New Adventures

i feel like i need to put some sort of disclaimer on this post...
it may be a little scatter brained because the information that i am about to share is still pretty new to me and I'm not sure how to put it all in words. if i were a writer it may flow and sound better. so here goes.

little guy has be going to speech therapy for over a year now. as some of you know we have struggled with some developmental delays with him due to his pre-maturity. all fixable though right. well a year later, he is speaking better than the year before but not nearly as well as a three year old should. when we first started speech therapy i mentioned to the therapists about having his ears checked for hearing loss. then a week or two would pass and i would forget to follow up and here we are a year later and I'm asking the same question and the therapist gets me connected with an audiologist to test his hearing.

now if you know little guy you know that having him sit still for anything is a challenge. at the beginning of October was his first test. he did so well. and by well i mean that he was cooperated very well and seemed to have a good time. the audiologist that he saw was great. once all the testing was over she let me know that it was somewhat inconclusive because it seemed like he had negative pressure in his ears. (fluid, possibly) we went to see the doc that day and he said that his ears were clear. we were then set up with the audiologist to have his ears checked again the next month. again little guy was wonderful. the did such a good job, i was just amazed at how well he was doing paying attention. when the testing was over she went over the results and they weren't what we wanted to hear. little guy has permanent nerve damage in both ears. it slopes from moderate to severe. meaning that he can't hear high pitch noises like constants. so if you ever have the privilege to having a conversation with him he talks in a lot of vowels and sounds. it is pretty amazing that we have been able to understand him so far. i feel blessed with the little amount we do have with communication. basically he would need hearing aids for the rest of his life.

we had lots of questions about all of this and wanted answers. my husband put it really well that everything with little guy has been fixes in his life, nothing permanent, so we were struggling with the permanency of all of this.

how? why?
well how...it could be a number of things, all of which he had. early birth and low birth weight (you may remember he was 2lbs 14oz), ventilator, photo therapy lights, antibiotics, blood transfusion.

after finding out this, i called my hubby to let him know. he immediately wanted to meet with the audiologist (which she said he could do). i just don't think that she was prepared for him to ask her to do all the same tests that she did on little guy. she was great and did them on him to show him what was going on. then she explained all of little guys results. the next day we had a apt with his doc to find out what he recommended. he sent us to an ENT who basically let us know that same thing that the audiologist did. that he need to get hearing aids and that he needed to get them ASAP. he recommended the same place that the audiologist did for getting them.

that brings us to yesterday when we had an apt with another audiologist who re-tested little guy, just to make sure and came up with the same results (again he did so well and cooperated and my husband was able to be there for this apt and he got to see just how well he does) and fitted him with the hearing aids. of course they are kid friendly so she wanted us to pick something cool and fun. little guys still wasn't sure what was going so my husband decided that since he likes tigger the molds that go in his ear would be black and orange and the the aid that goes around his ear is going to be black and silver. he's going to have tigger ears. :) (he love tigger and I'd say that was pretty kid friendly) hopefully the next time he needs them he can have a opinion in choosing them and deciding what the wants and likes.

so that was a lot of information to put out there. being a detailed person i hope i covered all of them. i can tend to go over board with details so i also hope i covered everything.

i was explaining all of this to someone and say that even though this was permanent that with medical breakthroughs maybe one day there will be another fix for this, a cure. and my husband reminded me to leave room for God. as humans we sometime forget to leave room for God to work. He can and He will. it may be to heal little guy or the hearing aids may be His form of healing, our answers to his speech delay. i know that He has great, wonderful and amazing things in store for little guy. this new adventure is going to stretch us for sure.

NICU 07 Party

this weekend we went to the NICU party for all the babies born in '07. it was great to see the nurses and doctors that took care of my little guy while he was there. these are pics that one of the nurses took while we were there. she took quite a liking to our little guy and we really appreciated her and all that she did for him.

look at those eyes

and here we all are. it was so hot in that gym. ugh!!!

