Family update
A week or so to go and we think that Austin will be home with us. He is down to 15 cc/min of supplemental O2 and feeding regularly from the bottle without his O2 saturation levels dropping precipitously. We were in both Sunday and tonight and he was more active and generally vocal than we've seen. It left both of us feeling more positive. It has been an up and down week, when you talk to the nurses it seems that what he went through with the pneoumothorax was certainly not just a routine procedure and very serious and unusual for babies at his stage. We're through that now but it makes you do a little shudder here and again.
I had an interesting date night with my wife. Drop child # 1 with the grandparents, to for dinner, go bathe and feed child #2 at the hospital and then go for desert and coffee. This two kids thing is really easy when somebody else takes care of them. :-)
The video belows shows what slipping a couple extra dollars to the nurse with the razor will accomplish. I hear punk is the latest look at the mother-baby groups.
Thanks to all who have been calling and emailing. The support is greatly appreciated.
Lots of love,
Sean and Renee
7/31/06
7/23/06
7/21/06
Fishing for stuffed animals
1. Tie loop and string underneath arm of stuffed animal. This is more fun if it is a favoured stuffed animal in the obscure ordering system understood only by small girls.
2. Find a height - preferrably a second floor deck.
3. Tie one end of the string to a solid object (not the toddler). This saves you having to walk down and retrieve the stuffed animal from the lawn.
4. Hurl stuffed animal over railing (not the toddler). Discourage toddler from attempting same.
5. Demonstrate hand over hand technique of recovering the stuffed animal.
6. It is like playing hide and seek again and again.
7. Watch for the bears head to pop up over the railing in the video. The string got stuck so recovery was prevented.
1. Tie loop and string underneath arm of stuffed animal. This is more fun if it is a favoured stuffed animal in the obscure ordering system understood only by small girls.
2. Find a height - preferrably a second floor deck.
3. Tie one end of the string to a solid object (not the toddler). This saves you having to walk down and retrieve the stuffed animal from the lawn.
4. Hurl stuffed animal over railing (not the toddler). Discourage toddler from attempting same.
5. Demonstrate hand over hand technique of recovering the stuffed animal.
6. It is like playing hide and seek again and again.
7. Watch for the bears head to pop up over the railing in the video. The string got stuck so recovery was prevented.
7/17/06
Turning the corner
We're feeling positive today. Both Renee and I visited today and Austin was cranky and irritated with the nurse - exactly as a sleeping baby should be when being poked and prodded by the nurse. The pneumothorax has resolved, the chest tube came out, the arterial line came out and they are working on getting him feeding so the IV can come out. His little veins keep collapsing. Overall, the best he has looked since we got him.
We're feeling positive today. Both Renee and I visited today and Austin was cranky and irritated with the nurse - exactly as a sleeping baby should be when being poked and prodded by the nurse. The pneumothorax has resolved, the chest tube came out, the arterial line came out and they are working on getting him feeding so the IV can come out. His little veins keep collapsing. Overall, the best he has looked since we got him.
Responsible vs. accountable
I wasn't responsible for this but I certainly feel accountable. I'm just finishing saying Felicity,the point of dragging the mattress of the edge of the bed to create a slide is the purpose and perhaps flinging yourself from your bed to the floor is not that safe ... LEAP AT DADDY ... she lands mostly on me and in progress rolls off and bangs her head against the wooden leg of the crib. So... ask Daddy if he feels just a little bit guilty.
I wasn't responsible for this but I certainly feel accountable. I'm just finishing saying Felicity,the point of dragging the mattress of the edge of the bed to create a slide is the purpose and perhaps flinging yourself from your bed to the floor is not that safe ... LEAP AT DADDY ... she lands mostly on me and in progress rolls off and bangs her head against the wooden leg of the crib. So... ask Daddy if he feels just a little bit guilty.
7/16/06
How to know your toddler is internalizing the maternal role
My wife, her sister, and my daughter are sitting on the couch watching Baby Bach with my 8 month old nephew. He starts fussing in his exercise saucer ... there is a pause ... Felicity looks up and says "Ohh, I'll go" and hops up to go get the soother and insert tab A into slot B.
My wife, her sister, and my daughter are sitting on the couch watching Baby Bach with my 8 month old nephew. He starts fussing in his exercise saucer ... there is a pause ... Felicity looks up and says "Ohh, I'll go" and hops up to go get the soother and insert tab A into slot B.
Small steps
Small improvements today. Austin has been taken off the ventilator and is only on supplemental O2. The levels are being decreased so he is much closer to breathing only room air. We keep getting told that the bigger babies improve very quickly once the breathing is sorted out.
