Tuesday, December 28, 2010

It's a...

BOY!!!

We were able to find out what we were having today at our 17 week ultrasound.  This little boy is more bashful than his older brother and had his legs crossed most of the time but we were finally able to get a picture of those little boy parts!  We were also very happy to hear that everything is healthy and measured out correctly.  There were no soft markers for Down's which showed up, so we chose to not do an amniocentesis at this time (our risk went up to 1 in 168, so we felt better about this - and also, had I not had that blood test completed, we wouldn't even know about any of this at all).  We will go back in 6 weeks for a follow-up ultrasound to make sure this little one is growing and doing great.  I'll get some pictures posted as soon as Dustin gets them scanned in!!    

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Go Jack!!

Oh my goodness...Jack took his first few steps today!!  We have been working with him on trying to take steps between the furniture and his push toy or us and the furniture and he just wouldn't do it.  During PT today, he took 3-4 steps multiple times!  This is very exciting! 


He's completely caught up and surpassed his adjusted age from a PT standpoint!  He's close to or right on with his adjusted age - especially since kiddos walk at such different rates.  I'm so proud of him!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Welcome Kate!


Welcome Kate Lillian Samuel!!!

December 19, 2010
6lb 14oz; 20 3/4 inches

I am very excited to announce the birth of the newest member to our family - Kate is my niece and Jack's first cousin!  It is definitely very exciting to have her as a part of our family.  Jack did a great job meeting her today and gave her the biggest smile!  He's definitely going to be a great cousin!

Big Boy Haircut!!...

I went to get my haircut on Friday afternoon and while we were there, Jack got his FIRST haircut!  He was such a good boy!  He did so good and was very well behaved.  I think it helped to have many cute girls fawning all over him the whole time!  I didn't realize how long his hair was getting until last Tuesday.  That's when I took some updated pictures of him and noticed how long it looked.  He now looks like such a big boy!  Here are a couple pics Natalie(our stylist) took since my cell phone camera is broken (thank you Mr. Jack).


It's amazing how different he looks from just having his haircut!  I just can't believe how much he's grown and changed over the last year.  I am so thrilled to have him home and be able to enjoy Christmas with my whole family this year!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Normal, what's normal?...

Well, I need to do a little venting, maybe a little feeling sorry for myself, and who knows what else today.  As you all know we are having a second little one, currently 15 weeks along.  We decided to do the alpha-fetaprotein test at the doctor on Tuesday.  I expected to have similar numbers to when we had the test with Jack last year, unfortunately, there seemed to be something different in mind.  The test screens for spina bifida, down's syndrome, and trisomy 18,  we had a very low rish for spina fibida and trisomy 18 but the risk for down's syndrome came back at 1 in 50.  I can look at that 2 ways, one is that it seems rather high (especially since with Jack it was 1 in 330) or the other way is that there is a 98% chance that everything will be perfectly fine.  Also, another thing is that there is a high rate of false positives with this test.  Even knowing those things, it still worries me.  It just doesn't make much sense as to why I can't seem to have a "typical, normal" pregnancy.  I seem to have to end up with something strange that goes on.  It is so discouraging and worrisome.  The ultrasound we are having in less than 2 weeks will tell us if there are any other abnormalities with the baby - like size of arms, calcification on the heart, and other markers which note an increased risk of Down's syndrome and if those come back abnormal then likely we will elect to have an amniocentesis to perform further testing.  We are hoping everything measures out to be normal and this is just one of those false positives. 
Other information going on, I am going to be having some further blood testing done to check for any blood clotting disorders to rule out that being an issue regarding my pre-ecclampsia.  I go in Tuesday to get the blood drawn and hopefully it will help provide some answers which can help me have a long, healthy pregnancy this time.  Seems like alot going on and I'm hoping for some positive answers.  I ran into one of the high-risk doctors who followed my case while I was in the hospital last year and he suggested to my OB for me to have this testing completed.  I'm also hoping I will be followed by them to help prevent problems this time around!

Sorry to be such a downer, but I'm hoping that by getting all this off my chest it will help with my worrying, but as you all know, I worry, LOTS, so likely I'll continue to worry until Dec. 28 and at that time all will be normal!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

15 weeks...

