Day 22 - Samuel Update

We don't have any new pictures as of right now of Samuel. Morgan and I haven't been to see him for a week! We've both been sick but I am better so I get to see Samuel tonight! I can't wait.

Samuel is doing okay. He is still on the cpap and still at the same level of oxygen that they started him out on when they put him back on the cpap a few days ago. He has quite a few heart rate drops and "desats" throughout each day. The doctor has said that due to the lack of amniotic fluid Samuel had in the womb for 10 weeks or so, he is now battling the fact of having smaller lungs as well as all of the "scarring" of the lungs that occured the first week he was with us on the ventilators. He has less reserve than other normal 26 weekers. So, through time and as his lungs mature more he will be able to get down to room air on the cpap and the doctor said he'll be on the cpap for several weeks. My in-laws visited him the other day and said he looked great which was good to hear. The nurse told me that today as well over the phone. As of lastnight he weighs 2 lbs 15 ozs! They did start feeding him a few days ago again (I don't know if I mentioned that before) and they upped his feedings yesterday so now he is getting 2 ml of milk an hour. His bowels seem to be doing fine now. We just pray that he will get better and that his lungs will mature fast.

Thank you for all of the prayers in Samuel's behalf. Prayer works! That's why he is here!

What Noel has been up to

Noel has sure been through so much with mommy being on strict bedrest and now mommy and daddy leaving every day to go visit her little brother. She is doing so well with all of the adjustments. She has been really clingy since I'm up and at it and out and about. She has recognized that "I'm back" and so when I even just leave the room she gets separation anxiety. She's a trooper. It is sure fun to be able to spend time with her and play with her now. She really is a delight. She is starting to throw random tantrums for no reason though but I guess that comes with the territory eh? Here are some pictures of Noel recently. We haven't posted anything about her and I just felt like I needed to put some pictures up of her. I sure missed her when I was on bedrest.

On these hot summer days I take her out and she plays with the water in a little kiddy pool my parents have for the grandkids.
She got a hold of the hose.
Eating and smiling at the same time. What a cutie.
I love her cute little ponytail.
This swimsuit didn't quite fit her like the one above did;) She loves playing in the spa and throwing water around.

Day 19 - Samuel Update

The last few days have been a little rocky for Samuel. A couple of nights ago he started having apnea spells where he would altogether stop breathing. Each time that he would stop breathing, they had to "bag him" which means they had to take his cpap off and put a mask over his nose and mouth and squeeze an oxygen bag to pump his lungs with air to get him breathing again. That process mimicks mouth to mouth or basically, the conventional ventilator which he had previously graduated from. His ph levels in his blood where not normal as well and so they put him back on the ventilator. He did pretty well on it but he would still have a lot of "desats" which is where the oxygen saturation of his blood would drop. The oxygen saturation is measured in percent and generally 90-100% is where we like to see the numbers. So, to make a long story short, they put him back on the cpap to see how he would do after getting a blood transfusion lastnight (he is still anemic). The doctor was stating that he is doing better today than yesterday. He thinks that the apneas were occuring due to the anemia, infection (even though the bloodwork isn't showing any infection), and/or congestive heart failure. He is not at room air on the cpap right now and is still "desatting" a lot so they are trying to figure out what is going on with him. We don't like not knowing what is going on but we pray that the doctor's will be able to figure it out and that Samuel will pull through this. I hope that all made sense. Here are a few pictures of Samuel a couple of days ago, after they put the ventilator back on. They gave him a good shampoo the other day and his hair is kind of light to medium blonde:) Poor little was so tired that day and had been through so much.

Oh, and as of lastnight, he weighs 2 lbs 12 oz. I don't know how accurate that is but he's gained a half pound since birth! Oh, and they stopped his feedings after the apneas a couple nights ago but they started him up again on the feedings yesterday evening. He is having a couple or so bowel movements a day with the help from suppositories so his bowels seem to be working okay for now. So we'll see how everything else plays out.

