60th Day in the NICU

Here is a pic of Drayke in clothes.

58th Day in the NICU

Found out today that Drayke is big enough & stable enough to wear clothes finally. Gosh. And here I thought I had plenty of time to wait to wash all his little duds. Guess not. So washing all of his newborn and 0-3 month clothes is on the agenda tonight. With as small as they all are it is only one load but he does have a bunch to chose from.

Another thing on the agenda today is I am giving him a bath for the first time. I am scared. He wont be submerged or anything like that but navigating around the respirator can be nerve wracking. The nurse have told med he loves bath time so I am hoping he loves it for me.

54th Day in the NICU

Today was mine and mom's 4 year anniversary together so we got some pics of us and out son together.

51st Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Having a nurse tell me how much of a flirt my son is. They were surprised to find out that Drayke stats much better when the top of his bed is up and he can hear the nurses talk and look at them. So much like daddy (and mama). I guess he is just a natural born flirt...hehehe

48th Day in the NICU

Fathers day was a day for me to remember. I got to hold my son finally. This has been the longest that I have ever had to wait to hold one of my kids after they were born. I did not even mind him farting on my the moment they put him in my arms. I sat there and held him and hummed to him. His fingers were clawing my chest but I did not care at all because I got to hold him and that is the only thing that mattered at that time.

46th Day in the NICU (Part 2)

(Mom)

My day went from Blah to fan-frikkin-tastic because today, after six and a half weeks I finally got to hold my son for the first time!

I nearly fell over when the nurse asked "do you want to hold him?". I was scared to death and I started crying before he was even in my arms. Talk about an amazing experience. I thought I was in love before. That was nothing compared to now.

{{{{happy glee}}}}

46th Day in the NICU

Here are some recent pictures of my son. I love all my kids but he is my only son.

45th Day in the NICU

The boy likes to flirt with his nurses. He was awake most of last night and was given a bath. His nurse was commenting how she has never seen him so wide eyed awake and how cute he is. I sent an IM to mom saying how I am going to have to have the birds & the bees talk with him soon.

44th Day in the NICU

Drayke has had a rough day today. He gets slightly constipated on formula and was pushing so tonight he ended up spitting up which is very bad when on a ventilator. They had to basically rinse out his lungs with saline to try to get as much of the formula out as possible and gave him a dose of Survanta. Since then his oxygen has been ok but not letting him be weaned at the rate he was going at. He also has been running a low grade fever of 99.5 and just not feeling too great. Baby not feeling good makes mama not feel good.

42nd Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Drayke's stats today were staying in the high 90's which is awesome. His morning was a bit rough. Yesterday he had strictly formula and he was not constipated but a lot firmer than he is used to so they had to bag him because he was trying so hard to push. He also had his eye exam and passed with flying colors as well as having his vent holder changed. Since he has a tube he drools a lot and so it becomes un-stuck within 2-3 days. This was the first time I was there to see them do it and so I finally got to see his mouth for the first time since birth (and that was just a quick flash). He is so much of a little clone of Robert. I think all he got of me is his eye shape.

My pretty son was not very pretty when I took these shots because he was very grumpy. Getting unstuck and jostled around would make anyone cranky. So I will post a pretty happy baby pic (though fuzzy)first.

His eyes are all puffy from the eye drops for his exam earlier and the RT had this stuff all over his face to help the new mask stick better and had his lip pulled towards one side but I am pretty darn sure he has R's mouth.

40th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Two of my sisters from Kentucky came down to see him. Both just fell in love with him. Well...how can you not once you meet him? My lil sweetie. Sis also brought down a bag of goodies from my brother & sis-in-law. Awesome nice clothes and a bear & some other goodies. This is one well dressed young man once he is able to wear clothes! Also Liz came to see him as well. With all that stimulation his numbers weren't bad but not as good as Robert & I like to see them so we let him have Sunday to himself and it paid off.

38th Day in the NICU

Our son finally getting off the occilator and onto a regular ventilator again. He is so much happier now.

37th Day in the NICU

Drayke once again extubated himself. This time with me there. Scared me because I did not experience it firsthand on Monday

35th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

He now weighs 2 lbs 13 oz and his ventilator is at 46% oxygen and he is taking in 17 cc of breastmilk every 3 hours. The biggest news is that he no longer has the PICC line in his arm nor an IV line into his head. His cord stump fell off a couple of days ago and now has a nice inny smily face belly button. He has officially moved to the next size up on his diapers, Huggies regular premmie size. YAY!

The little turd decided to scare the shit out of me today though. I was talking with his nurse (Cally, my fave) and all of the sudden I see his O2 drop down into the 70s then 60 and below. Then his pulse rate started dropping from to 150s to the 60s. I got up and out of Cally's way so she could check on him and she told another nurse to get respiratory therapy there. Next thing I know there are 2 RT's, 2 nurses and a neonatologist there. They turned off the occilator and bagged him. Meanwhile I am standing back letting the pros do their thing, watching and staying quiet. The charge nurse then had me wait in the pumping room while they were working on him. About 7 minutes later she came in saying I could go back to his bedside. While I was in the room I was paying to not let anything happen to him. He was fine andgetting his color back and within 5 minutes they had the occilator back down to 46% again.

Turns out he was moving so much and had grown so much that the tube to his lungs had shifted and he was getting air to his belly instead. So they pulled the old tube, put a bigger one in and place it deeper to where it needed to be to properly fit a baby of his size. RT is now thinking they may put him on a regular vent today since during the bagging his O2 was staying in the 90s.

Gee, move the boy to regular diapers and he decides that he wants all new big boy toys.

34th Day in the NICU

This morning we were told that he is now 2 lbs 14 oz and his O2 is down to 48%! YAY!!