Saturday, 2-24-07

Tommy perfectly stuffed after taking his bottle. 8 weeks old. 2-19-07

Go team...okay, really this is a very normal preemie reflex. Most of the time his hand is wide open. 8 weeks old. 2-19-07

Sorry for the delay in posting new news and pictures. Wow, we're a bit exhausted in the Nance household.

Tommy is great, sleeping well and only fussy about once a day. This fussy time is easily fixed with mom or dad holding him. I was telling a friend that Tommy sleeps all the time. He sleeps more than term babies do at first. But then again, the poor guy isn't supposed to be born yet!

Mom and Dad are doing well, just tired. Feeding Tommy every three hours and me pumping every 3 or so hours gets tiring and leaves no time left do get much of anything done.

Robby, Kaitlyn and Kimberlyn...they are loving their baby brother. Kimberlyn refuses to call him anything but Thomas. She is quick to correct anyone who calls him Tommy. Kaitlyn is in heaven with what she calls "her baby", Tommy really likes all the attention she gives him. Robby is very proud to have his brother home.

Kaitlyn with her live baby doll. Tommy 8 weeks old. 2-19-07

Robby trying to comfort Tommy. 2-20-07



Tommy survived...ONE WEEK HOME!!! 2-21-07

Friday, Feb 23rd
I took Tommy in to get a weight check...just to make sure he really was gaining weight...4lbs, 12ozs! So, in a week he gained 5ozs...good by us!!

"What next Mom??" Tommy in Kimberlyn's princess doll swing that Aunt Jess sent for her 3rd birthday last July! 2-23-07

Tommy's on the Web...

Go to http://www.growingfamily.com/webnursery/default.asp and using his birthdate (Dec 25, 2006) you can find his hospital pictures. The lady was doing her best to get him to open his eyes...finally, once I realized this I made her stop. She was using his paci to try and get him to wake up by taking it out...Therefore he has a puckered lip from sucking! He barely opens his eyes to eat?!?!? O'well, I wanted a pic of what he looked like in the hospital.

2-18-07 ~~ Tommy is 55 days old!

Tommy 54 days old yesterday. This is how he looked when I had been frustrated with him not drinking his bottle well. I had called Larry to help. Larry thinks Tommy was gesturing "please, no more milk"...the kid only takes 40-45 mL (1 1/2 ozs)at each feeding!


Tommy's first bath on Valentine's Day, his first night home.


Update on the brain bleed...
Okay, many have asked about the brain bleed. Here's the deal...The first head ultrasound (which is done on all preemies) showed a Grade 1 bleed. A week later to see if it was resolving showed a Grade 2 or possibly Grade 3. The next week to try and figure out which grade it was showed Grade 3. Although this was getting Larry and I nervous (Grade 4 needs quite serious medical intervention) the neonatologist reassured us that although the report stated Grade 3, clinically, Tommy did not have a Grade 3 bleed. Weird...okay, they weren't worried and neither was I. They still rechecked it in 10 days. This time the head ultrasound showed the one side staying the same and the other side improving. They initially said they'd repeat the u/s in 7-10 days. Around 7 days later when I was asking about the date they said because it had stayed the same and showed some improvement they would not repeat the u/s. They would do a routine CT scan before discharge. That was done on Feb 12th and on the 13th the doctor told me all looked good. Unlike Larry, I'm not savvy at thinking of questions on the spot and took the "all looked good" for what it was worth.
On Valentine's day, I did ask the doctor discharging Tommy if Tommy needed any follow up. At this time he doesn't.

Tommy's first time to wear a non-NICU outfit! 2-15-07


First pediatric appointment...
On Friday, the 16th Tommy went in for his first pediatric appointment! He was 7 1/2 weeks old and weighed in at 4lbs 7ozs!! To you that may sound small, but to us he's really getting big...well until we see a full-term baby :) The doctor seems to think Tommy will need another CT scan to follow up on his brain bleed, but again...clinically there's no sign of problems. Tommy will go back in a week or so for his 2 month well baby appointment.
Tommy will be 8wks old tomorrow and the following Monday (the 26th) he'll be 9wks and have a follow up appointment with a pediatric opthamologist in Oklahoma City.

