NICU Valentine

 Jack has been snuggling with his arms up like this lately. Love getting to look at his little hands while we cuddle.

Long skinny boy. Wearing one of his preemie outfits. 

Great Grandma visiting her 12th Great Grandchild and Grandma visiting her 3rd Grandchild. 

Getting to hold him for the first time too!

A blurry picture taken by the nurse.

Trying to decide if he should stay awake to try to eat more or just fall asleep and get the rest of dinner from his feeding tube. 

He chose sleep. 

 Jack got a Valentine's Day bear from the hospital!

 His arms busted out of his burrito baby blanket. He loves having his hands near his face.

This time his feet wiggled loose!

Sweet baby boy.

Aaaannnnddd.... I'd say he's done putting forth effort to eat.

How I found my guy this morning.

Steve and I dined in again this year for Valentine's Day. I did get us a delicious flank steak from New Seasons and cooked it PERFECT! Yum.

And for dessert, Crumb cake from Carlo's Bakery in NJ. 

Yes, NJ. 

Steve and I would watch marathons of Cake Boss off of Netflix while I was on bed rest. After watching so much of it, I decided we should actually TRY something they bake. 

And it's delicious :)

Things are about the same as far as Jack goes. No talk of going home at all yet. 

Today he was able to take 4mls breastfeeding followed by 6mls from the bottle. His feeding is at 43mls every 3 hours. He has to get to eating 80% of that amount from breast and/or bottle before going home. We've got a ways to go. 

He had gone 4 days without a documented apnea episode, but last night the nurse recorded 3 and put him back on the monitor for his blood oxygen levels because she thought his color looked off. 

That was discouraging to hear, but it's also hard to tell if it was a true apnic episode, or just a difference in subjective observations. Anyhow, hoping he grows out of those soon. 

Otherwise, Jack looks really healthy to the neonatologists taking care of him. 

They keep dangling the hope of getting a private room in front of us. They've been saying "soon" for a week. I wish they'd either give us the room or stop talking about it because I get my hopes up for some space and privacy, and then it doesn't happen. 

Can't wait for us to get to go home! Can't come soon enough! 

Pray for good breathing and eating from Jack and a private room for his parent's sanity!

Oh and instead of pens and papers and remotes and the like, this has now over taken my bedside table. We are close friends ten times a day.

NICU Update

My friends. Bowl full of bottles for pumping. 

The NICU nurse put this little shirt on him from something they had on hand. His first outfit.

Our corner of the world, until we got moved.

This is how you do dinner NICU style. 

Mom holds baby, Dad holds dinner so nourishment can make its way in via gravity.

More dinner time

Our new corner of the world

How Jack spends most of his days. Wrapped up like a burrito. Pacifier close by. 

The doll on his head is called a "lovey doll."

Steve and I place it in the neck of our shirt so it will have our smell on it for Jack when we can't be there. 

The roads on a good day as we made the trek to visit Jack. 

We made it for our twice a day visits each day except for one night when the ice hit. 

Daddy snuggles. 

He looks so little in Steve's arms!

My guys

Stretching out for a diaper change

Jack and his lovey doll

Sacked out on Mom during snuggle time. 

He took a bottle today and did well! 

A good sign he is starting to figure out that whole suck, swallow, breathe thing :)

Now, time for sleep!!! 

Hope you enjoy the updates!

NICU life

 Snuggles. 

Getting in some kangeroo time :)

http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/holding-your-baby-close-kangaroo-care.aspx

All the leads on Jack are to monitor his breathing. Because he was born early he has what they call apnea of prematurity. His episodes are short and with gentle stimulation, he recovers.

He needs to go 5 days without an episode before coming home. Probably 2 weeks still, but his discharge date entirely depends on how he progresses.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007227.htm

Awake and awaiting dinner.

Dinner was taking too long. He just wanted swaddled back up and a full belly. 

Sweet baby

First family photo. 

Kangeroo care and Daddy working from the hospital due to snowy weather outside. 

 I have been waiting for snow all winter.
Now it is just creating a challenge to getting up to see Jack. So far we've managed to keep the same schedule as before the snow, and I'm hoping things don't get too icy, keeping us from being able to visit. Wishing Jack could be home so we could just stay home and enjoy the snow together.

More Kangeroo care. Tucked in nice and close. 

Sweet dreams baby Jack. 

The routine we've kind of settled on is being at the hospital from 9-12:30. That gets us there for his two feedings at 9 and 12 and allows for a large span of uninterupted kangeroo care.

We go home for a couple hours to grab lunch and dinner. 

I've also either been catching a nap or trying to catch up on the 3 months of bed rest where life was just piling up around me and I couldn't take care of it.

Then later we head back to the hospital around 7 for more kangeroo care and stay for his 9pm feeding. 

Trying to focus on being thankful for the care he is receiving. It's hard to leave him there when we want so badly for him to come home. 

Thankful The Lord is there with him when we can't be.

Baby Jack is here!

Jack Duncan Meliza

February 3, 2014

5lbs 2oz

18 inches

1:45pm

The day in a nutshell. 

My water broke at 4:30 in the morning so we hopped in the car and headed up to the hospital. 

When we arrived to triage, they verified for me that my water really had broken. 

Gee, thanks for clearing that up. 

 We discovered I was 8cm dilated. Go me! Didn't even know it :)

For the  next 2 hours, nothing really was happening, so Dr. Smrtka went ahead and checked my progress and broke the remainder of my water that was acting like a cushion and keeping me from progressing. 

An hour later, I felt what I would call my first real labor pain. From there, it was 1.5 hours when I felt the need to push. 

Since I was before 34 weeks gestation, I had to be wheeled to the OR to deliver. 

