...and we're HOME!

Actually, Drake came home on Wednesday June 19th but juggling a two year old and an infant doesn't leave much time for blogging. I wanted to make sure we have a record of our first days at home though so later when I'm not sleep deprived I can look back and remember these special days :)

Monday June 17th Drake's doctor told us that if he kept doing well he would probably be released in two days. We were so excited, and a bit in shock that this whole hospital ordeal could quite possibly be coming to an end. One thing we have learned through all of this was that nothing is certain until the moment it happens. We held off telling to many people about this exciting news in case Drake took a few steps backwards and we needed to stay longer. Wednesday Andy took off work in hopes that it would be the day and we arrived at the hospital 45 minutes earlier than we normally do to make sure that we didn't miss the doctor when she rounded. As we were walking down the hallway of the NICU and into the neighborhood where Drake was I felt my phone vibrating in my purse. I had a one track mind though and figured I'd call whoever it was back later. As we walked up to Drake's room and were standing right behind Drake's nurse, Lori, I could tell she was the one leaving me a voice mail. She started laughing when she saw us right behind her and happily said "Drake gets to come home today! The doctors have already rounded and you can leave whenever you want!" Cue the happy tears and me hugging Andy like a crazy hormonal lady. Once I got that out of my system we decided we would stick around until we could get his hospital pictures taken (what's a few more hours when you've been there 5 weeks already!).

While we waited the nurse unhooked him from all the monitors. He had his central line removed the day before, and for the first time our baby was free of all wires. We both took turns holding him and kept catching ourselves staring at the blank monitor screen. We were so used to checking it to see his heart rate and apparently looked at it more than we realized.  After pictures were finished, Lori helped us load up all of our things and walked us out of the NICU.

I was so glad that Lori happened to be our nurse on discharge day because she was also the nurse we had the night Drake was diagnosed with NEC. She had been the one to see the signs and alerted the doctors immediately, and we were so grateful for her quick response. After the car was loaded I turned and gave her a huge hug and I think I said "thank you" at least ten times, but those words just seemed so insignificant when I thought of all she had done for our baby. After my second round of happy tears for the day I hopped in the car and we headed home.

Kellan was excited to see Drake at home...for all of five minutes, and then he asked if he could play with the iPad. :) He is a great big brother and always wants to know where Drake is and loves to make Drake "wave" and give him kisses.

Drake's last day in the NICU!

Headed home!

 

He gets lots of kisses from these two :)

 

 

Exhausted, but so happy to have him home!

 

"Drake, do you want to listen to music wiht me?"

 

4 weeks old!

Happy four weeks little buddy! Today you got to celebrate four weeks in this crazy world by getting circumcised :( I may have cried more tears than you did over the whole thing even before it took place.  I hated the thought of you being in pain after all you've been through already.

In other news, Drake tipped the scales at 4 pounds 11 ounces today and finished his feeding schedule. He is now being fed 37 ml every 3 hours. The goal he working towards now is to take it all by bottle. He had to have his feeding tube put back in yesterday because he cannot stay awake long enough to finish his bottle. Remembering to suck, swallow, and breathe is apparently pretty exhausting when you're 35 weeks old, and he's usually back to dream land after about 20-30 ml.

And a few pictures from our week:

Snuggling with my boy!

This eating burping stuff is hard work!

Enjoying the view from his new big boy crib

All of his weight must be going to his cheeks and chin! He has the beginnings of a double chin :)

Finally! Grammy Linda was able to hold her newest grand baby. Not sure who enjoyed it more!

So we're still hanging out in the NICU for awhile longer as he learns to master eating and breathing. He is making progress everyday and we can't wait until we have him here at home!

Great news this morning!

I still am in a bit of shock - in a good way!! Our little peanut now tips the scales at 4 lbs 10 oz...what?!? He has really started packing on the ounces :)  He has continued to take all of his feedings by mouth and is currently up to 19 ml at each feeding.  They advance his feedings fairly quickly until he is eating the volume he should be for his weight. If he continues to tolerate the feedings he will be up to 32 ml by Wednesday.

When we spoke to the nurse this morning she shared his new weight with us and let us know that he is now in an open crib as well! He is progressing well enough that we were told to bring his car seat in for his car seat test which will most likely happen this week. He may still have another week or two in the NICU but these are all steps towards coming home!

And for all of our family and friends who know that we have been waiting four plus days for this boy to have a dirty diaper on his own. He finally made it happen, and it was normal - no traces of blood!

Andy is on his way over to see Drake now and I'll be going this afternoon so we will have some updated pictures tonight of our little man in his new "big boy" bed!

