107th Day in the NICU

So little boy is definately doing a bit better today. Right now he is at 55 BPM and 82% Oxygen. His pressures are still high and they have continued the stop feeding today. Little man is strong. He likes to try to turn his head the opposite way that the vent is and it crimps the line. His platelet level is a little low so I expect them to once again give him a blood transfusion. He is now resting a lot. For some reason they measured him on Sunday and he is shorter that he was the previous Sunday. We think that the nurse did not measure him correctly this past week. He will get measured again and we will see.

Early this morning the nurse was concerned because his belly was a bit extended so they did a X-ray and it just turns out to be air so they suctioned the air out using the GI tube. They are having to do this every couple of hours. Dr Ishmael told Mom today that his lungs look better. Anyday where they can lower his numbers and he is feeling good is a good day for me.

106th Day in the NICU

I called @ 6 am on little one this morning and was told that Drayke is doing much better. He was stating in the high to mid 90's.

Around 9 am I got to speak to the day nurse and she was telling me that Drayke has really improved and that his blood was no longer acidic and he was stating in the mid to high 90's still. The nurse did mention that the sedative they give him every two hours has helped keep him calm and relaxed so he can get some rest. His boy bits and behind is still red and still kinda raw and she was going to try to work on getting that better. Oh Yeah his CO2 was 47.6 this morning which is great to hear. I am going up to see him this evening.

105th Day in the NICU

Today Drayke has had his ups and downs. Poor little boy has had a diaper rash for a few days and today his boy bits were so raw that he was bleeding a bit. I would post a picture but I am pretty sure that I may get in trouble for it.

He was contstantly destating. He has has so many IV's stuck in him that I swear he may think he is a pincushion instead of a baby. He extubated himself this morning. When I called on him at 6:00 pm he was stating good but he had a few bad times during the day.

Around 10:00 pm when Mom called she found out that his pH level was low which means his blood was acidic. They started him on a bicarbonate (sp?) to lower the acidicy in his blood. He was also stating at 40's-60's which is not good. They also put a stop on his feedings and started to give him fluids through the IV. Poor Little man. I so want him home to just hug him.

104th Day in the NICU

So while Drayke has been in the hospital we have been getting his room ready. I painted the old office a nice green color (Only took 2 coats of tinted primer and 2 coats of paint). We found a garage sale in Brentwood where we found a dresser that had been used in a nursery. It was painted by the family for their son. We got it for $10! It is so perfect for his room. We are all so ready for him to come home to his room.

102nd Day in the NICU

Today is Drayke's 4th full day of the steroids. He is jittery, which is normal while on these meds. We have been able to wean him a little on his vent (80-85% O2). Dr K is shooting for within the next 48 hours to start seeing some big improvements and getting him back on the CPAP as soon as possible.He has been such a poop machine his little behind is raw. That can not be comfortable. The Happy Heiny wont even stick to the area so the nurses are letting him air out to help with healing. My poor lil baby bug.5 more days on steroids. Pray that he doesnt get sick again.

100th Day in the NICU

I cannot believe it has been 100 days. He is absolutely gorgeous and has such a personality. Here is a smiley baby pic.

98th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

He is doing better as far as gunk in the lungs go but he has been on pretty much constant 100% oxygen since I last posted. Pressure is still very high as well as his respiratory rate. Today we started a second round of steroids. We are hoping this gets him back on track. If it does not then we are getting an updated echo done to make sure his left ventricle is pumping enough blood to his lungs. If that is ok but his numbers are still low he will be getting transferred to Vanderbilt to get a trach tube inserted. This, amazingly, is not freaking me out. We had a very lengthy discussion with Dr Palmer about Drayke's long term care. Given that he is now a more than full term baby he has to start using his mouth and throat the way it is intended and the trach will help accomplish this. Also, we can bring him home on a ventilator installed this way. His xray was pretty ugly from 8/2 showing lots of scar tissue in his lungs. It may just end up waiting for him to outgrow the damage. Needless to say, we are REALLY hoping the steroids work again.

On top of our own problems I spoke to one of the former NICU moms today. Her son is doing well but the mom who is my age and had invitro and ended up with triplets lost one of her boys a couple of weeks ago. His bed was next to Drayke's and when we noticed his area was cleared we thought he went home with his other 2 brothers. This hit really close to home. The parents in the NICU start to become family, expecially us who are in here for the long term. When I heard that Jared had died I sat in the cafe and burst out crying. The news really has effected dad as well.