Kimberlyn giving Tommy VIP treatment...strolling him in her doll stroller from his bath back to his bed!


Tommy's first outing...
Against reccomendations, we did in fact take Tommy out yesterday. Robby had his RA Racer race at church. RA's is similiar to Boy Scouts, just has a Christian base. I'm so glad we went. Tommy and I went for a short time just to see Robby race... Robby took First Place for his group! This was super exciting as he did this last year too!
Next Saturday is the SO. Baptist Association regional race, where all the other So. Baptist churches in the surrounding towns meet at our church and compete against each other. Last year Robby took second place at this race. We'll see :)
Tommy stayed in the carseat on the stroller (so the monitor and oxygen wires/tube doesn't touch ANYTHING) with the hood of the stroller meeting up with the hood of the carseat so nobody was tempted to touch him. We did let a few peer in, BUT I was quick to say "not too close" as a reminder. We won't go out on a regular basis, but it was nice to see the race.

Robby (orange car) winning a race!

I'm glad I ventured out to the race...it was neat to see Robby so excited for his win. He even brought his trophy over to the stroller. I said no touching...that's more of a worry to me...those kids touched all sorts of stuff. All I could think of was the germs on his hands... I explained to him that he was full of germs... then he said "I just want to show Tommy my trophy" ahhh, so sweet. He's in hog heaven with his baby brother!

Robby showing Tommy his trophy!


Kimberlyn is possibly in hog heaven with her baby brother's STUFF. For example one of her twin babies (those smaller type baby dolls) is wearing Tommy's booties, sad part is they fit the baby doll very well :) Yes, they fit Tommy perfectly right now :)

Kimberlyn's doll wearing Tommy's booties!

Happy Valentines

TOMMY IS HOME!!!
We spent the night in the hospital last night, and the kids spent the night at Glenda Booker's house (isn't she just great??).

It was a long night, but the only issue we had was that Tommy got a little cold (about 97.2 degrees) towards the morning. We were worried they might keep him longer because of that, but they weren't too worried about it.

Tricia called me when I was at a going away luncheon and we were trying to figure out how we could work it for me to drive up there with the kids and somehow drive back together in the same car. Well, like I said before, I just got out of the way and God worked it out...Jeremey Geaslin said he was flying out of OKC on Thursday and returning Monday and that he'd be happy to drive the jeep back! So, we parked the jeep at the airport and drove to half way home. Then, we stopped at Pizza hut for lunch and fed Tommy there. Then we finally got home at around 4:30pm.

So far, it has turned out to be pretty tough--the house is loud and the kids can hardly stand not poking their heads in his bassinet. He is still tends to be a bit below the 98.0-99.0 temp range they desire,so we keep him up with heated towels and blankets as required. His first bottle eating performance at home was mediocre, but the second went well. Tricia gets pretty stressed when bringing babies home (rightfully so), so I try to be the "voice of reason". I try my best to keep her stress level down as I know that Tommy can figure out that something is bothering Mommy...and a viscous cycle is born where Tricia gets stressed, Tommy senses it and doesn't eat well which stresses Tricia more...and so on....

Of course, the kids are so excited to have him home--they absolutely love holding him and want to feed him and carry him around and the like...those things will come with time, but sitting down and holding him is about as far as we'll go!!

Here are a bunch of pictures!!

At the hospital this morning

Big Sister Kaitlyn

Very proud big brother

Finally, I'm a big sister!!

Can't get enough of their baby brother

Robby has some serious feelings for his little bro...when we left the hospital Tues night to go to Glenda's house, he said, "Dad, I just cant stand being apart from Tommy!" Awwwhhh.

Can anyone say chicken legs?? Yes, we had him completely bundled up, so this was the first time I saw him without all the blankets on top...I have to admit, he looks pretty hilarious...the car seat just swallows him, huh? But, it holds him very snug!