Earning his "privileges" back :)

If you ask Drake, one week is a long time to go with no food in your belly! He has become quite fond of his pacifier this week since he wasn't allowed to have a bottle at all.  Now his one week of antibiotics and no feedings have come to an end and he had his first bottle this afternoon! He will be starting off at square one again and getting only small amounts (1 teaspoon) of milk by mouth every three hours. He still has an IV of nutrition so he has continued to gain weight and is now up to 4 lbs! Now that he's almost a half pound above birth weight you could almost classify his cheeks as big enough to pinch...almost :) In addition to earning his bottle back he has also earned his right to wear clothes again! I know I said this before but seeing your baby in clothes instead of just laying there naked is such a good feeling, and confirmation that he is moving in the right direction - towards coming home!

If he tolerates the small feedings over the next 48 hours they will begin slowly increasing the volume until he is at full feeds for his weight. He is fed with a bottle if he is awake, but if he is sleeping he is still fed using his feeding tube. He happily sucked down feeding #1 today all by bottle so we'll see what the evening holds. 

Kellan enjoyed a second visit to see his Drake last week and was a champ at wearing his mask while we were there. Anyone who knows Kel realizes what a HUGE deal it is for him to have something covering his face like this. The kid won't even wear a Halloween costume without freaking out. :)

After staring at Drake lost his interest he moved on to practicing his yoga moves.

Check it out guys! I'm tube free...for a few minutes at least!

 Drake had two extra visitors today, Carolyn and Kellan both made the trip with me this morning. Carolyn + iPhone + iPad + snacks kept Kellan busy while we waited three hours for the doctor to round this morning. Thank you Carolyn!!

And here is our 4 pound boy this morning! 

We are excited to see what this week holds for our little guy. We pray that his digestive system is ready to handle his feeds again and we are able to move that much closer to having him home with us!

A HUGE answered prayer!

Drake's x-ray this morning was all clear with no signs of pneumatosis (hydrogen bubbles in his intestines!!!) To have it turn around so quickly is amazing and a huge answered prayer! 

When I got to Peoria this morning I had missed the doctor rounding by minutes, she was in the room next to Drakes. She was kind enough to come back and share the great news and answer questions. I think my main question was a repeat of "The x-ray looked normal? The bubbles are totally gone!?" She said yes every time I asked :) Drake will continue to be treated for one week with antibiotics and no food to allow time for his intestines and stomach to fully heal before small feedings will start again. It is possible this could happen again once feedings resume, but the doctor said it is unlikely. As easy as it is for my mind to race ahead and begin worrying about what is to come in the future and if this will happen again next week I'm choosing not to. Traveling this road with Drake has been the ultimate lesson on the importance of living in the moment, and this moment is a positive one for our little guy and for that we are so thankful! Thank you thank you Lord for healing our baby!

Good Morning from the NICU

Late last night we decided to come to Peoria and camp out in Drake's room. We had been calling his nurse every couple of hours from home for updates and around 9 last night she said he had passed more blood and it appeared more concentrated so we jumped in the car and got here as quickly as we could.

We got a chance to speak at length with the nurse practitioner last night and she showed us his x ray from earlier yesterday afternoon and then another that they had taken late last night. She stopped short of diagnosing him with Stage 1 NEC but said that his x-ray is abnormal and does display tell tale signs of what can turn into NEC. So far he does not have any additional signs of the disease though, which is good. He is having longer pauses in his breathing but is still keeping his oxygen levels and heart rate high and did not set off his alarms all night. He is being treated as if he does have NEC with the hopes that the antibiotics will kill the bacteria that are causing the hydrogen bubbles that are shown on his x rays. We are thankful that the bleeding has stopped for now as well.

He had a third x ray this morning around 4:30 and it showed no changes meaning the bacteria haven't progressed any further in his intestines which is good. We are waiting for the doctor to make her rounds this morning to see if another x ray will be done today or if they will wait until tomorrow.

The little guy is missing having food in his belly and when awake is going to town on his pacifier or chews on his suction tube that it is in his mouth. The nurse practitioner kept telling us last night as he was flailing around that he doesn't look like a sick baby which is reassuring but they must treat him as one since the x ray is not normal. 

Keep fighting little buddy!! We keep giving him bedside pep talks. He just looks at us with these big eyes though and probably thinks we're crazy :) Drake says thanks for all the prayers, he can't wait to bust out of here and meet all his friends!

A bump in the road: prayers needed

Andy and I spent all morning and most of the afternoon at the hospital with Drake. We wanted to go early so we were there when the doctors rounded. Drake got a good report this morning and the doctors were on their way. Around 4 this afternoon after we got home I received a call from the neonatologist letting us know that Drake had passed some blood and they had performed an x ray of his abdomen. He appears to have a pocket of air on the x ray which can indicate a disease called Necrotizing enterocolitis. The doctor said the x ray was suspect enough that they have stopped feeding him by mouth and have returned to giving him his calories via his central line, they have started him on antibiotics, and drawn his blood to check for signs of infection.  

