Sunday, April 26, 2015

We had a great family day today with Jake Junior.  We were able to take the girls to see him this morning and they loved it.  The girls had their faces smashed against the window so they could see every bit of Baby Jacob.  The girls sang to him some songs that they thought he would love,  "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Baby Beluga, and Baby Bumblebee.

Later in the day, we went back up to spend the evening with Baby Jacob.  We had some very neat moments with him tonight.  Jake got to change Jr.'s diaper today and hold his son's hand for the first time.  Then, the nurse had to weigh him and change his bedding.  Jeanne was able to hold her baby a few times, albeit inside of the isolet.  Such a special moment.  When it was time to change the bedding, Jake got to hold Jr. as well.  We were both ecstatic that we finally got to hold Junior after one week.  We are not sure when we will get to hold him again, so we enjoyed every second.

We didn't get any results back yet from the infection tests, but the doctor is worried he might have meningitis and has already started antibiotics to treat it.  That has given us a lot of concern today.  We are also very concerned about the head ultrasound he has scheduled for tomorrow to see if he has bleeding on his brain. We are praying for good results and that his antibiotics will be effective.  Thank you all for your continued love, support, and prayers.  We have felt so loved and are grateful for such good friends and family.

 Kate (L) Madi (R) adoring their baby brother.

 Jeanne holding Baby Jacob for the first time.

 Jacob holding Jr. for the first time.  So little!

Jr. holding Sr.'s finger.

1 Week Old Today!

Saturday, April 25, 2015

We saw Jr. this morning and his PIC line is doing better and his body is clotting.  There are signs of a possible infection from the little tears on his skin.  They also found fluid on his lungs.  The doctors decided to take some blood samples and extract fluid from his lungs to check what type of infections he may have so they can start him on the right antibiotics.  They have a lot of things they can do to treat an infection, but any infection for a 24 week old baby can be very serious.  We should know the results hopefully tomorrow or Monday.

The nurses do CARES every 6 hours on babies in the NICU.  During this time they change diapers, give medicine, and take blood samples, etc.  They try to minimize any contact during the time between CARES so that they don't overstimulate the babies and they can rest and grow.  Today during the afternoon CARES the nurse asked Jeanne if she would like to take Baby Jacob's temperature and change his diaper.  Jeanne said she never thought that changing a diaper would melt her heart, but it did.  Small things mean so much more to us now.  While she was changing his tiny diaper, Baby Jacob moved his hand over to rest on Jeanne's thumb. Such a sweet touch!

Friday, April 24, 2015

So junior has had a rough day today.  His umbilical line that was placed on Monday worked its way out of position and was no longer usable, so they had to put in a pick line into his arm.  They were able to remove the umbilical line without any complications or extra bleeding which was a great blessing.  The pick line wasn't clotting very well and he bled quite a bit before getting two ffp's (fresh frozen plasma).  He was able to start clotting after a couple of hours of having the pick line placed which was a huge relief.  We also found out that he has anemia and they had to give him red blood cells as well.

Finally, his lung was collapsing with the first ventilator, so they have a new ventilator on higher support that maintains a higher residual pressure between breaths to keep his lungs from collapsing and it seems to be helping.  The biggest concern right now is the clotting and possible infection with the open wounds he has on his body that appear after being moved too much.  Also, they have to shut down the giving of mother's milk after giving blood as it can damage his intestines, so we have to wait a few more days before we can try that again.

We did have a sweet moment of mom, dad, and baby Jacob time where we were able to sing to him with the curtain closed around us.  Jeanne would sing a lot to him with the Madi and Kate while he was in the womb. The girls loved singing their favorite songs to him.  While we were singing to him today he wiggled his little foot and arm a little bit.  We like to think that he recognized the songs and our voices.

Sr. and Jr.

My Jacobs

5 Days Old!!!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Happy 5 days old Jr!  Baby Jacob is still pretty stable.  His potassium, sodium, and blood sugar have come into line a bit, so they started him on 1 mL of mom's milk every 6 hours today.  This is a tiny amount to see if his gut can get started up.  We won't know how he reacts to it for a couple of days. An ultrasound for his head is scheduled for Monday.  we will find out if there is any bleeding on his brain.  He was too little, unstable, and premature to do any testing this past week.  They will then start looking at other tests for his heart, eyes, bowels, and lungs in the weeks to come.  Thank you so much for all the love, support, and prayers that have been sent our way.  We have felt so blessed through this challenging time and know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of our family and situation.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Jeanne got to touch Baby Jacob for the first time today!  Usually this won't happen for several weeks because his skin is so delicate (tissue paper thin) and any stimulation hurts the baby's underdeveloped skin and senses.  Jr. was having some duoderm (like band-aids) removed from his skin and he was very uncomfortable even with the sedation and pain killers.  The nurse asked Jeanne if she would like to hold his head and legs to give him comfort.  She couldn't get her hands clean fast enough!

Jeanne was also discharged from the hospital tonight.  It was bitter-sweet.  It was so nice to have her be home with all of us but sad to have to leave a sick baby at the hospital.  We did call the NICU to check up on him.  He was stable and nothing had changed since we had left.  It was nice to know that he is being watched so closely and lovingly.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The girls got to come and meet their new little brother today!  We were very lucky with the timing of everything since the hospital just lifted the RSV ban for children to come visit.  The girls each made Baby Jacob a card and got to leave it near his crib.  When we asked the girls what their favorite thing was about their visit they both said, "Watching Baby Jacob move!"  They were not worried about the many tubes since they have seen many pictures of themselves in the NICU as babies and may think that all babies are born having tubes. 

 Kate meeting Jacob for the first time...

Madi meeting Jacob for the first time...

Monday, April 20, 2015

Jake has been going back and forth between the hospital and home the past two days so the girls could have more daddy time. They have missed having mom and dad and we have missed being with them! 

Baby Jacob goes up and down each day throughout the day,  which is normal for a micro preemie/23 week old baby. He has high potassium and sodium. They have to give him more fluids to dilute that a little bit and bring those levels down. His umbilical IV line was in a bad spot heading to his liver and they were worried about it and decided to change it, but there was only a 50 percent chance they could get it to the right spot and if not it would have had to do an IV in his arm and attach it to his skin which is very moist and not very accepting of tape. Fortunately they got it in the right place in the stomach and confirmed with an x-ray and it looks good.

They do chest xrays at least twice a day to look at the severity of his lung disease. So far it is looking ok and doesn't seem to be getting any worse. He also seems to be responding well to the blood transfusions, his blood pressure is very healthy and his heart rate and blood oxygen looks good. He goes through some ups and downs as far as the amount of support needed from the ventilator each day but so far everything seems pretty normal for a 23 weeker.

One other good thing we heard is that one of our nurses has seen quote, "a zillion 23 weekers in her 17 years and feels like they have a pretty good success rate with him here at this hospital." The U has the top 10% of premi successes in the country.

Overall things are going as well as they can. We keep finding out more information each day. He's made it through the first 48 hours,  which is big. We will have to keep watching and waiting to find out what other complications may arise as they are able to do more testing.

Thank you for all your love and prayers.

Love,  Jeanne & Jake