Hard to Swallow

Man, that kid is cute! I got to see him two times today, which was really nice. Earlier in the day, Wendy, Jake, and I went by to see him for a while. Unfortunately Jake gets bored pretty quickly - I can't blame him - I would be too if I were 5.

The second trip was more fun - I was going to get to feed Luke! Although when I got there, it was a little scary - for some reason he was overheating. The nurse and I unwrapped him and after a few minutes all was good. As for the feeding, it was a lot of fun, but lots of work. He usually does pretty good for the first 10 minutes, then he starts to fall asleep. I can't blame him either - it's a lot of work for a kid that's not supposed to do this for 7 more weeks. Anyway, he only finished about half the bottle for me, which was kind of frustrating, but understandable.

Here's a few pictures...




Thanks again for all of your prayers!

Cheers,
Colin

Birthday Party

Today was a big day for us...it was our first big time birthday party at our house...in celebration of big brother Jake's 5th birthday. Jake has been a real trooper through the whole bed rest and NICU thing....we even had to delay his party a few weeks due to everything going on. The little guy has been really awesome and I can't wait to see what kind of big brother he'll be.

As for Luke, he had another very good day...life in the crib is suiting him well. He's almost up to 4 pounds 8 ounces! They also decreased his oxygen flow to a 1/2 liter - the nurse even said they may try to take him off of oxygen tomorrow. I'm just amazed at how fast he is growing!

One of the best things about Luke being in a crib now is that I can just reach down and pick him up. I can just hold him in my arms and bounce and rock. I love it (and I hope he does too. Babies are a lot of work, but they give you so much in return.

As for prayer requests, Wendy is probably going to kill me for asking, but please pray for her milk production. FYI, Wendy has to pump every 3-4 hours for Luke, but because he was premature and is not breastfeeding, her milk output is not as high. It's a very common situation. Previously it wasn't an issue, but now that Luke is eating more, he's starting to outpace Wendy's milk production. As you can imagine it's pretty stressful for Wendy, since we want to limit his formula. Please pray that her milk production will increase and that she won't stress out (which adversely affects milk output).

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Cheers,
Colin

Stunning

I'm sitting here in bed not sure what to write...I am just stunned. I am so proud of my son Lucas...he is so tiny and fragile, but every day he keeps growing and getting stronger - he is a miracle.

How can I express my emotions about what Luke did today? Sure I can say he moved into his crib, he took a bath and they increased the frequency of his bottle feedinigs today, but that just feels inadequate. To be honest, I feel uncomfortable when people ask how Lucas is doing...I feel like my answers sound so brief and petty, they don't do him justice. How can I put into words my love and pride for him?

Today was a pretty full day for the little guy, so here's a bunch of pictures and video.




WARNING: Don't watch this video if you have a problem with male full frontal nudity.

Thanks again for your prayers, please keep them coming!

Cheers,
Colin

Birth, Part IV

Today was a very good day...."why" you ask? CHANGE! Luke moved into a new room, this one houses 12 preemies with less critical needs and has a one nurses per three preemies. The new room is much nicer and is actually decorated. The old rooms were just too drab compared to the new one.

As for Lucas, he's up to 1900 grams (about 4.2 pounds). He gained around 100 grams yesterday so I wouldn't be surprised if he loses half of that by his next weigh in. Additionally, they turned off the temperature control in his isolette which means he needs to maintain his body temperature. According to the night nurse, he's doing well so far. If he continues to stay warm, we'll post some pictures of his new crib tomorrow!


Please continue to pray that Luke stays warm, eats well, poops, and breathes consistently.

And now, for the final chapter of Wendy's Delivery Quadrology...

Cheers,
Colin
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...Next thing I knew, I was in recovery and the nurse was asking how I was feeling. I felt great and had very little pain (good drugs). As much as I wished to still have Lucas inside, I was glad to be over with the pregnancy. And...the magnesium sulfate.

An hour later, with Colin, my parents, and Charlie (my father-in-law) by my bedside, the NICU transport team brought Lucas in to see us. He was in an special isolette (box), hooked up to several monitors, and intubated (on a respirator), but looked great. They told us that he weighed 1229 grams (2 lbs. 11 oz.) which was several ounces larger than we anticipated. I put my finger in his open palm, and he gripped it hard! Then we said goodbye. He had his first ambulance ride at 2 and a half hours old!

My recovery went great. The mole didn't cause any problems for me, and Dr. Mason said I actually bled less than most c-section patients. I was out of bed and walking the hallways 15 hours after my surgery and went home 48 hours later. The hospital gave me a 2-hour "pass" to go see Luke the day after delivery. He was already extubated (no longer on the respirator), and looking good. The Dr. told us that he was doing well and had good results on all the tests he had thus far. God is good!

