Sunday, March 29, 2009

Liquid Gold!

This is a sad day for me. I have finally gone through my stored breast milk and thrown out the first weeks worth! You have to understand this stuff is like liquid gold!!! The good news is that I only had to throw away the first weeks worth. Originally I was told to throw away 2 weeks worth! I am glad I waited to see the GI Dr before I threw it all out because he advised just the first weeks. It really is okay though because although I just threw away 94oz of breast milk (yes, I added it up!) that was less than half of what I have stored! So some of it probably would have gone bad before I could have used it anyway. At least that is what I am going to tell myself to ease the pain!







On another note, everyone is doing fine. The girls are starting to return to their normal activities, instead of standing watch over Hudson and I. The new is wearing off finally! They are great though. They like to hold him, but not for too long of course; because as McCaylan says, he starts to hurt her arm. Also, McCaylan isriding her bike now with no training wheels! Thank you Lana! Poor thing has been asking me every time we go to my mother's, which is where her bike is, to take of her training wheels. Thinking that this would be an all day event I kept telling her that this was a daddy's job. And of course she would always forget to ask him when we were there. So I left her with Lana (my bff's little sister who lives across the street from my mom) and when I returned, Voi-la! She is riding a bike with no training wheels. The sad thing is, Lana said it took her like 1 try with Lana holding on and that was it. She is doing great and rarely falls and has had no boo-boos! So this is a very exciting new thing for her. 

Love you all,
Staci

Saturday, March 28, 2009

GI doctor update

Hey! Well, we went to see Dr Mestre (GI Dr) on Thurs at 4:15. Hudson weighed 8lbs 2oz at that visit! So he is still gaining weight. Dr Mestre said he looked great! He told me to go ahead and stay off dairy until his 2 month check up and then we'll go from there. I really don't feel like he has any kind of allergy, but I guess they want to be careful until he is a little older. I feel like this was just a virus, not NEC, not an allergy, just the virus. He said he wasn't worried about his stool testing positive for blood when we left the hospital and that he would expect it to do that for 6-8 weeks. However, Hudson had 2 poopie diapers while we were there so he tested them and he said they are just barely testing positive. So thats good! He said as long as everything looks good at our 2 month checkup with Dr Lytle (pediatrician)  that he doesn't see any reason why we would need to continue seeing him. Thank you all so much for the prayers. The Dr's have really given me a peace that he is a healthy normal little boy! He just caught a virus. Love you all!

Staci

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

We're Home!



Well, we are finally home! We arrived home Sunday around 2:00pm. He has been really good so far. However, he may have his days and nights confused! The first night home he woke up between every hour to an hour and a half! Last night he did do better. He slept for 3 hours at one stretch, but then at 4:45am he decided it was time to wake up, until 5:45. So today I have tried to make sure he eats more frequently so that maybe he'll sleep more tonight. I got his appointment with the pediatrician (the wonderful, Dr. Lytle) moved to this morning at 9:45am. That went great. The girls went with me and they did really well. Dr. Lytle made me feel so much more at peace. It is nice to hear that your baby is healthy, especially from someone you know and trust!! He said he looked great and felt that he would be a perfectly healthy little boy! he weighed in at 8lbs! So we're back to our birth weight. Nursing is going very well. I am still off dairy for right now. He still has a little bit of thrush in his mouth so we have prescription for that. We are going to see the GI Dr (Mestre) at St. Vincent's this Thursday at 4:15pm. We have heard from several people that he is the absolute best, so that is reassuring. He saw Hudson when he was in the NICU, so this is really just a follow up. However, he did start testing positive for blood in his stool again on Friday so I will be curious to see what he says about him. As far as me nursing and does he have an milk protein intolerance. I am also going to ask him about the milk I have stored in the freezer. I have a freezer overflowing with it, which is great! However, the NICU Dr told me to throw it all away because he is afraid that if I was the one carrying the enterovirus that it could be in my milk. So I want to ask Dr. Mestre exactly how much should I throw out before I do it! 

