Four hour stretches - 2 weeks old

Dear Baby Ethan,

We got to bring you home from the NICU last Tuesday. It has been so great a

having my children at the same place!

We took you to the doctor last Friday. You were up to six pounds 3.3 ounces. 

Last night you slept for two longer 4 hour stretches. It ends up being only three hours of sleep for me though. Once we feed you and I pump an hour usually has gone by.

You are still quite sleepy outside of meal times. You are doing a little better keeping your temperature up. I had been putting an extra fleece onsie on you at night because your temp was just below 97.5. Last night you were at 97.5 or above.

Your sister Rose is doing very well with you. She loves to say "hi baby" and is starting to help get things we need.

You are still a very easy going baby. I pray that continues. I am also so thankful that your health and eating have been good. You normally eat 60 to 65 ml at meals. You go 2 to 3 hours between feeds during the day and up to 4 hours at night.

This is just before your first mass!

You are such a blessing to us!

Love you,

Mommy

Monday September 7th - 6th day in the NICU

Dear Baby Ethan,

You are doing well in the NICU. Yesterday you started taking in 55 ml for most of your feeds. You made it way over the 120ml per kg that they wanted! I finally figured out that you like when I talk to you while you're eating. We actually say the rosary while you're eating. It helps you not to fall asleep!

Some recent pics

They have taken the tube out that went to your tummy. Technically you pulled it out. They have not put it back in.

It sounds like during this on demand day they will not wake you up to feed you unless it has been 4 hours. I am going to try to be here for you feeds today to be sure your cues are not missed.

I think you are in good shape to go home. Now we just need the doctors to believe that!

Great news after talking to the doctor this  afternoon. You should be able to go home tomorrow. Provided your feeding overnight go well. Your 6 pm was 42 oz, and at your 9 pm you took all 55 oz. I will probably call around 12 or 1 to see how things are going. I may have to come back for your 3 am if 12 doesn't go well.

We should know between 9 am and 1 pm whether you have done well enough to be discharged! You do need to pass your car seat test also. You will be in your car seat for an hour with no oxygen issues.

We had a very good afternoon before I left at 2. You seemed more like a normal baby! You were more awake and made some noises. I actually felt bad leaving because you were half awake. We have had a very good nurse the last few days named Rita. She was so sweet to rock you for a bit so I could take a nap and see Rose for a bit.

I so hope you can come home tomorrow. It was so hard leaving Rose tonight. She cried so hard when I was leaving. Usually she is fine. She hardly ever cried when leaving the hospital, and never cries when I leave her at daycare.

Stats:

Weight 5 pounds 14 oz. on Sunday and 5 pounds 15 oz as of Monday! You had lost some weight and went down to 5 pounds 13. You gained an ounce each day!

Love you!

Mommy

Friday September 4th - Day 4 in the NICU

Dear Baby Ethan,

I have been praying so hard that you would have one of those rapid improvement evenings/mornings.  I ended up being awake and there for your 12 am, 6am, and 9 am feedings.  At your 9 am feeding you were crying to eat! It was great to have you aware and wanting to eat.  You then at the entire 40 ML with a bottle! It was so exciting! I am really hoping this is the developing the doctors would require for you to go home.  They might still want to wait a couple of days to be sure this continues.

I am checking out of the hospital tonight.  It is going to be so hard to come home without you.  I pray that you will not be far behind me!

Dear heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, and my Jesus - please be with my baby Ethan.  Help his brain to mature so that he will be hungry and want to eat, and be able to eat the entire amount without falling asleep.  Mother Mary, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Blaise, Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Anthony please pray for my baby Ethan that he would dramatically improve on his desire to eat and his ability to eat his full feed amount.

Love you baby,

Mommy

Thursday September 3 rd - day 3 in the NICU

Dear Baby Ethan,

I was able to pump several vials of colostrum for you last night. I happened to be awake for your 6 am feeding. You took about 12 ml from the bottle. I then took a bit of a nap. I managed to pump 10 and 13 ml during my two morning sessions! I am so thankful I have been able to pump a bit to give you.

