One Month

Well, yesterday was Watson's one month birthday and marked our one month anniversary in the NICU. I never thought we would be here this long, but here we are. I'm definitely getting frustrated and antsy, but I know that things could be much worse. When I start to get down, I try to remind myself of all of the parents out there with children who are extremely sick with things that are incurable. I know that we are extremely lucky to have two healthy children. I just have to be patient and wait for him to mature on his own time.

The reason that we are still here in the NICU is the bradycardic/desaturation spells that he is having. They have finally decided that the spells are due to reflux and are now taking some precautions to help to minimize reflux like limiting the volume of his feedings that he takes as well as holding him upright after feedings and making sure that he burps. Initially, there wasn't much indication that he was refluxing, but lately he has had a few episodes where he refluxed out of his mouth and nose. It's so pitiful:( The spells requiring stimulation (basically his saturation drops for longer than 20 seconds and they have to pick him up or move him to get it back up) are the ones that they are worried about and what they are counting. He had gone 2 days earlier this week and we were told that if he kept it up for the 5 days that we would be discharged on Sunday. Of course I told myself not to get my hopes up, but it is hard not to. Then the next morning he had another bad reflux episode and had a "spell" requiring stimulation so we went back to day 0. It's disheartening to me because I know how common reflux is in babies, and it can take forever for them to outgrow it which is annoying for any parent, but especially one who is waiting for it to improve in order to be able to bring their baby home for the first time. I'll just keep hoping that every day he is a little more mature and hoping that it will continue to improve.

On a good note, Watson now weighs 6lbs 3ozs which is great. He is really starting to fill out and look like a full term baby...which he will officially be tomorrow!

I will try to continue to keep everyone posted even though I'm starting to feel like every post is like a broken record saying the same old thing. It's so hard to keep getting asked when we are coming home when really we have no idea. Even if we get to day 4 on the spell count with plans of discharge the next day, if he has a spell, we go back to square one. I think I won't tell anyone that we are going home until we are in the car on the way home from the hospital because I'm really paranoid of jinxing ourselves!

Wishing daddy a Happy Birthday! 8/18

I love his fuzzy hair after a bath

A semi-smile!

Turning 1 month old is very tiring! 8/23

Catching Up

Sorry again for the delay. Life is so hectic that I haven't been very good at keeping up with the blog.  I stayed at the hospital most of last week and was just completely exhausted. Last week was a little rough and I think part of it was hitting the 17 day mark.  Sophia went home from the NICU on day 17, and having that day come around and knowing that Watson would not be going home made me a little sad.  With Sophia, we had no idea how long her stay would be and initially we were told that most babies go home by there due date which freaked me out because that would have been 8 weeks! We were very lucky that her stay was so short, but this time around I think my expectations were more along the lines of Sophia's stay even though I knew it could definitely be longer, particularly because boys in general mature more slowly and have longer NICU stays. I had a time where I got emotional during Sophia's stay when I thought she would never eat enough to be able to go home, but within a few days, she was out.  I told myself that this time I wouldn't freak out as much, because I knew that everything would come in time and he would progress and eventually come home. But, of course, I didn't follow my own advice and started to get upset when Watson was not eating all of his feedings by mouth and was still requiring the NG tube.  And just like Sophia, within a couple of days of me freaking out, Watson started taking all of his feeds by mouth this weekend and as of Sunday night the NG tube is gone!!  He actually pulled it out himself, but they didn't put it back in because they were planning on taking it out on Monday anyway and he has been eating great ever since.  He continues to grow like a weed and as of last night he weighed 5lbs 10ozs! I'm pretty sure he is the biggest baby in the NICU and is trying to surpass the 6 lb mark before he goes home.

So, we have the eating thing down, but he continues to have "spells" where he drops his oxygen saturation and heart rate.  Most of these spells are very short and he recovers on his own with no intervention.  The only ones that they really are concerned about are ones that last longer than 20 seconds and require stimulation.  He has really only been having these requiring stimulation maybe once a day or so and he hasn't had any in the last 24 hours.  Once these are under control, he will need to have no spells requiring stimulation for several days (48-72hrs) and then will be ok to go home. Like the doctor and nurse practitioner have said, these small "spells" that resolve on their own are really nothing to worry about, and if you were to put monitors on all of the babies in the regular nursery, they would probably have them too. These spells are basically just an indication that his brain is not completely mature, but they are improving which is the important thing.  The spells are only frustrating because they just come so randomly and there isn't a good reason, and it means that we just don't have a good idea when he'll be able to come home.

Despite the spells and the uncertainty, I'm feeling much better this week.  I spent a lot of time at home this weekend with Nick and Sophia and slept in my own bed which was a big help.  Nick and I got some things done around the house and are trying to get things ready at home for Watson's arrival.  I have also been staying at home so far this week as well just to get to see Sophia and get some much needed rest, but I'll probably go and stay with Watson tomorrow and Thursday night.  I can't wait for the day where I can be in one place with both of my children and not have to choose between the two, because there is guilt either way.  I know this is temporary though and neither of them will even remember this in the future, so really, it's only me who this is traumatizing! Ha!

Here are some new pics with and without the NG tube!

 After mommy gave me a bath.

 Snoozing...his favorite thing to do

 No more tube! Yay!

 Please stop taking my picture mom.

 Filling out those cheeks.

Big boy!

Things are pretty much the same for Watson. He is continuing to work on eating, and he is getting better at it every day. They have started to reintroduce the bottle to him when I am not there to breastfeed. He is doing well with both, but he still gets tired. He usually eats really well at one feeding and then the next he is still worn out and doesn't eat as well. He'll need to get up to eating 80-100% of his feedings by mouth before they will take out his NG tube. I think right now he is only at 25%, but he is doing better every day. He is continuing to grow and has broken through the 5lb mark, last night weighing in at 5lbs 1oz. The other thing that they are monitoring are "spells" where his heart rate and oxygen levels drops. These are pretty infrequent for him, and usually only last for a second or two, but he has to go for 5 days with none of these spells before he can go home. He only had one yesterday, but that will buy us at least another five days. Hopefully they will stop soon.