The girls had gymnastics this afternoon and I took him with us and he slept the whole time! He really is a good baby!

Thank you so much for the prayers, he is doing so well. Our God is so worthy of glory!

Staci

Friday, March 20, 2009

We can see the light!


Yay! today was a good day! First, last night he nursed really well. When I gave him the bottle afterward he only took 10cc's (1/3 oz) so he must have gotten something! Then this morning he nursed really well again. He has had at least 4 stools in the past 2 or 3 days and they have all tested negative for blood. So thats good. Today they are taking his PIC line out and circumcising him! The Dr told me that he will be moved to a crib today and he will go home Sun around noon. we do not have to room in, which is when you have to spend the night in the family room with your baby. So we can just go Sun and bring him home! Last night when he weighed 7lbs 13.5oz. So everything is looking great right now! I will definitely update when we come home if not before then. I set his appointment with our pediatrician today. We will go next Wed. at 1:45. So I will have to update everyone then as well on how he is. Also, we will go back to the GI doctor about a week or two after he comes home, just to check things out and make sure everything is going well. 

I also want to express my gratitude to my AWESOME friends and family. They are the absolute best in the world! I'm not joking! I couldn't have asked for better! Someone has had to keep the girls every day twice a day while I went to the hospital and our family and friends have really helped out! My friends have brought meals the week after Hudson was born. I have gotten cards and emails from friends and family, some we haven't seen in quite a while! They have been so encouraging. I really want you all to know how thankful I am! Your concerns, words of encouragement, and most of all prayers have really lifted us up during this time.  We truly are so grateful, I can't say it enough! I know its not quite over yet, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! 

Staci

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Nursing update

This is is his bed in his isolation room. You can see some of the room. We liked it because it was more private.



Okay, last night went as well as can be expected! Hudson is just not an aggressive eater. When you give him a bottle he starts to fall asleep and you have to fight him to take the rest. When i tried to nurse he did latch on but he fell asleep, which is what he always does when I hold him! I guess it is comforting. So I ended up giving him the whole bottle. With a bottle you can move it around, hold their chin a certain way, and do all these little tricks to get them to take it, but you can't do that when nursing. However, today I nursed him at 12:00 and he latched on and nursed for like 10 min, still not very aggressive, but its a start! I then gave him a bottle, which he took 40 out of 60cc's. So hopefully that means he did get something nursing.He did take 2 breast milk bottles during the night last night. I was told today also that another baby has the flu and she shares a nurse with Hudson, therefore Hudson has been exposed, but they didn't seem concerned since they have been wearing gloves and gowns when dealing with him already. However, the flu is airborne, so if he starts showing any symptoms within the next 7 days I will need to take him to the doctor. I don't think this will happen, but we still need to pray that it doesn't! Everything else is going well right now. He should still be coming home sometime this weekend!

Staci

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Time for the good stuff!


Okay, I went by the hospital this morning (12:00pm) and the nurse had just fed him his first bottle of 60cc's! She said she had to work with him to get him to take it all, but he handled it well. Also, he had a stool this morning and it tested negative for blood! I asked about how they would introduce the breast milk because I am trying to get an idea of a timeline. I didn't know if they would start by mixing 10cc's of breast milk with formula or do half in half or what. The nurse said there was really no certain way they do it and we would have to wait for the Dr to make rounds and she would ask him. So she just called me and Dr Bruce said that he is still planning on removing the PIC line tomorrow and if all keeps going well he will have him home by the weekend. He also said that, if it was convenient for me, I could nurse him at 9:00pm tonight!!!!! I was like "yeah, I think that I can fit that in, I mean are you kidding me!!! Of course it is convenient! God is soo good!!! He is going above and beyond our expectations at this point! I mean I was thinking he would have to go through all these stages of introducing the breast milk slowly and then me finally nursing. I know that this may be a struggle at first, as nursing is more work for Hudson than a bottle, but still I am ready to go ahead and get this show on road! The Lord is soooo good! I can't say it enough! Keep praying! Hopefully it won't take too long for him to get the hang of things, but really I just hope that he does eventually get the hang of it!

