Logan Day 8

Logan is doing pretty well today!  His flow was decreased (this is the pressure they are supplying to him to help prevent apnea episodes) and if he keeps it up, then he will be off of it tomorrow!  I think he will like that because today he was trying to pull the tubes out of his nose while he was sleeping.  It was pretty cute, but I had to reprimand him for it.

He is still off the bili lights, but his bilirubin levels did go up to an 8.  If they go up any higher, he will have to go back under the lights.  :(  As cute as he is with his sunglasses, hopefully he won't have to wear them again.

They increased the amount of breast milk he is getting, but he wasn't digesting all of it.  Instead of decreasing the amounts, they decided to stretch out the time he gets it.  Now he receives the food over a 2.5 hours time period.  His feeding tube was also changed to his left nostril.  Oh, and he is now only receiving my milk, no more donor milk, so go boobs!  I never thought I would cheer on my boobs, but such is my life now.  I've talked to other moms and they say they've done the same thing, so at least I'm not alone.  Hehe.  Unfortunately, though, I may have a clogged duct or infection, so I'm watching that carefully and trying to see if it can get better on its own.

He had an ultrasound today of his head to make sure there were no bleedings.  This came back negative, so his head and brain are looking good!

He also gained a little weight, he's now up to 4lbs 3.7oz!  We'll take every little bit we can get.

I visited him twice today.  The first time Noelle and I went, so he got to meet his Auntie Noelle!  I had a lactation consultation to try non-nutritive feeding (he's not ready quite yet for the nutritive).  I pumped beforehand and then we got him out of his pod.  He got a decent latch and just hung out for 30 minutes in my arms.  He suckled and licked a little, but seemed to recognize that my nipple was important.  I was so proud of him.  I have to say, too, it's so sweet just looking down at him like that.  He actually had his eyes open and was just staring at me.  At one point he grabbed ahold of my hair and was just clutching.  My heart melted.  I just adore my little man!

Jesse and I came back tonight - but we got there a little later than planned.  Traffic was AWFUL tonight!  Last night we had the crazy rain and winds, yet traffic was so light.  But tonight we just got stuck.  Boo!  We met up with my best friend Barin, her husband Jonathan & their cute daughter Ella.  Jonathan came back with us first to meet Logan (children aren't allowed in the NICU, so they had to split Ella-watching duties.  Which isn't a bad thing because she's just so darn cute!).  Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us take him out of his pod because he was still being fed and they didn't want him to spit it up.  I know Jesse was really disappointed, he looks forward to his daily holdings of Logan, as do I.  :(  Next, Barin came back to see him again.  I noticed Logan trying to pull out his tubes while Jesse was out getting Barin, so I just put my finger in his little hand to stop him.  It was so cute because he just grabbed on and held it for awhile.

We headed home after that.  We're exhausted and tomorrow is trash day, so that needed to be put together.

But, for fun, take a look at Jesse's and my baby pictures and one of Logan.  I think with regards to these pics, he doesn't really look like either of us.  BUT, compared to later pictures of Jesse (like, at 1 month old), he definitely takes after his dad.  I'll find one of those and post it later on.  It's hard to believe that he is one week today!  I hope that he is still on the 3-4 week time frame.  If so, that means only 2-3 more weeks until he gets to come home.  Fingers crossed!

Logan Day 7

So today Logan is 33 weeks!  Tomorrow he is 1 week!  He will have two ages for quite awhile - "real" age (since birth) and adjusted age (gestation & then from due date).  Right now what's most important is his adjusted age.  That's how the doctors decide what they can try with him and where his development should be.

So anyways...  The doctor called Jesse and gave him the update on our sweet boy.  He went off the bili lights last night.  His bilirubin levels went up a little bit, so they're going to test them again in the morning to see.  Fingers crossed they don't go up anymore.  His feedings are going well and they are going to increase his milk again tonight.  He is getting an ultrasound of his head tomorrow - which is standard practice for preemies.  They wait 7 days to do it.  It's to check for any potential bleeds - something the steroid shots help prevent.

I didn't go to visit him earlier in the day, we have some things we need to do around the house.  Jesse and his friend Jason moved the dresser back into Logan's room last night, so I dusted it and polished it.  I will probably Murphy's Oil it as well to get some shine back into it.  I also wiped down all of the shelves in our hall closet so we could start putting back some linens.  This weekend I am going to go through Logan's closet and clean up all of his stuff.  Everything is covered in dust from the floors getting done.