Otherwise things are the same and we're trying to juggle spending time with him and Sophia. Sophia continues to love looking at Watson's pictures on our phones. Yesterday morning she was kissing his picture and even attempted to give him some of her milk! I can't wait until she can meet him in person...I think she's going to be a great big sister!

Look who's in a big boy crib!

Sleepovers!

I started back to work Monday, so I have been staying the night with Watson at the NICU and making visits during the day. It's not bad, particularly now that we have a nice big room, and I love being close to him all night. It's harder this time around since we have another child at home, but we are making it work. Yesterday I went home after work to see Sophia and came back up to the hospital after she went to bed. That is a little tiring though. Today Nick met me and we had a lunch date in Watson's room, and then for dinner, he picked up Sophia, and we had dinner near Vandy. It worked out well, because we got to spend time together and I got to see Sophia, but I didn't have to rush home and back. We've really been trying to keep Sophia in her normal routine. She has no idea what's going on, and when we bring home Watson it is going to be a total shock for her. She loves looking at his pictures on the iPhone, but I'm pretty sure that she doesn't understand that he's real!

Watson continues to do well. He is up to 39cc/feeding, and starting today, they want me to breastfeed more often. He has actually done really well with the breastfeeding, and the doctors would rather get this established rather than push the bottle too much so not to confuse him. They will now feed him his feeding through NG when I'm not breastfeeding and then supplement the ones that I am breastfeeding based on how long he nurses for. He has gained weight and tonight he weighed 4lbs 12ozs...almost back to his birth weight!

Last night they started weaning the temperature on his isolette and he has been maintaining his body temperature well, so this afternoon they popped the top. If he continues to maintain his temperature for 24hrs, they will probably try him in a regular crib tomorrow! Another step closer to coming home!

Overall, the news continues to be good, and he is just feeding and growing. We hope he'll be out of the NICU in a week or 2, but it all depends on his progress with his feedings. I'm sure he'll figure it out on his own time, and we'll be patient until then.

Sorry for the delay

I guess my keeping up with the blog has not been so good.  It's harder once I was discharged from the hospital because now I'm running back and forth from home to the NICU.  My mom was here all week and just left yesterday.  She was a gigantic help with cooking, cleaning, helping out with Sophia, and trekking to and from the hospital several times a day. Watson is doing great.  He was started on oral feeds and was taking them wonderfully, but now that they have increased his feeds so much, his is starting to tire out before finishing his whole feeding.  They put down an NG tube today to give him the portions of the feeding that he doesn't finish.  He is up to 31cc/feeding or just over an ounce.  He was also started on 10cc of Pedialyte per feeding today to help with hydration because his IV has come out and they have decided not to restart it for fluids.  This is something new that they are doing at the NICU to avoid IVs in babies who are only getting fluids and nothing else via their IV.  It is fine by me because I hate seeing those IVs in his little hands and the arm board looks so uncomfortable.  Also, now that he doesn't have the gigantic arm board for the IV, he can wear clothes!!

His bilirubin did end up getting a little above the comfort zone and he was on the bili lights for about a day and a half.  It is now down to an ok range, and they do not expect that they will have to put him back on them since he is now eating so much more. He has lost some weight and now weighs 4lbs 6ozs, which is not unexpected, but we hope the increase in feedings will get his weight trending in the right direction.

We also got moved to a new room in the NICU which is a corner room/suite!  It is soooo much nicer than the cramped room we were in before.  The nurse told me there had to be some perks for being an employee there!  It's really nice because I'll be going back to work this week like I did for Sophia, so I'll be up in the NICU pumping several times a day and will probably spend the night there most nights since I'll have to be at the hospital by 8am anyway.  I'm hoping that I'll only be back working for a week or 2, but it is a good way to save up my maternity leave days so that I can use them when he is home and needs me 24/7.

I'll try to be better about updating (hopefully daily) so that I won't have so much to say!  Here are some pics from the last few days!

 Holding my boy!

 Finally opening his eyes

 Our family minus 1

 My first time feeding him

 Getting a suntan!

 Sweet boy!

Moving up...or down

Today was another great day for our little guy! My mom and I arrived at the NICU this afternoon about 3:30, and when we got there, we were told that they had just moved Watson to the step down NICU.  This was awesome news, but somewhat unexpected, as we were not told earlier in the day that he was being considered for a move.  The NICU that he is in now is the least critical for babies who are very stable.  They have their own room and it makes visits a  little easier and more private.  The parents also have the option of staying the night with their babies as well.  I know some of the move was in part due to the fact that they needed the space in the NICU he was in for sicker, incoming babies, but it is still a sign that he is doing very well.

Today, they also started feeding Watson through his feeding tube.  They won't attempt to feed him by mouth until he is closer to 34 weeks gestation, but this is a great way to get his gut moving.  I am pumping and providing breastmilk which they have started feeding him 3cc/feeding every 3hr, which is an extremely small amount, but they will increase it in small amounts daily until he reaches a goal which is based on his weight.  As he reaches his goal, they will be able to just rely on his oral feedings and then they will be able to taper off and eventually discontinue the amount of IV fluids he is getting.

This morning, his bilirubin was checked and was in the normal range, but they will continue to monitor it and will put him on the bili lights if it gets too high.  This is a common and almost expected issue for all preemies and they will just keep an eye on it this first week.

Here are a few pics from today.

 Looking better since I got my hair washed!

Rocking with Mom Mom