Isaiah is coming home tomorrow!!!!!

The NICU called to inform us that Isaiah is potentially coming home tomorrow - as long as he passes his car seat test. Which is where is has to be able to sit in his car seat with his head stable for 1 hour without flopping it around. He has to be able to support himself. Oh my - we are so excited!!!!!!!!!!! What a Thanksgiving day present!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday's News - Isaiah's 11th day

WOW! This was a huge day for Isaiah! They removed his feeding tube & they moved him out of his isolette & into a crib. He is allowed to eat however much he wants every 3 hours. He is feeding every time on a bottle & he is eating well...not getting tired anymore. The doctor said he can eat as much as he wants now. Instead of only 45 cc's (1.5 oz). He is holding his own temperature so they moved him out of the isolette. He is just doing wonderful! They already weighed him before they moved him to the crib - he lost .2 oz. But yesterday he went from 4 lbs 6.8 oz to 4 lbs 7.1 oz!!! When we went to see him today - they had already removed his feeding tube & we were so excited. Then I called to check on him after his 3:30 feeding to see how he did....he ate 55 cc's. That is the most he has ever eaten. THEN - the nurse told me that they had moved him to a crib & I was so excited. He will be home soon! Thank you for all of your prayers! Check out the new pictures of him without his tube. We were literally running out the door because Josh had to be at work at 4 & it was 2:45 & it takes an hour to get back home! But I suddenly remembered that I had not taken any pictures...so I just snapped a few & we left. But we already had him put back in the isolette & didn't have time to get him back out. We are going back up tomorrow night & I will get some better ones! The scratch under his right eye is where he was trying to tear out the tube himself...the red blotch on his right cheek is from the tape as well as the red stripe under his nose & on his left cheek. They won't clip their nails - so Josh bit them to shorten them because they are so long & we can't keep mittens on this boy!

Now:


Before:

Aunt Regina's quilt...

Josh's aunt Regina made Isaiah the most beautiful quilt. These pictures don't do it justice. She hand quilted the entire thing! She wanted us to name Isaiah "Rolan", so his name would be Rolan Stone or "Rollin' Stone". THANK YOU REGINA, it is beautiful!

Sunday's events...

Sorry about not posting yesterday - we were so busy. We went to church yesterday morning, then we went to Sheila's (Josh's Mom) for a delicious Thanksgiving lunch, then we came home & packed & drove to Evansville for the night. We stayed at the hospital in one of their sleep rooms, which is free of charge.

So Dr. Grant gave Isaiah his check up & he said, "Let us try giving him a bottle at every feeding". WOW! How exciting...since that is one of his last requirements before coming home. I gave him his bath last night. And when I weighed him he had a significant gain....from 4 lbs 4.8 oz to 4 lbs 6.9 oz! He ate well at 2 feedings yesterday. When it came time for dinner last night @ 9:30 after his bath he ate all but 10 cc's. Then they fed him NG ("Nasal Gastric" or tube feeding) for his 12:30 feeding. So at 3:30 this morning I woke up & went to feed him - he ate within his requirement but not the whole bottle...he still had about 5 cc's in there. He is supposed to eat 40-45 cc's at each feeding. Then when I fed him at his 6:30 feeding this morning he ate the whole bottle. We will feed him again at his 9:30 AM feeding & see how he does. He has had no residual. Residual is the food left in his belly before the next feeding, which means he is digesting everything he gets within the 3 hour gap between feedings.
He has a few long fingernails - and he was trying to yank the tube out of his nose & scratched his face pretty good. The nurse told me to bite the nails off because they won't use clippers. So at the 9:30 feeding I am going to do just that...because otherwise they keep mittens on their hands all the time.

Isaiah is also starting to hold his own temperature! When I took his temp. at the 3:30 AM feeding today it was 36.6 degrees & they want it to be 36.4 degrees. Which means they could turn the Isolette's temperature down because he was holding his own temperature. Yesterday when we showed up the Isolette was turned down to 28.3 degrees Celcius. When I came in at 6:30 AM - the nurse had bumped it down to 28!!!!! 28 degrees Celcius is "room temperature". Once he is able to hold his temperature at 36.4 degrees Celcius in the Isolette that is "room temperature" (28 degrees Celcuis) for 24 hours - they will move him into an open crib & out of the Isolette!!!! So at his 6:30 AM feeding I checked his temperature & it was holding steady at 36.4! My little man is doing so well!!!!!!!!!!! I love him so much. Won't be much longer now til he gets to come home.

