Day 30

Day 30

Day 30: 1040 grams or 2 lbs 5oz. Gaining weight!!! This is the first time he has been over his birth weight. Jackson is doing well with feedings, he is getting 10 cc right now. As they increase the milk they decrease his TPN and lipid injections. If things go well in a couple of days he will have one less line poking in him. The less hardware going in the better. Today Jackson had his first eye exam. Retinal exams are pretty invasive and sure pissed him off... But the exam went well. No signs of ROP. His retina is very premature but normal for gestational age. He is slated for his next exam in 2 weeks. He is happy and rested now after the exam... So well in fact that we are going to pull his tube now instead of waiting until tomorrow! FOJSP!!!

1 month old

1 Month Old

Week 4

Week 3

Week 2

Week 1

1 Month: 14 1/2 inches long and 2 lbs 2 oz. Longest and shortest month of our lives. So much has happened. Jackson is getting bigger and stronger everyday; he's grown 1 inch, although he hasn't gained any weight. Hopefully that will come soon as he continues to eat more. 

Everyday we get to see more and more of his personality:

- He is a very happy, smiley baby in the morning. Not sure where he gets it, because his parents definitely are not.

- When he gets mad, oh does he get mad! And he wants everyone to know it. But he only really gets fussy when something is wrong; diaper needs changed, needs to be suctioned, has been laying in that position too long and wants to be moved, or you are bugging him with something silly like taking his temp then he'll just push your hand away. When this happens, the nurses call it a 'Jack Attack'. 

- He loves his mom and dad and definitely knows when we are talking to him. He will stare at us and look back and forth between us as we talk to him. He also loves to be sung to, calms him right down. 

- He is very strong. He can push your hand away with his feet. And has a very tight grip, even if it is only on the tip of your finger. One night he got upset with being on his tummy, and he actually flipped himself over! How's that for my tiny, genius baby? First roll over at 3 weeks, 30 weeks gestation. Gave the nurse quite the scare. 

- Lastly, he is very opinionated. As evidenced above. If he wants something, he has his ways of getting it. If he doesn't like a plan, he changes it (right from day 1 actually). Some of the nurses joke that you either have to get his permission on your plan first or you have to sneak attack him. Because otherwise he is going to do everything he can to change your plan. For example, the many times we tried to come up with plans for holding him. 

We love our sweet, little boy and have loved watching him grow and change everyday. 

Puppy was a one month birthday present from Dad

Day 29: 950 grams or 2 lbs 2 oz. Jackson is 1 month old today!!! He had his head ultrasound this morning and the brain bleed is gone! They will check again at 36 weeks gestation (in 5 weeks). He has been doing great with feedings, he is getting 7 cc right now and still increasing by 1 cc every 6 hours. He should be up to full feedings (20 cc per feeding) in 3 days. At this point they will stop giving him TPN through the IV and he will just get breast milk. Yay! He can start using up his very large food storage he's got built up. This is also good because last night his PICC line got a clot in it. This didn't cause him any harm because they caught it so early but meant they had to take out the line. With his infection they were debating taking it out anyway because they didn't want to leave any hardware in that may still be housing the infection. So they put in an IV and this is how he will get his TPN for the next few days.  He's doing good but he's been a little fussy. Well we figured out why, he had a messy diaper and had spit up on himself! I guess that's why babies get a little fussy :) our little boy is growing up. FOJSP!!!

Day 28

Day 28

Day 28: 960 grams or 2 lbs 2 oz. Jax is doing great. He was very alert this morning, just talking with Dad. He was very interested in what Dad had to say :) 

His blood and spinal cultures are still negative! He will finish up his antibiotics on Friday. And they still expect him to come off the ventilator Friday or Saturday. He is getting his 6th blood transfusion today. He is still doing great with eating and pooping. He is getting 4cc per feeding and they are still increasing. He'll be up to 5 cc (1 teaspoon) by the end of today. Jackson really responds well to us holding him and the doctor is very encouraging of it, so we will get to hold him again today. Another good day for Jackson! FOJSP!!! 

Day 27

Day 27

Day 27: 980 grams or 2 lbs 3 oz. Jackson is our little pooper. Before this I never thought I would be so excited about poopy diapers. But now they mean he is ready for milk. He's been doing great with the milk they've been giving him. So they are going to start increasing milk by 1 cc every 9 hours. His blood and spinal culture are both still negative for infection. Woohoo! They will continue antibiotics through Friday just to be safe they cleared everything. If he keeps doing well they will try him off the vent again Friday or Saturday. Dr. Nold is going to take the UAC out tomorrow. She doesn't want any bugs clinging to it to cause problems. Also there is risk of a clot the longer it is in and it's been in two weeks. His hematocrit is low again at 28 so he will be getting blood tomorrow. He is doing great and will hopefully start to sail once he clears this nasty infection. FOJSP!!!

