I'm Free (again)

I decided to give Coleman a break and write an update for a change. I planned to give him a break on Father's day but instead I made him sit in the emergency room for 5 hours and spend the night on a fold out couch/futon thing in a hospital room where someone walks in at least once an hour to "just check." Sorry Coleman!

So I spent 2 nights in the hospital before they finally released me. They never did find out what the infection was but apparently the antibiotics they gave me in the ER took care of it because I haven't had a fever since then. I don't think I make a very good patient... as soon as I felt better (which was as soon as they gave me the antibiotics) I wanted them to let me go home. They wanted to keep me for 24-48 hours more to observe me and I was not happy about that! They even did a CT scan (at 2:30 in the morning...) to double check some things and they still didn't find anything.

Last night was kind of exciting... we had to go sit in the hallway for a while because there was a tornado warning. It lasted from about 1:00 to 1:45. The nurse informed us that it was the first time it's happened in the 29 years she's worked there. Wow... I guess this isn't Central Illinois.

So today is Lewis's 2 week birthday. We were hoping that would mean he could lay on his back. His incision still looks a little "dusky" in spots so they want to monitor it for a little longer and maybe put him on his back for short periods within the next couple days. We're praying it heals up quickly.

Lewis has been taking his full feedings most times today. Once he's off his belly he'll probably guzzle it right down. Then he can get that yucky tube out of his nose and maybe we can try some breastfeeding.

They did another ultrasound yesterday morning. The ventricles don't look any larger than they did last week although they do look slightly larger than they did initially. They're just going to leave it for now. Personally, I think his soft spot feels a little firmer but apparently they still think it feels alright. One of the neonatologists said that sometimes they wait until right before the babies leave to make adjustments to the shunt. Kind of frustrating... but I guess they want to just wait and see what happens before they make any decisions. When we went to visit Lewis after the ultrasound he had some dried ultrasound goo left in his hair so the nurse got a comb so I could brush it out. His hair is pretty long already! Prety soon he'll need a haircut and I think I know just the person who can do it... ;)

We've seen him move his legs and feet around quite a bit since we've been here. We get excited every time we see them wiggle! We want to take a video to show off his kickers but he mostly moves them when he's screaming and I don't know that the rest of the sleeping babies (and nurses) in the room would appreciate us letting our baby scream while we video-tape his cute little legs! So you'll just have to come see them in person!

We took a nice walk to a park near here today. It was great to get some fresh air and sunshine for a change. We couldn't spend too long there since I had to get back and pump but I'm sure we'll do it again soon. Which reminds me... let me tell you one of the reasons Coleman is such a great dad already! He washes all my pump parts by hand in a tiny sink EVERY time I pump. Even in the middle of the night. And I pump 8-10 times a day so you can do the math... I really really appreciate that and Lewis appreciates the milk that goes through the clean parts ;)

Kevin and Sarah stopped by again this evening and brought us my favorite thing... food! We really love that there is food available here at the Renucci house but it definitely is not as nutritious or high-quality as we would eat at home. So thanks, guys, it was delicious!! Lewis was wide awake when we went to visit him so they got to hold him for the first time. I bet they can't wait to hold their own little one soon. We can't wait to hold her too!

Well I think that's all the updates for now. We're going to go down for the 11:00 feeding and hopefully get some good sleep tonight. Here's a picture to hold you over until you can see him from the front! :)

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Today happens to be the first time I get to celebrate this holiday. I made it by about 2 weeks! Here's how our day went -

We got up this morning and got ready for the day. We went down to visit Lewis. He was doing well. He really wants to be on his back though. Hopefully by Tuesday he'll get his (and our) wish. After we saw Lewis we ate some lunch and headed out to the mall so Lauren could find a swimsuit. We only live a couple miles from Lake Michigan so we plan on Lewis being a regular at the beach. Lauren wasn't feeling the greatest today so it ended up being a short (but successful) trip. By the time we got back Lauren was really under the weather - tired and feverish. She called one of the maternal fetal medicine doctors and told him what was going on. After I ran to the Walgreen's to get a thermometer and confirm her fever, he though it would be best if we went over to the emergency room to get checked out.

What a zoo! The waiting room wasn't busy but it sure was packed inside. Lauren was put on a stretcher in the hallway because there were no rooms available. We got to see all the action! Some dude got wheeled in handcuffed to his stretcher and yelling at the top of his lungs. He threaten to kill one of the security guards when he got out of the hospital. Nice guy. We got a room shortly after.

Anyway, back to Lauren. They did some tests and drew some labs and came to the conclusion that she has some kind of infection - not exactly sure what kind though. C-sections can cause a couple different infections. They gave her some IV antibiotics but wanted to monitor her overnight. So we'll be hanging out in a hospital room tonight instead of the Renucci House.