This was so we would be close to the NICU support team should we need it. 

I pushed for about 45 minuets I think?? 

He thankfully came out crying and I was able to hold him on my chest. 

About a minute later his breathing became a little labored, so the NICU went ahead and took him to help support him and warm him up. He was grunting quite a bit while breathing to help keep his lungs open, but that quieted down by the next morning. But was breathing on his own on room air from the beginning. 

He isn't old enough to know how to coordinate eat, breathe, swallow yet so that is what we are in the NICU for. He is getting donor milk until mine comes in and we are just practicing that whole eating thing so when he is older we can work together to transition to breastfeeding.

I've been wanting a snow storm this whole winter and on day 3, we have a snow storm!

It's hard to not have Jack home with us, but we are so thankful to have such a skilled NICU staff so close to home to support Jack and help him grow! 

Our little glow worm. Day 3 Working to bring bilirubin levels down.

Cuddle time

 Little hands

Day 2

I'm hungry!!! But I got mad and pulled out my feeding tube!

 Sweet baby Jack.

We are still trying to find our routine. 

But we are getting there. 

I usually will get to the hospital by 9 and stay into the afternoon while Steve is at work. 

We then meet up at home and eat dinner before heading back up to the hospital for cuddle and "care time" (diaper changes, vitals, feeding)

Then back home again to get ready for another day.

Thank you all SO MUCH for praying us through his pregnancy! We feel SO lucky he is doing so well. 

Stay tuned and I'll try to keep pictures updated :)

Hospital Visit #3: A New Perspective

A week long hospital stay should be included in coursework for any health care professional. 

Being a patient puts a whole new perspective on how to care for patients well. 

I was in the hospital I work at and received excellent care. 

But there were some nurses that just went above and beyond to see ME and care for ME, and the difference could be felt. 

I would have rather avoided those 11 days, but I did learn a lot. 

Some reflections:

Home is a slice of heaven on earth. 

Knowing how to be your own advocate is invaluable.

Learning to be in the moment, and find happiness and peace where I am. 

(Or keep praying and adjusting my focus until I can get there.)

Some times you just need to cry.

There is a sweet spot to place your hips in hospital beds that doesn't make them quite so sore.

Hospital pillows are like fluffy, slippery cement. Bring a pillow from home.

The hospital needs a new milkshake machine. It broke twice while I was there.

IVs itch after they have been in for a week. 

When my IV was flushed I could smell/taste the saline in my nose/mouth... weird.

A shower can be the best medicine.

The hospital really does make good oatmeal. Seriously. Delicious. No really, GOOD.

Didn't know how much longer I wanted to go without cuddling with Bailey.

FRESH AIR... can make a person cry.

I am sure I'm forgetting something, but those are my reflections for now.

My last day, I was able to talk to a parent liaison from the NICU (She actually is married to one of Steve's co-workers... and she was a joy to speak with). She is there to walk along side parents during their time in the NICU and it was such a gift to get to talk to her.  Even though I have worked on babies in the NICU and I already know the staff and what to expect, it's a different perspective knowing OUR baby might be in the NICU.

 How about a hospital tour?

My room.  The infant isolet wasn't the favorite of some of my guests. They didn't like the doom/gloom approach. To me, whatever, I understand the wanting it close from a care providing standpoint. 

The bench in the back was a good option to get a little more daylight or sun on me, but as an option for Dad's to sleep on overnight? There is room for improvement there. Don't know how the Dad's do it.

The monitors. Got hooked up to those for an hour in the morning and an hour at night. Thankfully it wasn't all day. That little baby boy is a mover and a groover and doesn't like to sit still for monitoring.

And, the bed. Usually it had at least 7 pillows piled on in an attempt to find comfort.

She's beauty and she's grace, she's miss united states....

Not so much. 

The hospital can be exhausting. This is proof.

But baby is big enough to give me a belly!

 My view. 

Could have been better. The view at the end of the hallway was much better.

And how much can you really see inside when looking in from outside?

We never really researched it properly.

 Who in the history of ordering French Toast has EVER only wanted ONE, (1), singular slice?

And you have to specifically ask for real bacon, otherwise they try to give you healthier options. 

Same with butter, you have to ask for real butter, otherwise they give you margarine.

Anyhow, despite the bacon and butter, I manged to lose 2 pounds while in the hospital. 

Because they would only serve me one slice of French Toast!

I went back to oatmeal after this.

We're back home!

And I put Steve to work. After he had caught up on some sleep. Me being in the hospital put quite the pinch on his time. I'm so grateful for him :)Bailey is obviously helping.

My old dresser redone! My dad was marvelous and came to the rescue. He (under mom's direction) removed the bottom drawer to make it a proper changing table height, sanded it and, repainted it a pretty light grey color. 

(The picture doesn't do the real color justice.)

You can also see the state the nursery was in.

Another view of how prepared the nursery was.

 

 The new crib!!!!

Or, rather, where the new crib is being built. 

Isn't that a pretty new planer? 

It was necessary, I'm told :)


Making progress.
Re-purposed dresser, hand me down bouncer and car seat.
The crib will go in the corner eventually.
Some re-used and some new shelving.

 This photo is me stalking Steve in the driveway from inside the house. 

He sold the Harley.

I cried.

The man took the bike right then.

I cried some more.

Sympathy tears for him getting rid of one of his boy toys?

I cried.

Shouldn't I have taken some goodbye pictures?

Crying!

Anyhow, there is the latest.

I remained unchanged and stable at my last post hospital appointment. I went to the appointment with bag packed, ready to head back up to the hospital. 

When he said everything looked good and I knew I wasn't going back to the hospital...

I cried. 

I think there is a theme.