That's about it... God has been very good to us the past 5 months. I am grateful to be back among the living and we are excited to watch Lucas grow and thrive. Thanks for your continued prayer and encouragement!

Birth, Part III

Today was a strange day. When Wendy arrived today, the nurse informed her that they might be low on space in the NICU and that they might have to move Luke to St Agnes. Fortunately we were able to work it out so he could stay....life is much easier for us at Children's. Plus, we're sick of St Agnes after Wendy's ordeal.

As for Luke, he continues to do well, but his weight keeps fluctuating. Last night he lost 15 grams (1790g) so he's a little over 3lb 15oz. Now we're just waiting for him to move to his crib...I'm getting impatient.

Please pray that he continues to progress with bottle feeding (suck, swallow, breathe) and that he'll gain weight more consistently.

Finally, I'd like to thank you all for your encouragement and prayers. They really mean a lot to us, especially when we start to get frustrated or impatient with the whole process.

Cheers,
Colin

PS1: Below is part III of Wendy's birth story (it's almost over).
PS2: Sorry for the lack of pictures, I'll try to take some more tomorrow!
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Finally, around 5:15, the doctor on call, showed up. He asked the nurse if I was dialated -- what a concept!?!? She hadn't even checked me! I could've shouted any number of expletives at her at that point. So...in the middle of a very big and painful contraction, he checked my cervix. Very clearly, he yelled "She's bulging, we need a c-section now!"

My room became a whirlwind of activity at that point. My nurse and the tech began untying cords from my bed (my computer and cell phone chargers, clip light, etc.) so that they could move me.

I have vague memories of being wheeled out into the hall and up the elevator. They took my glasses away, so I was pretty much blind, and was contracting every other minute. Colin tels me that the entire hospital could hear me yelling. Once I was in the OR, I had two nurses in my face telling me that I had to stop pushing -- I didn't know that I was pushing, except for the fact that I could feel Lucas starting to come out. Finally, I got enough of a break between contractions that the anesthesiologist was able to give me a spinal block -- relief at last!

Then I remember laying on my back, the nurses were cleaning and prepping me, and debating over whether or not Dr. Mason would make it in time. The on call Doctor came in from scrubbing, looked at me over the drape that was across my chest, and told me that he may have to make a lateral incision on me. Why? I have no idea. All I could think was that my stomach would end up looking like a butt because of the scar and loose skin! Luckily, just as the doctor was about to make the incision, Dr. Mason came in...thank God!

Colin never did get to come into the OR for Lucas' birth. There were too many people -- the NICU team for Luke, and a couple of extra nurses for me because they didn't really know what they were dealing with. At one point, Dr. Mason asked the nurses how many units of blood they had ready for transfusion if necessary. The nurse responded that there were two, but that they couldn't be used because they were too old. Dr. Mason is a very cool and laid back guy...his response was..."I'm about to take out the placenta, I need 3 units of O neg now!" He didn't sound very laid back then! We really didn't know what damage (if any) the mole would cause, and if I would hemorrhage as a result.

When Lucas was born, I didn't hear him make a sound. We found out later that he was actually doing fairly well, his APGAR scores were 7 initially and then 9 at five minutes, which are really good scores. Shortly after the surgery began, I was really nauseated and dry heaving. That is really hard to do when you've got a spinal block. I asked the anesthesiologist to give me something to make it stop...which he did...then I was really out of it for the rest of the surgery.

After the surgery was over, Dr. Mason asked if I wanted to see the mole. It was lying next to the placenta on a table. He pulled my drape back, and pulled the table with the mole on it closer to me...and I could see the "Evil twin!"

Birth, Part II

Another good day today...Luke hit 1800 grams! Woohoo!!! It should be any day now until he moves into the crib...maybe Wednesday?

Yesterday I posted the first part of Wendy's delivery story...here's Part II:

Cheers,
Colin
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....Magnesium Sulfate is very effective drug, used for a variety of reasons (it's a smooth muscle relaxer). In pregnancy, it is used to stop labor, as well as lower blood pressure in women with preeclampsia. The side effects, however, are AWFUL! The initial dose is strong! As it goes through the I.V., it creates a burning sensation in your veins. It felt like my entire arm was on fire. Then, as it spreads throughout your body, you start to feel completely weak, achy, and dizzy. Luckily, I didn't experience any nausea, which is also a major side effect. My entire backside felt like I was leaning against a furnace, and I was unable to focus my eyes on anything. It definitely lives up to it's nickname...it felt like a horrible flu. The initial side effects ease up after 24 hours or so...then it's just the weakness, dizziness, blurry vision, and hot flashes that you have to deal with.