My heart starts racing every time a Peoria number shows up on my phone and I did not know enough about NEC to ask questions when I had the doctor on the phone. After we collected our thoughts Andy called our nurse back and we asked more questions. She advised that the results from the blood work won't be available for 24 hours (around 6 PM Friday) and that he will have another x-ray early tomorrow morning to see if the pocket of air appears to have gotten larger. From what information we have been able to piece together about NEC it is a buildup of bacteria in the small or large intestine. The bacteria starts to eat away at the intestines which results in the pocket of air that is viewable on the x-ray. As the NEC progresses the pocket would appear larger in subsequent x-rays. At this point the doctor has not diagnosed Drake with NEC but she did say that if he has it she feels that they caught it early.  If they find he does not have NEC, another reason for blood in his stool could be a possible milk protein allergy. The breast milk he is fed is fortified with formula to provide extra calories to help him grow. An allergy can cause blood in the stool but from what I have read, an allergy would not explain the appearance of an air pocket in his intestines.

We should know more tomorrow once the x-ray results and full blood work results are back. We know so many have been praying for our little guy right along with us and we are so grateful. Please pray specifically for healing of his body, that if he is diagnosed with NEC that it has been caught early enough to be treated without surgery. That with the help of antibiotics his tiny body will be able to fight off any signs of infection, and that he is not in any pain. The nurse assured us when we spoke to her that he is still acting like his normal feisty self during diaper changes and she hadn't noticed any change in his behavior.

Drake's behavior seemed normal to us when we were with him earlier as well.  Andy got the chance to feed him a bottle for the first time and we both enjoyed some cuddle time with the little guy.

Packing on the pounds....err, grams :)

Drake had a great weekend! Yesterday he finally regained the weight he had lost after being born and is back up to a beefy 3 lbs 9 oz.  After slowing down his feeding schedule and allowing his stomach to learn to digest the larger volume he is back on track and his feeding amounts are increasing again! After he successfully completes the schedule this week he will be fed according to his weight. The next challenge for him to tackle will be learning to eat all of his feedings through a bottle and not rely on the feeding tube at all. This is going to take some hard work (and energy!) on his part. Currently if he is awake and alert when a feeding begins the nurse attempts to give him a bottle to start. He usually only eats around 4 ml from the bottle of a 20+ ml feeding. After that he is usually exhausted and falls asleep. Getting him to bottle feed all of his feedings is probably going to be our biggest hurdle to getting home, so we hope he is up for the challenge!

 Drake enjoyed some visitors this weekend! Grandpa Anderson visited Saturday afternoon. Drake was kind enough to wake up for just a short time during his visit, but then it was back to dream land.

This weekend was also the first time that I was able to feed Drake from a bottle. It's going to be a learning experience for all of us. There is a definite technique to getting a preemie to stay awake and eating - it's still a work in progress for us as the picture below shows him snoozing just minutes later with no more interest in continuing to eat :)

Drake also got in some great cuddle time with Daddy this weekend. The doctors encourage kangaroo care (holding Drake skin to skin) as often as he can tolerate it. Drake seems to love it and is able to maintain his temperature out of his bed when he is snuggled up to someone. It's amazing to see how his breathing pattern is always so constant and steady when he is held like this.

We are so excited by his progress, even when it seems like he takes one step forward and then two steps back with his feedings there is still overall movement in the right direction. I know he will never remember this ordeal (thankfully!) but I'm so proud of him for being such a trooper. Being poked daily for blood draws and having a tube down your throat and in your chest cannot be comfortable and I always pray that he isn't in any kind of pain.

We know another little guy who has also been through too many pokes and hospital stays. My friend Alicia has been a great support to us during this whole ordeal, her little guy, Kane, also spent time in the NICU in Peoria. I ask for prayers for her family and for Kane today as he is back at the Children's Hospital today for a surgery that will allow the doctors to take a closer look at the layout of his heart to determine how to treat him best in the future. I have always admired Alicia's strength and how she handles all the curves that are thrown her way with such grace. If you want to follow this little guy, and know specific prayer requests they have you can follow him at http://ajnwheelerfamily.blogspot.com/  He is one adorable little guy with the best head of hair I've ever seen on a baby and some stunning baby blue eyes :)

Feeding, Growing & Pictures!