Lewis has an ultrasound on his head tonight to check the size of his ventricles again. Neurosurgery will review that in the morning. Plastic surgery will also be by to take a look at his back (the deciding factor on when he gets to roll over). Please pray that everything is ok with his head and back tomorrow. Also, pray that Lauren gets well and we can go back to the Renucci House tomorrow. Thanks!

Stretches

So not a lot happened yesterday. One of Lauren's friends from Service League came by to visit after lunch. Later that afternoon a physical therapist came by to see Lewis. Since he doesn't have much function in his legs, his legs don't get the exercise they need. They are stiff at all the joints. Also, since he's on his stomach, he needs help with his arms, too. So the physical therapist was doing some stretches and exercises with him. They are all things we're going to have to do with him once he gets out of the hospital. Nothing too extreme, just a couple times a day wherever it fits into our schedule.

Yesterday the doctors told us that they had ordered an ultrasound on Lewis's head. It seems his head has been growing slightly each day. They wanted to check the ventricles out to make sure the shunt was working properly. So early this morning he had the ultrasound and Dr. Foody took a look at it. He said everything looked good but he wanted another one done on Monday to make sure. Then Monday if something needs to be done, it will likely be a program change on his shunt to allow for more drainage. Sounded scary at first but I don't think it will be a big deal.

After we checked up on Lewis this morning, we ate some lunch and headed over to Muskegon to take care of some things at the house. Mainly we just wanted to clean up a bit, check our mail, and keg my homebrew (well that last one wasn't exactly on our list but I got it done anyway!). We had to hurry back to GR though because there was a church group serving dinner at the Renucci House tonight. And if it was anything like last night we needed to by there on time!

We went down to see Lewis after dinner tonight. We got there around 7:30 and he had just woken up to eat. They are training him so well here! We did his usual care routine and then fed him. I think it's easier to feed him when he is in one of our laps as opposed to in his bed. I think he does better with it that way, too. He downed his whole bottle tonight! Hopefully he continues that so he can lose that pesky feeding tube that's shoved up his nose.

We also did some of those stretches the physical therapist showed us tonight. He was a good sport about it. He didn't get too fussy with me when I was pulling out his legs and raising his arms above his head. He'll have to get used to it either way because there will be much more where that came from!

Here's some pictures from today:

How Far Along Are You?

We didn't really have much to report on yesterday. Pastor Chip stopped by a little after noon to see Lewis again. Kevin and Sarah also stopped by around 6 to check in on the little guy. Lewis didn't get a lot of sleep yesterday, don't really know why. Maybe it's the loud noises in there. There are constant bells and dings and whistles going off on other babies' cribs. Maybe it's the fact that he hasn't seen any other position than on his belly. He seems to get kind of restless sometimes.

Yesterday wasn't a good day for his feedings either. The nurses noticed a squeek when he was breathing in during his feedings and also a raspy breathing just after he ate. An occupational therapist came by to see if she could help out. She explained a couple things: breast milk is very thin and babies get their work out by eating. She described a baby eating as an adult trying to chug water after going on a 5 mile run. Sometimes it doesn't make it down the right pipe. Thats what was causing those sounds. So she added some thickener to his milk to make it more of a "nectar" consistency. The thicker it is the easier it is to swallow. That seemed to help, the squeaking and raspy sounds went away. They think that eating on his stomach is causing the problems so once he can be in another position he probably won't need the thickener anymore. We're hoping that happens soon because it's pretty frustrating and we don't want him to have to eat that nasty thickener for long.

Last night the nurse put the top down on his crib so he could get some better rest - drown out some of the noises. Sounds like it helped because he slept pretty well last night.

Today was a better day for Lewis. He was taking a good portion of his feedings. We fed him around 5 tonight and he took all but about 5 mL. He's getting close!

Lewis also had some more visitors today. Leigh and Emily stopped by to meet him. They both stayed for about an hour talking with us while I had Lewis in my lap. It was nice to talk with them and hear about their experiences in the NICU last year.

One of the nice things about the NICU is all the programs they offer for parents. We've been to a couple dinners, a CPR class, an infant massage class, and tonight Lauren is scrapbooking with other NICU moms. We ordered some pictures today so she'd have something to scrapbook with. In between visits to the NICU we ran out to Meijer to pick up the pictures. While in the checkout line, the guy in front of us noticed Lauren's (post) pregnant belly and said, "Congratulatons, how far along are you?" Lauren just smiled and said, "I had the baby last Tuesday." Oops! Hahaha. It's understandable I guess - we aren't toting a baby around with us yet. (This wasn't the first time this happened either) Hopefully this will happen again because Lauren has a great response for the next person to ask - "June 8." I can't wait to see their reaction to that one. Hahaha.

Neurosurgery: Check

We were hoping Monday would bring us some more updates on Lewis's status. Things seemed pretty slow over the weekend. So when we went down to see Lewis this morning the nurse had some good news for us. Plastic surgery had stopped by and said it was ok for us to hold him! Now we didn't exactly get to "hold" him but it was close enough. He still has to be on his belly while his back is healing, so they put him on a pillow and let us sit with him and the pillow in our laps. It was great! He loved it, too. He just laid there and looked around as we took turns holding him in our laps.