Jesse and I didn't get over to see Logan until around 5:30 - we went together when he got off of work.  The nurse told us that Logan has gained some weight!  After birth he had dropped 4 ounces to 3lbs 15oz.  As of Tuesday he weighed 3lbs 15.5oz, but at his weigh-in last night he was back up to 4lbs 3 oz!  Good job little man!!  I hope he keeps up the good work.  We also noticed that he was off humidity control.  He's still in the pod (or spaceship as Jesse calls it) to help him maintain his temps, but they are no longer controlling his humidity, so that's a great step.  He does still have the flow on him - the pressure to help stop apnea.  He had one apnea episode today, so that's a bummer.  But, the doctor said these are pretty common up to 34 weeks.

I did skin-to-skin contact with Logan today.  While I held him, Jesse read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss.  Thanks Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Travis & Aaron for the book!  Jesse chose to cradle him today instead of skin-to-skin.  He likes to be able to look at Logan.  Lots of times when he holds Logan like that, our little man opens his eyes and looks at us.  We couldn't stay long tonight because we were headed to Jesse's dad's house to celebrate my birthday.  It's definitely getting harder and harder to leave him, but he is making improvements, so we have to appreciate the time we do get to spend with him.

Here's a picture of him today.  We're debating on the color of his hair.  I've ALWAYS wanted a red-head.  Jesse has some red hair on both sides of his family.  Anyone who knows me knows how much red hair we have on my side, so maybe the genes are lurking for Logan.

Also, here's a picture of Fred curled up in Logan's laundry.  Hopefully the animals will be well used to his scent when we bring him home.

And last, I forgot to mention other visitors we had.  Friday night Amber & Nathan came to visit us and Logan.  Sorry y'all that I left you out.  My brain was hurting trying to remember!

Logan Day 6

I stopped by to see Logan this morning because I had a meeting with a lactation consultant as a follow up.  She told me that Logan was old enough to try non-nutritive feeding - aka practice breast-feeding.  But that has to be done 30 minutes after the last pumping, so I couldn't do it at that time.  We set up for me to pump in the NICU when Jesse and I came back and then try the non-nutritive feeding after that.  I stayed and changed Logan's diaper - it was full of pee - but then left after that.  I think I overdid it a little bit yesterday and this morning, so I decided to stay on the couch for most of the afternoon with my heating pad.  

The good news is that Logan's bilirubin levels went down and they are taking off the bili lights at 8:00 tonight.  Fingers crossed his levels stay down!  If he can stay out from under the lights, then he may be able to slowly move out of his pod.  The nurse said that he weighs enough to try to let him begin regulating his own body temperature.  Soon he may get to wear clothes!  So as a reward, Jesse and I went to Carter's this evening and bought two preemie outfits and two newborn.  The preemies say they go up to 5lbs and the newborn from 5-8.  They are super cute, but I may have to exchange some of them because one is not a onesie, and he really needs to be able to wear something with snaps because of all of his wires.

The not as good news is that he had three apnea episodes over the night, so the doctor wanted to give him a little extra pressure in his breathing.  He's not on oxygen or anything, but the pressure is to help keep everything open so he doesn't have an episode.  The nurse was surprised that the doctor decided to do that, he hadn't had any episodes for the morning.  Hopefully he will have that taken out soon.  In order for him to go home, the week he will be discharged he can't have any episodes.  

Feeding wise he is doing well with his slowly increased amounts.  They are increasing the breast milk again tonight to I think 14cc a feeding.  They estimated that it will take a good 10 days for him to be off of the iv.  In the meantime, according to the lactation specialist, he should actually be ready to start nutritive feeding this week - so actual breastfeeding.  I have an appointment with them to try that on Thursday, so we'll see how that goes.  We're still waiting to hear from the doctor what she (or he depending on the day) think about it.

Jesse and I went over to the hospital together this afternoon.  He had a doctor's appointment (a reschedule from the one my pre-term labor interrupted last week) and received his DTaP booster.  I had mine in the hospital before being discharged - my arm felt like it had been punched for a few days.  He picked me up and we got to the hospital where I pumped and Jesse changed Logan's diaper.  The nurse said he had a super poopy diaper at his 2:00 changing, but for Jesse it was just pee.  I'm pretty sure he appreciated that.  Hehe!  We tried the non-nutritive feeding with him.  Without being too descriptive, for most of the practice, Logan just stared at my boob with this look on his face saying, "Now what I am supposed to do?"  He actually didn't do too horrible and looked so cute and little down there.  After a few minutes, I just held him skin-to-skin.  Then Jesse held him.  We read him another French story - this time about Le Petit Dragon (The Little Dragon, in case it wasn't obvious...).  

