....and the sickness continues

We spent all weekend snuggling.  All weekend.  Didn't leave the house, didn't accomplish anything on my to do list, didn't get much sleep, and didn't even make it to church.  I wish I could tell you that it helped.  :(

In truth, he was starting to seem better on Saturday, but then yesterday he refused to breastfeed.  I tried and tried to get him to nurse, and he would sometimes latch and sometimes not, but never would he stay on longer than a minute before he would pull his head back and either wimper pitifully or just outright scream.  

I tried pumping and giving him a bottle.  I tried giving him breastmilk in his sippy cup.  I tried juice, I even tried water.  I began to get really concerned about him getting dehydrated, and after a conversation with "first nurse" (our clinic's medical advice hotline) I was preparing hubby for an ER visit if he didn't have a wet diaper in the next half hour.  

And then he did.  It was really more damp than wet, but right after that I was able to get him to nurse for about five minutes.  It was just enough to give me peace of mind to let the little  guy go to sleep and wait it out until I could make an appointment at the clinic in the morning.

So we had our third doctor's office visit in a week and a half and found out the Hendrix now has a double ear infection.  Poor, poor guy.  The doc said that his right ear was particularly swollen and pussy (yes, he used the word pussy.....yuck!), and that it was probably causing him alot of pain to suck and swallow.  No wonder the little fella didn't want to eat. 

He was down 10 oz in weight from his appointment on Thursday, but I had been getting enough fluids down him to keep him plenty hydrated.  The good news is that the nebulizer really helped because his lungs were completely clear!

The bad news is that the amoxocillin hasn't really seemed to have done him much good yet.  He still hasn't nursed well today, and now he has diarrhea on top of everything else.  

I am hoping tomorrow brings a new day with much brighter prospects!

My little snugglebug!

Yesterday was a very big day for Hendrix.

He started out with a weigh-in at 5lbs 8.5 oz.  This was up two ounces from the day before so we were very encouraged that he is going to continue making progress with his eating.  

They also got the test results back on his Bilirubin, and it was all the way down to a 9, so they took him off the lights and graduated him to his first big boy bed!  

He is still in the NICU, but now he closely resembles what all the other babies in the nursery look like as far as care goes.  The exceptions include the heart monitor that is still connected to him (you can see it hanging out on the lower shelf of the crib there), and the way he is bundled up with four blankets and usually also a hat to stay warm.

The reason for this is simply that he has a harder time regulating his body temperature than full-term babies do.  We want to keep him plenty warm so that he doesn't burn his calories keeping himself warm - this will help him gain weight faster.

Do you see a little E.T. resemblance? 

 

This picture isn't the best quality since it was taken on my phone.....but I love it when I am able to snap him just as he is smiling!  He does alot of it when he is awake.

I think that was his last smile for a couple hours though, as he got circumcised shortly after that.  I didn't want to be there to hear him, and though I believe that the Plastibell is alot easier on little boys, my little boy happens to get worn out alot easier than most, and he was real sluggish on the recovery for most of the afternoon.  He wouldn't take his feedings very well, because it was just too much work for him to wake up and eat.  I did still get some very special snuggle times with him though as did Daddy when he got here from work.

No matter how well we get him wrapped up, he likes to kick out his little feet!

You know, my feet get really hot when I sleep at night too, and I often have to kick them out on top of the covers......I can relate to what the little man is dealing with!  I just laugh when he gets his toes all spread out like this.  What silly little feet he has!  lol

And here he is in clothes for the first time!  Like I said, it really was a BIG day for the little guy!

Now, when they weighed him again for today (they do the weigh-ins at Midnight), he was still 5 lbs. 8.5 oz.  This is good and bad at the same time.  We are very glad that he isn't losing weight.  BUT the doctor won't let us go home if he isn't gaining weight.  We (the doctor included) are all hoping that he has a fabulous day with feedings today and will just amaze us at his weigh-in tonight.  If that is the case, we should be homeward bound in the morning.   This is actually rather feasible too, since he has had time to recover from the circumcision and should be able to eat with a little more enthusiasm today.

Just to help the process along, we are actually adding some calories (in powder form) to his bottled breastmilk feedings today; and while we are trying to continue making progress by putting him to the breast, we plan to not push it too hard if it is tiring him out.  We have plenty of time to transition him from the bottle to the breast, and I am doing great with my supply of milk by pumping, so it isn't worth it to push him right now. 

In the meantime, I have just spent the last two hours alone with him in my hospital room which has felt amazing!  This is the first time he has left the NICU nursery, and while he has slept the whole time, I have loved having him with me.  They want me to bring him back so they can observe the feedings still, but I am happy with the baby steps we are making!

The nurse asked us to bring in our carseat so they can do some special preparations on it to make it safer for our little preemie.  This is definitely a good sign!  

Daddy gets off work at 12:30 today, so be it here or at home, we have the whole weekend and next week to look forward to spending quality time just the three of us!  I feel very blessed!

Arms are finally free!