 

Today this little guy and I are hanging out ALL day, for the first time! When I walked in his room this morning this is what I saw. My always naked baby was sporting his first outfit and was swaddled with a blanket! Cue the happy tears (which doesn't take much these days!) I know he is doing well but for some reason seeing him dressed like a "normal" baby and wrapped in a blanket instead of laying naked in his diaper with all his wires exposed just made it all the more real, and I probably sounded like a crazy lady as I kept telling the nurse how excited I was to see him wearing clothes!! Tonight I will be washing and labeling all his preemie clothes to bring with me tomorrow, yay!! :)

Spending all day with him ensures that I am there when Dr. Clark makes her rounds. The nurses are great at giving us a full report of what she says if we miss her each day but it's nice to have the chance to talk to her and ask her questions. Drake was weighed today and is up to 3 lbs 6 oz, still 3 oz shy of his birth weight but he's headed in the right direction. He continues to do well on his feeding schedule and is up to 20 ml every 3 hours. It's still a small amount but considering he was only taking 4 ml a few days ago this is great progress! Prior to giving each feeding the nurse checks his aspirates (a fancy word to say she attaches a syringe to his feeding tube and pulls out what is left in his stomach to measure it.) They want to make sure he is digesting his food appropriately and this keeps them from over filling his stomach if he still has some left from his prior feeding. For the most part he has been able to move the food through his body well. This morning he had a 5 ml aspirate but the nurse turned him on his stomach for a short time hoping that would help him move it along and it did the trick. Drake got a good report from Dr. Clark with her mentioning they would keep a close eye on the aspirates and would slow down his feeding schedule if he needed more time to get used to the increased volume. Other than that he's doing everything they expect of a 32 week old!

We've filled our day together singing songs and chatting. It's a pretty one sided conversation at this point but he doesn't seem to mind. :) Tonight Andy is bringing Kellan over so he they can finally meet. We were initially told that only kids three and older were allowed in but apparently there is some leniency when it comes to siblings and the nurse said she didn't think it would be an issue. He asks about Drake often and I'm not sure he believes he really is a big brother yet since there is no baby at our house, so a visit should help! I am SO excited to have both of my boys in the same room, even if it is only for a short amount of time.

My singing and long talks have put Drake to sleep and as you can see he is clearly very interested in what I've had to say!

The picture below is from last night. He always looks so relaxed and comfortable when he is snoozing away.

Sitting with him today I've spent plenty of time looking at his monitor. Several times throughout the day it has looked like this, which is the best sight ever!

The top green line shows his steady heart beat at a rate of 152 and the yellow line below it shows his consistent deep breaths at a rate of 70 per minute. The smaller box to the bottom left is his neighbor who the nurse is also responsible for. This way she can keep an eye on both babies no matter whose room she's in.

It's been a great day spent together and we are thrilled at his progress!

Celebrating every little milestone!

This week started off fairly stressful as Drake had his first surgery with general anesthesia at five days old. Sunday he was put to sleep to have a central line placed in his chest. This will serve as IV access during his entire stay in the NICU. Typically a PICC line is used on preemies and is done at the bedside in the NICU. After three failed attempts to have the PICC line placed the doctors determined the veins in his arms and legs just couldn't handle the line. The central line was inserted in his chest and threaded up to a large artery near the opening to his heart, and the port is taped to his chest. Up until this point he had a peripheral IV on his hand. It kept going bad and he was having to be poked again and again to keep the IV access that the doctors needed to administer his medication. He did great during the surgery and woke up from the anesthesia well and resumed breathing on his own without assistance - great job little buddy!!

As nervous as we were on Sunday, Monday brought two big milestones for our little man. When I arrived at the hospital this afternoon and looked at his monitor I immediately noticed that his oxygen levels were no longer being tracked. The nurse advised that Dr. Clark ordered the o2 monitoring be discontinued since had maintained his oxygen levels since birth and it was no longer a concern at this point. One set of wires removed from our little guy!

Over the last 4 days he has been slowly introduced to eating through his feeding tube. The doctors call it "gut priming", making sure he is able to handle very small amounts of food to get his digestive system working and ensure that everything is working as it should. He has handled the very small amounts of food okay and has had some dirty diapers that indicate he is digesting the food properly. Tonight they started his feeding schedule of breast milk.  The schedule is roughly 5 days long and they slowly increase the volume of milk he gets at each meal. He had his first feeding on his schedule tonight while Andy and I were there and he was able to take the feeding all through a bottle! From what we have heard from the nurses, it is great that he was able to handle sucking, breathing, and swallowing (coordinating these three actions takes some work for a preemie) his feeding at a gestational age of 32 weeks. The doctor did advise that he may not be able to keep up with using the bottle for longer periods of time as the feeding amounts increase, and that would be normal. For now though, he is doing it so we celebrate! :)

Here is a short video of the nurse feeding and burping him :)

We also had an ice cream date with Grammy and Kellan tonight at his favorite place, Cocomero. When you're two it is fun to do anything you can NOT to smile when your Mom asks you to :)

Happy Birthday Drake!

 

Our newest little guy is here, happy birthday Drake Michael!! Things were so busy yesterday that I didn't get a chance to post an update on how things went during the delivery, so I'll back track just a little...