On a happier note I brought in some items from little ones at home crib. Drayke LOVES his Rainforest Waterfall Peek-a-Boo Soother. He gets quite grumpy when it is not on. I also took in the 3 stuffed animals I had bought him in January: a frog, hippo & gator. We last night his nurse decided he needs more stuff to look at and jury rigged a mobile out of medical Q Tips and silk tape. The result is great and Drayke was looking at it this afternoon and smiling.

And of course I had to have a new pic of the love of my life. I cant believe tonight he weighs 6 pounds 10 ounces!

92nd Day in the NICU

Baby bug is now 6 pounds and 17.5 inches at 3 months/92 days old. He has gotten so big!

Turns out he has a bit of pneumonia and that is what's kicking his ass. He had 8 days of antibiotics so any infection should be gone. What we are going thru now is suctioning tons of crud out of his lungs. Every hour or so he starts having a coughing fit and they pull all this gunk up thru his tube. He is acting a lot better today than he has all week. Definately feeling better. I am hoping once we get this lung goo situation cleared up we can start a count down to coming home.

86th Day in the NICU

Doctors have dropped his oxygen to 82%. The nitric oxide, which is being dropped 1 point every 3 hours, is now down to 7 PPM. They have removed the TCOM/CO2 monitor. He has also been a little poop machine all day too. YAY! 5 lbs 6 oz at 17.25 inches!

85th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

He is looking so much better. Awake, alert and nice & pink. His temp early in the day was 99.9 but within 6 hours that had dropped to 98.7. He is back to tolerating touch much better (especially mine & dad's) and was actually statting up to 100 on his O2 saturation. CO2 has dropped down to the low 60's. While he is on the nitric we cant hold him, but I dare any nurse to tell me I cant touch him. He KNOWS his mama & daddy are there and he stats so well when we are at his side, touching him, stroking his fuzzy head, him wrapping his hand around our fingers, us running reiki energy thru his little body to help him heal.

84th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

We arrived at the hospital to find Drayke on his ventalator at just about the highest settings possible: 100% oxygen, 80 breaths per minute with a pressure of 34 over 4. He also had a CO2 monitor attached to him as well and that was reading at 120-130. Way to high. His stats for his O2 saturation was in the 60s. Things were looking extremely bad. He was pale and not active at all. This is more than a simple rebound from the steroids. All my mind could go to was "after 12 weeks he has finally given up". Dr Hassel came over and was surprisingly upbeat, for her. "He has bounced back from terrible odds before. He can do it again. He has always been a strong fighter". We discussed putting him back onto nitric oxide to see if we can get his lungs to open back up more. We then went down to the cafeteria to have some sandwiches I had made at home.

When we go back upstairs we were told that they are putting him back onto the occilator with the nitric oxide. Basically we were rolling all the way back to when he was first born. OMFG!

Well, Drayke had other plans. They tried to hook him up to that infernal machine and he would have no part of it. So he is still on the regular ventilator with the nitric. Dr Hassel then told us how she has ordered bloodwork and is going to start a course of antibiotics just in case. Well sure as shit Drayke DOES have an infection. He is not giving up. He simply feels ill. Thank god we now know it is something that can be treated! Both Dad & I knew that this was not just a rebound. Steroids drop your immune system to nil and he has picked up some bug but we have caught it early enough that he should be doing better soon. His hematacrit was at 26 so he also has received another blood transfusion. The hospital let us stay in a room overnight (actually for as long as we wanted it but dad has jury duty tomorrow) .

83rd Day in the NICU

Drayke was re-intubated this morning. Around 3AM he began to de-stat and the doctor decided he wore himself out breathing.

82nd Day in the NICU

Today is Draykes due date. He has reached 5lbs finally. He is destating on his numbers today. Here is a pic of Drayke on his due date.

He is such a strong little boy.

77th Day in the NICU

Here are some pictures with my little one wrapped up in the blanket I made him.

76th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Ok.. He may not be a champion breather but he is working on it.Turns out whenever he poops he forgets to breathe. Pushing and holding his breath. He is running his nurses ragged now. Silly baby boy. He will get it right soon though.

75th Day in the NICU Part 2

(Mom)

The second Picture of Drayke ever without a tube. The first was just after he was born. Now, just shy of eleven weeks, we finally got to see what our son really looks like. I think he is adorable.


Looks like he has dads nose & chin and my mouth & eyes. He definately got our best features.


He is now on a CPAP which actually covers up more of his face than the tube did but at least now he can start vocalizing. Since the cords are pretty much atrophied it is going to take a few days before he finds his voice. But he was making the sweetest little noises though. The respiratory therapyst is extremely please as to how well he has taken to his new machine. Drayke is now doing 100% of the work of breathing and he is being a champion breather!