Staci

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

still going strong



Well, Hudson is still doing good. He is now up to 40cc's and is approved to start 50cc's at 3:30am if all is still going well. His IV rate is barely running at all is going so slow now and if everything goes well through tomorrow, they will take the PIC line out of his head on Thursday! This is when he will be put in a crib. We are still in isolation, which I think we will stay in until we go home. There is no need to move us right now and we like it. We said we moved up to our own suite now! We have our room so its more private. Today I fed him at 12:30 and when he finished he stayed awake the whole time I held him!! It was like an hour and a half!  He never cried. We just stared at each other the whole time. He is sweet. I can't wait to bring home! The girls act excited, but I don't know if they really understand what their in for! I'm sure this is confusing, me having a baby and then coming home without it. Also, they haven't seen him since last Sat. since he was moved into isolation and all. They don't want the girls to catch the virus that he had so we have kept them away. But he shouldn't be contagious anymore now. Thank you all so much for prayers! I am still praying that all keeps going so well and that he does well with the breast milk. Thanks!
Staci

Happy due date Hudson!! Its time to eat!

Today we have a mohawk! I think it is from how he was laying, but I couldn't get it to go down!


Well, they xrayed his tummy yesterday morning, but the doctor didn't make rounds until about 6:00pm. So the nurses had to wait for him to look at the xray and give the okay for the feedings. But, finally at 6:30pm on his due date, March 16th, hudson got to eat a whole 10cc's (1/3 oz) of Alumentum (a hypo-allergenic formula). He took it all well, however the nurse said he looked confused/worried at first.  Like this is not suppose to be happening, something is actually coming out! So at 9:30 after watching him get his bath and being weighed, I got to feed him another 10cc's! which took literally almost 2 whole minutes. haha! It is only like 2 swigs and then its gone! So at 12:30 he was fed the 10cc's and then they bumped him up to 20cc's at 3:30. he has handled it all well , so this morning the nurse practitioner bumped him up to 30cc's, thats a whole ounce!!! She said if the doctor doesn't make rounds until late again today that the nurse practitioner may bump him up some more this afternoon. They have started turning his IV rate down, which is now going at half the rate it was. So everything is going good so far. I just hope and pray that once they start mixing in the breast milk that his tummy will handle that well. Also, he is now up to 7lbs 12.2oz, which is a gain of 6.8oz. He is starting to look a little chubbier. I will try to download more pics later!
Thank you all so much!

Staci

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Making progress




Okay, sorry it has been a few days but not too much has changed. We have just been waiting patiently. Hudson is still doing great. They started him on lipids (fat) through his IV on Wed night, I think. His weight loss leveled off at 7lbs 5.4oz and now he is 7lbs 9.6oz!!! So he is gaining! They stopped his antibiotics today, but he still has the PIC line for his fluids and lipids. They are going to xray his belly in the morning and as long as everything still looks good, they are going to feed him tomorrow!!!! The Dr said as long as feedings go well and his belly doesn't get distended again and they don't see any blood, he plans on him coming home the end of the week!!! His stools are still testing positive for blood, but it is not visible and has not been pretty much since they stopped feeding him. The Dr said that this could linger, but as long as they don't actually see blood it is fine. So this is very exciting!!! They will start him on hypo-allergenic pre-digested formula so that his bowels don't have to work to hard at first and then once he works his self up to full feedings (2oz) they will start introducing breast milk. I don't think he will have a problem with latching onto the bottle because he LOVES his passy! He will go into a regular crib like you have in your labor and delivery room before he goes home to make sure he can hold his temp. This is when we get to start dressing him. Please keep praying! Some specific prayers are that he takes the feedings well and latches on good, that his belly and bowels react well with no more visible blood, that he reacts well to the breast milk, and that once he gets in a regular crib he holds his temp. Thank you so much!

Staci

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Enterovirus

This picture is actually from the the 13th. I didn't have any pics from the 12th and i didn't post on the 13th so i went ahead and added this one here. he looks so skinny here. You can really see the progression of his weight loss and now gain by looking at the pics,  I think.