Wednesday, just a couple hours before I was scheduled for the c section we found out that I wouldn't be put completely under and that Andy could be in the room. We were so glad!! That also meant that I got to see Drake very briefly after he was born. Once I could stand again on my own I was allowed to go to the NICU to see him, which was around 9 PM Wednesday night. The nurses are so great at answering all of our questions and explaining what every tube and wire is there for, as well as what all the different numbers mean on the monitors. The picture above was taken in the recovery room when he was just minutes old. The photo below is from Thursday morning and shows him all hooked up to the monitors.  At first glance it does seem like a lot but in reality he only has one IV in his hand, his CPAP on his face, a feeding tube in the corner of his mouth and the rest of the wires are monitoring his heart rate, breathing rate and oxygen level in his blood. Like I said before the nurses are great and have kept reassuring us that he is doing so well and should something drastic change they will always call us. That has kept my worrying to a minimum :)

Thursday morning Andy wheeled me over to the NICU and we got to spend a good amount of time with him. I was able to hold his hand and touch him for the first time!  By Thursday afternoon he had continued to do so well that the nurses decided they would remove the CPAP all together, skip the nasal cannula (the next lowest level of breathing assistance) and see how he did breathing on his own with no assistance. The nurse called us around 2:30 yesterday to let us know that he was off the CPAP and was able to maintain his heart rate and oxygen levels so far on his own and that he was doing really well with that big change. Such a huge answered prayer!! I cried some happy tears over that one :) My mom had just arrived for a visit so we all headed over to see Drake. I was so excited to really get a glimpse of what he looked like now that his face wasn't covered by the CPAP machine.  These are photos from Thursday when we both got to hold him for the first time!

I can't even come up with the words to describe how blessed we feel that God has taken such good care of our little boy. We both know that there will no doubt be ups and downs during his NICU stay but we plan on celebrating every bit of progress this little guy makes! We went back over to see him again late last night and I have to say Andy is one amazing Daddy!! I'm still not able to stand up long so I have yet to change any diapers but Andy has done it all! Changing diapers, taking his temperature, changing bedding, he's becoming quite the pro! We can't wait to have this little guy home with us and his big brother :)

Change of Plans: Drake will be here tomorrow!

Our little guy will make his debut tomorrow around 4 PM when I go in for my scheduled C section. He will be 31 weeks, 2 days. We are nervous, excited and scared all at the same time. There is also a sense of relief because Andy and I have both been worried about how he's doing with all of the bleeding that I have been experiencing since Saturday. He has always looked really good when they have him on the monitors but when you are in the "holding area" of the maternity ward they only monitor you three times a day for 20 minutes so my mind was left to wander the rest of the time hoping he was doing okay. I should say that if the doctor was concerned she would have had me on those monitors more but they always said he looked great, so me worrying about him was probably unfounded but still there none the less.

Today when Dr. Renfroe rounded she decided that she wanted an ultrasound done to check for a possible partial placental abruption, she was looking to see if she could find the source of the bleeding. Fortunately we had enough time for Andy to make it over here so he could be here for the ultrasound. She couldn't see any signs of an abruption but the images are so distorted since I have virtually no amniotic fluid I don't think she felt like she could get a clear enough view to rule it out.  We left with her telling me not to eat lunch and that she'd have my blood drawn to check for signs of infection and take it from there. After a few hours my results were back and my blood counts all looked okay, slightly elevated but not to the point that would indicate an infection. A couple hours later our nurse came in and the doctor had decided to proceed with the c section tomorrow.  We haven't had a chance to talk to her since so I'm not sure exactly what caused her to make the call. She did explain during the ultrasound though that once you are experiencing bleeding that it only increases your chance of infection and she wants to give baby as much time as possible but make sure she delivers him before an infection were to set in. I'm guessing she decided we had approached that gray in between area and it was time.

Once we knew that tomorrow was the day Andy got a tour of the NICU and I received a photo album of the NICU to give me an idea of what to expect when I am able to go visit Drake for the first time. We also had the chance to meet with one of the neonatologists from the NICU and he went over what all we can expect with both the best and worse case scenarios. Overall he was very positive and said that to the NICU staff a 31 weeker is usually pretty well off. Drake's main challenge initially will be getting his lungs stabilized and him breathing. He will either be on a ventilator (the most assistance), CPAP, or nasal cannula. I thought it was interesting that he will also get caffeine though his IV to help his brain remember to breathe. I think he and I both will be partaking in some caffeine the rest of this week, I've got a diet coke with my name on it :) He also told us that most babies go home around 36 weeks gestational age, so about 5 weeks for Drake assuming he doesn't have any major setbacks.