I caught this smile when I came down.

You have not lost too much weight. You were 6 pounds 3.5 ounces. You were six pounds six ounces when you were  born.  Unfortunately you did lose a bit more, and are now at 5 pounds 12 ounces.

As of 11:30 your incubator is down to 83 degrees. That means you will get to move to an open crib soon. You're one step closer to going home!

I was able to pump 45 ml on a few of my pumping sessions.  You did alight at a few of your pumping sessions, but you still were only doing about half of the amount and we had to gavage the rest.

Meeting with Doctor

Your doctor was fine with me taking pain medications.  He indicated that the doctors will call me if we are not around when he does his rounds.  You have now met two of the main goals babies must meet to leave.  You can keep your temperature well so you are not in an incubator.  You also have done well breathing and have not needed oxygen for some time.  The last issue is feeding.  He said you must wake up and want to be fed, and be able to eat the entire feeding on your own.  He cannot say when that will happen, but you could rapidly develop the skills in one day.  I have been praying so hard that will happen!

Your heart rate had been low from 90 - 120.  He said that was fine for a larger baby.  The monitors go off because they are set for the younger preemies that usually have a heart rate of 150.

Meeting with Nutritionist 

I need to take my pre-natal in the morning, calcium at night, 6000 IU of vitamin D per day, and 1000 mg of DHA.

Wednesday September 2 - 2nd day in the NICU

Dear Baby Ethan,

I got to come and see you for your 9 am feeding today.  I got to do skin to skin with you.  You even started rooting around a bit.  So you were on the breast for just a bit.  At your 12 pm feeding you also latched for a bit and did some good sucking motions.  At your 3 pm feeding unfortunately it did not go as well, you threw up a bit, AND the tube through your nose to your tummy came out! I felt so bad about that.  I saw that it had come untaped, but I did not realize it was so far out.  Then you got sick a few times.  Then, we put your clothes on.

You had your first bath at 2:30 pm today!  We wrapped you in a blanket and then put you in the tub. We just took out the arm or leg we were washing.  You did quite well.  You really did not cry much. Here you are dressed in clothes for the first time!

For your later feeds in the day you took part of them with a bottle!

Pumping
I started pumping last night at 11 pm.  Since then I have been pumping every 3 hours.  I have gotten a few drops of colostrum so far.  Not much.  But, I am also a bit sore.  We are trying some different cremes to help with that. Towards the evening I started to get a more legit amount of colostrum!

We are so thankful you are doing well.

Love you,

Mommy.

Tuesday September 1st - your birthday!

Baby Ethan,

We had planned to wait to deliver you until Saturday.  But, I ended up having a large clot/bleed on the morning of Tuesday September 1st.  We had thought about still trying to wait to deliver you, but I was worried about having a rushed c-section if I had a bad bleed.  I did not want you to lose too much blood either!  Apparently your platelets were a bit low after that bleed.  So, around 11 am we ended up deciding to deliver you at 1:30.  Your daddy came, and we packed up our long term room.

You were born at 2:02 PM.  You were 6 pounds 6 ounces! A bit more than we expected, which was great news.  I was in recovery until 4 pm or so.  I then was wheeled to your room so I could see you for a minute.  Your Aunt Daisy, Ummichi, Rose, and Anna came to see you. 

 I then went to my room.  I tried to eat, but ended up throwing up a few times.  I also was so itchy! I then took a nap, and finally got to see you around 7 pm. Your feeds and CARE (vitals) are at 9, 12, 3, and 6.  So I made it for the 9 pm vitals, and got to do skin to skin with you for awhile.  You had all of your feeds via gavage (a tube into your tummy). 

It was so great to meet you! You are such a cute and sweet little boy.

Love you,

Mommy