Fat-tastic

That's right - the little guy is now the big guy in Bay 1. Alexander is up to 5 lbs 13 oz! He won't fit in preemie clothes and moved up to regular newborn diapers. This is great news! A big, strong baby can regenerate and build his lungs faster and so we are hoping he continues down that path. The nutritionist is thrilled with this growth and said she hadn't seen such a great growth curve in a baby of his gestation. They believe that my breast milk is potentially higher in calories than the average - yes, I secretly sung, my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, in my head. Now they are focusing on making sure he's getting enough protein to create lean muscle and not just fat. He's got enough chins already - we need some biceps on that baby!

Its the same old story with Alexander's lungs. Although he's had a steady week of lower oxygen use, he's not taking leaps and bounds forward - but that is to be expected and I just need more patience. He did start another round of steroids this week and that has helped to get his ventilator settings down. If he can stay steady and continue decreasing his vent settings, they may be able to have him graduate to the next vent this week. Fingers crossed!

Alexander is acting more and more like a regular newborn - sucking on a pacifier, gazing at you, and crying for food (although we still have not heard him cry as his breathing tube rests against his vocal chords, you can tell when he's upset and crying). It's harder and harder to leave him because he's more active and just so darn cute!

Alexander also officially has Godparents - Annie and Tim have agreed to help guide him through his journey with God and be there for him when we are overbearing or embarrassing! I am sure they are the perfect choice for our miracle baby!

Holding his own pacifier - even with his breathing tube and feeding tube!

FaceTiming with brother - Andrew is OBSESSED with cooking and does it all the time. 

Watching Paint Dry

We are now entering the long part of our NICU journey - or so says our doctors. Alexander is doing very well. He's staying infection free (despite even being exposed to the flu) and is growing very well! The long part is getting his lungs up to speed. He needs to take in more calories, so he can grow and develop more lung tissue. "It's like watching paint dry," so says Dr. Dagle. 

I am trying not to be impatient. It's great to hear that every day is a "good" day but he's not really advancing they way I would love him to. It feels like every day is basically the same. Today they started him on another treatment of steroids. We are hoping that this will help reduce his vent settings so he can get off the jet ventilator and graduate back to the serva ventilator. 

We will keep our fingers crossed that these steroids will push him to the next step! Here are some new photos of our little man. 

We had to wear masks and caretakers had to gown up to enter Alex's room since he was exposed to the flu. Fortunately he never got it!!

2 Months Old

Alexander is 2 months old!!! Wow, how time has flown! It seems likes only yesterday we were on our way to Iowa City, not knowing at all what was in store for us. We have come so far already. Unfortunately we have a long way to go before he comes home. 

We were able to be with him for this 2 month birthday - and cuddle him a bit. He was doing okay but wasn't very alert when we were there. The weekend was rough for our little man. While he continues to gain - up to 4 lbs 11 oz as of January 17 - he still struggles with his lungs. Wednesday he was doing so well with his breathing that he was able to step up to the next vent, which gives him bigger breaths that he initiates. He did well for a couple days and then had a couple steps back. On Saturday his stats were all over the place and that evening he was put back on his original vent, which does more of the work for him. 

Sunday was full of tests to ensure he didn't have an infection. He was all drugged up on morphine when Pete came to see him. (Pete got to be in Iowa City to see our Hawkeyes win! What a fun season so far!) His tests have come back clean so far, but he's on antibiotics just the same until they can make sure. He's begun to retain more fluid, which is very hard because it goes to his lungs. So, he's also started on diuretics.

Alexander also started physical therapy this past week. This is often done in premies as they need to adapt to people touching them since their nerves are more sensitive. It was thought that Alex was having a hard time with touch and with his cares. After working with the physical therapist for the week, she was very pleased with how he's doing and said she has no worries with how he's handling things at this time. It was another one of those celebratory moments!!

Alexander should be progressing faster than he is, which shows how truly devastating his lung disease is. The nurse practitioner thought this would make his journey in the NICU even longer. She said that these babies can always surprise you but she would bet he would stay several weeks past his due date. Of course this news is hard to hear, but we have faith in his caretakers and understand that to bring home a healthy baby, it may take a little longer. We know it's a miracle that he's here - and we thank God every day for that. 

We made light of Alexander's potential longer stay in the NICU by hoping that we may find a new home by the time he joins our family in the Quad Cities. Yes, you heard it right, we said good-bye to our dear River Drive on Friday. We are all moved into storage and are at home now at Pete's parents - God bless them for taking us all in, including our crazy dog and even the cat! We hope to find our next family home soon to begin our next chapter of a family of 4 (or 6 with our animals!)!

Doing physical therapy. 

 

Only Marathons

"There are no 40-yard dashes in the NICU, only marathons."

So says Dr. Klein, the head of the NICU (our favorite doctor and savior). We are starting to understand that. After 59 days, we know that we still have a couple months to go. Alexander is now 33 weeks gestation - so at least another 7 weeks until his due date (March 3). Instead of dwelling on the time, we find things to celebrate each day. 