Okay, so sorry I didn't update last night. We got home from hospital around 10:30 and I was so tired and still had to pump. So I went straight to sleep after finishing all that! I am trying to take a nap with the girls in the afternoon, but it is still so tiring! He looks so much better because he doesn't have anything on his face anymore! He just has his PIC line in his head and they removed the tube in his throat. We did find out some new things yesterday. In the beginning of all this stuff with his bowels, they sent off stool samples to test for different bacterial and viral infections. Well, they had all caome back negative except 2 that were still pending and they came back yesterday. One was negative and theother was postivie for ENTEROVIRUS. This is a broad family of viruses from what I have been told and can affect different areas of your body, such as bowels, respitory, etc... Obviously this is affecting his bowels. It has a lot of the same symptoms as NEC and the treatment will be the same; 10-14 days of bowel rest and he will stay on his antibiotics. We are now on day 6 of bowel rest. They did a lumbar puncture on him yesterday to make sure its not affecting other areas. They did that while me and mom were there (we stepped out of the room) and then I got to hold him!!! He hadn't been held in 3 days due to his low white blood cell count. He was awake the whole time! This is the first time I had seen his eyes wide open. The lumbar showed that his spinal fluid was clear and the test came back good. We went back last night and Hunter and I got to hold him again and of course I went this morning. So we are still waiting and praying that he heals and that the feedings go well when the time comes. His weight is down to 7lb 5oz. This should level off and slowly start gaining back even while on bowel rest. Thank you so much for your concern and prayer!!

"This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I trust Him. For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease."
Ps. 91:2-3

Staci

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Waiting patiently



I am starting to tell that he is losing weight no that I look back at pictures. he is starting to look like a skinny man instead of a fat baby. However, they told us that his weight loss should level off and he should slowly begin gaining weight even while he is on bowel rest with just the IV fluids. 

Okay, well some things have changed, but things are starting to calm down a bit. I think from now until he starts getting fed again there will probably not be too much news. At least I hope not, because he should just continue to get better. Which means that his xrays will keep looking good and he will pretty much keep looking good. Today his white count was 16.4 which is higher than normal but that shows that his body is trying to fight something. So that is much better than 2!!! His stools yesterday and last night were still testing positive for blood, although you still can not see it. However, he had 2 stools today and the first tested positive and the second tested negative. Yay! That is good. He is off the suction today. Since his xrays are looking good and his tummy is nice and soft they went ahead and took him off it. they sill have the tube in place though. The GI doctor came in this morning and agreed with treatment and wants to keep moving forward. He has his PIC line. They ended up putting it in his head, which I am glad because although it may look sad, he is less likely to mess with it or get a hold of it and pull.  He has been sleeping every time I've been today, which is good, because if he is asleep he doesn't know that he is hungry. They said last night he was fussy off and on and couldn't seem to get comfortable. When he is awake he knows that he is not being fed and he is not too happy about it. So when I'm there and he is sleeping I like to keep it that way. They are still doing the "reverse isolation" thing, where no one touches him without gloves. But we are also glad that he gets fussy and moves around and wakes up, because some babies get so sick they become so lethargic that they rarely move, even when getting stuck with a needle. So I am glad that he doesn't act sick. So right now just keep praying that he continues to heal every day and that when they start feeding him again that he takes it well and that we don't have anymore scares then. Thank you so much! We soooo appreciate all of your prayers.

Staci

Monday, March 9, 2009

Some good news and more peace


Okay, blogging kinda late tonight. We went to visit this morning and then again tonight at 9:00pm. We are trying to lay the girls down before we go so they wont know that we left! Kenley Grace does not like us leaving too much. So here goes the update...