We will feed him again at 9:30 AM & then we will head home sometime after that. Josh has to work today from 2 until 10.

Thank you for keeping up with his progress. I will add some more pictures this afternoon when I get home! Right now I need to eat breakfast.

One Week Old (Saturday's Update)

Whew - what a day, what a day. Isaiah continues to do great! They moved him from the center room to the front room last night. There are 3 rooms. The back room is for the most critical, middle for lesser & front for least critical. They say, "the babies work their way towards the door". And in Isaiah's case - he needs to "eat his way out of there". Which he continues to do very well. They put him on the "green" nipple today. The green nipple is a slower nipple that requires more work than the "blue" nipple which he has been using. He also bottle fed 2 feedings in a row today with that more difficult nipple. They have been doing bottle & then NG (tube feeding) every other time because he gets worn out on the consecutive bottle feedings. But not only did he not get worn out & finish his second bottle feeding in a row - but he did well with the more difficult nipples! The doctor ordered his feedings to go to 45cc's instead of 40. He hasn't had any residual. Residual is the stuff they try to pull out of his belly through the tube with a syringe right before a feeding to see if there is any left that he hasn't digested. But he has been empty & very hungry! He gained weight last night! 4 lbs 4.6 oz! Today's weigh in was a gain...4 lbs 4.8 oz. Not alot but a gain is a gain! He ate all of his bottle with a green nipple tonight, too. My little man is growing up already. ONE WEEK OLD!!! Josh's best friends sister had a premature baby & she put a box of preemie clothes in the mail today. That is so sweet of her. I have 2 preemie sleepers that I received at a shower. The hospital has dressers full of clothes that they use to dress the babies. Today - Isaiah's sleeper was one of those 2 that I have here at home! It swallowed him whole! LOL It fit his arms ok - but his poor little legs just disappear! We fed him & held him for almost 3 hours before we had to come hom so Josh could go to work. Tomorrow we will go to church, then to Josh's mom's for Thanksgiving dinner (I know it is early - Josh has to work on Thanksgiving), then we will go to E'ville to see our son. We will stay all night either at one of the free "Sleep Rooms" there in the hospital, if one is available...if not we will get a hotel room. Then we will get to bathe him & all that fun stuff! We don't get to do that otherwise...because Josh works nights & I can't drive just yet. Plus on Wednesday nights we have church. But - that is ok. Isaiah will be home before we know it & then I can hold him & give him baths all the time! =o) I miss him so much. Here are a few pictures we got of him today!

It looks like he is laughing in this picture:

Our friend April Barker made these 2 photos for us! Thanks April!

Friday - Part 2

He is eating his bottles really well. The doc is wanting to increase his bottle feedings & decrease the number of NG's or feedings trhough the tube. He is off the bili blanket now. So no more glow worm! Praise the Lord. He gained weight since yesterday! He weighs the most he ever has!!! 4 lbs 4.6 oz. Thank you for your prayers! We are going back up to Evansville tomorrow from about 10:30 AM - 1:30 or 2 PM. I will add new pictures tomorrow night!

Friday

Isaiah didn't gain any weight last night at his weigh-in. But he did eat pretty well with the bottle. I was gave him his bath, changed his diaper & fed him. I can't wait to do that every night. They do it here around 8 or 8:30 every night - but I can't drive for another week & Josh is going back to work tonight. We will be able to do it Sunday night though...because Josh will be off & we will have church & then Josh's family Thanksgiving & we will leave for Evansville after that. I loved giving him his bath! I was kinda scared at first - but I guess my motherly instincts just kicked in & I took charge. So incredibly wonderful to be a mom. He just smiles all the time. Especially when his belly is full! Keep him & us in your prayers...it is really hard to leave our little guy behind. We are leaving for Owensboro around lunch-time today. But I know he is in great hands. Pray that he is allowed to come off of the Biliirubin (sp?) treatment today. His levels have improved everyday & we are ready for him to get rid of that silly blanket/light. It is so hard & he has to lay on it or it lays on him & he has to wear those funny goggles, but he likes to see the world! I will get some pictures of the 3 of us together before we leave today. Love you all...

His Isolette Temperature...it needs to be 28 degrees Celsius for it to be "room temperature". Once he can hold his temperature at 36 to 37.4 degrees Celsius on his own when at room temperature he gets to move out of his "incubator" and into an open crib.

Hello everyone!

Bili Blanket (for Jaundice)- he looks like a glow worm...

