get blood that's been donated, and the different "flavors" of blood. Flavor was the best word I could think of to explain that blood has types.
Today was my last monthly appointment. I am up 20 pounds since the beginning of this whole adventure ~ that sounds like a huge number and yet not really at the same time, oh well. There was no protesting today when the doctor measured the baby's heart rate, she said that it must have been nap time. She also asked when the last day of school was, and when I told her she said they won't purposely start labor until after then. This leads me to believe that the baby still measures big, but I suppose we'll wait and see. I forgot to ask then if we'll be doing another ultrasound at the beginning of May. My next appointment is the 21st and then after that we'll be at the once a week point.
These are just a FEW of the questions discussed yesterday afternoon at preschool with 4 and 5 year olds.
*Does the baby have a flashlight in there so they can see what they're doing?
*What kind of clothes do you think your baby will be wearing once it's born? (They were NOT impressed when I explained babies are born naked)
*How do you feed the baby now? (This led to an interesting discussion about where belly buttons comes from. After this question, I was expecting to be asked if the baby goes to the bathroom now)
*How did the water that the baby swims in get in there? Did you drink it all? Does that mean that babies can swim?
*Who will teach the baby how to laugh?
We also had to discuss blood and blood drives because there was a flyer up for a blood drive that the church is holding in May. Then we covered how they take the blood out of your arm, why they keep it, how badly you have to be hurt to get blood that's been donated, and the different "flavors" of blood. Flavor was the best word I could think of to explain that blood has types.
Today was my last monthly appointment. I am up 20 pounds since the beginning of this whole adventure ~ that sounds like a huge number and yet not really at the same time, oh well. There was no protesting today when the doctor measured the baby's heart rate, she said that it must have been nap time. She also asked when the last day of school was, and when I told her she said they won't purposely start labor until after then. This leads me to believe that the baby still measures big, but I suppose we'll wait and see. I forgot to ask then if we'll be doing another ultrasound at the beginning of May. My next appointment is the 21st and then after that we'll be at the once a week point.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Class #1
Tonight we started childbirth classes at Innovis. Class tonight was 3 hours long to sort of make up for the fact that we didn't have class last week. It wasn't too bad... We jumped right into the whole thing with a video, which wasn't as graphic as I expected. I'm pretty sure A Baby Story on TLC is just as graphic at times.
There are about 10 other couples in our class, most of them have June due dates, though there are a few that are May like us. There's one due date that's the same as ours.
Next week, if it's not too crazy up there, we will tour the birthing unit. Josh will prefer that I'm sure to the relaxation stuff we worked on tonight. At least we entertained each other and sort of learned something.
Next up, I have a class about breastfeeding on Monday night, a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and then we'll have class again on Thursday. We're in the downhill slide.....
There are about 10 other couples in our class, most of them have June due dates, though there are a few that are May like us. There's one due date that's the same as ours.
Next week, if it's not too crazy up there, we will tour the birthing unit. Josh will prefer that I'm sure to the relaxation stuff we worked on tonight. At least we entertained each other and sort of learned something.
Next up, I have a class about breastfeeding on Monday night, a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and then we'll have class again on Thursday. We're in the downhill slide.....
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