Anyway, I'll post more pictures on here from time to time! I am sure glad we have a digital camera--all this film would be expensive!

We'll see how tonight goes...speaking of that, I NEED TO GO TO BED NOW!!!

Thanks again for all the prayers, love and support. He is just a tiny but perfectly healthy baby boy...and we are so happy to have our family under one roof now. But, at the same time, we have made a lifelong friend in Glenda Booker, and Tricia especially, is going to miss her companionship!

12 Feb

We are getting closer...

Tommy had his cat scan today--we'll know the results tomorrow. One nurse said he would have to be sedated, another said the opposite. Turns out, he did NOT need to be sedated, so that is good!

He drank all of his bottles today--except for one..he only took about half of that one. GRRRRR.

I was supposed to fly (first time since December!!) tomorrow night, but the weather does not look like it is going to be very good and Tricia won't know if she is comming home tomorrow until the AM, so I decided to scrub my flight. I just really want to get flying again, but it is probably better that I not fly as my mind has been everywhere BUT in the books and thinking about flying.

So, we think that the Dr. will order one more day of bottle feedings and then perhaps let us room in on Wednesday. Which means he'd be home on Thursday. This whole thing is killing me as I want so badly to know what my schedule is going to look like the next few days! But, I keep reminding myself that this is all in God's hands and he'll work it out.

So, that is what I know so far...Tricia should call soon and tell me how much he weighs now..I think the last I had heard was that he was about 4 lbs 3 ounces. So, hopefully, he gained a bit more today.

Like always, we'll keep you posted!

11 Feb 07

I don't have incredible news just yet...besides the fact that we are VERY close to getting to room in with Tommy!! (That IS incredible news, isn't it?)

Tommy gained a little weight yesterday, so they put him back on the 3 bottle - 1 nose feeding schedule. They have a CAT scan schedule for tomorrow to take a detailed look at his brain and see how things turned out up there. I am not sure whether or not he'll need to be sedated for that. If he does, I would bet he won't take his bottles very well that day, but I might be wrong! It wouldn't be the first time. Maybe the second or third time, but definitely not the first :)

He took all of his bottles today very well--he is up to 38ml's per feeding which equates to 1.28 ounces per feeding and a grand total of 10.24 ounces per day. Still not much than a cup of coffee, but considering just a few weeks ago, he was taking half of that, that is incredible!

Tricia also noticed that he had most of his "brady" episodes (where his heart rate drops and his breathing drops) right after he ate. She talked to the nurses about that and they seemed to think that may have something to do with his reflux--most premature babies struggle with reflux to some degree--the valve that closes off the stomach is often not fully developed and leaks. This, in turn, can cause these brady episodes. The nurses talked to the Dr. who recalculated the dose of medicine which treats reflux based on his current weight--it was low, so he increased the amount of that medicine (I think this happened on Saturday). Tricia told me that he very rarely has any brady episodes at all.

We are in such a blessed position as a family--my squadron commander and the office in which I work has been so incredible--while I try to work as much as possible, my absence creates extra work for them. Not once has anyone fussed about me working reduced hours. That, in turn, gives Tricia the ability to almost completely focus on Tommy. I would not consider this such a blessing, but I guess that many other families don't have this opportunity as most if not all of the other babies don't get visited by their parents nearly as much as Tommy does. I talked to the nurses about that and how I was surprised that even on the weekends when I visit, there are usually only one or two other parents up there visiting in Tommy's room where there are six babies. From all the research I have done, I realize that this makes all the difference in a premature baby's development. Getting held, loved and cared for by a parent does all kinds of interesting things--keeps them healthier, actually causes them to grow more, develops their brains faster, etc. So, although you might not think that bringing a meal or taking care of our animals is a big deal--you are directly helping Tommy, and for that we'll forever be grateful! God has blessed us with great friends and he has held Tommy in his loving arms this whole time.

One of my friends sent me an email quite a while ago, and I have been meaning to share it with y'all <--- I am starting to speak "Oakie"!! I have no idea whether or not this was true, but regardless, it made me cry--right at my desk in the office in front of the person who sent it to me (Henrietta Pugh)! How embarrassing!
Rain

That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one"
Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on. "No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away
But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana.
Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love.
All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God wou! ld stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger.
But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Dana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time. And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.
Go ahead, cry...
One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing. As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain."

Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,"No, it smells like Him.It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest." Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.



While I can't see God, and I've never heard God's audible voice, I can feel God. And I know, through your prayers, Tommy has felt God's comforting presence in his struggle to live. I hang on to this picture in my mind of Jesus in all his Glory leaning over Tommy's crib and hugging our precious boy giving him hope and understanding better than any parent, nurse or doctor could. Nothing calms my frantic heart better than remembering that Jesus loves Tommy!

We'll keep you posted! Hopefully, we'll have some picures of him safe and sound at home soon!!

10 Feb

The kids and I made it back safely---
Tommy is still doing well, but we don't think he'll come home until the middle of the week. We took an infant CPR class, and Tricia took a class on the latest and greatest info for newborn care. They are going to send him home on a low dose of oxygen, so they also gave us some training on how to hook up this portable monitor that measures his heart rate and breathing rate. The bad (or good, depending on how you look at it) thing is that it has a REALLY loud alarm on it--so if his breathing or heart rates go outside of predefined parameters, the alarm goes off--loud enough to wake up even me! I'm not sure how long he'll be on oxygen, but I don't think it should be more than a month or so.

He is still doing very well on his bottles--as long as he is feeling well. He spent half of a day hardly taking anything from the bottle after his circumcision and he is supposed to get a couple of shots today--which I'm sure will have the same effect. He has to take all of his bottles in a 24 hour period for us to be able to room in with him, but as they give him shots and the like, that will push the time back because he gets so fussy.

BUT, he did take an entire bottle for me last night, so that was pretty cool.

So, the plan will be to have Tricia come home the day before we are supposed to room in. Then, we'll take the kids out of school early the next day and head up there. My mom should be able to meet us in OKC and will take care of the kids while Tricia and I spend the night with Tommy. The cool part will be that the kids will be able to finally touch Tommy when we spend the night, and we are ALL looking forward to that day. Then, we'll (hopefully) all head for Altus the next day!

Having him on oxygen and the monitor is going to be a pain in the butt--especially for Tricia. Going shopping should be intersting to say the least (that might actually be good for the budget, though!). The monitor is portable, but it is the size of a medium-sized purse, and the oxygen bottle is about two feet long. So, trying to drag all of that around will be painful. But, at the same time, he shouldn't be going out much anyway right now--too many germs for him to catch!

We are supposed to be really careful where we take him the first few months--any kind of pollution in the air--even an Altus dust storm--can really effect his lungs at this point. They even said not to let anyone who smokes hold him as the fumes from their clothes can even mess with his lungs. So, we'll have to be pretty careful the first few months! The last thing we need is to have him go back to the hospital!

Of course, in my rush to get out of the house, I forgot the camera (again)!!! So, no new pictures right now. SORRY!

9 Feb

This picture was taken Monday, I think. He scooted down out of his little hat, but the hat stayed perfectly formed from his head--funny!

The kids and I are heading up to OKC here in about an hour. Tricia said that Tommy got circumcised today and that he is really fussy right now (rightfully so, I'd say!) But for us to room in with him, he has to take all of his feedings by bottle--and because he is fussy, he won't drink much of the bottle right now. SO, we are thinking we could room in as soon as Sunday, but most likely, it won't be until Monday night which means we'd have him home on Tuesday.

So, time will tell! It is kind of a hard choice--we want him home NOW, but we definately don't want him home before he is ready!!!

I'll keep you posted!

7 Feb 07

Quick post tonight as I have to get to bed!

Tricia called tonight, and the rumor on the street is that the Dr. told the nurses to tell Tricia that Tommy will come home soon--perhaps as quickly as this weekend. Now, like I have mentioned before, we have seen a couple of families scheduled to room in with their baby be cancelled the day of...so I am not entirely optimistic on this timeline, but it is incredible that we are even talking about this.