Day 16 - Samuel Update

Samuel is doing well. He still needs the aid of suppositories to have bowel movements and the breast milk that they started him on yesterday hasn't passed all the way through his system yet. They are giving him between 30-40% oxygen through the cpap. I'm hoping that they can get him back down to room air soon. He was doing so well with that in the beginning but then the crazy bowel issues happened.

Yesterday Morgan went down to see Samuel (I can't because I'm sick, and it's killing me to not be with my little Samuel) and he got to hold him for the first time. The nurse took a couple of pictures with the hospital camera. My boys are so good lookin'.

Day 14 - Samuel Update

Samuel is doing pretty good. He finally pooped! Thanks for all of the prayers in Samuel's behalf. The poor guy has been through so much. The last few days he has had two enemas. The second one seemed to do it for him, finally! The night he had his second enema his bowels started moving and he has become a poop machine. Morgan and I have never been so excited about poop. The radiologists determined that he basically had quite a few meconium blockages that needed to come out. Because of the blockages, a lot of his large intestine was inflated with air and he was having issues breathing because he was so constipated, bloated and uncomfortable. We could see his bowel loops just by looking at his tummy from the outside. Today, his tummy looks so much better and his x-rays look so much better as well. He still has to get some things out but we are hopeful that they can start feeding him again in a few days if all "goes" well. If not, then surgery gets into the picture. Keep your fingers crossed!

Here's a little sign I made for his isolette.

This last Saturday we took Noel to meet her little brother. She did really well.
The first picture of all of the fam.
Noel got to touch her little brother's foot.
Yesterday, on Father's Day, Morgan and I went down to see Samuel. Morgan got to put some breastmilk on a q-tip and put it on his lips. Samuel really like that.

Father and son.

Day 10 - Samuel Update

Today Samuel was given a blood trasfusion for a few reasons. He is anemic, was looking pale, and the doctor and nurses felt that once he had a blood transfusion it may help his entire system to function better as well as his bowels. He has had a lot of heart rate drops the past couple of days (which we have been told is very common) and so the blood transfusion will hopefully help with that too. He is doing well still considering and we are still praying for him to have a bowel movement and for him to continue to get better. They haven't fed him in a couple of days because of the lack of bowel movements but hopefully the blood transfusion will help.

Yesterday I did "skin to skin" with him. It felt different than I expected. It was more ackward just because he is so tiny and fragile. I imagine it will get better with time but it still was very special.

Here are some more pictures from the last few days.

Cuddling with his teddy bear.
Believe it or not he breathes on his own. The nurse had to redo the nose tape so we got to see his little face even though his nostrils are larger than they'd normally look and his poor little mouth has a feeding tube down it. But it was neat to see and realize that the cpap is there just to keep his aveoli in his lungs open, it just helps him out a little.
Skin to skin. Morgan took these pictures. He is becoming quite the photographer.

A Beautiful Slideshow and Samuel Update

Yesterday we were blessed to have some family friends who happen to be professional photographers, come to the NICU and take some pictures of Samuel. They take beautiful and wonderful pictures. They are going to come in every few weeks to take pictures of his progress. Next time they come in, we hope to have Noel involved in the pictures and perhaps have pictures of me holding him "skin to skin". We highly recommend them. Their website address is www.bentonphotography.net and their blog address is bentonphotography.net/blog/. They put together a little slideshow for us. They do phenominal work.



As of this last Sunday, the doctors and nurses weened him off of the vent and onto the cpap machine which is the lowest amount of oxygen support a preemie could have. The cool thing is, is that he is breathing room air, 21% oxygen, which is what we breath. This past week, it was determined from some chest x-rays that Samuel had a condition called pneumothorax where air leaks out of the lung and sits between his lungs and chest wall, causing the lung to collapse. Luckily, it was just partially collapsed and it is as of yesterday, all healed after a couple of procedures were done. The doctor said that if you hadn't known his circumstances in the womb, he looks to have normal size lungs for his gestational age although they are a little smaller than a normal 26 weeker would have. The main concerns now are that he needs to have a bowel movement and that he is a little anemic. Both issues are common in preemies and we are "praying for poop" as we call it and for his iron levels in his blood to increase.

Samuel is now 9 days old and has come far. We sure love our little fighter!