1st week home/photoshoot

Collin's first week home has been great!  He's on a good routine of eating, sleeping, and pooping!! normal baby stuff :)  

He went to the pediatrician, and also had a home nurse visit this week and both check ups went well!  THe last visit he weighed in at 10 lbs!   The oxygen and monitors have been easy to get used to because they are very similar to the ones in the hospital.  We did our first photo shoot @ home..he wasn't too happy with me and peed on the blanket when I tried to do a naked bum-bum shot hehehe.  Here are the pics we got

Our homecoming!

On our 108th day at the NICU, we were told to "GO HOME!!!!"  

What a day of mixed emotions! Mostly excitement, but a little bit of nervousness and of course the bittersweetness of leaving the place that was our home for over 3 months.  And, leaving the amazing people who took such good care of our baby!   We had some tearful goodbyes as well as tons of smiles :)  

Collin started out at 1 lb 14 oz .. at discharge he weighed 9 lb 13 oz!  Just one ounce short of an 8 lb gain!  he literally quadrupled his birth weight, which is just astounding and amazing!
He also grew 8 inches now 21 /14 inches long!

Collin is still on oxygen and we got all our oxygen tanks set up for home and little ones to travel with to his many appointments.  He has a pulse oximeter (POX) on his foot, just like at the hospital to measure his oxygen saturation at all times.

His feeding schedule is every 3-4 hours or as often as he likes... but no longer than 4 hours because his nutrition is still very important.  He will get an average of 70-100 mls @ 24 calories, until the pediatrician says otherwise.

This week we will have a home nurse visit to make sure we are all settled and check on Collin's feeds and weight.  He will have his first pediatrician visit monday and a visit with the pulmonologist on Thursday and in the next few weeks he will have his first visits with the physical therapist and then NICU follow up clinic.. busy boy!

Our journey is far from over, and we decided we will still keep up the blog with updates on Collin's progress at home, but they will be less frequent so we can spend lots of time with each other :)   Thanks everyone who has followed us your love and prayers obviously helped our little boy!!  See you all soon :)

Collin in his car seat all ready to go home!

Our lovely welcome home sign! thanks Cate family!

Nursery

The nursery is all set..now we just need a little baby to bring home :)   Collin's doing well.. right now the Dr.'s are still weighing the options for him, they wanted to consult with a surgeon about possibly getting his hernia fixed now, rather than later.  We think that he may say no because they usually don't do a procedure like that under 45 weeks gestation..But its good to rule it out as an option.  So far it sounds like our coming home party could actually be soon! We are thinking it will definitely be sometime before the month ends..because they keep actually saying stuff like "when he goes this," and "at discharge you'll need this" ..we have never heard those things up until now!  We don't know an exact date for sure, but all we do know is that Collin will be coming home with oxygen and we will have to have a little training course on how to use the home equipment and spend an overnight at the hospital with our new gear to make sure all is working appropriately!  This will be an exciting time..and of course whenever it does happen we'll let you all know :)   Thanks again to everyone who has followed us through this journey and sent love, support and prayers we love you all!

p.s  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! xoxo

February 9th

On February 9th, we celebrated the day Collin was originally due to arrive!  As we all know..Collin had other plans and decided to come into this world early, 100 days early to be exact!  

It was a day full of mixed emotions such as Mommy still struggling with the loss of a normal pregnancy and wishing that Collin didn't have to go through everything that he has.. But it was a very happy day, a celebration of his "Un-birthday" (as nurse Melissa put it!)

We are just so happy and blessed to have made it this far and to have been able to watch Collin grow into a much healthier and happier 8.5 lb chubby cutie :)   He was given a celebratory crown for his 100th day celebration..made so beautifully by some of our favorites on the Nicu staff..Melody, Meghan and Terri :)

breathing episodes

Collin's due date is approaching, and we are starting to get a little antsy about bringing him home.. But, unfortunately,  Last night Collin had a series of breathing episodes, and it was decided that he be put back on the cannula.  So, this will hold us back a bit longer..But, like we've always said he is in the best place he can be!  Collin does what Collin wants, or doesn't want to do.. he is very much on his own time line and continues to amaze us with his progress. But, he occasionally has to remind us, he's still not quite ready!

He was put back on a very low setting (25 ml pressure, running about 50 % oxygen right now).   He was off cannula with a flat bed and taken off caffeine for about 4 or 5 days and did pretty good, but now he is back on cannula with an inclined bed, but still no caffeine.  We think the reason for the events is due to his need for caffeine, but he really needs to learn to live without it! So, they gave him the other stuff back in hopes that it will take that extra edge off and get him over the hump. Hopefully, getting the caffeine totally out of his system.  Today Collin was also given a diuretic to get rid of any possible extra fluid.  It is common with his chronic lung disease to have some fluid build up and pressure around his lungs, which could be another reason for his apnea episodes.  Just another measure they are taking to make breathing easier for him.  Also, he's been having more frequent awake time, and the nurses suggested that he was getting a little "bored", so we brought in his little bouncy chair!  He seemed to really like the music and vibrations.  This picture was taken early last night, before they put the cannula back on..

Things coming up.. later this week Collin will have another eye exam to check on continued growth/progress. and sometime soon Collin will be getting an MRI to get a much clearer look at his little noggin!  They did multiple ultrasounds of his head in the beginning of our journey, but now that he is a little older they would like to get some in depth images and see what really went on in there when he had his hemorrhage.  We have no idea what the results could tell us, but it may give us some answers as to how it could effect Collin as he grows and develops.

39 weeks before/after pics

Collin is now 39 weeks gestation corrected, Just over 3 months old!  He is continuing to do well with his breathing off of oxygen, and he is working on weaning off caffeine.  His feedings are going pretty good, he does wake up often to eat, but he's been sleeping the max amount and they would like for him to wake up more often and eat a little more.  They want to make sure he gets a certain volume every day so that he will maintain his weight!   We put together some "Before & After" Pictures to really show just how far we've come :)  

3 months old!

"I'm so happy i'm three months old today!"