Feeding Frenzy

Today was a special day. Today, four months of pumping was completely worth it. Today, I was able to bond with my son as I've wanted to since he was born. Today, Alexander nursed for 10 minutes. He then had the rest of his food through his feeding tube and fell soundly asleep on my chest. 

We got the word Thursday that we would be able to start nursing on Friday. His ventilator pressure was reduced to 6 so the amount of pressure is conducive to allow baby to suck and swallow. He latched right away and the nurses and oral therapists were thrilled. He only would suck for a few minutes on Friday and Saturday, but Sunday he acted as if he always ate through his mouth. It's exhausting for him and he will pull away to rest and breath but it will get easier with practice of the suck, swallow, breath pattern. We will continue practicing with nursing and then introduce a bottle after a week. Bottles are easier because they are less work and he will need to take them to have his supplements of protein and higher calories. 

This is a big step - there was cheers from the hallway when our nurse let everyone know how well he did. So this is where we stand on things Alexander has to achieve before being released:

1) Control his body temperature - CHECK

2) Get off the ventilator and only be on oxygen - we are at 6 so 5 more to go! We have been doing 2 settings a week so if he keeps up this pace he could be done in 3 weeks. He will come home on oxygen. 

3) Eat all meals orally and ditch the feeding tube. We are only in Phase 1 so it's up to him how fast we can go. 

4) Surgery - Alexander has a hernia that needs to be fixed (pretty common in micro premies because of all the air pushed into their bodies) and still needs to be circumcised. This will happen right before he's ready to go home. 

Our doctor said this weekend 4-6 weeks, so we could have our baby home between Easter and Mothers Day! And we will have a home ready for Alex - another 12 days of construction and we move April 4! So excited to be in our new space!

So happy and thankful for today! Live in the moment for it's all you have!

9 lbs 10 oz as of 3-20-14. And we can see that beautiful mouth now that the feeding tube goes in his nose!

4 Months!

The little-big dude is 4 months old. Weighing in at 9lbs 6 oz, it's hard to believe. The slow, but steady progress continues and he was able to decrease his ventilator pressure settings to a 7 today! 

Within the week we should be able to start nursing. He needs to go down another 1-2 settings so his feeding tube can go through his nose and then nothing will be in his mouth for the first time! This will then allow us to try nursing. We start with only one session each day - as he will tire easily and it's hard on his lungs. We hope his love for his pacifier helps and that he takes off! 

He still will have several weeks to go - one nurse estimated another 6-8 weeks. He needs to come down on his pressures, to get off his ventilator and then only be on oxygen. So there are more goals yet to reach. 

We were able to spend all weekend at the hospital with Alexander and Andrew. We watched our friend Andy Yohe and Team USA compete against Russia in Sled Hockey in the Paralympics. We had our nurse and respiratory therapist cheering as USA brought the gold medal home! 

Watching Team USA!

Papa (Pete's Dad) was able to come on Sunday and held Alexander for the first time. 

A special thanks to Fran and Margaret McCaffery and the Iowa Men's Basketball Team as Pete was able to take Andrew to a basketball practice so they could get out of the hospital for an hour and allow me some one-on-one time with Alex. Andrew was wide-eyed, as Coach McCaffery allowed them to sit courtside and watch practice. Maybe Andrew will be the team's good luck charm as they enter the NCAA Tournament. Another special thanks to Aunt Sara for setting it all up for us!

Today Andrew was the center of attention at the hospital - daycare is on spring break these two weeks so he was with us. Our favorite nurse Mary stopped by to say hi - she cared for Alexander the couple months he was in Bay 1 and we couldn't adore her more! Pete then took Andrew to the hospital's toddler time - a daily playgroup for siblings of patients. And then to one of the several playgrounds. The 'U' is pretty brother friendly. We just enjoyed having our family together!!

Hit me Baby One More Time

Yes, I love this song - as all the ladies at Ellie Stopulos/Kretschmer's bachelorette party know - but this time it's in reference to Alexander hitting down one more setting on his ventilator!! That's right, he is now an 8 on his settings - working it like a rock star. The doctor said this morning that in another week or so he will be able to start working on nursing. He is making great, steady strides and we couldn't be happier!

He also is gaining great weight - now up to 9 lbs! He's still very stout but the doctor said he will start to lengthen out as he ages; as long as his genes allow him to. 

Alexander is more alert when we are with him and is a very calm, happy baby. The nurses love him and think his is so chill. We hope he continues that behavior when he comes home.

Alexander holding Pete's ring - the same one that fit around his ankle when he was born.

His nurse changed out his feeding tube so we got a glimpse of his upper lip today!

Bath time with the big boy - our constant joy and reminder that life, no matter how hard, goes on!

