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)!