On our way out, the nurse handed us a bag of Logan's laundry.  She said we should wash his laundry and bring it back.  That's when she told us about his clothes and such.  We need to find little hats for him and get him some blankets.  The good thing is that we can use this laundry and let the animals smell it for a day or two, then wash it and take it back to the hospital.  We want to start preparing them for their new little brother.  We brought a blanket home on Sunday and let Yoda take a sniff.  Here's a picture of that:

Every day we look forward to seeing his improvements.  We have to remind ourselves that baby steps are good!  I do find myself looking forward to future dates, like doctor's appointments, book club, etc., because I know once those days are here, he will be even closer to coming home.  In the meantime, we have to work on getting his room ready!  Jesse and his friend Jason started moving some of the furniture from the garage back into rooms.  We've got some items on order to decorate his room.  We don't have a crib, but at this point, with how tiny he is, he won't really need one for awhile.  We are going to borrow the Wade family cradle - which has been used by many a Wade baby, I think even Jesse's grandfather.

Here's something that we're going to have printed and framed for our guy:

Well, that's the latest update on our little man.  We didn't really take many new pictures today, but here's the one Jesse took:

Logan Days 1 -5

So Logan's first day went pretty well considering the circumstances.  He had lots of visitors, his Grandmother, Mimi, Pops, and Wade Grandparents.  As well as his Auntie Barin, Aunt Kinsey, & Michelle.  I was able to go down and see him, too, and he grabbed my finger.

Friday morning his doctor called us to give us an update.  He said that Logan could be removed from his CPAP and that he didn't need it.  Jesse and I also went down to see him and got to hold him, which was great.  We brought a book to read to him - Scottish rhymes we bought in Scotland this year.  Jesse was holding him and read in a Scottish accent.  Logan really liked this and kept opening his eyes and looking at Jesse.  He's so little and wrinkly and cute!  He was also visited by his Uncles Cooper and Carson.

Saturday morning I went down to take some milk and sing him a little good morning song.  My dad used to wake me up in the morning singing "Good Morning to you" to the tune of Happy Birthday, so I sang it to Logan that morning as well.  That morning he was put under the bililights because of jaundice.  He was so freaking cute just hanging out under the lights with his little sunglasses.  He looked like he was chilling at the beach.  The doctor was there so he gave me an update in person.  He said Logan was doing great and there was a good chance he would be able to go home in 3-4 weeks!  As I was coming back upstairs, Katherine was there to visit him, so we went back down to NICU to hang with Logan.  We got to watch a feeding and see his diaper being changed.  He pooped while the nurse changed him, and it made us laugh.  Jesse and I went back up to spend some quality time with him and got to do skin to skin contact.  Jesse also changed Logan's diaper on his own.  I have to confess, I was scared to do it because of how tiny he is.  He also has so many wires, I was worried about pulling them out.  Jesse did a great job, though!  He didn't liked being moved around too much at first and cried, but he calmed down as we talked and sang to him.  I was discharged that day, so we went home.  That was the first time I had seen our house since Monday, and it was like a whole new place!  We had started putting laminates in the two guest rooms and hallway the weekend before I went into labor.  Needless to say, they hadn't been finished.  Well, our wonderful parents got a crew in to finish the floors and threw in our bedroom as well.  They worked really hard to clean up our house and prepare it for the two of us.  After all, I have never had my chance to nest and get things cleaned up!

Sunday we started to recoup some sleep.  We went down to the hospital that afternoon and spent some time with our little man and his Floyd grandparents.  We got to change him again, I did most of it, but Jesse helped with holding his legs and such.  We also held him again, I did skin to skin.  He was still under the lights, but doing well.  The doctor said he was doing great, but had a few instances of apnea the night before.  If he had many more, they would give him a little caffeine.  But, while we were visiting, the nurse said that he hadn't had any for her, so that was great to hear!