While we were holding him, Dr. Beaumont (neonatologist) came over to talk to us. He informed us that Dr. Foody came by earlier in the morning and said that as far as neurosurgery goes, Lewis is good to go! Great news! Dr. Beaumont explained the rest of the steps needed for Lewis to head home. He has to be cleared by plastic surgery and by neonatal. To pass plastic surgery, he'll have to be able to lay on his back for an extended period of time. To pass neonatal he has to consistently be taking all of his feedings. That includes gaining a bit of weight. Urology will also need to do some testing on his kidneys once he's able to lay on his back.

So Lewis had a pretty big day today! Hopefully now that his feedings have leveled out at 65 mL he will be able to get used to his feedings quickly and put one more check mark on his "go home" list.

Here's some pictures:

Grasping his feeding tube... I don't think he likes that thing...

Hahaha! We love the funny faces he makes!

Sleepy Baby

When we went down to see Lewis this morning, we noticed his back looked a little different. Early this morning a resident Dr. came by and removed Lewis's bandage on his back and replaced it with gauze. Everyone seemed to be pleased with how his back is healing. Good job, buddy!

Lewis's feedings also continue to increase. His last two feedings were at 55 mL and next he will be at 60 mL. He is still having some trouble chugging all that milk. Tonight for instance, we got off the elevator and heard him crying in the nursery. We got in the nursery after scrubbing up and started his care. We started the bottle before we changed his diaper. He drank maybe 25 mL and was fast asleep. I think I'd be pretty tired too if I was laying on my stomach drinking warm milk. So we took a break from feeding and changed his diaper. That didn't really seem to wake him up much (see pictures below). He drank a few more sips before he gave in and shut his eyes for the night. They had to use the feeding tube to get the rest in his belly. Hopefully once he gets used to the amount that needs to go in his stomach he will start drinking it all. I'm sure he will.

Today we also made a trip back to our house. We've been making a list since we got to the hospital last Tuesday. So we drove back to Muskegon, spent about an hour at the house, and then headed back to GR. It was kinda nice to take a break from the hospital - although we missed Lewis a lot while we were gone. I'm so glad we don't have to make that drive every day! One of the things on our list was some clothes for Lewis. So Lauren went upstairs to the nursery and walked into a surprise - someone had decorated the nursery! My mom told me who did the decorating - thank you G/G Schone and Aunt Ella! We can't wait to get Lewis home and take some pictures in there!

Until then - here's some pictures to hold us over:

Slurping it down for about a minute until....

.... he falls asleep.

And even a diaper change won't wake him!

Chomping away on his pacifier while asleep... haha!

Day 5

Aside from a midnight pumping - we got a pretty good nights rest last night. And from the sounds of it, so did Lewis. Aside from a few short outbursts, he was pretty quiet all night.

Lauren's milk has started to come in pretty good, too. Its enough to keep him on the milk instead of formula now. When we went down to help feed him, Lewis was already awake and the nurse was changing his diaper. He had a pretty messy diaper (and continued to mess his dirty diaper as the nurse was changing him). We let her finish it up - hahaha. They had him taking 30 mL of milk this time. We fed him his bottle, but he didn't quite down the whole bottle. He kind of fell asleep before he was finished. The nurse checked with Dr. Kinney who said they may need to use a feeding tube to make sure he takes all of his food. We were pretty discouraged with this. All we want is for him to get better and then we get a little setback - he won't eat all his food.

So after we finished our visit with Lewis, Lauren and I went to grab some lunch. Lauren was so hungry she was shaking. I think it's the calorie output in the milk that made her so hungry - but she ate a lot at lunch, probably more than she ever did when she was pregnant! (And in case you were wondering - Lauren OKed this paragraph)

After lunch we headed out for the first time since Lewis was born. We made a trip to the mall so Lauren could get some better nursing clothes and also to the store to pick up some snacks and things.

We missed his 5:00 care but called in to see how he took his food. He downed it like a champ! We made it back to go to his 8:00 care time. We noticed right off the bat that he didn't have an IV in anymore. The nurse told us that they were trying to move his IV but could not get a new location to work. Dr. Kinney wrote it up to leave the IV out and to increase his feedings by 5 mL every 6 hrs. We did the usual: temp, diaper, and weigh. Before we fed Lewis the nurse went ahead and put a feeding tube in. Since he has been a little iffy with his feedings and they are going to be increased kind of quickly, she wanted to put it in. It ended up being ok because he didn't finish his 35 mL so they gravity fed him the rest. I'm still not quite sure which is better - no IV or no feeding tube. I guess we'll have to take what we can get now. We're going to go say goodnight to Lewis before we head to bed. Keep praying for the little guy - he's doing pretty well but still needs some help. Thanks - we'll talk tomorrow!