"Seeing" Visitors & Munching on Milk

Alexander had a super, great week! He started it off by continuing on about 35-45% oxygen - which is exactly where he should be. He continued this level of oxygen support throughout the week. 

On Tuesday, he had his first consult with his oral therapist. Micro preemies often have oral adversion - in other words, issues with things being in and around their mouths. This is from being intubated for so long, which changes the shape of the palate (in Alexander's case this made the roof of his mouth, or his palate, have a deep groove). This impacts how they pick up eating orally - they often have problems sucking, can be sensitive with textures, and don't like to have food in their mouths. We were so excited because the oral therapist was very happy with how he responded to having things around his mouth and how he loves his pacifier. He has a strong suck motion and we got the go ahead to put a few drops of milk in his mouth with his pacifier during feedings (he gets all of his feedings through a feeding tube that goes through his mouth down his throat into his stomach). So basically the nurse puts a few drops in and he is able to get a taste of the milk while he sucks on the pacifier and then she puts more in. This is done for the first 10 minutes of his feed and helps with a positive association with sucking and getting yummy milk!

Sucking on the pacifier.

Having drops of milk during his feeding. 

On Wednesday, Alexander had another eye exam and got a great report! He is now Zone 3, Stage 0, which means that he is VERY close to having a perfect report. This is completely defying the odds - 65% of premature babies less that 1250 grams (Alexander was 680 grams) have some form of ROP (eye disease). In fact, his doctor was so funny. She couldn't believe it and said she would love to study Alexander to try and figure out why he was not impacted. She said she would assume it had something to do with his great genes - definitely from Pete's perfect vision! He will have another check in 2 weeks before he can get a final okay.

We had another bath this week in a big boy bathtub - with some funny looks. He was able to have his ventilator settings turned down to 10 - only 4-5 more settings to go and we can try to start feeding orally!! The plan is to go down 1 setting per week but could be faster depending how Alexander handles the weaning.

And we got some special visitors over the weekend - with my parents (Papa G and Nana) and my Grandma (Gram) coming to see the little guy. Andrew was able to hang out too! 

Gram seeing Alexander for the first time.

Mom (Nana) holding Alexander for the first time.

Gram holding Alexander for the first time.

Weight: 8 lbs 2 oz

Day of Life: 111

Gestational Age: Term!! 

Alexander is: definitely recognizing us. For the last two weeks, when we have come into his room, he fights hard to open his eyes and say hello. His heart rate calms with the sound of our voices and he sleeps hard when we hold him. 

Andrew is: my funny, talkative little man! From saying, "bless you Papa" after a sneeze to "Go Hawkeyes, tv, hoops, now, remote" in order to demand watching his favorite basketball team for a few minutes, as that's all he'll sit still for!

I feel: blessed! I am so enjoying our family and how well everyone is doing right now. Of course I can't wait until we can all be under one roof but first we will be remodeling that roof! Yep, we closed on a new house last week and have already begun painting and doing some work. It's going to be the perfect place to raise our family and to bring Alexander home!

Lesson learned: A positive outlook can change your life for the better. I know it's hard to stay positive, especially with the challenges that we all face, but staying positive and thinking positive can completely change our situation. I truly feel that our positive thoughts and prayers have helped Alexander beat so many odds and will continue to do so!!

Due Date

We've hit it - Alexander's due date. I think it would have been much harder if Alexander wasn't doing so well. 

He wasn't making much progress last week but he wasn't doing bad either. Even so he needed a blood transfusion and the doctor decided to do a course of steroids over the weekend. This allowed him to go down on his ventilator settings to an 11. It also brought his oxygen needs down to 35%, his floor, or the lowest the doctors want his oxygen levels to be. 

By Sunday he was a new man! It was great fun being with him for a few hours. I was able to give him a real bath in a baby tub and he loved it. He was wide awake the entire time. After cleaning him up, we were able to cuddle for a couple hours. He loved sucking on his pacifier, so I hope that's a good sign when it comes to nursing. He was very active - staring and me and his Dada and brother Andrew when we Facetimed with them. He is starting to understand he has a voice and is using it from time to time. I still think he's a pretty calm baby but he's learning how to get our attention. 

Also this weekend we traveled to the Chicago burbs to see the college crew and all the babies (Thanks Susie and Joe for hosting!!). There were 6 children there and Andrew was the oldest. You would have thought it would have been crazy but I thought it was pretty controlled. It was a blast to catch up with everyone. 

This is the best one I had of all six of them - 5 boys and one girl, until this summer when they are joined by another girl (can't wait Lauren)!!

We left a little late and about half way home were caught in some wicked blowing snow. We decided it wasn't worth the risk and had our first family stay in a hotel. Andrew loved it - he was running and skipping around the hotel room. At least we had the pack 'n' play, bear and blanket. We didn't sleep half bad actually. Quite the adventure!