Big News

well i just wanted to let everyone know that baby boy is coming home. we are going to stay in a room in the NICU tomorrow night that they have for parents to have a first night with their baby before they actually take them home. that way if we have any last minute questions we can ask them and if we need anything they are there to help, but for the most part we are on our own. so tomorrow night we do that and then on friday morning he comes home. we are so excited and maybe a little nervous too because he is so little still. last night he weighed 4lbs 9.6oz. thanks to everyone for your prayer and support we really appreciate it and ask that you continue to pray because the excitement and journey has just begun.

Baby News

so it's been awhile since i've put an update on how baby boy is doing. he's really good. he is now 4lbs 7.6oz. he's taking all of his feedings by bottle or nursing. that's right he's caught on the nursing thing. and today they put him in a crib. we are very excited and hope that he continues to do well. we are thinking that he will be coming home on thursday but it could be before that or even after. there are still a couple more things to have done. thanks for all your prayer and support.

Baby News

so today when i got to the hospital to see him he had a iv in his arm (which i knew that they were doing blood work) but he was going to need a blood transfusion because his blood count was low. the nurse let me know that the procedure was normal for preemies because they use up their blood cells to grow and eat and all. so at 430 he had the transfusion and it lasted for 4 hours. he missed a meal because of it so when we went there tonight he was not a happy camper. he was more then happy to get his food. we decided to give it to him through the tube since he had a long, hard day. tomorrow at noon we will try a bottle and then he gets his bath tomorrow night. he was so sweet tonight. he looked so different and just happy that he was getting food. he wasn't really smiling but he just had this look on his face like he was happy. it was cute.

New Pics

here are some of my favorite pictures of my little guy. here he is before he was in clothes.

and of couse here he is sleeping and he's always so peaceful and perfect when he's sleeping.

this one is of baby boy holding his daddy's finger. i just love it.

and here he is wearing a hat that our neighbor made for him. he wasn't very happy that we put it on him because he was ready to eat. as you can see he was chowing down on his hands.

Yeah For Baby!

he made it to 4lbs last night.

we are very excited.

keep praying though because he's struggling with the bottle thing.

Less Than 4oz To Go

that's right....as of last night little guy was 3lbs 12.5 oz. he only has 3.5 ozs to go before he is 4 lbs. well that might not be exactly right because i don't know how many grams are in an oz but still less than 4 ozs to go. we are very excited. i got to attempt a bottle with him yesterday when we went to see him in the morning and then i got to again today and then the nurse finished and got the whole oz in him. that's all he's getting at every feeding is one ounce. we go and see him tonight and he gets weighed again so we are thinking big thoughts. :)

Baby News

so little guy is now 3lbs 9.4 oz. they are also attempting a bottle with him once a day. he's doing okay. he had the sucking down but he only swallows every 3rd time or so. they did increase his milk amount to 1 oz though so that's good. we were blessed last night to have the lactation consultant as his nurse so we were able to have some breast feeding questions answered. she was really great and we were so thrilled to have her with him.

Steps Foward and Steps Back

last night at weigh in baby boy was 3lbs 8oz. he's half way to 4lbs. while we were there he wasn't very happy and he had some spells where he stopped breathing. when we asked the nurse how many he had had, he said that he had about 6 that were recorded. (he was taken off the medication at the beginning of the week too.) so when we got there today to see him he was swaddled up and sleeping which made my heart happy and once i spoke with the nurse she let me know that they were putting him back on the medication that helps him to breath because he had way to many episodes. we know that the meds are the best for him and he needs then because he is still a preemie even though he is growing but be in prayer for him because we want him to be better in all areas, especially the breathing one. pray for me and m- too because it's really hard on us and we just need to be better at supporting each other and not getting frustrated with one another.