We had our 15 week appointment today.  So far everything is going good, blood pressure is staying normal or below, gaining a little weight, and heartbeat is easily found.  We are very thankful for all this good news!  In 2 weeks, we are going over to maternal fetal medicine to have an extensive ultrasound done to make sure everything is developing right on track. 

Jack is doing great, still working on getting over his ear infection.  He's eating great and trying different foods.  We have found things he definitely likes and just trying to have a variety of foods to choose from daily.  He's standing on his own more often and for longer periods of time but really no walking yet...it's going to be soon though!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Worrying was for something...

Well, my worrying the other night was for a good reason.  I took Jack to the pediatrician on Tuesday and sure enough, he has an ear infection.  His left ear was inflammed - poor guy!  I had a feeling something was going on, but I think we caught it early, he only decreased his bottle intake by about 2oz/day and kept up with his solids really well.  So, I'm hoping he doesn't have much, if any, decrease in weight for this.  He's at 18lbs now - which is awesome - and he's starting to wear 12 month size clothes!  We are decreasing OT to every other week and she's figuring that he'll be down to 1x/month or even discharged by this spring!!  Such great news!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Constantly worrying...

I hope that my worrying is normal - otherwise I'm in trouble.  I am constantly worrying about Jack.  It seems that when we get through something bit, something else pops up.  Like right now, we have been improving on solids and eating a consistent 20oz of formula/day for the past month or so, which means that when we were at the pediatrician on Friday for his synagis shot, we had a fantastic weight check - up to almost 18lbs!  I was very happy and so was the pediatrician's office.  This weekend, Jack started drinking less from his bottles - only a couple ounces/day but continued to eat his solids very well - 3 good meals/day.  Now today, he took only about 17oz of formula and didn't eat hardly any dinner.  I know we have overcome so much and he's starting to do well with weight and eating more variety of foods, I thought we were on a good track.  Hopefully this is just a small setback to where he is just starting to wean himself down on his formula amounts but the not eating dinner concerns me a little bit.  I'm planning on calling the pediatrician tomorrow to make sure he isn't getting sick (from me again - I can't seem to stay away from colds this fall) and that is why he isn't eating.  So much fun!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

13 weeks...

Today is 13 weeks, we had our normal every other week doctor appointment, everything is great, blood pressure is good, heard the heartbeat very quickly this time.  That's a great thing since last time it took quite awhile to hear it!  I finally gained some weight...2.5lbs - I figured that must be because of Thanksgiving but I could barely eat that night because I was so full from lunch!  Though I am through the first trimester now, I'm still having some nauseous feelings...ugh.  Sometimes I think it would be better to just puke...who knows.  Overall, with both Jack and this little one, I've had pretty easy first trimesters...more nauseous and exhausted this time but I think some of that is because I have Jack to care for and boy is he a busy body!!  Overall, we are happy things are going well and just trying to take care of both my little ones!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Goal Date...

In early October we were hit with some very surprising news, Jack is going to be a big brother!  This was surprising because we were not planning on this to happen for a least another year or so.  We are nervous and excited at the same time - nervous because I am now considered high risk because of my problems with Jack and excited because we will have 2 little ones close in age to each other and hopefully be good friends.  So far things are going well, we are going to see the OB every other week until about week 20 and at that point we will have weekly appointments.  I am checking my blood pressure daily and watching my sodium intake.  We had an ultrasound at 7 weeks which set our due date at June 7.  We have heard the little peanut's heartbeat 2 times so far, first time at 9 weeks then at 11 weeks.  I am practically already only able to wear maternity clothes! 

Goal Date:  Well, I have set a goal date of which I would LOVE to reach - May 17...my reasoning for this is simple, that is the 37 week mark which makes this little one considered full term.  Jack was born at 26 weeks due to severe preecclampsia and we are hoping to make it to full-term with this pregnancy.  We are more knowledgeable regarding my previous condition and are taking as many precautions as we can early on - checking blood pressure, watching sodium, limiting strenuous activity (I had to quit my weekend job at the hospital) and elevating my feet when able.  Our goal is to make it into the 3rd trimester and full-term! 

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thankfulness...