This morning the doctor called Jesse instead of me, which led us to a mini-freak out.  We had been told the day before that they would only call Jesse if there was something wrong, but apparently that was not the case.  Thankfully she was only calling to say that he was doing well.  Right now Logan is being fed through an IV and feeding tube.  He is getting both breast milk and iv fluids.  They are starting to increase the breast milk and cut back on the iv.  Each day he will get more of one and less of the other, provided he continues to take them well.  In order for him to go home, his feeding goal is to have 8 feedings a day - bottle and breast.  Once at home, we will continue to wean him from the bottle so that he works his way up to all breast-feedings.  He was still under the billilights.  His jaundice hasn't gotten worse, but it's not really going away yet, either.  They're hoping that it will start to clear up soon.  I spent most of the day with him.  Grading some quizzes I had brought home the last weekend and reading him a book in French.  I changed his diaper on my own.  Jesse came by after work and got to spend some one-on-one time with him as I went to pump.  Jesse also changed Logan's diaper - he got a diaper full of poop whereas I had one just of pee.  Hehe!  We both spent some time holding him.  While he is under the lights, they only want him being held once a day, so we wait until we're both there so we can split the duty.

Well, these are Logan's first 5 days!  I'll post more updates as we have them!  Pictures are on our dropbox link, but I will post some here as well!  Thanks everyone for all of your well wishes.  We are very fortunate that Northside has such a great NICU and that there are so many great doctors and nurses.  Really, we can't say enough about how wonderful everyone has been.

Logan!

Ok, so no promises about being good with updating this, but Jesse and I figured finally posting on this blog could be a good way to update friends and family with Logan's growth and development.  We may not post every day, but definitely when there are changes we will add something, even a note.  But first we must start with the week of his birth...

As some of you know, the MLK (or inaugural) weekend, I had noticed a few odd things going on.  If you want the details, I'm more than happy to tell you in private.  Regardless, it was enough to have me in tears calling the midwife Sunday night.  She told me if I was having contractions that I needed to go to Labor & Delivery.  If not, to call first thing in the morning so they could check me out on Monday.  So I went in to the office on Monday morning.  It was the first time I saw a doctor at the practice and she was very nice.  At my appointment, she ran a bunch of tests, said things looked ok but they would contact me with results.

So feeling a little less worried, I picked up some Chick-fil-a for lunch and went home to write down our grocery list.  I then headed out to get a pedicure and my eye brows waxed.  It was while I was getting my brows waxed that I saw I had a missed call and voicemail from the OB.  I sat in the parking lot to listen to the message.  The nurse called back and told me one of the tests came back positive and that indicated I was at a high risk of for pre-term labor.  I was told that I needed to go to Labor & Delivery immediately for monitoring.  She said that the doctor on call had my information and they were ready for me.  As soon as I hung up I burst into tears and called Jesse, nearly hysterical.  I told him to meet me at the hospital.  I then called my mother and she basically demanded that she take me to the hospital and that I didn't need to drive myself.

After check in, they set me up on a bunch of machines (a contraction monitor and fetal heart monitor) and an IV.  The contraction monitor showed me having consistent contractions only several minutes apart or so.  I hadn't even been feeling these!  Once I saw the contractions, I realized that I was feeling them, I just hadn't known.  Eventually, they decided that just the iv wasn't working, I got three shots of turbertiline (not sure how to spell it) and they admitted me for the night.  The plus was that I was moved to a more comfortable room.

I woke up in the middle of the night to a shot in my butt and other stuff being hooked up.  The shot was a steroid shot for his lungs and the other stuff was magnesium sulfate.  The magnesium made me crazy. I couldn't wear my glasses, I had a killer headache, and I couldn't focus on anything even without my glasses.  I could only look at people with one eye barely open.  Jesse had to help me walk to the bathroom every time I needed to go, and learned very quickly how to unhook me from everything, and then hook me back up.  The doctor had come in the morning and said they were going to see if they could stop the contractions, but that I would probably be put on bedrest for at least two weeks.

Over the next night I got my next steroid shot.  I woke up to the news that I would get off the magnesium (yay!) but that bed rest was a definite.  The question was where - home or at the hospital.  They had me take another medicine, procardio.  That seemed to help, but by the end of the day, it was clear that wasn't working, so they gave me three more shots of turbertaline.  Well, Logan takes after me and has a mind of his own.  He was ready to be out.  My water broke around 2:00 am, Jesse and my mom came immediately, and by 8:00am I had regular contractions and was 2cm dilated.  He was here by 11:43am, yelling and flailing his arms as the NICU nurses and doctors started to take care of him.  He and Jesse headed up to the NICU and I hung out recovering.

The NICU doctor came down and met with us after checking over Logan and told us that he was doing well considering he was 32 weeks 1 day.  He told us to expect him to stay in NICU for 6-8 weeks, pretty much until he would be full term.  This began our journey through the NICU.  We will keep everyone up-to-date with his progress.