Thursday Part 2

Dr. Turnquest released me. So I am almost a free bird! We are going to go eat at Golden Corral. It cost almost as much to eat at the hospital as it does anywhere else & we are so sick of hospital food! Thank you for all of your prayers!!!!! Isaiah is still continuing to do well & I will have all new numbers for him tonight after bath time. What an amazing ride...

Thursday...

Yesterday was interesting. I felt terrible...that magnesium makes you feel yucky!!! But - I took it really easy too. I didn't do anything - not even walking around. Either Josh or the nurses have wheeled me to the nursery to see Isaiah - however I just walked back from the nursery on my own for the first time since Monday night...prior to that, I was walking where ever I wanted to go.

Isaiah gained more weight yesterday, but we can't say how much because the IV board & IV itself were removed & that we don't know how much that weighed. You would think they would weigh him before & then again after but they don't. He has been gaining 2 oz each day, which is great. They keep lowering the temperature in his isolette closer to room temperature until he can hold his own temperature where he needs to. It needs to be 28 degrees Celsius & they lowered it from 33.9 to 31 & today it is 28.7! He is doing great. His doctor hasn't seen him today yet - so things will surely change again today. But he did come up to me and mention that Isaiah will probably come home the middle to the end of next week as a projection. I didn't even ask - he just mentioned it!!! How exciting! You never know when, because for each baby it is different. They have to be eating their required food completely on their own without the tube, holding their temperature completely on their own & moved to a crib. But they always give you the projection of the babies due date. Which his due date is not until Dec. 31st & he may be coming home before Thanksgiving!!! Yippee! We will just wait & see. He is in the best care possible. I am still waiting to see my doctor this morning - she was across the hall when I left for the nursery at 9:20 AM, but it is almost 10:30 AM and she still hasn't made it over here. Who knows...but I will update again as soon as possible. I will add more pictures then too!

IV...

Late Tuesday night they removed Isaiah's IV!!! Praise the Lord! He gained 2 oz since his weigh-in Monday night. They said we should expect him to loose some weight at tomorrow night's weigh-in because they removed the IV & the IV board which had added weight that really wasn't his. We bottle fed him - he took about half of it & they fed him the rest through his tube. He was wide awake looking around & smiling - but wasn't interested in the bottle. They said we will try again with a bottle in the morning. He is doing really well. The pictures with the blue light are for a "Bili" blanket he has to lay on. They use that for Jaundice. But his levels were just a little high & his Dr. will recheck in the morning & he should be able to get off of that too.

More News for Tuesday...

They think Isaiah will be off of his IV at the end of the day! If he continues to eat well.

I have to stay in the hospital again. They drew some more labs again today & decided that I have Preeclampsia or hypertension. My blood pressure is up & my head has been hurting & my vision has been kinda strained. That makes them concerned because of my AVM (bad blood vessel) in my brain. When it bled last year I had my seizure & they don't want that obvioiusly. So they are going to start me on Magnesium Sulfate - which makes you feel really blah. For 12 hours...maybe 24 I will be on bedrest & I can't eat or drink. However - I did talk the nurse into letting me go via wheelechair to see Isaiah for his 9:30 PM feeding. A few tears & puckered lip went a long way....I gotta see my little man. I am so excited that my little man might come off of his IV but now I have to go back on one. He is doing great. Thank you all for your prayers & support. I will keep adding pictures.

With love,
Linds

Tuesday's News - Isaiah's 4th day

WOW! Being a mom is so awesome! I was hoping to be discharged yesterday - however, they were concerned about my blood pressure being high so they kept me for one more day. They ran some lab work last night & I still haven't heard anything from the doctor yet & probably won't until she closes her office tonight & makes rounds. But we are still looking to see if we can get that sleep room here at the hospital to stay with our little guy.

Isaiah is doing very well. His heart murmor is gone, and his resting heart beat has come down to normal!!! He is eating out of a bottle every other feeding & a tube on the other. This keeps him from getting too worn out. It takes a lot of work to eat out of a bottle. I watched his bath again last night. When they weighed him he had gained 2 oz. since the night before. He is still the same length as of Sunday (which is when they measure them). He hasn't had anymore breathing problems, either. Praise the Lord for little blessings & little miracles! Enjoy the pictures. Sorry it has taken me so long. That high blood pressure made my eyes & head hurt so bad...but I am feeling better.

His first bath:

MamMaw (Josh's Mom):

I love you daddy: