Let's talk Poop!! "poop-scapades!"

Today our boy had a hard belly and hadn't pooped for over a day, so they gave him a glycerine suppository..and we are happy to say it worked!   ..It took 3 diapers, loads of wipes mommy, daddy and the nurse to clean him up!!   He managed to poop all over our hands and half his body!! :)   After that little episode we are happy to report his stomach size dropped over a centimeter and is nice and squishy again!   He seemed to be wiped out from all of his hard work, so we cuddled him in :)   We got this great pic after his fresh diapey.. Now he's all relaxed :)
No changes today really..but he did gain another ounce 3lb. 2 oz !

4 Weeks Today!

It's been 2 days since our last update and our boy has grown so much! Collin is now 3 pounds 1 ounce  and is 15 inches long. That's 1 inch in a week! The past couple of days have been okay for the most part. Yesterday morning, our little man was getting his air tube re-secured and he ended up extubating himself yet again. This is always a scary thing that happens but the nurses at Elliot always know how to react quickly and get a new tube in. Turns out it was for the best. When his old tube came out, a huge amount of yucky stuff came out of him and now he's breathing much better with his new tube and without all that stuff in his lungs. It's a lot of stress on him so he's been very sleepy lately. Today, mommy kangarooed with Collin for a couple of hours and he loved it as usual. He's now on 25 ml of milk and handling it great. We last learned that the ventricles in his brain are still showing no more signs of swelling, and the bleed is beginning to dissolve. This takes a long time to completely go away but he's on his way! They scheduled a scan later this week to check the progress..that's all for now!

:)

He made the 3 pound mark!!! yay!!

saturday..

Not a terribly eventful day, but that's a good thing!!
Collin had a pretty easy day today.. lots of relaxing/sleeping.  When he was awake, he really loved his pacifier :)    He got an IV in his foot today, to be able to run a blood transfusion.  They are hoping that this will give him the boost he needs to be strong enough to get off of the ventilator.  He may get another transfusion tomorrow as well.  He is still on 24mls of breastmilk but they added another 2 cals per ounce so its a total of 26 now!   He gained back most of the weight he lost and was 2lb 14.2 oz today... SO close to 3 lbs, we cant wait!!

Our baby Turkey!

Collin is 29 weeks as of yesterday and had his first thankgiving! Though he spent it in the hospital he had a good day overall. There's been no change in his weight because of the diuretic he's on. He's still taking 24 mls of milk every 3 hours, which is a thanksgiving feast for him! num num! He's still on the vent, and the new focus is to get him off of it as soon as we can. He's been doing great taking breaths on his own. We both had a very busy day yesterday so we only got to see our boy for a few hours, no kangaroo : (...but mommy's making up for it today and is planning a 3 hour kangaroo session! This will be great for both of them. All craziness aside, it's great that we get to see our little man and share these holidays with him (even though he doesn't know any different) but we do! We'll post another update to let everyone know how today is going and if there are any changes.

Cute Little Blondie!

Our little man is doing very well! He's on 22.5 ml of milk every three hours. The diuretic he was on for his CLD has made him drop 2 ounces, so now he back to 2 pounds 12 ounces. We're right at that threshold of 3 pounds which is awesome. He's been doing great off of the IV fluids and is loving momma's milk. They're still fortifying his milk with extra calories. He's up to 24 calories per ounce, and that's a lot for him. Looking at him day by day, we're really noticing his cheeks and double chin filling in. Overall he looks a lot bigger, not so frail. He's still tiny but he's strong....strong like bull! We took a couple of pictures today while we had the light on him and holy cow is he a blonde little boy! I don't know how that happened (hehe). Daddy got to kangaroo with him again today. Thats all for now!

3 weeks

Collin is 3 weeks old today..and looking just adorable :)

Because of Collin's re-intubation yesterday, they did an X-ray to check for placement of the tube which is standard whenever they replace it.  They noticed that it seemed "foggy" around his lung area, which is some extra fluid.  They gave him a diuretic to help his body get rid of the fluid.  Because of that fluid being there they believe he could be developing Chronic Lung Disease.  I copied the explanation out of the 'Premature Baby Book' that the hospital gave to me to help explain what this means--

"Chronic Lung Disease ( Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia):
  The Oxygen and pressure to the lungs that help save the baby's life during the critical phase of respiratory distress syndrome can, paradoxically, also delay recovery.  Some babies, on a respirator for a week or more, develop damage to the lungs and bronchioles from high oxygen doses or high respirator pressures- a disease known as bronchopulmonary sysplasia (BPD) or chronic lung disease (CLD).  The damaged tissue dies and forms scars that impede the passage of air in and out of the lungs and obstruct the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the lungs and bloodstream.  Unlike an adult with lung disease, a baby with BPD can grow healthy new lung tissue.  And while scarring in the bronchioles is permanent, the bronchioles eventually grow and expand to the point where scar tissue no longer hampers airflow to and from the lungs.  But, until the lungs have healed sufficiently, the baby continues to be dependent on the respirator and/ or supplemental oxygen - a dependency that may take weeks or months to resolve.  Babies with BPD often suffer from excessive fluid accumulation in the lungs and other body tissues.  He may be treated with diuretics such as Lasix to help him excrete these fluids.  And although the baby needs extra calories to fuel his difficult breathing efforts, his intake of liquids must be restricted to prevent fluid buildup in the lungs.  High-calorie supplements are added to his breast milk to give him the most concentrated nutrition in the least amount of liquid.  Babies with BPD often have continuing respiratory problems that require special care.  They are highly vulnerable to colds and other respiratory infections. As many as 85% of these infants develop pneumonia or bronchitis in the first year, usually requiring re-hospitalization.  During early infancy the baby may still find it hard to breathe.  BPD babies can be excessively irritable, easy to tire, hard to feed, and slow to gain weight.  Despite the many difficulties BPD infants endure in the early months and years, most outgrow their respiratory symptoms in infancy or early childhood, and by school age, almost all are able to participate in normal vigorous physical activity. "

Hopefully this will not effect Collin too badly..Even being on the vent still he is on very low settings and doing most of the breathing on his own.  In all other areas he is doing very well.  He is getting 19.5 mls of breast milk every 3 hrs that are infused with extra calories.  The great news of the day is that he was taken off of IV fluids :)     Because he is doing so well with feeds, growing steadily and no longer requires IV fluids..the focus will now shift to his breathing.  We are hoping he can get off the vent as soon as possible to avoid any further damage to his lung tissue.   This is just another one of those things we have to take day by day and see where it goes...

Re-intubated .. AGAIN!!!

ugh, this little boy is really giving them trouble with his breathing tube!  He is continually trying to lift his head up, and he is very squirmy!  He also is creating a lot of mucus and has to get suctioned out often.  Early this morning he needed to get his tube replaced because it had an air leak..same thing that caused it last time; a mix of mucus making it easy to slide, and Collin wiggling around!

Other than that he is being a good boy! :)   He handled all feedings well and is now getting 18ml's that they are infusing with extra calories to make him big & strong!   He weighed in @ 2 lbs. 14 oz today!!  A whole pound in just under 3 weeks :)  And he is now 14 1/4 inches long!   Hopefully he will be getting his pic-line out in the next few days. He has to be stable on full feedings for a couple days before they will take him off IV fluids, but it will be one less line and one step closer to being free!!

At this moment Collin is sleeping, but has hiccups!  He is so cute :)

No major changes..which is a good thing!    He is now getting 15mls and will continue to get upped 1.5mls every 12 hours!  So tonight at 11:30 he will have 16.5 and tomorrow morning he will get 18mls!!  He is doing so well and it is showing in his growth, now 2lb 12.4 oz!!   3 lbs is just around the corner we can't wait.. it's so good to see some chubb on his little face :)

Weekend updates..

Our "big" boy now weighs in @ 2 lbs. 9.6 oz and is enjoying 13.5ml's of milk at todays feedings :)   Last night he got a blood transfusion..because of all the testing that requires blood, sometimes his counts get low and he is given a little extra blood.  This was his third transfusion.

The little cold he had seems to be clear! They did a blood culture and it is still negative.. they will continue to give him antibiotics for 7 days from the negative result to make sure the bug really is clear from his system.
He had a cranial ultrasound yesterday morning... he is still stable, and it shows that the blood is starting to absorb!!  This is great news and we hope that it will continue to absorb and swelling goes down.  The Dr. said there is still a possibility of hydrocephalus (extra spinal fluid) to build up and swell, so they will continue to measure his head daily and watch for any changes.  He will still get ultrasounds to follow up, but at this point he has been stable for long enough that the ultrasound checks will not be as often, probably every other week instead.