Sigh...I am so in love....

75th Day in the NICU Part 1

(Mom)

Drayke is getting his ventalator tube pulled this afternoon. Gods I am a nervous wreck. We have been waiting so long for this. And boy is he ready. He has been pulling at the tube non stop for the last few days. I woke up at 5:30 this morning to call the hospital to see if we were still on schedule. "He had a great night" according to the nurse and the staff knows R & I are wanting to be there when the tube gets pulled.

This means he can finally cry and eat from a bottle or breast. This is a huge day and I cant stop crying. Out of joy. Out of fear. So many emotions are welling up inside me at the thought of my son finally trying to breathe on his own. I know there is the possibility of his going right back onto the vent. Almost definately he will be on a CPAP. But still, this will be the first time since the day he was born that he will be breathing on his own, even if only for a few minutes.

73rd Day in the NICU

Today Dr Karmo stated that he will be pulling Drayke off the Ventilator this weeked if he keeps on the way he is progressing. Drayke gets a bit agitated but his stats do not drop. Mom says that he gets red, has tears in his eyes, and also his hands shake as well. We know this is because of the steriods. So far he weighs 4lbs 15 oz and is 16 1/2 inches long. His vent pressure is at 23/5, O2 is in the 60's and his Breath per minute is 25. Drayke is mostly doing the breathing on his own. He is doing soo good.

Drayke started the "Beat the Baby" therapy. Its where they take a plastic tool and tap on his chest. It is supposed to help Drayke increase his breathing. He also got his first massage therapy sessions as well today and he slept right through it. He has been through so much but I am glad he is getting better. He has another 6 days work of steriods. I have not been able to go see him in a few days due to the fact that I feel sick to my stomach and I do not want him to get what I have. During the 2nd RT treatment he was stat'ing at 100. I so cannot wait to see him and tell him what a good job he is doing.

Look at how chubby he is getting.

70th Day in the NICU (Part 2)

Here is a recent Picture of Drayke.

70th Day in the NICU

We decided we needed to talk to Drayke's Neonatalogist Dr Karmo. We have not had a update from a Dr in a while. Dr Karmo told us that when he looked on the brain sonogram that Drayke no longer had the Cyst. This means chances are that he does not have PVL. This was only the 2nd most concern with his lungs being the 1st concern. A big weight has been lifted off our chest.

We also spoke to Dr Karmo about having Drayke start the steriod injection. He is doing good on the vent but Dr Karmo was saying that he is not moving as fast as he would like him too. Since we already discussed this before Drayke was moved to the Ventilator we decided to go ahead and give it a try. He will be on it for 9 days.

He said we would not see a change for at least 24 hrs and that there is a chance of a bounce back reaction after the dose of steriods are done and if he is off the vent he may need to go back on. Of course this is all speculation. I am happy that my son may be off the ventilator soon.

67th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Little one is doing very good. We are hoping that he gets his vent tuberemoved sometime within the next week or so. Monday he is 10 weeks old (and38 weeks gestational today, July 4th, so he is almost to his original due date! ).Finally we are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel as far asNICU life goes. Soon enough he will be coming home and I am ratherterrified. I really hope they let me have an apnea monitor for a few weeks.I am so used to him having 24/7 care that I am afraid I wont sleep at all tomake sure he keeps breathing.

He is now 4 pounds 7 ounces and has a cute little Buddha belly going on.Still weirded out that he is so darned blonde.

66th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

The outfit is the one Jeanie got himthe day before he was born. Isn't it and he just too cute? Pretty mucheverything is big on him so I will be getting more than a couple of weeksuse out of his preemie & newborn clothes.





I also got to briefly hold him while they we changing his bed. Turnsout they change the actual bed out every few weeks and it is quite a chore. Damn, make me hold my son for a few minutes....gee....let me think about that...nah...doesnt make me happy at all:



The really awesome thing is that it did not count as one of the 3 times I can hold him per week...YAY!!!

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!!

33rd Day in the NICU

We headed up to the hospital where we spent almost 2 hours. The girls were so excited to get to see him. It had been a month since they last saw him (they had been kinda snotty nosed and we are not going to take any chances).