We're as ready as we'll ever be and SO excited to finally meet our new little guy. We trust that God has a plan for our little man and we will be here to love on and support Drake in any way we can while he works on growing bigger and stronger. We are so thankful to have had these 2 weeks for him to grow and mature.

From what they tell me I'll be pretty out of it tomorrow night but I'm sure the proud new Daddy will post an update on Facebook once Drake is here. We are so thankful for all the prayers, well wishes, and help we have received over the past two weeks. We can't wait to share pictures of our little guy with you all! I should add that Kellan is pretty excited to be promoted to "big brother" he has requested to wear his big brother shirt several times these past two weeks. :)

Back to the waiting game - 31 Weeks today!!

Saturday and Sunday we spent all in labor and delivery just waiting to see if the doctor was going to make the call to have the c-section or wait. Drake looked great on the monitor for those 48 hours and they did some lab work on me to see how my blood levels were. The doctor advised that if I had lost too much blood that we would proceed with the c section immediately so we quickly made sure we had arrangements for Kellan for Sunday night and possibly today as well. My labs came back looking good so after one more night of monitoring Drake continuously I was wheeled back to my regular room this morning. Crisis averted.

While things were so up in the air this weekend the anesthesiologist came and talked to us about how things would occur once it's go time. This was actually news to both Andy and I when she told us that Andy won't be able to be in the delivery room when Drake is born and I will be completely knocked out. That was a bit of a bummer but once she went on to explain why I know it's for the best. According to them I'm at a high risk for hemorrhaging during surgery due to placenta previa so they want me all the way out in case they have to perform a hysterectomy to get it to stop.  Scary to think about and obviously not something I would want to be awake for. We had tons of questions for her and she was really helpful in explaining everything. Andy will be outside the operating room or in a nearby waiting room and once Drake is born he will be taken to the room right next to the operating room by the NICU staff and Andy will be allowed in there to see him. Once he is stable they will take him over to the NICU and Andy can stay with him the whole time. Once I'm awake, stable, and able to sit up in a wheelchair I can be taken to see Drake. Not sure how long that will be, I'm hoping no longer than 24 hours.

It was a pretty emotionally exhausting weekend, so I'm hoping to happily sit in this room and watch mindless TV this week and "enjoy" a calm week. Two weeks down, three to go!!

Celebrating Mother's Day with two boys??

This morning started out rather crazy. Thankfully Andy had spent the night at the hospital with me so when at 6 AM arrived and I realized we had a problem he was already there. Warning: this day involves blood, so read at your own discretion :)

In my never ending googling of PPROM (preterm premature rupture of membranes) I had read that it isn't uncommon to experience bleeding so I knew it was a possibility but fortunately had not had to deal with it until this morning. The nurses are so great here though and they had an IV in me and a hospital gown on me in no time. I had been able to wear regular clothes every day until now. We waited patiently in my room until the doctor arrived at 8 AM to check things out. He said that depending on what he saw during my exam we would either be having a baby today or I would be spending the next 24 hours at labor and delivery hooked up to the monitors. After everyone and their mother (his team of 5 residents) got to scope out the "situation" he decided that delivery wasn't needed immediately so I got rolled down the hall to labor and delivery. Things calmed down as the day progressed and they said assuming there is no change I can go back to my regular room sometime tomorrow (fingers crossed!!).  I managed to stay pretty calm during the early morning activities but when they rolled me into my new room and the nurse advised me that I would not be allowed to get out of bed for anything I had a moment of panic. Umm, ANYTHING?!?!  Yeah, no getting out of bed for anything....awesome.  I'm not sure which part of the day was more traumatic, the morning craziness or the afternoon filled with "new experiences". Despite my increased heart rate over the day's activities Drake remained cool, calm, and collected the whole time - good work buddy!!

I have a new appreciation for the simple things in life that I used to take for granted, that's for sure! Everything I have read online regarding PPROM describes it as a roller coaster ride, along with the NICU stay that follows. I think we just climbed our first hill and went flying down the other side today. Hopefully we'll get a day of rest in before we get to experience the next hill :)

Drake is beefing up!

I was able to get another peek at Drake via ultrasound yesterday. He was squirming around and taking lots of practice breaths! They also re-measured him to check on his growth since his ultrasound eight days ago.  Eight days ago he weighed 2 lbs 9 oz, and yesterday he had beefed up to 3 lbs 6 oz! I was thrilled with his progress :)

The doctor wasn't planning on doing an ultrasound yesterday but Drake had an episode Tuesday night where his heart rate was higher than it should be, and it stayed up there just a tad longer than they like to see so the ultrasound was done the next morning just to check up on him. All of his heart rate monitoring that has been done since Tuesday night has all been back within the normal range. My white blood cell count was also checked after Tuesday night to see if it indicated any signs of infection. My WBC count was slightly elevated but not to the point of concern at this point in time.

