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Can someone do a cartwheel for us? 

I called the the nurse to check on James during lunch time. Aside from his regular update of 3 Liters of flow at 35% of O2 and twice a day of taking bottles (in which he hasn't mastered yet), he has graduated from his incubator!!

We were aaahh and ooh-ing while watching him so close. We noticed that his room is slightly warmer than usual. It made us both very sleepy. Ryan had to leave a little early because he felt nauseated because of the higher room temperature. I was able to bottle feed James during the visit. He only took half the amount of milk provided, so the nurse gave the rest using a pump. 

Anyways, while James is no longer inside incubator, that doesn't mean we can pick him up anytime we want and however long we want. Being outside the incubator means he has to be able to maintain a steady temperature. A simple task such as maintaining body's temperature seems so easy for us, but not so much for a 3 pounder. James is very much bundled up. He wears an undershirt, onesie, receiving blanket, a regular blanket, and he wears a hat as well. It is so tempting to get him out of the crib and play with him, but that's going to wear him out. Moreover he is going to be very busy for the rest of his stay at the hospital. He will see a physical therapist 2 - 3 times a week. We will have to do some range of motion activities with James when he doesn't see the physical therapist. He still has to master the art of nippling (bottle and the real deal). He also has to be able to take each meal by bottle with flying color (100%). 

We are making such an arrangement that both Ryan and I have the opportunity to practice one of the skills (changing diaper, feeding, holding him properly for feeding and burping) every day we are at the hospital. 

Please continue to pray for his health and progress. 

Thank you!

1st weekend away from James

Ryan and I went to Goshen, IN for a wedding. We didn't decide whether to go or not until Friday. We wanted to see how James was doing before we make any decision. Anyways, the boy seemed to understand our talk about not pulling any crazy stunts.

We had a good time seeing friends in Goshen, but we missed James very much. We went straight to the hospital before going home. We couldn't wait until tomorrow to see our baby.
James looks like a big boy in his incubator. He is currently between 33 - 35% of oxygen with 3 Liters of the flow. He is about 3.5 lbs as of today so that's exciting. We'll see if his weight changes at all the next time he gets weighed. He is taking 16 mg of caffeine and seems to be tolerating the new dose.

Ryan got to bottle feed James for the first time this evening. It was very very exciting. So.. Ryan and I are going to take turn to bottle feed him. It will be fair for both of us, hehe. The day I am not at the hospital will be the day he gets to bottle feed James, and vice versa. That way we both get to practice to bottle feed him, and it won't wear James out too much. He still needs to gain weight, he doesn't need to lose too much energy just to keep himself warm during feeding.

Anyways, enough rambling. We'll be making up the hours we missed seeing James.

Pictures time :)

Hi mom & dad, where have you been?

feeding James for the 1st time, a perfect way to end the day :)

Big Boy You're Beautiful

Sorry, no pictures from today. Maybe tomorrow. We were going to take some pictures yesterday but the battery died. boo.

Ryan and I went to see James last night. By the way he is in a new room. The old neighborhood is getting a cleaning treatment: floor waxing. This new room doesn't have windows.. so it gets dark pretty quick. I don't like it, but maybe he does. I practiced nursing him yesterday... the boy was kinda sleepy so he didn't do much. Other than that I had a good time doing kangaroo with him.

Just talked to the nurse. James is doing ok, for the most part. He had a bradycardia this morning... he was desaturating a couple of times during the day. Apparently he was down to 40 last night, which is a big no no. Due to this trend the doctor increased the caffeine dose by 1 mg for James. It starts tomorrow. Hopefully the new dose will remind James to take deep breaths here and there.

Since James weighs 1510 grams now, technically he can be in an open crib. However, he is barely passing the 1500 grams mark, the team is going to wait to put him in the open crib. They want to see if James will continue to gain weight or maybe lose a little. They want to make sure that he can keep his body temperature without burning so much calories before saying good-bye to the incubator. Also, because he has been having this desaturation they'd like him to work on his breathing first and not pushing the whole ordeal of open crib until he's ready. Either way I am good.

Well, I will post some pictures tomorrow... now I have a care package from my mama to pick up. Yippeeeee!!

3 lbs 2 oz

I'm in a deep sleep. Do not disturb. It's Saturday.

wait, whaaaat is going on? 

Why am I not in my bed?

Mommy?

It's Sunday, I am going to sleep in. 

Cool, I'm hanging out with Daddy!

update....

Since the last episode of James dropped heart rate he has been doing good. He is in 4 L and around 34% of oxygen. The doctor said she'll keep James in 4 L for the next couple of days. She doesn't want him to work too hard to breath so he can save his energy to grow instead. He gained quite a bit of weigh on Friday... not sure if it was water weight or an error. We'll see if he keeps that weight.
James had a head sono yesterday, nothing has changed since the last time he had sono. Just like other preemie, they tend to have bleed in the head. James had one too. Once the bleeding stops it creates a crease. You can call it the ''scar''. It's like when we get a cut on our skin, it creates a scar. Now it's up to James how he does with this scar. The scar itself is now called a cyst. The cyst is where the bleeding was. Based on yesterday's sono the cyst is still at the same size. Pray that it won't get any bigger. Pray that it will have very minimum effect on James. Next week a physical therapist will come and work with James. It's kinda exciting :)

Please pray for James' health. Pray that he keeps gaining weight, tolerates his feeding and his oxygenation. Pray that the cyst won't give major health issues to James. Doctor can diagnose, but God is in control. Right?

Have a great day :)

Back To the Hole

James' last steroid medication was on Sunday, hooray! He was doing good then. On tuesday we went up to see him for a little bit. He was doing fine then. On Wednesday we decided to stay home to do some house chores. Ryan's dad actually came to help paint the nursery. After the very busy evening of running errands and such we called the hospital to check on James. Since his nurse was on break, we talked to a different nurse. She mentioned that James' heart rate dropped and he required some help to start breathing. They had to give him air bag? to suppor James with his breathing. Apparently stroking his back and tickling his foot weren't enough stimulation for James. Because of that episode they had to increase his O2 level. He went from 2 L to 3 L.

We went up to the hospital today to check on James. The boy is now at 4 Liters and 34% of O2. The nurse says it may be because he is not on the medication anymore. His body needs to work harder to breath. His size matters too, James needs some growing up to do.

I didn't want to stress him out too much today, so instead of practicing nursing I held him during his 45 mins feeding. Can I just say that he is so adorable? I wanted to kiss him from head to toe, but I know I have to wait.

Please pray that James' lungs will adjust to breath without the help from the steroid.

I know I promised to upload pictures... will do that... maybe not tonight.. mwahahaha.
Good night...zz...zz.....z......zz.....

Pictures :)

Ryan and I went to visit James on Saturday and Sunday. We went to see him specifically during his afternoon feeding because we'd like to introduce him to the true source of milk. mwahaha. Anyways, I worked with a lactation nurse on Friday to get an idea how to hold him during breastfeed. On Saturday we had a different lactation nurse to help... let's just say it wasn't how I wanted it to be. I didn't feel the connection with the lactation nurse... and James' nurse wasn't engaging with the whole thing.. it was just....weird. James didn't like what was happening and kept disaturate (sp?). I ended up doing kangaroo with him. Even then he wasn't doing well with his oxygenation - so we put him back to bed. 

wakey wakey, eggs and bakey. 

no more pictures Daddy! I am not ready!

Sunday came.... I wasn't sure if I wanted to practice doing breastfeed with James since he wasn't doing good with his oxygenation the day before. The nurse said that he's been great the whole day though...so.. fingers crossed.

Finally saw James after 4 days not feeling well. 

So... I set up two pillows by my right side as a support for my right arm... then I held James like holding a football... he's so small... and wiggly.... he wouldn't stay still. So.... the nurse decided to place a pillow on my lap for James to lay. Anyways... we didn't think James would even have any idea of what to do during this...gig. Well, James proved us all wrong. He did a great job! He was a little confused at first, but then he latched. It was an amazing moment. 

All that hard work tired him.

Full tummy, cozy and warm. 

James is finally finished with his Decadron treatment. Hopefully he'll stay good with his oxygenation, tolerates his feeding and starts gaining weight. 

Thanks for praying for James. He is doing wonderful :)

Hanging out with James

Today Ryan and I went up to the hospital for the 2:30 PM feeding. I thought I'd be able to practice positioning James for breastfeeding but the boy thought it was a little too much. Short story we ended up doing kangaroo.. but even then James kept desaturating.. so we put him back in to the incubator. He must had a party last night or something because he looked pretty sleepy when we were at the hospital. Nothing has changed really... James is on his last dose of Decadron. Please pray that he maintains good oxygenation without the Decadron. Pray that he'll start gaining weight.... let's aim for that open crib baby!

We have picked the paint color for James' nursery. Since the current bathroom color is blue... we don't want to  paint the nursery blue... I just don't want to associate James' room with the bathroom... so we choose green shade for the nursery. We bought the sample color of Jaded Lime from Lowes. I am glad Ryan doesn't mind with the color.. since the previous color of that wall is neon green.. you know.. it seems redundant to paint green over green... Ryan convinced me that he is ok with the new color. It'll be a light green... very springy actually.. with a satin finish. How fancy!

I will update with pictures later... after i upload the photos on to our computer....

Still praying with a happy heart :)
Love love love love love
R & G

TGIF

Day 3 of taking amoxicilin and I feel good, minus the sinus drainage, everything is good. I went up to the hospital to see little James. However I forgot to take my camera with :( So no pictures.

I bottle feed James at his 11:30 AM feeding. The nurse taught me how to properly hold James during feeding. The boy made big gulps sound, which was really awesome to hear. He took 15 mL out of 20 mL. So I held him for half hour after meal then off to a lunch date with a girlfriend. I went back to the hospital after lunch and learned how to hold James when breastfeed. Let's just say holding a baby like holding a football isn't a natural way for me to hold James. It was... well... weird... James is so small I felt like I didn't hold him tight enough. Anyways, I got to do kangaroo for a bit with James before I went home.

Overall it was an awesome Friday. James did so well with the feeding and the kangaroo - he let out a big fart, haha!

Hoping for another good day :)
Keep praying :)

Haven't seen the boy for 3 days...(update - w/ a picture)

Tuesday I saw my classmates at nursing school
Wednesday I went to prompt care... hello sinus infection!
Thursday I thank for antibiotics my head is no longer about to explode
Friday I will go up to see the boy :)

****
James' grandma took a picture of him today.

Did you see those fingers??? By golly he knew I haven't seen him for 3 days! Gasp!
Don't worry baby boy, mama is coming!!

I talked to the nurse today.. not a whole lot of update about James. He is still at 2 L of O2.. between 29% - 35%. He nipples once a day with a bottle. Today he took the whole bottle (20ml), which is awesome! I can't wait till I get to breastfeed him..... TMI? sorry. I am just sooooo excited to get a break from the machine.

James lost about 85 grams in the past 6 days... I wonder if it's due to his current medication (corticosteroid) and the fact that he works more to breathe on his own.. and from nippling... will ask the doctor tomorrow.

The nursery is still in progress, but it's coming! Will post the before and now pictures later. I hope everyone is having a great day. It's almost weekend :)

stay positive :)

Got Milk?

So.... James is drinkin lots and lots of milk these days. He is up to 20 mL of milk every 3 hours. I got a phone call yesterday from James' nurse that he's doesn't have milk in the freezer. But..but.. I just dropped of 15 bottles on Sunday and he's out already??? Thankfully I got 20 or some bottles in the freezer at home. So I made a mad dash to the hospital with all the bottles I found in the freezer.

James turned 2 months old yesterday. I got to hold him for a while, yay!

Today is a new day. I talked to James' nurse this morning and she says James is tolerating his feeding just fine. James has been doing well with sucking on his pacifier and she thought James was looking like he's ready to take a bottle. The nurse put 20 mL of milk in a bottle and James took 10mL. Awesome! He was struggling for a bit in the beginning, but that's expected.

Other than that... we are getting his nursery ready. Mind you it is nowhere close to be done. We still have to paint the wall... b.c... right now they're ... in neon color, haha. No fear, we'll get his nursery ready before he comes home!

Till tomorrow, we hope everyone is doing well.

5..4..3...2.....

James has been doing sooo good with his cannula. He started at 5 Liters of Oxygen 2 days ago and now he is down to 2L. Thank you for all your prayers. The plan now is to switch from the continuous feeding to the bolus feeding schedule.

It's Sunday, so it's pancake pictures day!

Yesterday was Thursday, Tomorrow is Saturday ... :-p

Today James was able to get off the CPAP and on to the High Flow Nasal Cannula!

It is so great to be able to see James' face without either the jet or CPAP, though he will probably still have his feeding tube for awhile. That's OK though as James needs to gain quite a bit more weight to move to the open crib.

We feel so very blessed to see James have so much progress this week. 

- getting off the jet 

- going to the CPAP

- Quickly moving on to the nasal cannula

... if only they made this for preemies...  

Without all the equipment in the room that the other two systems required there is so much more open space in his room and it is quite a bit more quiet without all the beeping that they did.

We thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers. 

We hope you have a happy Easter!

Progress!

Today was another great day for James.
He is tolerating the CPAP really well and his pressure is only at 6 percent! Quite a large step down from the mid 20's he was at even a few days ago. Since James has done so well on the CPAP so far they might switch him to an even less intrusive system tomorrow! Then after that we can look forward to him getting an open crib once he gains another 300-400 grams or so.

James spent most of his time today sleeping with a few moments of activity trying to switch which side of his head he wanted to sleep on.

That's all for now.
Might get some photos up tomorrow!

New Equation

Antibiotics + Decadron = happy baby


I called the hospital a little before 7 AM to check on James. His nurse said that James had a pretty good night. He thought James' IV had to be restarted because it was a little puffy. So.. they started an IV on James' scalp. No biggie. James stayed at 50 - 55% of O2 with the pressure of 20. BIG. BIG difference from his last pressure before medication *it was at 29.

I called again to check on James a little before noon. The nurse reported that James has done very well with the pressure weaning that he graduates from the jet ventilator! The respiratory therapist was in the process of getting James on to CPAP as we were on the phone. WOOT WOOT!! All I could think about is to leave work asap and see my baby boy. This is not the first time for James to be on CPAP. The first time was eons ago and he didn't do well because he was too small. This time James is almost triple his original weight .. so hopefully this time is a charm. The nurse also told me that James had a poopathon -- never heard that term before.

Anyways, we are so thrilled that James doesn't have the oxygen tube down his throat anymore. This means we will hear his voice anytime soon! I may get tired with the crying one day, but for now that's all I want to hear.

Please continue to pray with us for James' health progress. Pray that he continues to tolerate the CPAP and keep growing. We cannot do this journey without your support. We definitely can't do this journey without God's love and grace.

Sleep tight tonight James. May the Lord be with you.

Antibiotics + Decadron = ?

James is now receiving antibiotics and Decadron. Hopefully the combination of the medications will give a better result at James' ability to be weaned off of the ventilator. James gained a little more weight today. He is now 2.7 lbs. YAY! His feeding also went up today from 5.9 ml/hr to 6.5 ml/hr. We didn't go to see him today, but spent the afternoon painting the nursery for James :)

Please continue to pray for James' good eye exam, lower O2 level and good health overall :)

Today's photo is courtesy of James' grandma.