Tommy weighs about 4 pounds and is taking a bottle two of every 3 feedings. He downs about 35mls (roughly an ounce) in 15 minutes or less. He is also out of the isolette or incubator and now in an open air crib--he is maintaining his own body temp just fine!

He did get another top-off of blood today as well.

Tricia, Robby and I are going to take an infant CPR class Friday, and Tricia is going to attend a pre-departure training class as well. (We found out that Robby is old enough for the class, and we thought that he might get a kick out of getting to go with us--it is pretty much a 1 on 1 class with just us and the instructor.)

I am trying really hard NOT to get excited just yet--but I don't know if I am doing a good job at that :) He will probably come home on oxygen the way it sounds, which means he'll also be hooked up to the monitors at our home. Then our pediatrician will take over his care and check-ups.

So, keep those prayers comming!!! God is doing some incredible things...that is for sure! We'll keep you posted as the week goes by!

February 7, 2007

Okay, I'm home today and will head back to OKC this afternoon. Hopefully, Larry will upload pics later tonight.

I just wanted to update you. Tommy weighs 1814 grams (4 lbs) and will move to an open baby bed today! I pray he holds his temp well today so he can stay in this open bed...I'm pretty confident he will do great!

He had some bloodwork come back a little low this morning. He needs another blood transfusion. Please pray that this IV/transfusion goes smoothly with no complications like the last one.

Tommy is doing well with the bottle! The doctor said he can now take two out of every three feedings with the bottle! We're pretty much waiting on him to take all 8 feedings by bottle, then he should come home. Maybe less than 2 weeks??? We're more than ready for this day to come!!

4 Feb

Tricia called and said Tommy took almost all of his bottle for her, and that the Dr. increased his bottle feedings to three out of the eight per day! They are also decreasing the temperature in his isolette as he is getting too hot when they bundle him up in there. Good news!

He is up to 3 pounds, 11.75 ounces. Again, one he hits 4 pounds, he moves into a regular type bed.

That is about it for now!

3 Feb

Weekend Visit
We had another great visit with Tommy. The kids got to peer through the window again while I held him. I also got to feed him his bottle on Friday night. That was a lot harder than I had expected. I had the nurse finish up as we wasn't taking much from me. I guess, he is right at the age where normal babies begin learning the coordination required to suck, swallow and breathe. He took about 10ml's from me, and then another 10 or so from the nurse (they gave him the rest through his tube). There are a lot of tricks to help him. I learned a lot from the nurses and think I'll be able to do a better job next time. This morning's bottle feeding went really well. I let them feed him while I watched. He drank all of his bottle (about 32mls) in 15 minutes. He is still doing really well. I put my ring on his hand again and was absolutely amazed (see picture below). I couldn't get it over his knuckles this time. I didn't realize he had grown that much.

He is pretty much regulating his own body temperature now. As long as he is bundled up in a blanket, he stays plenty warm, so I just held him and rocked him.

So, like I said before, we are pretty much just waiting for him to fully take his feedings. He is at 3 pounds, 10.5 ounces as of last night. Once he gets to about 4 pounds, he'll be taken out of the incubator and put into an open type crib that you might see at a normal nursery. Praise God that there are absolutely no health concerns at this point, and he just has to continue to thrive and grow, and we'll have him home in no time!

Of course, I took some more pictures...here they are!

Ring Pictures


This was taken on 1 Jan--notice ring here

This was taken this morning. I swear it's the same ring!!

2 Feb 07

Tommy took his whole feeding from his bottle last night!! Yikes! He is up to about an ounce per feeding, and he took it in about 15 minutes. We are heading up to OKC today after the kids get home from school. Tommy is up to 3 pounds 10 ounces and is about 16 inches long now. I had a dream last night that they said we could take him home today. Not so much, but it was a nice dream!! But there is some light at the end of the tunnel--they said that all they are waiting on is for him to begin taking all of his feedings from the bottle. Now, he is just taking two per day. So, I'd guess we have another 3 weeks before we get to take him home!!
Here are some pictures (finally)!