In addition to the Mag, I was given an anti-inflammatory pill called indocin which is an added kick to help stop contractions. It worked. The contractions stopped, and all I experienced was what they call "irritability contractions" -- which are mini-contractions that are random, and shorter than 30 seconds. So...as long as I could deal with the Mag side effects, I was good... until I stopped the indocin. Apparently, indocin can only be taken for 48 hours, once a week (before the 32nd week of pregnancy), because it can adversely affect the baby. So, once I stopped the indocin, on Saturday the 25th, you can guess what happened.

First, my mom tried to give me a shower in the afternoon. I passed out from a combination of the hot water and magnesium in my body. After my mom and nurses brought me back around and got me into bed, I passed out one more time. My nurse drew some blood and the results showed I had too high of a mag level . After two more blood draws, my mag level finally stabilized and I felt better by early evening. Then the contractions began. Sporadic and painless at first, until about 2am on the 26th when I could no longer sleep due to the frequency and pain.

I finally called Colin around 2:30am to let him know what was going on. I had the worst nurse ever that night! I had to call her in twice to let her know that I was contracting and that the frequency and pain were increasing. She was more concerned that the monitors weren't picking up the contractions than the fact that I was going into labor! She even left to take her lunch break while I was in the middle of it all! When she returned from her break, I asked her to call my doctor -- which she refused to do because he wasn't on call. I told her that he wanted to be contacted regardless of whether or not he was on call...it was written in my charts. Apparently she didn't believe me, because she never called him...Colin did! Colin tried to call our doctor's exchange, but it automatically sent him to the doctor on call. The nurse was then contacted by the doctor on call, and she was ticked off because the doctor called her, and he was angry that she hadn't contacted him first! She even came and told me that my husband "Shouldn't of called the Dr. -- that was [her] job." Whatever!

At some point, the nurse contacted our Parenatologist, who decided that the best course of action was to give me a bolus (super dose) of the magnesium sulfate to try and stop the contractions. So...I was back to being on fire again. After insisting that the nurse dope me up with benadryl and zofran to take off the edge and nausea, Colin showed up. I was somewhat out of it because of the drugs, in pain, on fire, and really ticked off...so Colin probably has a better idea of what happened in my room before I was taken up to surgery...

To be continued...

Birth, Part I

Luke had a good day today (I like posts that start off like this). He gained 50 grams, pooped, and ate all of his food. If only my life were so simple...

In preparation for moving to the crib, they set his box at air temperature (31.1C = 88F) as opposed to setting it to adjust automatically to his skin temp (lowering if he's cool, etc). They do this to see if he can maintain a stable body temperature. He needs to maintain his temp for 24-48 hours before he can move into his crib.

Previously, I had mentioned that Wendy (my wife) had an interesting pregnancy & delivery. Below is Part I of the delivery story from her perspective.

Cheers,
Colin
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I was admitted to St. Agnes Medical Center on Sunday evening, Oct. 12th. I had been dealing with bleeding all weekend, and it finally got to the point that Colin and I felt we should call the doctor and see what he wanted me to do. Dr. Mason (the best OB in the world!), said that it was time to do bed rest in the hospital -- we knew the day would come, but we were hoping it wouldn't come so soon.

After spending the night in the Labor and Delivery unit, I was moved to the Ante Partum Unit (APU). On Monday the 13th, I started to experience regular contractions. The contractions were not painful, so I didn't really pay attention, but with monitors on my belly 24/7, the nurses picked them up quickly, and I had to receive my first shot of terbutaline to stop the contractions. It worked for a bit. About 12 hours later, I had to have a second shot, and that finally did the trick.

A couple of days later, contractions kicked in again and this time I was put on a regular dose of nifedipine. I never expected premature labor to be an issue with this pregnancy...I just assumed that because of the bleeding I had been dealing with since July, I would eventually begin to hemorrhage, or would begin to experience high blood pressure.

The days passed, and I did fairly well. I had at least 5 or more visitors each day, several phone calls a day, and lots of encouraging notes. I really didn't get a chance to be homesick, and I had more than enough things I could do each day to keep me occupied.

On Thursday morning, Oct. 23rd, my contractions could no longer be held off by the nifedipine in combination with terbutaline shots. The only option left was Magnesium Sulfate -- which my friend Tracy (a critical care pediatrician) said is affectionately dubbed "Flu in a bottle." That was putting it lightly.

To be continued...