This Thanksgiving I am very thankful for many things.  First and foremost, my special, amazing son, Jack.  This time last year, we were spending time between the NICU and home, Jack was 1 month old but as you all know, he came 14 weeks early, so he still needed to grow before coming home.  This year is very special because he is home with us, he is catching up to his actual age.  I know every baby is a miracle but he is definitely more of a miracle than most normal babies.  Secondly, Baby Albright #2, who is just a little over 12 weeks along - so far, everything is going great and we are monitoring my blood pressure closely and hoping for a long 36+ week pregnancy this time.  Thirdly, my husband, who is an amazing father and I wouldn't be able to do any of this without him.  Finally, Jack's wonderful grandparents.  His grandmas babysit him every week and their time is greatly appreciated.  His grandpas love seeing him and spoiling him as much as possible!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Escaping...

Here's my sweet Jack...naked baby...trying to escape!  Too bad he doesn't know how cold it is out!  He stayed nice and warm inside and is now dressed and snuggled in...sleeping on me!!  He's starting to be too big for this, but I love it anyways!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Update...

Things are going well in the Albright household.  Jack is over his double ear and sinus infection, though his reflux seems to be a little worse right now.  He is eating much better - taking good amounts of food for 2 of 3 meals each day!  We are very happy about how well he is doing.  He LOVES mashed bananas and mac n cheese, along with his still favorite, pancakes.  We are trying to incorporate vegetables into the mix, had a few peas last night.  He did pretty well with applesauce and loves his banana yogurt that I started feeding him for breakfast.  He'll eat half a container without thinking about it!

He's crawling for real now - it's much easier on carper than the wood floors but he's doing pretty well.  He's found the door stops and loves playing with those.  We are working on teaching him the word 'NO', he'll stop and look at us when we say it, it takes a few times for him to understand that we don't want him doing what he is doing.  Some times it's just easier to tell him 'NO' and move him away from the problem.  Hopefully it'll sink in soon.  It is fun to see how busy he has become and how curious he is.  We are exhausted once he goes to bed!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Daylight Savings Time...

So, this weekend we turned our clocks back 1 hour...we went through the spring forward with Jack and it wasn't a big deal but this falling back has kicked the little guy's butt!  He's close to being over his terrible double ear infection and back to eating rather normally now (thankfully!!) but he's so exhausted at night that he's falling asleep early!  Here is a picture of him at dinner tonight...poor little guy!!


He barely woke up for his bottle and the only reason he woke up is because he ended up with diaper rash today and it hurt sooo bad to wipe him while changing his diaper tonight.  Hopefully that will feel better tomorrow...we are keeping it well covered in desitin/butt paste to get rid of it quickly!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Sick Jackers...

My poor little man has been fighting illness for a little over a week.  We took him to the immediate care last friday night and they said his ears, throat, and lungs all looked/sounded good and it was just a virus.  Well, 4 days later, he isn't much better - still stuffy, lots of ugly looking gunk coming out of his nose, coughing, and really pretty fussy and abnormal for him.  I called the ped this morning to get him in...thankfully I did.  He has a combination ear and sinus infection.  Poor baby!  No wonder he's fussy - he's got to be in pain!  We started him on medication tonight, hopefully he'll start getting better rather soon.  We also got his first synagis(RSV) shot for the season and likely will get those up until April.  He hasn't been wanting too many solids lately because of being sick but at least he's been taking his bottles consistently and he got weighed again today and he's now up to 16lb 9oz - a whole pound bigger than he was just over a month ago!  I think at this point a pound a month is pretty good! :)  We'll at least get a weight check each month now because of the synagis shot, so we'll have a good consistent scale to go off of.  On a sad note, our fantastic ped is leaving the practice to specialize in kids with ADHD, so we are switching to one of the other docs in the practice. 

Keep thinking good thoughts for Jack to get better soon!!!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

We weren't able to make too big of a deal out of Halloween this year but Jack did get to dress up and go to a couple of houses once we got home today.  Here's our cute little skeleton!


Jack is learning how to walk with his new push toys he got for his birthday but he also like riding them too!  This is his new toy we call "Scoot" and Jack riding him around the house!