Also, we've noticed a big change in Collin's appearance over the last few days..he is still tiny but the extra weight is truly noticeable!!  He now has little cheeks and a double chin :)   We cant wait to see what 3+ lbs. will look like!

Spock Baby!

..Between the ears and the hand gestures.. paternity is in question! LOL

Collin says ...  "Live Long and Prosper"

Crazy Boy!

Well... our feisty little boy is making a reputation for himself up here in the NICU .. he is quite the trouble maker!  He decided to pull on his ventilator tube..and needed to get re-intubated!  And all the while when this was going on he made a very full diaper! heheh.  Being intubated can be pretty rough on him..so he is very sleepy now after all the excitement.   His feedings have continued to go well, so he will get his 9mls @ 11:30 :)   He was behaving in between the changing of tubes, so they let me take his picture because its one of the few times you can see his whole face .. The little tube taped down to his chin is his feeding tube, and the piece of tape on his forehead is to mark where they measure his head circumference & the marks on his cheeks are just agitated skin from old tape... Otherwise, we think he looks very cute :)

"Bath Time"

Collin got to have his first sponge bath!!  He handled it very well :)  Now he is all shiny and new!  He is now 28 weeks gestation..getting to be a big boy!  His skin is still very sensitive, but we dont want him to be a stinky baby!!  He can only "bathe" once in a while, because it is very exhausting for him due to the over stimulation.  He weighed in at 2lbs 6.5 oz this morning.  He has been handling feedings very well, so well in fact he is going to get 7.5mls all day today and at 1130pm he will get upped to 9mls :)    Here are some pictures from his sponge bath..

All clean and happy..snuggling with his Rhino :)

(Thanks to nurse Melissa for suggesting that we not have the stinky baby of the NICU & that it was finally time for a good cleaning!)

Mommy's Kangaroo Time & First Binky video

Things are still good with our little peanut. Right now Collin is snuggled up to his momma for some nice kangaroo time. His head has not gone up in circumference which means still no swelling. The doctors are going to do another ultrasound at some point this week and possibly a CT scan to get a better idea of how his brain is doing. Collin is still having a hard time tolerating long periods of being handled. His tolerance for this was much higher before he got sick, so now he gets cranky faster. Sometimes when we flip him over or move him to kangaroo his heart rate drops and we need to give him a second to get comfortable again. This is normal with little little babies. His feeding have been upped to 4.5 ml every 3 hours! He's a little piggy boy. He's been doing pretty well breathing, but no immediate plans to take him off of the vent. The focus is still getting him off of IV fluids and just on breast milk so he can grow more. Collin tried his first binky and he did great with it (thanks nurse Jane for insisting he needed a binky!) It even looks like he's starting to root already which is great. The nurses say his blood gases keep coming back great so his blood is still oxygenating very well. And his most recent blood cultures for infection are still negative. Thats all for now.     Here's the video of Collin trying his pacifier for the first time!!!  Sorry it's dark..we try not to have lights on too often because his eyes are still very sensitive while developing.

Our Little Family :)

Collin is having a great day today..Enjoying some kangaroo time with Daddy :)  For most of the day he has been breathing well enough to be on room air, or very low oxygen!  He is also now enjoying 3ml's of breast milk every 4 hours :)  They will continue to up his feedings every 12 hours until his max dose is reached!  Hopefully this will give us a fat little baby in no time :) 

Two Weeks Old Today!

Our little Collin is 2 weeks old today. He's gained 7 ounces and grew 3/4 of an inch already! He's still doing well. The doctors have decided to switch their focus from his breathing to his nutrition. Since his breathing is going nice and steady, they're going to up his feeding and down his IV fluids. This will help him grow faster, which will help with everything else! Other than that no news. He's sleeping right now and is super relaxed. We also both want to let everyone know that we're sorry for not updating the blog yesterday. Some days we'll be able to post 3 things in 1 day, and other days we won't have time to update at all. We've had a very busy weekend with the shower, trying to clean our house, and going through all our baby gifts. In the future, if anything is wrong with Collin we WILL ABSOLUTELY KEEP EVERYONE INFORMED. For now if you hear no news, it's good news. If we don't update the blog right away it's because we're spending time with Collin, kangarooing with Collin, traveling to see Collin, sleeping, pumping, or working. We don't want anyone to worry. We'll let you know if there is something to worry about. In the mean time here's  a great picture of Collin drawn by his cousin Emma :)

Still being a sleepyhead.