This morning was the first chance I had to ask the doctor questions about those elevated numbers, what they mean, and how high they have to be to indicate a problem. It was nice to have those answers and basically my numbers (WBC count and my heart rate) are slightly elevated but not high enough to warrant delivery. One main thing they look for to signal infection would a maternal fever, and I don't have one. As they weigh the risks of him staying put versus being born premature, all signs still indicate that he is safer in the oven and not in the world just yet.

So, knowing he is staying put for awhile longer is a relief and gives me more time to get reacquainted with day time TV, enjoy visits from friends and family, and eat dessert at every meal :) Assuming he chooses to cooperate his birthday has officially been scheduled for June 4th at noon. I'm counting down the days!

30 Weeks Today!

Drake and I are one week into our hospital stay and happy to have reached the 30 week mark today! Four more weeks to go, we can do that! We had a nice uneventful weekend. Andy came and stayed with me all weekend. We watched movies, had a few visitors and enjoyed some non hospital food. He's pretty much the best :)

Drake continues to behave which keeps the doctors from rushing me down to get another ultrasound. Later this week they should do another scan though just to check in on him and re-measure him to see how much he has grown over this past week. I feel like all I do is lay around and eat, which really IS all I do so I was trying not to even think about how much I have gained just hanging out here. Fortunately there isn't a scale so I had no idea. Then today, a knock on the door and in comes the nutritionist and her rolling scale. Sweet. Surprisingly I haven't gained anything since being here. I'm sure Drake has gained weight, I have probably just managed to wither away some muscle and replace it with fat, ha! I'm already dreaming of being able to work out and get back into shape! As I type this Drake is busy kicking so hard that my stomach is bumping up and down...the extra calories are working!!


I've been so fortunate to have so many people stop by to visit. It makes the days go by so much faster which is awesome! Today my visitors were Mom, Kellan, and his favorite Elmo lunch box. Never in his life has he been able to eat cheetos and cookies in bed, so this whole situation has a few pluses in Kel's book :) Thank you for the continued prayers and well wishes. Drake is still being a champ and holding on strong!

Growing this boy bigger and stronger day by day!

Earlier this week Drake didn't perform/move on ultrasound the way the doctors wanted him to so each day I was having to go back down for them to take a look. The day after I got the "official" doctors orders to eat chocolate he sprung to life during my ultrasound scan Thursday afternoon. I had been feeling him moving since Wednesday afternoon but it was a huge relief to actually see it as well. They were also able to witness two of the practice breaths they had been wanting to see, which was great!

Since they were able to witness that and he continues to move I no longer have to get daily ultrasounds, they will just start checking him on a weekly basis.  His heart rate continues to be strong each time he is monitored and I am still not having any contractions - yay!

Drake's goal birthday was one month from yesterday, June 3rd so I am counting down the days until we get to meet this little guy! In the meantime I'm passing the hours with some great visitors, magazines, and daytime TV :)

 

Andy brought Kellan up for a couple hours yesterday. He jumped right up in my bed and stayed next to me the whole time! An impressive feat for a kid who usually can't sit still for 10 minutes. He found out there is ice cream in the kitchen down the hall so he was happy to eat and tell me all about his day!  

 We are hoping for a nice quiet weekend around here. Andy is so sweet and is staying with me all weekend! We'll have time to catch up on movies and play some old school board games :) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

No news is good news :)

Yesterday they performed another ultrasound on Drake hoping to see him moving around more and doing his practice breaths since he didn't perform on the scan Tuesday as they had hoped. The little dude was not motivated to move and again just laid there, not moving a muscle for the 30 minutes they watched. His heart rate was great and they said his blood flow that he is receiving through the umbilical cord is fine as well. Despite having me move all around and cough, he wouldn't budge.  They sent me back to my room with directions to get back on the monitors and eat something, the doctor jokingly said to give the kid some chocolate...done and done! Kellan and Mom had come to visit so Kel and I decided the chocolate cake was the way to go so we split that together while watching some cartoons. Sure enough, Drake came to life and was all over the place and he hasn't stopped. Guess he just needed a jump start (and enough time to allow the magnesium to get out of system). It was a huge relief to be able to feel him again after 2 days of relatively no movement!

The other highlight of my day was seeing this big boy! I wasn't sure how long he would last in a hospital room before being bored out of his mind but he did so well and they were able to stay for 3 hours which was wonderful! Shout out to Darla and Amy who also came up last night and hung out with me, so good to catch up on the outside world! Thanks guys! :) 

I can't say enough good things about the doctors and nurses here.  There hasn't been one person I have come across that I didn't care for. They are great at communicating with me what is going on, what their thoughts are on how Drake is doing, and what the plan is going forward. They have answered all my questions and I have complete confidence in their decisions. Having that comfort makes it so much easier to stay parked inside these four walls for as long as necessary.