We are working on getting rid of another cold here at our house and hopefully Jack will be back to eating his normal amounts of food soon but he's still taking his bottles and we are trying some foods but he just isn't eating much at all.  Hopefully he'll be at a decent weight when we go see Dr. Escobar on Friday. 

Saturday, October 23, 2010

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY JACK!!!

We made it through our first year!!  Happy Birthday Jack!!  We are so proud to be your parents!  You are an amazing little boy!  Love you! 

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Looking back over the past year...

Last year, I ended up in the hospital with very high blood pressure just past the mid-point in my pregnancy.  I started my hospital stay on October 18, 2009 - we were told due to the nature of my condition at that time, the only way to cure the high blood pressure was deliver but if I was willing and they could stabilize it, we would stay in the hospital, on bed rest, until they needed to deliver.  I was in it for the long haul - or so I thought.  We made it until Friday, October 23, 2009 - that morning the doctors said things were looking better, I was feeling better, so we had a goal of getting through the weekend.  I finally got to eat some food and we were hoping to get a little further along.  My body and little Jack had other ideas, that afternoon, in an emergent situation where they lost him on the monitor for a moment, we were rushed to the OR and he was delivered at 1:15pm a tiny 1lb 10oz and 12.5 in long.  I was unable to see him, Dustin was able to go back into a room and briefly see him before he was taken up to the NICU.  My first glimpses of him were through pictures Dustin took when he went up to the NICU - we didn't even name him until the next day.  The first few months of his life were a roller coaster of ups and downs - ventilator, CPAP, oxygen, feeding tubes, surgeries. 


Those things all happened while Jack was in the NICU - once he came home, he was on oxygen but taking his bottles until late March when they found a laryngeal cleft (rare birth defect) and he had to go on a feeding tube to avoid aspirating his food which allowed him to come off oxygen more quickly (yay!), he had surgery to repair his cleft in May, so as of June, he was off oxygen but still on his feeding tube, he had passed his swallow study so we knew he was safe to eat but he didn't want to.  So we continued to work on the feeding thing and we finally got a breakthrough in August when another doctor allowed us to completely take out the feeding tube and do a 'wean' - it worked!!  We have been tube free for 2 months now and he is still eating well.  This Saturday is Jack's 1st birthday, we are so thankful as to how well he is doing and look forward to the next years of fun!!

Here is just a brief look at Jack's progress over the past year in pictures!




The big 1 year old!!




Sunday, October 17, 2010

hmmm....just a quick post

I was just sitting here and realized that this time last year I was laying in a hospital bed listening to one of the Neonatologists talk about what to expect when having a premature baby...it was the first day in a VERY long week!  More to come about that week soon!

Friday, October 15, 2010

It's been awhile!

Whew - I haven't posted anything in awhile!  We have been pretty busy lately and I just wanted to provide a quick update on what is going on...

Jack's still eating great!  He enjoys his pancakes for breakfast and we are working on giving him 3 meals a day and still going for the bottles also.  Our next goal is to go from bottles to sippy cups (hopefully by 18 months) and he is also drinking sips of water out of a big boy cup too!  Jack is still gaining weight and doing well with that - hopefully he'll have another growth spurt!

Jack's still practicing with the cruising - he is doing better each day.  He is also trying to crawl still - definitely has the army crawling down and is trying to get those knees up under him and continues moving forward!

We all went to Uncle Jared and Aunt Amanda's wedding last weekend - it was a fun time!  Jack was of course his cute, sweet self!  We can't wait to see all the pictures!

Overall things are going pretty well around here, Jack's 1st birthday is next weekend and we are looking forward to having a celebration of how special he is and how far he has come in the past year!!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Fun Photo shoot with Brooke!

Last Friday afternoon we had Jack's 1 year photo shoot with Brooke!  It was such a beautiful day outside and Jack was his charming self!  He enjoyed being at the park - the kid loves to be outside!  He was very smiley and happy all afternoon.  I know Brooke was excited to see him and got to feed him a bottle!  I think the last time she did that was when he was in the NICU and about 10lbs smaller than what he is now!  Here's Brooke's preview of Jack's pictures on her blog.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Update...