Big Boy

so last night i didn't get a chance to post sawyer's weight from his weigh in. he made it to 3lbs 5oz. we were very excited. but even bigger news is that tonight at weigh in he was 3lbs 7.2oz. aunt amanda, my sister-in-law, went with me and we were so thrilled. the nurse even weighed him again to see if it was right and it was. she said it could be a difference in scales and if he looses tomorrow then that may be it but i like to think that he actually did gain that much and that tomorrow he could be 3.8 or even 3.9. smiles all around.

Baby Update

so it's been a while since my last post but i wanted to let everyone know what was going on.
sawyer is doing very well. he's now 3 lbs 4.3 oz and on saturday when we went to see him he was in clothes. that means that he isn't depending on the incubator to keep him warm, he can do it himself. yeah!!! he has another weigh in tonight so we are hoping for 3lbs 5 oz, obviously. now we need to get him to 4 lbs, he needs to take a bottle for every feeding, and then they will move him to a crib and see how he does. then he comes home.

as for me...doing better. still sore, and they YI rash looking thing is better. i have two more pills to take on wed and sat and then hopefully it till be all gone.

Growing

just a quick post to let everyone know that last night at weigh-in sawyer weighed 2 lbs 15.8oz. we were so excited. we are going back tonight and we are hoping for a 3lb baby.

Highly Emotional

i'm not to sure i understand post pregnancy emotions. but they may not have been meant to understand and are terribly ridiculous. i have pretty good days for the most part considering my little boy can't come home yet. which brings me to my yesterday and my emotional state.

i've been battling an itch around my c-section incision, which just looked like a reaction to the tape over the stitches or quite possibly an itch from the hair growing back. then this irritation turned into red bumps and on sunday night they were under my arms and by monday on certain spots on my arms and now today on my back. the hits keep coming.

yesterday i called the doctor, who is amazing btw, and they worked me in, despite the fact that they had to resch. 8 of their morning patients to the afternoon because he had 2 emergency c-sections. i waited for three hours and he told me it was a yeast infection. let me say i am glad that i went because everyone else that i talked to was telling me it was a heat rash. if i would have waited longer my whole body could have been covered in it, even though it seems like my whole body is.

now for some good news on baby. he is now at 2 lbs 14.4 oz. they are having to feed him his 22cc's over a one hour period (still on a feeding tube) because of some spit up spells that he was having. his last spit up spell was 7:15pm on sunday night and so far he hasn't spit up again since. he had some blood work drawn today because he was forgetting to breath, which we've been told preemie do, and they all come back negative but they gave him a med with his feedings to help that. it's basically caffeine. we are going back tonight to see him and hoping for an increase in weight gain.

please continue to pray for sawyer and definitely for me as i live the day with itching. he didn't give me that pill for a yeast infection but it's 5 pills at 150mg that i take every 3 days for the next 14 days. thursday morning, when i can take my next one, can't get here soon enough.

Sawyer Steps

first bottle

good news coming you way. last night when they weighted him he was 2 pounds 13.2 ounces. he was 2 lbs 11.4 oz the night before so we were super dupper excited about the weight gain.


eskimo kisses

today when we went to see him durning the morning the nurse was just getting him out of his incubator and she had a bottle. she said that she wanted to see if he would take it. she thinks that every baby should get at least one chance a day to take a bottle. it doesn't mean that he will get a bottle every time that they feed him though.


looking right into the camera

after she fed him she said that i could hold him. of course i will take every oppourtunity to hold him. then michael came in and asked about holding him and she said that he could (he hadn't held him yet) he was letting mommy do all the holding.


daddy holding him for the first time

so here is a picture of daddy holding him for the first time. it was so cute to see them together.