They clamped off the chest tube with the thought that the pneumothorax is completely drained. If it does not reoccur they will remove the tube in the next day or two. His color looked a bit better and he looked a little more relaxed. Fingers crossed.
Small improvements today. Austin has been taken off the ventilator and is only on supplemental O2. The levels are being decreased so he is much closer to breathing only room air. We keep getting told that the bigger babies improve very quickly once the breathing is sorted out.
They clamped off the chest tube with the thought that the pneumothorax is completely drained. If it does not reoccur they will remove the tube in the next day or two. His color looked a bit better and he looked a little more relaxed. Fingers crossed.
7/15/06
Trying to ride out the drops on the rollercoaster
You know that it is going to be a bumpy day when the doctor calls you in the morning. My son took a turn for the worse last night shortly after I left and his O2 saturation began to drop and his breathing became compromised even within a 40% O2 environment. When we called last night close to midnight they were minutes from putting a chest tube in his side to relieve a pneumothorax they had discovered via x-ray. The cause is unknown is often happens in the first couple days of life but not later on. The doctor called it strange. Not the reassurnace you necessarily need. They had to take out the first tube (very small) in the night since the pneumothorax was recoccuring and replace it with the standard chest tube to keep it draining. X-rays show that the pneoumothorax was almost completely resolved by 11:30. He's still got the IV plus a line into the artery in his wrist for blood work. At least they are giving him a little morphine. Three more days on the ventilator and we'll see where he is at. It's been a very tough day. Two steps back, one step forward.
You know that it is going to be a bumpy day when the doctor calls you in the morning. My son took a turn for the worse last night shortly after I left and his O2 saturation began to drop and his breathing became compromised even within a 40% O2 environment. When we called last night close to midnight they were minutes from putting a chest tube in his side to relieve a pneumothorax they had discovered via x-ray. The cause is unknown is often happens in the first couple days of life but not later on. The doctor called it strange. Not the reassurnace you necessarily need. They had to take out the first tube (very small) in the night since the pneumothorax was recoccuring and replace it with the standard chest tube to keep it draining. X-rays show that the pneoumothorax was almost completely resolved by 11:30. He's still got the IV plus a line into the artery in his wrist for blood work. At least they are giving him a little morphine. Three more days on the ventilator and we'll see where he is at. It's been a very tough day. Two steps back, one step forward.
7/14/06
We visited our son today. He is in the high oxygen environment. It is hard to watch his chest almost collapse on each breath. He is starting to digest food and O2 saturation is good. It is hard to stand there and not be able to do anything but watch. He was alert and looking at me when I arrived and looked calm. He was more unsettled when they were feeding him but seemed to fall asleep eventually. It's only been 7 days. Patience, grasshopper.
7/13/06
7/12/06
7/11/06
7/10/06
Small improvements
My son has the ventilator tube out of his lungs and is breathing regular air inside this incubator. At the present time even the nose prongs with the supplemental O2 have come out. He is straining to breathe a bit but still managing. They are watching very carefully. Small steps forward. There are lots of fluids coming in and some coming out indicating that all respiratory and digestive systems are beginning to function as they should. He's starting to get regular feeds through the IV to start up his little system. It is hard to sit here and know he is in a small warm box across town with a nurse 24 hours a day instead of his parents.
On a lighter note funny things recently pregnant women say:
1. I can see my feet!
2. Look, I'm lying on my stomach.
3. Look, I'm lying on my back.
4. I'm having a glass of wine!
My son has the ventilator tube out of his lungs and is breathing regular air inside this incubator. At the present time even the nose prongs with the supplemental O2 have come out. He is straining to breathe a bit but still managing. They are watching very carefully. Small steps forward. There are lots of fluids coming in and some coming out indicating that all respiratory and digestive systems are beginning to function as they should. He's starting to get regular feeds through the IV to start up his little system. It is hard to sit here and know he is in a small warm box across town with a nurse 24 hours a day instead of his parents.
On a lighter note funny things recently pregnant women say:
1. I can see my feet!
2. Look, I'm lying on my stomach.
3. Look, I'm lying on my back.
4. I'm having a glass of wine!
7/9/06
7/8/06
Austin Roger - 5 lbs 14 oz - at birth plus 5 minutes - He came a couple weeks early and will be hanging out in an incubator for the next couple days while his lungs catch up with the rest of him. My amazing wife is doing well after a unexpectly quick delivery. We went in for an appointment yesterday at noon, the doctor looked at the numbers and said I'm admitting you. I was a little surprised. Austin was born just before 9 this morning.
7/6/06
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