A quick update on Jack's pediatrician appointment today - everything going great!  He's up to 15lb 11oz now and 27 inches long!  He's still gaining along his own curve - still at the 1% mark for his age group for weight; moved up closer to the 3% mark for height(he did grow 1.25 inches in less than a month) and gaining in head circumference!  GO JACK!  The ped said he thought that once Jack hits 12 months we should switch him to toddler formula to continue with the nutrients it provides to help him continue to grow and catch up.  I'm so happy he's doing so well and we are thrilled about his wonderful progress!  He's continuing with the army crawling and it's becoming a little more coordinated, he's cruising along the couch, and pulling to stand - WOW!  It's going to be a fun fall/winter in our house!!

Friday, September 24, 2010

11 Months!!

We are closing in on 1 year...11 months old.  Time sure does fly when you are having fun!  I can't believe it's been this long already!  I'll be saying the same thing when he's 5, 10, 15, etc...but I truely can't believe it's already been this long.  It seems like just yesterday!  I just quickly wanted to post about Jack being 11 months old and how fantastic he has done so far and how much he's doing lately!  Talking up a storm - dada, ba, mama!!  He's working on crawling, pulling up to stand, playing with his toys still, throwing overhand and getting more teeth in!  His top left is so close to pushing thru, just not yet!  We head to the pediatrician next week, so I'm hoping for good weight gain - if he keeps eating the way he's been then it shouldn't be a problem!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Growth Spurt?

So, since we are officially feeding tube free we have been figuring out what Jack likes to eat - boy does this kid like some crazy stuff!  We definitely know that he does NOT like baby food - he literally gags at the Gerber purees - so we just don't feed him those.  Here's our list of likes:  mashed sweet potatoes, mashed butternut squash, chocolate and vanilla pudding, ritz crackers, the gerber graduate cheese poofs, and the different flavored puffs.  He is also doing a great job with his formula - taking over 20oz a day.  We go see the peditrician next week and hopefully we'll have a decent weight gain!  He's definitely too tall for the 6month clothes, so we are into 9month ones now!

Crawling - getting very close!  He now has some uncoordinated scooting forward going on to get different things for himself.  We are still working on getting to a seated position from laying down and pulling up to things.  He's doing great overall! 

Here's a cute picture Dustin sent me this weekend - what a big boy!!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Feeling much better...

So, it seems we have survived our second cold!  Jack is doing much better, didn't cough all night, slept very good!  He's still a little stuffy but mostly in the morning - which is a good thing, he's working all the phlegm out.  He didn't really want to eat much yesterday - I think that was due to still having so much junk in his nose.  He did eat a good amount of formula - thankfully. 

We went down to the Zionsville Fall Festival, it was an enjoyable afternoon walking around, we saw the animals - puppies! and got some yummy food - the Friendly's tenderloins were awesome!.  I talked with the lady at the March of Dimes booth and asked for more information regarding Pre-ecclampsia, mainly to learn more as to why I ended up having it so early especially since I really didn't have any of the risk factors.  Also, I want to learn about the risk for a subsequent pregnancy - if we decide Jack needs a little sister or brother. 

Of course, the most important thing right now is focusing on Jack, he was using our hands to pull himself up to standing and is working on going from laying down to sitting.

Friday, September 10, 2010

When one gets sick, we all do...

It sucks when you get sick, but it sucks more when your little one is sick also.  We all had our second cold since May but it seems worse this time because it's combined with teething.  We are giving Jack albuterol treatments every 4 hours and he's more comfortable and not coughing as much after that - but of course I'm terribly worried this will turn into something more.  Likely he'll kick this soon likke the lasg one but we'll keep doing what we can until it's over!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Birthday planning...

Wow - I can't believe that I am starting to plan Jack's 1st birthday!  This time last year we were just getting started working on his nursery, registering, and getting a list of names together!  A lot has changed!  We are definitely going to be celebrating what a year it has been!  We have been through some tough challenges and have come out for the better!  We aren't going to have a big massive party, mostly  family, close friends, and hopefully a couple special nurse guests (I need your address Brooke!)  I was choosing pictures of his invitation and it's amazing how much he has changed this past year - one thing's for sure, he's always had an awesome head of hair!!