Bath Time

yesterday baby sawyer got his first bath.
i was so excited for this time. after we got him out of the incubator and got his diaper off and all his wires we started the process.

we filled up a little pink bucket with some warm water and got some johnson and johnson baby wash and some soft wash cloths. the nurse told me to start with his face and to wash his eyes from the inside out. and i also washed his mouth. she also said that he probably wouldn't like his little face being washed, and he didn't. until i got to his ears. he loved that and just stopped fussing and watched me.

then she squeezed water on his body and some soap and i started to clean his body. he wasn't happy about this either. i washed his whole body and arms and legs and hands and feet and that's when it happened again. i got to his feet and he got real quiet and i could tell that he liked his feet being washed. then we rinsed him off and wrapped him in a blanket, patting him dry and i got to hold him over the little pink tub while the nurse washed his hair with the little brush (as shown in pic) and of course hie just loved that too. he laid there looking around and was so sweet. it was such a fun time and i was so glad that we were there at that time for his bath.

he's gained 2 ounces over the last two days and they weighted him tonight but i haven't been in there yet to find out what it was at. it would be wonderful if he's gained another ounce. here's to hoping. continue to pray, he's doing great.

I'm Here

i'm not to sure how detailed i need to get about the whole hospital ordeal because so much has happened this post could be miles long if i did so i will try to keep it brief.

i was put in the hospital for my high blood pressure and potential preeclampsia on thursday july 12th. after blood and urine analysis they came the the conclusion that they needed a little more tests but that i would be spending then night in the hospital that night for sure. we started to collect my urine for a 24 hour urine analysis. after that on late friday night they came in and started my iv on magnesium sulfate which burned the heck out of my arm and body. i was hot for the next 3 days after that. they also started me on my steroid shot and i got to of those with 24 hours in between them. this all meaning that they were going to deliver the baby on sunday night around 8:30ish. the doc came in and let me know that he was going to have to do a c-section because he thought that there would be to much stress on the baby to try to deliver. i was fine with that because obviously i wanted what was best for the baby.

i had a ton of visitors during the whole time but was so out of it that i didn't get to really communicate with any of them. i knew that they were all there though because i recalled conversations that they had when they were all visiting. it was a little twilight zone-ish. very strange.

so on sunday the anystesiagiolgist (sp?) came in and after not being happy with the way my arm that had the iv in it was swelling he asked the nurse to change it to the other arm and then let me know what there was a chance that he wouldn't do a spinal and he would put me to sleep. this was not completely alright with me but i said okay for the good of the baby. it was very scary for my hubby though. luckily he came back in 5 min later and said that my labs were good and that they could do the spinal. once i was ready they got me to surgery and got started. it wasn't as terrible as i expected and hearing his cry for the first time was wonderful. it made me start crying and then a few minutes later they brought him over all bundled up where i could just see his beautiful face and let me look at him really quick before they whisked him away to get him hooked up to all the monitors and machines. he was so beautiful and just opened his eyes and looked right in my face as i talked to him. it was wonderful.

i didn't get to see him until tuesday and i was still a little out of it even for that trip.
i got discharged on thursday afternoon and i've been resting a lot but getting to the hospital twice a day every day. i would go more but it's really exhausting and the nurses (even the ones in the NICU) encourage mothers to get plenty of rest. my healing is going well though.

baby boy is doing great though. he's up to 12cc's of milk every 3 hours and we figured that was about 1/2 an ounce. i've changed his diaper a couple of times and fed him (he's on a feeding tube) and today for the first time i actually got to hold him. it was so amazing. he was so light but just fit right in my arm perfectly and was so still and quiet as i fed him. he opened his eyes occasionally and looked right at me. i was so shocked that i was able to hold him and thrilled at the same time. i'm not sure how often i will get to hold him but i will take what i can get and enjoy every minute of it.

please continue to pray for him as he still has a long way to go. when the weighted him last night he was 2 lbs 9.2 oz and he was to get to at least 4 lbs before he can go home and has to maintain a body temp. we know that he has a while to go and as much as we want him in our arms we know that the NICU is the best place for him right now. the nurses and doctors are great and we are so grateful for all the wonderful care that they provide for these babies.

unexpected treasures

my hubby and baby

me seeing my baby boy for the first time