Sunday Afternoon

The good---Goodbye Ventilator!
Tommy is now ventilator free!!! We got to hear him cry for the first time--what a great day!

He now has one of those oxygen tube things that stick just a little way in his nose. They had it pumping just a little supplemental oxygen into him, but he is breathing totally on his own. The plan is to start feeding him tomorrow.

He had a big day so far, so we have kind of decided to leave him alone as much as possible. We'll start skin-to-skin kangaroo care tomorrow and can harldy wait.

Tricia update
Tricia is hurting pretty badly today, but she is still able to get around pretty well. She has also developed a slight headache, so we went down to the ER and had her blood pressure measured just in case. It was fine, so that was reasuring.

The Bad
Robby (our 8 year old) had a fever yesterday, and he woke up with a rash this morning. So, Rachel Jenness took him to the ER for my mom today--the Dr's think its STREP THROAT! Can you believe it? So, he is on antibiotics and sounds like he is doing reasonably well. Hopefully, none of the other kids get it--or my mom either! What a crazy life we are living!

Saturday PM Update

Ultrasound Results
The hospital did routine ultrasounds on Tommy's heart and brain on two different days. Larry was there for the heart ultrasound--it was really cool to see. It came back perfectly normal--so that was good!!

The brain ultrasound was done yesterday and revealed a "moderate" amount of blood in the fluid surrounding the brain. The internal structure of the brain was fine with no bleeding. The blood there is definately a concern, but the Dr said that it is relatively normal. The blood vessle walls in the outter brain are paper thin and are easily ruptured. They will continue to do weekly brain ultrasounds to see if the bleeding is continuing or if it the blood is being absorbed back into the body. Tricia has met another mom online--Annie--who had quads. One of her babies also had blood on the brain, but it went away after the next ultrasound. So, pray that Tommy's brain is not damaged and that the blood does not get any worse!!

Ventilator
Tommy is now only being delivered 4 breaths of air per minute via the ventilator--he does the rest of the breathing. That is such a good thing and the Dr. cites that as a positive indication that the blood in his brain is *probably* not a life-threatining issue at this point. He is so fiesty. He loves to grab onto his ventilator tube. I think he just wants that thing out of his mouth and lungs, and I don't blame him. As long as he continues to do well with his breathing and oxygen levels, I think he'll be off that thing before we know it! And then we'll be able to hold him. They call it Kangaroo care which is when we do skin-to-skin contact with him on our chest. That will be good for Tommy AND us! We can't wait!

Tricia Update
Tricia is still making good progress. We rented a new breast pump for her and she is able to get quite a bit of milk for Tommy. They are'nt feeding it to him just yet, but we are taking it up there and putting it into a freezer for later use. I think we have at least 10 ounces or so waiting on him, and she makes about a half an ounce each time she pumps so far. Her pain is still very much there, but she has been expanding the amount of time between pain meds, so that is good.

The other Kids
Grandma is hangin in there at home--Robby had a little bit of a fever today, I guess, but he is doing well. Kaitlyn misses us pretty badly, but that is to be expected with all this craziness going on. Overall, it sounds like things are going well. Through church, the squadrons and everyone, we have gotten more support than I can even describe. Grandma is getting meals brought to her every other day..Jenna Roper is heading up our "meals on wheels" program--that is such a great help. Sara Pierce brought over some lunchables for the kids today as well. Our kids are pretty picky eaters, but they get so excited for lunchables!

God continues to bless us with great friends and seems to work out all the situations that come into our path.

Grandpa's Visit
Oh--I almost forgot! Grandpa Nance drove down from Omaha today to see the baby. Not sure if he will go visit the other kids in Altus yet--that is somewhat complicated as my mom isn't allowed to "sponsor" people on the base, but I'm positive that we can work something out for someone else to stand in as the "sponsor." I suspect that he'll probably come back down to Altus once Tommy gets home.

Thanks for all the help! Keep those prayers comming!!

Larry

Tommy is progressing

We went and saw Tommy this morning. The nurse said a normal baby breaths between 30-60 breaths per minute. Tommy was breathing around 40 breaths per minute, but the ventilator was only giving him about 10 breaths per minute, so he was doing the extra 30 all on his own...good stuff!

Tricia's milk has also come in, and she has been able to pump. They freeze the milk and will be giving it to him sometime in the near future. We rented a new fancy breastpump from the hospital which seems to really be working much better than the pumps she has used in the past...being a dad, I have no idea why, but she says it feels just like a real baby. She typically has had a lot of problems breastfeeding, but she is really able to get quite a bit of milk now, so that is just awesome--it will be very good for Tommy. Right now, they have started feeding Tommy some sort of solution that has lots of electrolites and vitamins in it--not milk yet, but at least he is getting some nutrition now. Before, they were giving him mostly saline mixed with some sugar solution.

Tricia is still hurting pretty badly when she moves around, but she was able to get in and out of the bed, the car, the bathroom, etc, so that is promising. Once we get her off of the pain meds and her eyes fully recover, she'll be able to drive and get around on her own. She wanted a wheelchair to get into the hospital, but I was a meanie and made her walk. the whole trip is really only a few hundred feet once I drop her off at the front door. I just think she needs to get as much exercise and confidence as she can--and she is doing well.

Pictures!

Tommy is Born and more!!!

Yikes! On Christmas day, Tricia had a follow up appointment. When she got there, her blood pressure was very high again. The Dr. monitored her and the baby and decided that Tommy was starting to be in stress and Tricia's condition was serious enough that he needed to get the baby out now.