Day 26

Day 26

Jax day 26 970 grams or 2lbs 2 oz. little buddy had to go back on the vent last night but he is doing well. His CO2 levels just creeped up throughout the day. Dr Simmons came in and sat with Shannon and I for hours yesterday. He tried to tweek things to help him blow off the CO2 but it just kept climbing. He was as disappointed as us that he had to intubate again but he noted that he is still one day more mature and one day off the vent helps his throat to heal and decrease some swelling. It seems he is just not strong enough to cough up all of the junk in his lungs and this was building up so he could not properly breathe. So we are going to let the antibiotics run a bit longer and let the secretions in his lungs decrease. He did not have issues with apnea or bradycardia this time. Once his lungs are cleared up I think he is going to do great breathing on his own. He is eating again and he pooped 3 times today. His settings on the vent are as low as they will ever set them so it is just a matter of suctioning his lungs and patience for his body to heal. They let mom hold him today for about 45 min. It was huge, he was very peacefull the whole time. All of the nurses are great but Renee has been so good to our little family. She really takes the extra time to help us understand things as well. Jax is great, happy and he smiled at papa again! FOJSP!!!

Day 25

Day 25

Best. Day. Ever.

Jackson had a great night last. They lowered his rate to 10 breaths per minute and he stayed at room air all night and was totally rocking it. He was doing so well this morning they decided to turn off his ventilator for an hour to see how he did. And again he did awesome. So they decided to extubate him this morning. He did so great all morning. Our favorite nurse was on today, she was also here Tuesday when he had gone back on the ventilator before we got to hold him and she knew how devastated we were. So right away she said to me, "you are holding him today". My heart swelled ten sizes. 

 It took about 30 minutes to get all his tubes and wires in order for me to hold him but those 15 minutes of feeling my sweet baby lay on my chest were the most amazing moments of my life. I had tears in my eyes for a minute but after that I was too beyond happy for tears. It just felt so right. I could have stayed like that forever. Feeling his soft, warm skin. His tiny hands reaching, grabbing. His wonderful smell. That is my happy place. 

After basking in my mommy moment, it was Dad's turn. I'm so glad the nurse made sure Hunter had a turn too. Sometimes I feel everyone asks or worries about me, but Dad is just as important. I'm glad our nurses make both of us a priority and takes care of both of us. 

After that his blood gas tests started showing his CO2 level was getting very high. And unfortunately they had to intubate him again. The nurse told me not to cry and get disappointed because today was a great day. I told her I couldn't make any promises. So while I did cry and was disappointed, I'm not devastated like last time. Because today was a good day. We got to hold our sweet baby boy. And he did wonderfully off the vent. He didn't have a single apnea attack and his oxygen saturation levels were great all day. He is just still getting over the pneumonia and his lungs were just too junky to blow off the CO2. But we know he's going to do great when he comes off the vent again in a few days. FOJSP!

Day 24

Day 24

Jackson day 24: 970 grams or 2lbs 2oz. Jackson is having a good day. He had a spinal tap today as a precaution and Initial results show a white count of 2. This is great news and an indicator of no issues. They will still run a 48hr culture on the spinal fluid to be safe. He is reponding well to the antibiotics, and his respiratory numbers are stellar, but we will likely wait to pull the vent until after the antibiotic regimen is complete. 

Jackson has always been a very feisty little guy. If he doesn't like something, he makes sure we know. Or if he doesn't like the nurses bugging him, he'll swat their hands away or kick their hands. But it looks like he's also learned a little sign language to let us know what he's thinking. 

Jackson gives a thumbs up to no infection in the spinal fluid

This is what Jackson thinks of dad's solo diaper change that leaked all over the bed

The doctors are very experienced, knowledgable, caring, and up to date on current neonatal practices. The nurses are doing a wonderful job and are very attentive, experienced (most with 15 to 25 years in neonatal), and cater to Jackson's needs. I feel the nurses have really bonded with him and will do all they can to give him the support that he needs. At this point in time we feel this is the best place that our little boy could possibly be. We are very much so hovering parents and will not hesitate to move him if we feel otherwise. As for now this is the right place for him and he is doing great. As of 9 pm, blood gasses were great and Dr Simmons just had them turn the ventilator rate down to 14 breaths per min! He is doing awesome and his actual breathing rate is about 70 breaths per min! He's workin' those lungs. He's going to come off that vent like a rock star as soon as he is done with antibiotics. His nurse has OCD and every wire and every hose is in it's proper spot: straight, clean, non crossing lines. I love it. FOJSP!