Hopefully the updates from Peoria continue to be relatively "boring" for the next month :) Hope everyone has a great day!

Thankful for a good night!

Drake is still holding strong! Despite not having much amniotic fluid at all during our ultrasound yesterday he is still doing very well. I'm attached to the monitors three times a day to monitor his heart rate and any contractions. His monitoring "strips" as the nurses call them looked great last night and again this morning. His heart rate is staying strong with the kind of accelerations they like to see. I did have one small contraction this morning while being monitored but I was unable to feel it. 

Amniotic fluid is continually replenished by Drake peeing - nice thought, eh!? So he does have some cushion in there from time to time but it of course ends up leaking anytime he moves.

Monday, June 3rd is the goal date the doctors are hoping we will reach. At 34 weeks they feel that his risk of staying inside his little uterine hotel with ruptured membranes is more risky than being out in this crazy world.

Thank you thank you for all your thoughts and prayers being sent our way! We are living up to the doctors"best case scenario" at this time!

The highlight of my day today will be getting to see Kellan finally! He clearly told me he has two requests for today. 1. He wants to eat Cheetos. 2. He wants to snuggle me in my bed :) I said we can make sure both of those happen!

I'm still pregnant!

Apparently this was the week to go deliver or attempt to delay delivering a baby in central Illinois. The labor and delivery floor, and antepartum floor where I am at are packed. So packed that I've got my first room mate since my college days.  It's not that big of a deal, the only bummer is that I can't have anyone stay overnight with me since there is literally no room.

Drake is still holding tight. The next day or so will be interesting though as they are stopping my medication that is keeping me from contracting because it also causes the baby to be very lethargic and he isn't moving like they would like him to. We had a very detailed ultrasound this afternoon where they took a good look at all of his organs and measurements. They estimate he weights right around 2.5 pounds right now and is measuring at 29 weeks. They also wanted to witness him doing his practice breaths but i've been on the magnesium (medicine to keep me from contracting) continuously since 5:30 last night so it has taken its toll on the little man and he wouldn't do any for them. They said his lack of movement means it's time to stop that medication. I have received my second and final dose of steroids to help mature his lungs quickly and am now waiting to have the magnesium stopped.

Our specific prayer request: that my body won't decide to go into labor once the medication is stopped and that I can say free of infection so that our little guy can continue to grow. The doctor said every week I can stay pregnant should result in a half pound weight gain for Drake, and every bit will help him.

I ate a piece of apple pie tonight to help him fatten up :)

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for our little man!
 

Eviction notice?! - not yet!

Andy and I both have such wonderful family and friends praying for our little guy right now (thank you thank you thank you!!), so we figured this would be the easiest way to keep anyone interested up to date on the latest and greatest happenings here in Peoria.

We still haven't had a chance to talk in detail with everyone, so a quick update on what has happened thus far, what we know for sure, and what is still up in the air:

What Happened?!:
 Well, to make a long story short. My water broke at 29 weeks exactly. I had felt fine all day at work Monday. Andy and I took advantage of the awesome weather and walked a mile and a half around the lake during our lunch. No back pain, no contractions, good to go. About 2:30 I was walking away from my desk and realized I had either just managed to pee my pants at 31 years old or I had a bigger problem on my hands. After ruling out the first option my heart sank. I knew what it was. After a quick stop at my doctor's office to confirm my water had broke, we headed to St Joe and then I was taken to St Francis in Peoria, where baby Drake and I will hang out for as long as possible.

What we know for sure &.the unknown:
The goal is to stay pregnant for 5 more weeks, allowing Drake to reach the 34 week mark. At that point I will have c-section since he is breech and I have placenta previa, which we already were aware of. Things that would keep me from keeping Drake baking away inside would be an infection or labor that they are unable to stop. Although staying pregnant 5 more weeks would be the absolute best case scenario at this point. Staying pregnant until Friday of this week (48 hours) is the first goal as that would allow the steriod shots to work their magic and mature his lungs as much as possible. We are thankful for every day he decides to stay put. The doctor's were very honest with us and told us that if he is born now or at 30 weeks his long term prognosis is most likely very good, and the survival rate is very high. However his stay in the NICU would be nearly 3 months  and they said that we should prepare ourselves for a roller coaster during that time period.

Despite this not being in my master plan for my second pregnancy we do have many many things to be thankful for. It has been a humbling reminder that even if I thought I was in control of the smallest details, I am not and He is....and when I keep that at the forefront of my thoughts my blood pressure stays really low, and the doctors like that :)

Oh, and in case anyone was worried about how Kellan is doing (ahem, Aunt Ashley), he is doing great. My parents are holding down the fort at our house and keeping him on his regular schedule of preschool and music class, so he's a happy camper!