Well, that started a whirlwind that was just crazy! Tricia had an emergency c-section and baby Tommy weighed in at 2 pounds, 11 ounces and was born at 2:01 pm Christmas day.

About 3 hours later, Tommy was airlifted to Oklahoma City for his care, and Tricia had to stay in Lawton to recover from the surgery.

Tricia's Struggle
After giving birth, Tricia was whisked away to the recovery room, and I got to go see Tommy. He is so tiny you can hardly believe it. Tricia got to touch Tommy before he was flown away, so that was good, but with her blood pressure problems, all she could see was a blury vision of him. In fact, her vision is still messed up a bit--one eye is good and the other is fair. Both are supposed to clear up over time--just a result of the temporary damage done by her blood pressure. In her recovery, her kidneys were not cooperating and were not working at full capacity. Late on Thursday night, her lab results finally showed progress in her kidneys, so things were looking up. After a long and very scary struggle, Tricia was discharged from the hospital on Friday afternoon and got to go visit Tommy that night.

Tommy's progress
Tommy has been a trooper. He now weighs about 2 pounds,9 ounces. He is still on the ventelator but is now breathing normal air with no added oxygen. The ventelator is also only providing him 15 breaths per minute and he is breathing over the ventelator at about 50 breaths per minute. That means he should be comming off the ventelator in the next few days. He started out at about 50% oxygen and 50 breaths per minute by the ventelator, so in just 4 days, he has come a long way!! Once he gets off the ventelator, we will be able to hold him, so we are anxiously awating that day!

The other Kids
The kids were with me when Tricia had her C-section. They got to look at Tommy through a window there in Lawton, but couldn't see him at all in the city due to no windows combined with no rules prohibiting kids in the ICU. So, after we saw Tommy and we got to see Tricia in the recovery room, we headed back to Altus, packed up some stuff and headed to Oklahoma City to see the Tommy. We arrived to the hospital at 11pm, and the kids were just exhausted after their early morning opening presents (in which Tricia got to partake). They put their best foot forward and marched up to the ICU and waited in the waiting room while I saw Tommy. We got to the hotel that our friends, the Bookers, reserved for us around 12am. Brent Booker and family was visiting his mom in OKC, so they took the kids while I spent the next two days caring for Tommy. I picked the kids up just before dinner on Wednesday and we headed back to Lawton to visit Tricia (with pictures of Tommy in hand!). We got back to the hotel at about 11pm again! Wednesday, i dropped the kids back at the booker's in the morning and looked after Tommy again.
My mom came in on Wednesday afternoon--a great help! We spent the whole day in OKC while several friends visitied Tricia in Lawton. Then, Thursday, we headed back to Lawton to see Tricia and continued back home to Altus. I packed all my stuff and Tricia's stuff she needed while my mom took care of the kids. I headed back to Lawton on Friday, picked up Tricia and we are now in OKC while my mom holds down the fort at Altus. CRAZY!!

Once Tricia gets back to feeling well, I'll head back to Altus to relieve my mom and Tricia will take care of Tommy in the city. We have many post-delivery follow up appts in Lawton, so Tricia and i are planning on spending next Tuesday night (2 Jan) back home for a quick visit before we head back to OKC on Wednesday.

I can't tell you how much support all of our friends have given us--it is incredible, and the way things have worked out, you can't explain it except that God is in control. HE has met every single need even before it was required, and HE has given me peace and strength during this time as I help Tricia get well. We are so thankful for all the things people have done and can't believe the amount of support we have gotten. It is just mind-blowing. All we can say is THANK YOU!!!

December 22, 2006...Kaitlyn's 7th Birthday!

Well, I got as good of sleep as expected in a hospital last night and my BP stayed at an acceptable, stable range. Now, I just had to finish my 24 hour urine test and get my next Celestone shot before going home.
Tommy had another NST and looked much better today. Bedrest is really helping him.
As you can imagine a Friday night discharge, I thought I'd be out around dinner time...instead OB came to discharge me just after 7pm and before I knew it, I was leaving at 8:30pm.
My OB told me I'll have to have the NST twice a week and a BPP ultrasound once a week until I deliver. He also informed me to not bother with newborn diapers/clothes and to just grab some preemie diapers and clothes! He's so matter of fact and it's actually a good thing to help me/us prepare for the reality of our 4th baby to be preterm...after 3 FULL-TERM babies, who'd ever have guessed?? He said if I can make it to 34wks, I'll be able to deliver with him in Lawton (an hour away)....otherwise I will get to ride in an ambulance to Oklahoma City (2 1/2 hours away) to deliver. Right now my immediate goal is Jan 3rd, which will be 30wks, then my next goal will be Jan 17th, 32wks....anything after that will be just perfect!!
9:45pm...Home Sweet Home!!! I will return for another NST on Christmas afternoon.

At the hospital...28wks 1day along

December 21, 2006 -
So, I'm at the hospital for a NST (non-stress test) on Tommy and to closely monitor my BP. They also did some bloodwork on me. Tommy's NST didn't look as good as OB had hoped for, so we were sent for a BPP (Bio-physical profile ultrasound). They score the baby and Tommy got an 8 out of 8 score. All is well. Tommy weighs 2 lbs 11ozs!
Back in my hospital room, while waiting on blood results the nurse said it looked like I'd go home in an hour or so.
That would be until my BP skyrocketed again! My nurse left to phone the OB... she came back in with a shot and news I'd be spending the night at least.
The shot was of Celestone, a steriod to help mature Tommy's lungs in case he has to be delivered soon. This was a hard point for me...to realize, Tommy may seriously be joining our family WAY too soon!!