They have now turned off the jaundice light off, which means he doesn't have to wear the goggles anymore so we can now see his whole face again! His white blood count is back up to 6.4 while yesterday it had been 2. It should be 10. So that is looking better today. I talked to the other doctor today for the first time. they say that he tends to paint a little blacker picture because he wants you to know ALL the possibilities. So he said that they were pretty concerned yesterday about his blood count, but today it is very encouraging! So that is good. He had an IV in his head yesterday, but today had it in his foot. The IV's do not last long before they go bad because his fluids are running so fast , they tend to go bad quicker. So tonight they are going to put in a PIC. Which is basically a central line, just inserted differently. This will be much better because it won't go bad for a long time and he will only need it, hopefully, for a week and a half. The GI doctor was tied up at Children's today, so he never made it by there. However, they said he isn't going to be that helpful anyway. he most likely will say "keep up he good work" and he may add something to his treatment. I feel that we have been waiting for a diagnosis, but today they said that the only way we will definitely get a diagnosis is if they see a pnuematosis on his xray. That would mean that he had a tear in the bowel lining and gas was escaping into the outer  bowel wall. (This is not a prefferation through the bowel wall, which would require surgery.) This would not require surgery, but is the classic definite sign of NEC. So, since he is getting better and should continue to get better, we will hopefully never get a definite diagnosis because it will never show up on his xray. The nurse practitioner tonight, which we happen to know, said that she plans on us taking home a healthy baby. She said he is looking better and this was caught so early. She feels he will continue to get better from here on out. So this is what we pray for. She gave me alot more peace about everything. 

This morning he was pretty fussy they said. He was mad that he was not getting fed! His nurse said she sat there holding his passy in and finally had to walk away to check on another baby. When she came back all his wires were disconnected from him and he was using his right foot to kick at his left foot where the IV was! Then once she got everything hooked back up he grabbed his suction tube and started yanking it and she wrestled with him to get him to let loose! So he is still active, thats good! He may have a little bit of attitude!! He slept every time we were there and they said he had been sleeping peacefully most of the afternoon/night. Thank you so much for your prayers! Good night!!!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

To know Him more

These are his daddy's feet! I had to take this picture because every time we go we talk about his feet. It is amazing how much they look like Hunters! They are so long and his toes are so long! I mean he could grab your finger with those things! I love them! They are so precious to me.

 Okay, I have come to a conclusion in the past 24 hours through many tears and much prayer. I can NOT do this! I do know how to do this on my own. How to eat, to sleep, to breathe! Those normal things are so hard to do. I mean, my girls make me laugh and I love being with them when I'm home. They are constantly doing something cute or absolutely hilarious! I love spending all this time with Hunter and getting to talk so much. But to leave the hospital every day, every night and leave my baby there; I don't know how to. To come home and sit here and pump and then go to bed and try to sleep without my baby next to me; I don't know how. I just want life to pause right now where we are and wait for my baby to come home. But life doesn't pause. I think that we are not suppose to be able to do things like this on our own. And I am so thankful that I don't have to. I pray all day long that the Lord will lift me up and give me strength and He is doing it. If He weren't I wouldn't be able to keep going. Not in my power and my own strength. It is such a supernatural thing. I pray to know Him more. In the end I want to be able to say "It was worth it, to know Him more". That is a very hard thing to say, but that will be my prayer, because He is worthy.


These pics are from this morning. He has his glasses on because he is under the jaundice light. I think he has one more day under the light and maybe they'll be able to turn it off, so the glasses will be removed and we can see his whole sweet face again. 