Hendrix got to have his IV removed this morning!  He has managed to get his feeding levels up to accepting 35 mls at one time. At his early morning feeding he seemed to be rooting around still hungry after that so we even tried letting him nurse a little bit.  He did latch on and seemed interested in it, but it really tired him out.  We know that he was getting some, because we could see some excess running down his chin.  While his nourishment will primarily come from the bottle for now, we will continue to let him try the breast so he can get the hang of it.  :)

Look, we can finally see his right arm!  He seems to be so happy to have the freedom to move that arm around now the way he wants to.   It is so encouraging to see the tubes and monitors come off him slowly and surely, making him seem more and more like the other "big kids" in the nursery :)

He is going to be spending another day under the lights, though his bilirubin level did come down quite a bit after just one day in there.  It had started at 14.8 and the goal was to get it below 12.  It was right at 12 when they tested his blood this morning, so the doctor said that though it was kind of a fencepost decision, it just made sense to keep him in it since he will be here in the hospital anyways.  Wouldn't want to have it flair back up after we get him home and have to be readmitted.  

This picture is a little bit blurry because I was the one taking it while I was holding him, but I think his little position is just so cute!  I had just finished feeding and snuggling him, and he really enjoyed having his hands up by his face.  I sleep with both my hands up by and under my face, so I thought it was really neat to see him enjoying this position.  I am not sure how much he is going to like being swaddled the way most babies do, since he has spent the whole first week of his life naked and sprawled out so far!  

The doctor is looking at getting his circumcision scheduled for tomorrow.  We have requested to have the plastibell procedure done, and there is only one doctor here at the hospital that performs this procedure so we are working around his schedule.  The fact that we are moving forward with this now is a good sign, because he is actually well enough to handle it.  The doctor told me that he wanted to wait until just a day or two before he went home to do it.  He said that if he continues as he has the past two days, we should be home by the weekend. :)

You know, I never got around to my 35 week update post, which means that I have one final bump picture to share with you.

This was the day before Hendrix was born.

This picture was taken at the hospital two days after he was born.

Though my body definitely doesn't look the way it did pre-baby,  I am very optimistic that it will eventually look more normal again :)  I even have been able to get back into non-maternity clothes (though most of them have been sweatpants...) which is good for my soul!

My plans for the day include a couple naps, another good stint of fresh air outside, and maybe even a quick run to Target to pick up some essentials.  There are just a few things I am going to need before we take Hendrix home, and I think it will make me feel much more like a normal person to get out and run the errands myself!  

I also need to run home and pack a little bag of clothes for Hendrix!  After he gets out of the phototherapy tomorrow morning he will be moved to a normal crib and will be allowed to wear real clothes!  He will still have a heart monitor on, so I need to find some lil' outfits to bring here that have snaps on them for easy access.  I am looking forward to this little step making him look even more healthy as he keeps on growing and progressing!

Thanks for your continued prayers and interest!  We appreciate all the support!

New bed for Hendrix

This morning Hendrix moved to a little "tanning bed" for the day.

This is called phototherapy and it is a special incubator that he lays in and gets some serious bright rays all over his body.  This treatment is to counteract the jaundice (which is apparently a very common thing among preterm babies that shows up around day 3 or 4).  

His little eyes get covered up because the lights would be too bright for him to see.  He doesn't really seem to mind being in there though, and the only real downside is that we are not able to handle him any time outside of his feeding time so that he can get the maximum benefit of this treatment.  He needs to be in there for 24 hours for sure, and will have bloodwork drawn first thing in the morning tomorrow to see if his bilirubin levels will have gone down enough that he can come out.  The jaundice just means that his liver isn't fully developed yet, but he has been pooping, so that is definitely a good sign!


Hendrix has been doing a great job at increasing his eating abilities.  He has been able to eat as much as 25 milliliters at once consistently throughout the day today.  In fact that has been enough that they decreased the volume of the IV that he still has in his arm.  I was also able to do the feedings today which was a really neat experience for me.  Up until this point, they would just hold his head up to feed him while leaving him laying in his bed.  He tolerated food best this way because he was only focusing on one thing - eating.  Now, he actually has the ability to be held and focus on me and eat at the same time.  It is slow going and he isn't ready to try nursing yet, but it was really just a big step for me to feel more involved in his care.  

As you can see in this picture, I was just thrilled to be given this opportunity to bond with my son!  Daddy got to come over his lunch break to see us and took some super cute pictures of Hendrix smiling while I was holding him.

I guess this is just one more way he favors his momma over his daddy, as I have a big smile and love to share it - and Bud tends to be a bit more serious.  I am told that he was especially serious as a child, and often had kind of a 'worried' look on his face.

I don't think this kid looks worried at all!

We are patiently waiting for daddy to get to the hospital from work now so we can spend some time together as a threesome at his evening feeding.  Since Bud hasn't built up much vacation time at his job yet, he decided to go back to work this week while Hendrix is still in the hospital and save his time for next week (or later, but hopefully, next week!) when we are home as a family and I could really use his help with nighttime feedings etc.  I didn't realize how much I would miss having him here to go through each little milestone with me today.  What an amazing family dynamic it is - Mommy, Daddy, and Baby.


I took my picnic lunch outside this afternoon and enjoyed soaking up some sunshine.  I don't think I realized just exactly how little I have seen outside the walls of the hospital in the past few days.  It was super windy here, but the sun felt great and I enjoyed a long stroll around the hospital "block".  I am really looking forward to spending a few of these lazy fall afternoons taking Hendrix for walks in the stroller when we get home!  That is going to be a perk of him coming a few weeks early - more nice weather to enjoy together before it gets super cold. :)