Nothing too exciting has happened today, which is good! He had a couple of breathing spells that made his heart rate go down. Turns out he probably coughed up his air tube, so they replaced it for him. His 48 hour blood cultures came back negative, so he's not showing any signs of infection. He is still very tuckered out from the little bug he had and has a lot of extra mucus in his chest. He's getting better though. They've decided to keep him on his antibiotics for 7 more days just in case.  They've put a hold on doing any more brain scans for now which is a good thing. For now, it means it's not an emergency situation. The nurses are keeping an eye on any swelling by measuring the circumference of his head everyday. It's been a steady 24 cm noggin! and he's adorable!

No more PDA! Yay!

First of all we would like to say sorry to all our followers for not updating the blog sooner! Busy baby shower day. Collins heart PDA is officially gone, which was that ductus we wanted closed. Now his bloodflow will be nice and strong for the rest of his body. He's doing much better on the vent, his breathing is getting much stronger and his blood is oxygenating well. He's back on 1 ml of milk every 3 hours so the pooping will begin again! Joy! He's still a little sick but his cultures say he could be getting better already. As of right now our little man is 2 pounds 4 ounces! Practically a football player! They haven't mentioned his new length yet tho. We're  guessing about 14 inches or so. He's doing a great job so far. That's all for now.

Our tuckered out little man.

Today, Collin's been doing pretty well. He's a sleepy sleepy boy after the day he had yesterday. He's still on the vent and could be for as long as a couple of weeks. This could be a good thing though, the energy he'd normally put into breathing can now go into growing, and putting on some pudge! One of the nurses suspected that he might have a small bug because they were sucking a lot of yucky mucus out of his mouth. They did some blood cultures and turns out he may have one of a large array of illnesses, possibly sepsis. Sepsis is caused by bacteria that already exists in the body but become infected. This can happen from his pick lines, IV's, and any other pokes he's been getting. Being so small, Collin is very suceptable to illness and it's fairly common for this to happen to a baby at his age. He'll be fine, it'll just make it hard for him to breathe on his own and may make him oncomfortable and boogery. The scan for his brain came back and is still stable, so no trips to boston yet! Even thought his brain hasn't changed it's also not getting smaller, so we all need to hope that he can reabsorb that spinal fluid and blood blocking his ventricles. Still no word yet on his echocardiogram, the nurses say that they still don't hear a murmur but we're waiting to find out for sure if that ductus has closed. The bleeding in his belly hasn't started up again which is a really good thing, so they're going to start 1ml feedings again every 3 hours. There's still a hold on us doing kangaroo care with him, (which stinks) but we know it's the best thing for him. Right now, he's bundled up and getting some much deserved rest. Everyone at the NICU keeps saying what a "little fighter" he is and how remarkable he's been doing. Collin's only 10 days old and we're already so proud of him!

Thursday Night.

Collin was taken of the cpap and had to be put back on the vent. He's been doing such a good job breathing on his own that he needs a little break. Breathing is very hard for our little man, he got a bit cocky and now he needs to rest. that being said, he's still trying to breath over the vent by himself! What a show off! The nurses say that they can't hear his murmur but we'll know for sure tomorrow. We're just hoping that everything is okay with his cute little melon. Thats all for now......oh and I (daddy) got change my first poopy diaper today, and it was awesome!

cpap again

Two steps forward, one step back!   Collin can't decide what he wants to do!! .. He had a few breathing spells over night, so he got switched back to the cpap.  They said this is common, even after doing so well; babies of his size tend to get tired very easily and he was working so hard at breathing that he needs a little break.. so cpap it is with low oxygen.

This afternoon will be happy though, he is getting a visit for the first time from his uncles Seth & Joey :)
And then tomorrow will be a big day.. let's hope his echocardiogram and cranial ultrasounds show progress!

Sleepy Boy!

Collin is having a good night resting up!  He was able to start feedings again and just had 3.5ml's :)  Now he is happy laying on his belly with his bum bum up in the air!  

 We wont know anything further about his head or heart until they re-examine on Friday.  But for now he is very relaxed and just sleeping a lot!  

Updates..

Collin's cranial ultrasound showed no change.. He is stable for now. The Dr.'s will keep a close eye on him by measuring the circumference of his head and he will get another ultrasound in 24 hrs.  The bleed that he had on the left side ventricle is essentially blocking the flow of spinal fluid from his brain through spinal chord and back up.  Since there was no change in size by ultrasound, that means the fluids are flowing enough to keep it stable.  The worry is that the flow could stop and cause a fluid build up and pressure.  We are hoping that the blood will reabsorb and no longer cause an obstruction.  This can happen, but it is unlikely that it will happen quickly enough because it was a significant size bleed. If there is a change in size on his next ultrasound they will most likely send him to Boston for treatment.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that he stays stable, and will fix this problem quickly!

The blood in the belly issue is all settled now.. it was definitely just irritation from the feeding tube.  They pulled it back slightly so it's not so deep into his stomach.  He has not shown any other signs of irritation, so he is able to start feedings again today :)

He looks very happy today, and was making very cute little sounds as he had the hiccups :)

One Week Old

Today started out well, but we got our first round of 'not-so-good-news' ...

Collin was doing really well this morning.. They started him on 3.5ML feedings... BUT  in the afternoon he aspirated some blood :(  they did an X-ray and could see that his feeding tube is still in the right place and his belly looks good..So they think he just got a little irritated from the tube.  To fix that problem they gave him some medicine to coat his belly and they are going to hold back on feedings until tomorrow to give him a break.

Collin's Echocardiogram came back and it showed that the ductus is still open but it is smaller than before.. they will re-do this test in 3 days, hopefully it will be closed by then.  If it's not they will give him another round of Indocin.  If it does not close after the last round of indocin its very possible he would have to get corrective surgery to close it.

They did a 2nd cranial ultrasound check on monday to look at the bleeding they saw from his first check. He did have a hemorrhage in his brain on the left side, which was a grade 4. This can cause many complications for Collin, but the worst part is that we wont know for quite some time if it had an effect on him.   Before it was not showing any signs of swelling. But after his last scan it showed increased ventrical size (called hydrocephalus) it means that the hemorrhage that he had caused a blood clot and is blocking the flow of spinal fluid from his brain down his spine.  The reason this is dangerous is because it can swell and push against healthy brain tissue and cause damage.  It is possible for this to clear up, but
 If the extra fluids have not drained on their own it can cause damage to the grey matter area of his brain.  Obviously we want to avoid that.. so to treat it he would have to get a reservoir drain because he is too small for a shunt.  If that happens he would have to be transferred to Boston Children's.  Because, even though our NICU is wonderful, they aren't able to perform that procedure here.  We are going to have to wait and see what the results of his next cranial are and what the neurologist says.. let's hope and pray that it clears up, we will take it as it comes.  He has just been doing so well, it was hard to hear that he may have a set back.

The good news for the day was that Jason was able to hold Collin for the first time and did Kangaroo Care for about an hour :)  Collin seemed very happy and relaxed.  He raised his hand up and was touching Jason's beard, we think he liked the feeling!!

Collin now looks settled for the night he is all snuggled in and still looking like an adorable little piggy nosed boy :)

New nose plugs for baby

Everything is well so far today!  Collin just got his CPAP out and they switched it for the smaller nose prongs.. called a nasal canula.. They are much more comfortable and he seems happy!

When the respiratory dr switched it out they put some saline drops in his nose; We laughed our heads off because Collin had a sneezing fit and it was so cute.  He now looks like a little piggy because it squishes his nose :)

in other news.. he is off phototherapy again his bilirubin went from 6.5 down to 3.3  Also, he handled his feeding so well they upped him from 1 ml to 2.5 :)  AND I got to change his first poopy diaper!

November 6th- First Kangaroo!

Collin is continuing to do very well on room air, and still has the cpap.  He is handling the colostrum feedings very well, but we are waiting on him to make a poop! heheheh.

His Bilirubin count rose slightly so he spent most of the day today under phototherapy lights.
We will know for sure after his echocardiogram.. but both the nurse and the neonatologist listened to his heart today and neither of them could hear a murmur, so we are hoping the ductus has closed!

Best news of all today was that Collin was ready to start Kangaroo Care :)  ..Kangaroo care is skin to skin contact between baby and parents!  So, for Mommy's birthday she got to hold him for the first time!!

 It took 2 nurses and a respiratory specialist to move Collin from his isolette to my chest! ..It's crazy with all of the wires and breathing equipment and took awhile to get him settled in.  It was the best feeling in the world :)  He is nice and snuggly and warm!  I thought waiting over 10 hours to meet my baby was bad...waiting 5 days to actually hold him was very hard. But, the best birthday present i've ever received was holding my tiny baby for the very first time!  (Thanks to nurse Kelly for making it happen!!) 

First Feeding

I was able to give Collin his first feeding tonight!!  Even though it was through his feeding tube it was awesome!  It makes me feel good to be able to give him some colostrum (milk)..it's one of the only ways I can help him right now.  They are going to feed him a tiny amount (one ML) every 3 hours... totaling a whopping 8ml's a day.  Yay for hungry baby :)  This doesn't really give him nutritional value..it is more just a way to get his digestion tract started.  Its very common for micro-preemies to have issues with digestion, so we hope this goes well.  He is getting all the nutrients he needs from a special fluid made for him sent by IV.

Photos from Saturday

 Our Wedding Rings on Collins little Foot :)

Successful Milkage!! 

Daddy trying out some medical attire!

haha.. baby spread eagle, just hangin' out

Collin's little buddies watching over him

sleeping sound


Today was excellent!  He is doing so well breathing on his own!  He is getting some much needed rest from all of the hard work and excitement the last few days.  Its hard to explain to people just how tiny Collin really is, so to give some perspective we placed our wedding bands over his tiny foot.  And in the other picture you can see the red little toy..it is a beanie baby!

Saturday Morning

Daddy had his first day back to work today and wasnt happy about it! But he will be up later today to visit. 
Collin is doing so well today!  He still has the CPAP in his nose for the extra push of air just to remind him to keep on breathing.  But, he is doing so well he is officially OFF oxygen!!!!  He is now breathing room air.  Later today he is getting his UA line taken out..which was a tube going into his belly button, used for taking out blood samples. He doesnt need to have as many samples taken, so they don't need that line anymore.  The down side is they will now have to keep poking needles into his heels for testing, so he will have bruising on his feet for awhile.
The best news of all today is that his echocardiogram results came back and the PDA (ductus) is now very small.  They will be giving him 3 days to see if it can naturally close without extra medication, and they will do another check on Tuesday to see if it has closed.
Unfortunately we found out that Collin suffered a brain hemmorhage on the left side of his brain, which is very common for these tiny babies..we dont know much about it, but he will be getting some cranial ulrasound scans to get a better idea of what is going on and what we can do about it.

That's all for now, we will probably write again tonight after Daddy visits

Happy Boy

 He was very content on his belly, warm with his cute little hat on.. and VERY happy to be able to eat/suck on his hand now that the breathing tube is gone :)  he now has what is called a CPAP (the thing attached to his nose) its giving him extra oxygen, but he is doing all of the breathing on his own!

We just left the hospital for the day which is always hard. Baby is doing well off of the ventilator and is still just on oxygen. The nurses say that they'd like his oxygen intake to be a little less, (right now he's on 38% oxygen and they'd like to get him below that) but this may just come with time. His blood gases, which are blood samples taken to see how his blood is oxygenating, have all been great. We're still waiting to hear on the results of his second echocardiogram to see how his ductus is closing, and the ultrasound on his little noggin. He does have a slight bleed in his brain which is common and has not spread, and once his heart is all set it will clear up. Our concern at this point is the bleed may cause some long term issues down the road that we won't see until he's a lot older developmentally. These complications can range from learning disabilities, to plain clumsiness. The most common are speech development problems and cognitive function problems which can be fixed with physical therapy and speech therapy, all things we can manage. We'll take it day by day for now and cross these bridges when we come to them. Based on how well he's doing and how much he likes to move around, I don't think we'll have to worry. Now that he has his breathing tube out, he loves to suck on his fingers and it's the cutest thing ever! We'll keep you updated.

November 4, 2011

Hello everyone. Big day for our little man. He just got his breathing tube out and now he's just on a little bit of oxygen. He doesn't need the UV light anymore because his billiruben level has gone down. The neonatologist (preemie doctor) and the nurse couldn't hear his heart murmur anymore so the meds should be working. They've put a new pick line into him to better circulate the meds to his heart. They're going to do another echocardiogram today at 3 to make sure his ductus is closing. Right now he's on his belly sucking on his hand! That's all for now.

Mommy Feels like a Cow!

Mommy feels like a cow.. but not in a bad way.. its because i've actually been able to get some milk to bring up for Collin :)   Right now his digestional tract is underdeveloped and he is living off of IV fluids.. So until he is ready they will Freeze this stuff at the NICU.  When he's ready to eat milk it will be ready for him!

'Sun Tanning'

Collin has developed Jaundice, which is very common for preemie babies. Here's baby laying under the blue lights, it helps his body break down old blood cells and release them as waste from his body. He seems to love the light and warmth and he spreads his arms and legs out!  The lights can be harmful to his very sensitive skin and eyes, so the time he is under the lights is limited, but just long enough to help with the jaundice.  He has to wear the tiny little sunglasses to protect his eyes.

Foot Prints!

Here's a photo of the tiny feets :)

Thursday

We just had a nice visit up to the NICU to visit baby Collin.. his nurse Mary is great, and has shown us a lot!  He is still doing wonderful with breathing, and he's a squirmy-wormy always wiggling around!!  We get to spend time doing 'hand containment' which is just us placing our hands on his hands, feet or head.  It helps make him feel comfortable, and gets him used to the way we smell :)  We were able to get involved a little bit in caring for him by taking his temp and changing his tiny tiny diaper.
Sadly, we have to go home today, but the good news is we can visit him whenever we want. Each day that goes by is another day closer to him coming home with us. We are very confident in his doctors, and the progress he has shown already.. That's it for now :)

November 3, 2011

Little Collin is doing pretty well considering everything. He's been in the NICU for 2 nights now. Collin's still on the ventilator, he's averaging about 60 breaths a minute and only about 14 are assisted. Our doctor has said that he's doing "extremely well" breathing and all his tests have said that he's receiving the oxygen to his blood very well. The latest news we've found out today is that he has a slight heart murmur which is very common with very preemie babies. The murmur is caused by a "ductus" in his heart that would normally close at full term, but where he's so little he needs medication for this. They're going to start him on an IV tonight and that should help close the ductus. He's doing so well breathing that he could come off of the vent in a few days! A couple of upcoming tests are an echocardiogram just to make sure his heart is doing well and the medication is working, and he's getting an ultrasound of his brain to make sure any bleeds (also common) aren't spreading or causing swelling. So, right now all he's doing is hanging out under his UV light, getting a nice tan and growing and growing. We'll keep you updated!

- Shanoah & Jason

Baby Collin's birth

Saturday morning at 9 a.m I was just going about my business, setting up the restaurant for the day all alone..prepping food, counting money etc...Singing to myself and having a normal, pleasant morning. Without any warning whatsoever, the scariest thing that has ever happened in my life, happened. My water broke, at only 6 months pregnant!   I made some quick and distraught phone calls, to my obgyn's emergency line to ask what to do, to my boss to let them know i had to leave, to my mom to know if it was really my water breaking and what to do, and of course my husband to say wake up and get to the hospital!   I drove myself to the hospital and after numerous tests, the Dr. came to the conclusion that my water did infact break and there was barely any fluid left.  My tiny baby was still hanging out in my belly, fluidless.  I was immediately put on bed rest and was given rounds of antibiotics and steroids to help protect the baby, and the steroids to try to speed up lung development.  We were visited by Dr. Beal, a neonatologist who gave us all the scary information about what a baby would be like born at 25 weeks..the outcome bleak.  We were told there was a little more than a 50% chance our baby would survive, and if he did survive, he could possibly be blind, deaf, have cerebral palsy or a range of many other complications.   We 'moved' into an anti-pardom room, and after three days (miracle days that helped Collin grow and get the steroids) My inevitable early labor began..

Collin was born on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 @ 2:17 A.M  He weighed 1lb 14 oz and was 13 1/4 inches long.  He was over 15 weeks early, his gestational age 25 weeks 5 days.  He is considered a micropreemie and will have a long road ahead of him.  No one knows for sure what caused his premature birth.. there is a theory that the drop in barometric pressure from the early snow storm could have been the cause for the rupture.  Collin's early birth was a very scary, yet happy time. The best sound in the world was his very first cry at birth.  It was quickly silenced by a tube for him to be on a ventilator.  But, hearing that sound of him crying was amazing because we did not know if he would be able to breath at all with such underdeveloped organs.  We appreciate all the phone calls, texts, emails, and facebook messages since saturday and since Collin was born.. We decided to start this blog so that we can better inform everyone of what is going on with the baby, so you can all follow us on our journey to healthy and happy!  Thank You for your love & support.. Here's to Collin! xo