This week we are celebrating that our little guy is starting to become our big guy. He continues to tolerate his feedings and is now taking 32 cc every three hours, or a little over an ounce. Again, the more he grows, the faster he can regenerate his lung tissue and the stronger he will become. This extra weight makes him look like a mini version of his brother. He was able to have his heat lamp turned off so was wearing clothes this week which makes him look older and bigger!

Another celebration is Pete got to hold him for the first time. It was so very sweet. We both got to take a turn and he was awake almost the entire time - just watching us and hanging out. He fell back asleep in Pete's arms. 

Alexander continues to have pretty severe lung disease and will most likey be intubated on his vent for a few more weeks as they work to get his settings lowered, along with lowering his oxygen needs. The good thing is they are starting to slowly be able to lower his settings (reducing the pressures in his lungs) and he's tolerating it well. He was able to get down to only 40% oxygen needs - normal air is 40%. Baby steps, but we'll take it! 

He had his eyes checked today as they start looking for eye disease around this time. Premies often have eye disease caused by disorganized growth of retinal blood vessels, which can result in scarring and retinal detachment. They give a normal eye exam, dilating his eyes, to check on the existence of ROP (Retinopathy of prematurity). It can be mild in some cases but can lead to blindness in extreme cases. So far it's too early to tell, so they will check again next week. 

Day by day, we remain hopeful and pray for continued steps in the right direction!

 

A Weeks Worth of Difference

My, my, what a difference one week can make. Alexander had a great week! 

In fact, during our Thursday visit he only set off his alarms once the whole time we were there. His oxygen needs were drastically reduced and he was able to come down on his vent settings. The doctor said she had to double check that it was his lung x-ray since they looked so good! He's on an inhaled steroid and doses of albuterol as needed. He also started an antibiotic that has been shown to reduce inflammation. He will be on this for the next 40 days.  

By Friday his oxygen needs had increased again, but that was to be expected as he adjusted to his new vent settings. The weekend was also quiet for Alexander, with him coming down on his oxygen needs by Sunday to only 40% - room oxygen is 20%. These are all great signs! We will learn the next plan of action on Tuesday when we are there for rounds. 

He's also hit the 4 lb mark! Yep - he is tolerating his feeds well and we couldn't be happier! He's eating 1 oz every 3 hours so we hope he can keep it up, grow and eat more! The stronger he gets, the better he will be at regenerating healthy lung tissue and being able to fight off infections. 

While things have finally been steady and quiet for Alexander - things were anything but here on the homefront. We packed up our house this weekend in preparation for our closing this coming Friday. A HUGE THANK YOU to my parents and Sally Atwell for helping us move this weekend, Chris Beason and Stef Brandt for watching Andrew and Pete's parents for letting us room with them until we find our next project and their help with Andrew!!!! Moving is a very large undertaking - one that we weren't prepared for with everything else going on in our lives. But we are getting close and by Wednesday, all our things will be out and into storage. We haven't yet found our next home, but we look forward to finding something that will better suit our family of four!

Pete's ring is around only his thumb and finger now - just 7 weeks ago it fit around his ankle!

I know he looks like a monster in this photo - we can't wait until he's even chubbier!

Happy, Happy Twenty Fourteen

Where has the time gone? It's almost been 14 years since I graduated high school. It will be 12 years in April since Pete and I first met. We will celebrate 7 years of marriage in September. Andrew will turn 2 in March! And we will bring Alexander home...healthy! This will be our 2014 - filled with many more happy celebrations, faith, love, hope and health. And that is our wish for all of you!

For the most part Alexander had a relatively uneventful start to the new year for such a little guy. He continues to struggle with his lungs and for the past week has had more desats (oxygen desaturation, when he stops breathing and needs more oxygen and the higher vent settings to force him to breath) than we can count. Many of these got so low he required bagging (when they take a rubber bag, attach it to his chest tube and manually force him to take breath). Every day I pray that he's better, but he's got a long way to go. We are thankful that this is his greatest challenge for now. We were told that sometimes it's a chicken or the egg situation. He needs to grow bigger to produce more, healthy lung tissue; but when he first grows it puts a great strain on his lungs because they are working harder to support a bigger body.

Today he started a regimen of Albuterol and that has helped him to become more stable so he hasn't had the ups and downs or the number of desats. We hope this is an upswing in management of his lung disease. 

The good news is he's growing!! And turning into such a big boy. Pete and I are amazed each time we see him on how big he's grown. I feel like he looks like I could just pick him up and take him home, considering what he once was - and then I hold my friend's 9 lb babies :) Alexander is now 3 lbs 11 oz and tolerating his food very well. We couldn't be more excited and hope this growth continues and starts to help him develop new, healthy lung tissue. 

I started back to work last week so our travels to Iowa City will be more restricted. I have to give a shout out to the entire Marketing Department (including Sally) for holding down the fort and thriving while I was out - especially to Becca for leading the charge. It means so much to me that I could focus on my family and didn't have to worry about a thing at work. Tim, Becca, Chelsey - you all are the best!

Take a peek at our growing fat man - we hope he's on par to compare to his brother!

FaceTime when Nana and Papa (Eckhardt) were visiting New Year's Eve.

Snuggled and sleepy.

Bundled up for errands - it's supposed to be -15 degrees tomorrow for the high (with -45 windchill!)!