We went this morning and tonight so I can't remember what we've been told the 2 different times, so I will just spill all the information I know now and hopefully make since while doing so. First thing, his xray this morning showed that he did not have very much bowel gas at all. Which is a normal thing to have, but since he is on the suction now, it is sucking off excess fluid and gas from his gut every so often. So that explains the lack of gas, but the lack of gas makes it harder to interpret the xray. They did not notice anything I guess, but the GI will be there tomorrow and we pray that he will give us a clear diagnoses after looking at the xrays. NEC is just rarely seen in term babies. It is mostly found in premies and his xrays do not show clear cut signs of NEC. However, he has a lot of other symptoms. His belly being distended Friday and having a red "football" ring around it shows them that something was making his tummy sick. An allergy would not cause this. Also, when they press gently on his tummy he tenses up some as if it were tender. They said most babies wouldn't mind you pressing on them. Also, an allergy would not cause your belly to be tender. Having to be put on suction is a sign of NEC. Also, after our visit this morning the doctor called me and said his white blood count came back and was really low. It was 2 when should be 10. This shows that there is an infection. For all you medical professionals, I will try to explain this. We questioned them about it tonight because typically if you have an infection your white count is high, but they said his is low.  So the nurse practitioner said that babies do a lot of things differently than adults. Sometimes when their body senses an infection the bone marrow shuts down at first, causing a low white count. Then usually it will shoot back up. So right now his white count is low, which means he can't fight infection well. So she said tonight that it is best if no one touches him besides mom and dad to make sure we aren't bringing in any germs. The last thing we want is for him to catch something else! I might have a nervous breakdown at that point, seriously! She even said that Hunter and I might want to wear gloves to touch him until his white count comes back up. I am fine with this, as long as I start seeing some improvement. I do NOT want him to get sicker! She said that feels good that he is pretty much the same. That if this were going to get worse, he would already be a lot sicker over these past 2 days. So right now they are treating him for NEC. They are saying that is what he has. The GI doctor will come in tomorrow and confirm, but he has a lot of the symptoms and you don't have to have them all to have NEC. So he is on 10-14 days of bowel rest and a couple different antibiotics and a "fungus something or another". Can't quite remember that one! They said the better he gets the fussier he will be. Because the better he feels the more he is going to start realizing that he is not being fed. Right now he doesn't feel good so he doesn't really care. So I guess once he starts to get better, hearing him cry will be a good thing. They said that before his bowel rest is over he going to get pretty ticked off! She said those days might be hard for us, but I think maybe they will be comforting, to know that he is getting better. Anyway, I think that is all right now. His thrush is looking a lot better, so thats good. Just keep praying! That is the most important thing right now. Its all any of us can do. The Lord is the only One who can see inside his gut and the only One knows exactly what is wrong. He is the one who created the bacteria that is now attacking his bowels and He is the one who created Hudson's bowels. None of this will be successful if the hand of God does not touch it and tell it where to go and what to heal. So we must pray because He is where our hope is found. Thank you all so so much! 

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Looking like NEC


This pic is from yesterday morning. Things are looking quite differently now! He has a lot of different things hooked up now and some of these have been removed. However, pictures are fun and I always like to see them when I look at other peoples blogs. So here is one!


Okay, I just called the nurse to check on Hudson. We were going to go up there tonight, but I am not feeling very well. I have had a headache all day and I don't think I'm healing quite as fast as I usually do. I guess normally at this point after having a baby I haven't even gotten out of the bed much and now I am going back and forth so I am walking a lot more. So tonight I decided to stay at mom's and rest and Hunter is going up there to check on him for me. :) Also, I want to thank Ken and Sherri Shaw (from our church) for going up there tonight to prayer over my sweet baby. Hunter is meeting them there. This means so so much to me!