28th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Saw Drayke today and he is doing so good. We scrubbed in and as soon as we entered his area I noticed that the nitric oxide was at zero! Started doing the happy dance right then & there. The pressure on the occilator is down and oxygen input is at 85%. His color is great and his O2 levels are staying in the high 90's. They ended up moving his IV from his foot to his head but amazingly I wasnt freaked out when I saw it. He no longer fidgets with the IV and so he actually gets some rest. Took a look at his chart and he was finally weighed and is showing at 2 lbs 6 oz! His feedings resumed on Friday and he is getting increased on the amount every 24 hours

25th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Drayke's O2 levels ae doing great. So good in fact they have dropped him from 100% oxygen to 80%. The nitrix has been dropped from 20 PPM to 15PPM and they have lowered the pressure on the occilator. All this is good! He was such a wiggle worm today. I tell you the boy does not like sitting still. He has this big paddle on hit foot where he has an IV line and he is like a cat with tape on its foot, just wants to keep flipping it until maybe it will fall off. Silly little man.

The medication that I wasnt sure of the name is Survanta. http://survanta.com/ Sorry about the fuzziness of the picture taken yesterday. It is shot thru the canapy of Drayke's bed and a bit of zoom which always make for terrible pics but it is the first time since he was born that I actually got to see some of his mouth.

23rd Day in the NICU

(Mom)


This morning Drayke was put back onto the nitric oxide due to his oxygen levels not stabilizing. I spoke to the doctor and she advised me that after this there is only one more option left to try to get his lungs ramped up and that is steroids which comes with its own set of problems.


With as much as I was freaking out over the thought of being pregnant and having a child, the thought of not having him in my life is just not acceptable. I will never give up on him. He is still strong and active. Even the doctor said he is a fighter. He will come home some day and grow up to be the strong beautiful man I know he is.

21st Day in the NICU

Lil one got moved to an iso lab finally! No more saran wrap over the baby! YAY!

The doctors & nurses had mentioned that they were going to be moving him to a new bed for quite a while now. This is a very good thing because he is extremely sensitive to noises so this will help him relax.

The other kewl thing about the isolab is we can decorate it with his blanket that daddy made for him and pictures. This way he can always see his family.

20th Day in the NICU

We are so happy when because we finally got a picture of him with his eyes open. He is doing well and is up to 5cc's of breastmilk every 3 hours and is tolerating it well. The nurse today said "your boy definately likes to eat!" YAY!!!!! We are ecstatic. The more he eats the stronger he gets and the more he grows. The biggest concern there is are still his lungs. He receives a treatment of some kind of med that is a naturally occuring substance in term infants and adults (sounds kinda like savannah).

14th Day in the NICU

Drayke is 2 weeks old today! We grabbed a quick fast food breakfast and I stopped by Lowes to make a payment & Walmart to pick up something to help with transporting all the crap that mom carry's with her to & from the hospital. Then off the NICU we went. He is looking so good and it is now becoming obvious he is growing. They have started dropping his O2 and he is maintaining his stats well. Mom got to feed him this morning too (she put the milk into a tube that goes into his belly). He is gaining weight. Getting closer to 2 pounds every day!

13th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

We went to the hospital on Sunday afternoon and in his bed there was a card addressed to mom. I grabbed it and burst out crying. Turns out R had warned my mother that he & L got a card for me and they knew I was going to cry. The night nurses also made a card that has his foot prints and a hand print. Again, I busted out crying anew. I have to start up a scrap book or something. I am planning on getting the foot print card framed and hang it in his room while we wait for him to come home.

While we were in the elevator we ran into Dr Palmer and he told us how good Drayke's recent xray of his lungs were looking. It is always good to talk to him. He is very straight forward yet kind when he talks to us.

12th Day in the NICU Part 2

We had a really nice day, visiting with Drayke at the hospital and then off to Katie's 8th birthday celebration. The doctors felt he was doing so good off the occilator that they increased his feedings from 1cc every 12 hours to 3cc's every 3 hours. This, it appears, was just too much for our little one. His O2 levels dropped and they ended up putting him back on the occilator. They were going to completely suspend his feedings but are now to just 1 cc every 6 hours which he is tolerating well.

12th Day in the NICU

(Mom)

Drayke has been off the nitric oxide for several days now and yesterday they took him off of the occilator! YAY! No more vibrating baby! The occilator gave him around 400 "breaths" per minute. Very rapid fire to help open up his little lungs to get them to process his oxygen better. So now he is on a regular ventilator and down to 50 "breaths" per minute which is a much more natural rhythm. He no longer looks so worn out and is definately much more relaxed. 3 days ago they started him on breast milk, 1cc every 12 hours. Today we were told he has been moved up to every 6 hours!!!

He is progressing so well. Every day his numbers are looking better.