The nurse said that they have been sucking a lot of fluid off his belly all day so they went ahead and put him on a suction tube. I guess this has replaced the tube that he did have. She said it intermently sucks all the fluid off his belly and any gas as well. This fluid is normal stuff that you produce like mucus and stomach acid or whatever, but since his tummy is sick it not digesting and therefore just sitting in his tummy. Which they do not want it to go farther than his tummy anyway, since he is on bowel rest. So this should get it out before it passes through his bowels. Also, his lips were peeling so badly this morning when I was there and she said now they are treating him for "thrush". This is normal since he has been on an antibiotic for a while. She said it is not in his mouth just on his lips so they are treating it with Nystatin. It is basically yeast, I think. I have had friends whose babies had this when on antibiotics, so I'm not too worried about that. I asked her something about the milk allergy (I can't remember now) and she said at this point its looking like an infection not the milk protein allergy. I asked what kind of infection and she said NEC. So I told her what I had read on the link that I posted earlier about NEC and asked if we were looking at a "NEC scare" which is treadted with bowel rest or just full blown NEC where the bowel starts to die and surgery must be performed to remove the dead part. She said we are definitely looking at a "NEC scare" because they have caught it so early that the xrays are not even showing any signs. So I said "the antibiotics should knock this out for sure and it shouldn't get any worse". She said yes, the thing is we don't know how long he will have to be on the antibiotics. She said it could be 7 days, sometimes 14, and sometimes even 21! So please be in prayer for a FULL and fast recovery. I don't know at what point they would start feeding him again. But once they start we will still be looking at going through that whole process of bottle feedings going well enough to move to the breast and then breast feeding going well. Which is at least about a weeks time. So I don't know when this will ever end, and I don't really care how long it takes as long as my baby continues to get better and we have no more surpises and setbacks!!! Some good news is as soon as they saw that his belly was distended yesterday they immediately began giving him the antibiotic to treat NEC. So he has already been on it for a day and if thats what it is they have caught it so early.
Thank you so much for all the prayers! That is the most important thing we can ask of you all right now. To be there for us through your prayer support. We love you, thank you for all for loving our family so much!!!


A verse Ken shared with Hunter tonight:
Romans 8:18
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us.




Staci

links

I forgot to post the links on Milk protein intolerance and NEC. Here they are:

Protein allergy
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/allergies/milk_allergy.html

NEC
http://wishard.kramesonline.com/HealthSheets/3,S,88211

thanks everyone!

From where we've been to where we are


Okay, I said I would never have a blog, but now I have a reason too! It is so hard trying to keep everyone informed on all the details while I am trying to rest and heal myself and go back and forth to the hospital. I have found that its actually impossible! So thank the Lord for this technology!!! I want everyone to be updated and be able to pray for the specific needs regarding the health of our little Hudson. Thank you all so much for your concern, calls, emails, and the prayers that have already been lifted up! We are so blessed! I guess I will start at the beginning because some have not heard much at all. So here it goes...


Day 1

Hudson Knapp Evans was born Wed. March 4, 2009 at 8:58am. He was born pretty quickly and I guess his lungs did not get a good squeeze to empty the fluid from them. So the nurse placed a tube down his throat and pulled some fluid out with a suringe. However, he continued to "grunt" all morning. This is not something they want him to be doing. They thought he was acting better so they allowed me to nurse him. I was able to do that twice before another nurse who was making rounds checking on the vital signs of the babies came in our room around 3:30ish. She checked his breathing rate and it was 80 breaths/min and it should be somewhere between 40-60/min. She called the pediatricians office and he wanted one of the NICU doctors to come check him out. So the Dr checked him out in the nursery and came to my room to let me know that were going to take him to the NICU, because he was not able to feed orally due to his rapid breathing and the risk of aspirating his milk. So he had to have an IV placed in his little hand so he could continue getting the vitamins and nutrients he needed. He also reveives antibiotics through his IV to prevent infection. They did xray of his lungs and it showed that he did have a good bit of fluid on them. This would have to dry out on its own and they would know it had when his breathing rate came down. I went in there that night and sat with him and he looked good. He started to open his eyes some. We had not seen them yet. He was trying hard! He had a tube going to his stomach to help "burp" any gas down there and he had his IV and a bunch of other "stickers" that read his oxygen levels and heart rate and temp. He needed to get his respitory rate down below 60 and keep it there for about 24 hours before they would try and feed him a bottle. Then he would have to take a bottle and handle it well and work his way up to 2 ounces, taking it from the bottle well and handling well afterward. This would probably take a few days and then they would let me start nursing and he would have to be nursing well and getting all he wanted, which means after nursing they would offer him a bottle and he would have to turn it down, meaning he was full. So I pumping, and the little that I get they will mix with his formula until my milk comes in they will begin giving him all breastmilk.


Day 2

His respitory rate stayed in mostly in the 60's and 70's. When I visited him that morning he no longer had the tube down his throat because he had pulled it halfway out! So they removed it. They did replace it that afternoon because he began to receive tube feedings. He started with half an ounce and handled it very well. I think he worked his way up to an ounce before the day was over. So they started to turn down the IV fluids. I was definitely the most emotional this day. I always cry after having babies. Just normal "baby blues". I don't think this was any different, I just had a better reason for all the crying I did!


Day 3

Discharge Day! Yuck! Not a fun day. Started off with packing up all my stuff, but surprisingly I only teared up once. Hunter and I went sat with him until my mom came at 10:30 for family visitation and she sat with me while Hunter went to work. This morning he was up to 1.5 ounces in his feedings and they were going to turn off his IV fluids and he would only be receiving his antibiotics through the IV now. His respitory rate had been 60 that morning but had come down to the 50's since then! So that was good news! I stayed there until 12:00 and then went home with mom so I could sleep! I rarely had time to sleep in the hospital and I needed the rest! I got a call while napping from his nurse to inform me that they had done an xray of his abdomen because it was distended and had a red ring around it. They got the xray back and the doctor said he had a lot of gas in his belly!! So they were taking him off the tube feedings and starting the IV fluids back so that his bowels could rest. They would reasses him this morning and if his xray showed no problems they would probably start bottle feedings if his breathing rate stayed down! Last night Hunter and I went back and his breathing rate had stayed down in the 40s and 50s!!! We were pumped! Hunter and I went home and got some sleep!


Day 4


This morning I got a phone call from the nurse practitioner that he had had some blood in his stool this morning. She said "this is not normal and it is not something we want to see". She the told me what the possible causes were. First it could be an intolerance (or allergy) to the protein in the cow milk that formula is made with. (They had been giving him formula and mixing what little milk I pumped with it, until my milk comes in). It also could be a bacterial or viral infection. So they sent to stool off to be tested for those and we should get those reults back on Mon or Tues. Worst case scenerio it could NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis). This would mean the "good" bacteria in his tummy had turned "bad" and invasive. I looked it up on google and will post the link for anyone who wants to understand more, there is also a link about a milk protien intolerance. She felt like it was probably going to be the protein allergy because he doesn't look or act sick. Normally they see NEC in premies and really sick babies. He had another xray of his belly done and they were waiting for results. So mom and I went to see him this morning and he looked good. He is under the jaundice light because his billy reuben was 13.4 and they like it to be below 12. Now that he's not eating it may take a little longer for the jaundice to clear up. While I was there he had another stool with blood in it. It was more abvious this time the nurse said, but once their bowels are disturbed like this she said you would probably continue to blood until it healed, no matter what the cause is. We had a good visit. He is so sweet! GOOD NEWS: His breathing rates have stayed down since yesterday morning!!!! So we've passed that hurdle, but traded one problem for another. The doctor called me after we left to inform me basically of the same things the nurse practioner had told me that morning. She told me what was going on and all the possibillities. I asked her about treatment and she said the milk protein intolerance would be treated by changing his food, which they will start with my breast mik and hopefully he could handle that. However, I would need to stay away from dairy products because the cow milk protein can be passed through my breast milk. So no more dairy for me until we iron all this out! The NEC will be treated with a longer bowel rest (probably a week) and antibiotics. She said she feels like it will be the milk protein intolerance, but the only thing that worries her is that his belly was distended yesterday and red. She said a milk allergy should not cause that. Their bellies should always be soft and not discolored, that is a sign of a sick tummy. So she said that could be an early early sign of NEC. However, she still felt like it was the protein allergy. A GI doctor is going to be up there Mon and she said he will help them look at the xrays more closely and determine how much bowel rest he needs. She said his xray yesterday showed a lot of gas, but it was not in the outer lining of his belly which is good. She said the xray today didn't show any problems but it wasn't "normal" meaning it was somewhat "abnormal". Now I'm not a doctor so i do not understand what that means. I guess now we are just waiting, for the stool sample results, the GI doctors opinion, and to see if Hudson gets better or worse over the weekend. Thankyou so much for all the prayers! I will update whenever we know anything!