The not so good: Last week I mentioned how there ws a potential issue and Thursday it was verified that he does indeed have a 1.6 centimeter cyst in his brain. What that means is there is no brain tissue where the cyst is. This is called Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL). This is very common for premature births. It can cause any number of issues as with any other brain injury. The good thing is that since he is so young his neural pathways way very well re-route themselves to ignore the missing mass and he may very well have no ill effects at all. The worst case is cerbral palsy/muscular problems in the extremties/inhibited mental function. At this stage we simply do not know. We are all staying very hopeful given that Drayke is such a strong force, he is stubborn and already has such good body control. The next three years are going to be an adventure to say the least. The state of Tennessee has Early Intervention which automatically puts him in line for physical & mental therapy for the next three years to make sure he is developing the way he needs to. R and I have talked about how we are both going to be working together with our son on this journey. He has already joined a few yahoo groups and we are also going to be getting involved with local parents groups who are also dealing with the same type of issues.

There are days I feel so overwhelmed that all I can do is curl up into a ball and cry for hours. First and foremost though I KNOW I love my son more than I could have imagined possible. I have to be there for him. I have to be there for myself because he needs me so desperately. All I can do now is pump my breasts so he can have the vital nutrition that is in beastmilk. And I have to put more faith in R. I am so used to not having faith in anyone but myself but I need him more than ever now. The birth of Drayke has openned something inside him that has been dormant for a very long time. He has this inner glow about him that has been missing for a long time. He is the most beautiful man in the world to me. The father of my gorgeous son.

8th Day in the NICU

Little one is doing good. They put him on nitric oxide.

Per Wikipedia:Use in Pediatric Intensive CareNitric Oxide/Oxygen blends are used in critical care to promote capillary and pulmonary dilation to treat Primary Pulmonary Hypertension in neonatal patients[11][12] post meconium aspiration and related to birth defect. These are often a last-resort gas mixture before the use of ECMO.NO therapy has the potential to significantly increase the quality of life and in some cases save the lives of infants at risk for pulmonary vascular disease. [13]

They had him on 20 and now have reduced to 5.1. It is a slow weaning process but he has been reacting so much better to this. He no longer fights the respirator and allows the machines to do the work for him so he can work on growing. We are looking at a few more days then he will be on just the occilator again and eventually back to a regualr respirator. His oxygen has also been lowered to 50 so that means he is actually using the O2 in his body. Blood gases are looking good too.Since being taken off of the phototherapy he is showing his inquisitive side and looks around as best he can to see what's going on around him. His color looks good. Just overall things are looking good. 1 week down, at least 11 weeks to go.

5th Day at the NICU

Friday morning Liz & mom went to visit him again and he had been turned onto his belly. The nurse told them that they gave him a little suppository to get his bowels moving and sure as anything there was the telltale meconium/black sludge coming out. YAY! His little bottom works good too! It is so relieving to find that all his parts are working the way they are supposed to. Myself and mom went to see Drayke before turning in for the night aroun 2AM.But I do have my happy picture of the day. I am still amazed that my son has golden hair.

4th Day at the NICU

Thursday was an incredibly hard day. Talked to the neonatologist in the morning and went over a possible complication that we may have but we wont know more until next week. Mom held it together for about 2 minutes then she completely lost it for the rest of the day. I ended up going back down to Lewisburg later in the day so I could de-stress in my own way and Liz called off of work to stay with me for the night.Turns out there were 8 births on the high risk floor that day alone and they ended up closing the NICU for several hours while they were getting all the new arrivals in. Liz and Mom finally were able to get in around 9:45PM and she was so glad they did. They approached Drayke's bed and his nurse said "you're in time! You can help me change his diaper and take his temperature!" Mom was bouncing off the walls because so was so ecstatic. OMG! She finally gets to really touch her son! She got to pull his little arm up and tuck the thermometer into his armpit. She told him "sweety, we need to get you fattend up because I have had chicken wings that have more meat on them". She just kept looking across his bed at Liz with happy tears flowing. Then trying to figure out how to lift him to change his diaper was a challenge. Being so small she was not sure as to how to handle him. The nurse told her to just take his legs and pull him up just like a full term baby and tuck the clean diaper under his dirty one. Then they started to pull off his dirty diaper and all of the sudden he peed a good foot across his bed towards Liz. They laughed hysterically at this, not expecting him to have THAT kind of reach with his stream. She got to clean his boy bits and finished putting the diaper on him. She has never been so happy to change a diaper in her life! As they walked out she was all "YES! Gods I needed that! My boy is doing so good" She slept VERY well Thursday night.