We are officially TUBE FREE!  It took 10 long months but we've made it.  We have a new goal now - crawling.  I am hoping he'll be crawling all over the place by his birthday.  He's thinking about it just hasn't quite got it yet!  He's tolerating tummy time much better and is pushing up on his arms, so it's just a matter of time! 

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Not a $1,000,000.00 Baby...

Well, it's been 10 months since Jack was born, 3 of that spent in the NICU.  We had always wondered what the total amount for those days, months spent in the NICU would total out to be...just curious if we would hit the million dollar mark.  Well, we received the official bill last week, he did NOT hit the million dollar mark for his time spent in there - only $590,000 - he did a pretty good job of closing in on that mark and I think with all of our other hospital stays and surgeries we may be close. I might have to add it all up just to know what the first year ended up being...no particular reason as to why I want to know, just curious I guess.  Either way, no matter what the final total ends up being, my Jack is MORE than worth every penny!  The care he received was over and above wonderful and I love the fact we still keep in touch with those amazing nurses!!

As I'm realizing that September is almost here, Jack's 1st birthday is coming up VERY soon and I am starting to work on planning it.  I look at how far we've come, starting off at a tiny 1lb 10o to now a chunky almost 16lbs and over 26in tall, off all meds except reflux ones, no lung problems, and one of the most important things is no tubes now!  It's been a long road but totally worth it!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

So much fun...

Whew...what a busy weekend!  Jack got to spend the majority of the weekend hanging out with Dad - I'm sure they both enjoyed it!  Here's a quick recap of everything they did...

Friday...took an awesome 5oz of food in the morning, went to the pulmonologist, and continued on a great roll with the bottle!

Saturday...continued with awesome intake of formula from the bottle, hung out with Adam, went to Target with Dad, and enjoyed mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding!

Sunday...we all spent the morning here at home, went swimming, reorganized the living room to give Jack more rolling room and spent some time planning our projects on the house.

The pulmonologist...Jack is now OFF one medicine and his breathing treatments!!  They have also FINALLY discharged the apnea monitor.  Turns out, most of his lung problems were actually due to the aspiration rather than chronic lung disease - fantastic news!!

Still rocking it with NO tube, he's rolling all over the place now and is talking up a storm!  We swear he's said "Dada" a few times and "hi" a couple also.  He's enjoying some solid foods - definitely does not like baby food but does like mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding!  We are working on peaches and yogurt also.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

NICU Picnic...

Saturday was the NICU picnic - all graduates from the NICU are invited.  There seemed to be a wide range of ages - from 7(maybe even older) down to newly discharged babies.  It definitely looked like in a couple years it will be lots of FUN!  This year it was nice to go and enjoy the park, see some of our nurses and doctors, and see some of the friends we made while we were in there.  Jack seemed to enjoy himself.  We saw Nurse Emily and Nurse Sara while we were there.  He spent some time swinging - a first! 




Also, we are in the midst of doing a wean - we are now on day 5 without the tube and amounts of formula have increased daily.  Yesterday was a big 20 oz.  As of right now, he has taken 13 oz so far today.  Our goal is a minimum of 20/day and hoping for close to 24 oz/day.  I am cautiously optimistic that we will be finished with the feeding tube.  He's doing wonderful!!  He is also rolling all over the place now and thinking about crawling...makes me wonder if the irritation from the tube was holding back some other developmental things also...we will see!  For now, we are happy he's doing so well and hoping for continued progress!!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Daddy's out of town...

Well, last week Dustin had to go out of town for work - he spent the whole week in San Antonio, TX - of course Jack and I missed him VERY much!  I even received a wonderful surprise of some very pretty roses on Friday from him for being the 'best mom' - I LOVED it!  It is wonderful to get flowers from your husband thanking you for being a good mom!!  Well, Dustin is headed out of town again today - boo!  It is sooo very rare that he has to leave town - maybe once a year - but this year it was 2x and they just happened to be within a week of one another.  I know Jack enjoyed having his daddy home again and they spent yesterday evening together while I finished up at work (it was a VERY busy day).  I enjoyed receiving this adorable picture of Jack hanging out in the grass while I was writing my notes!

Doesn't he look so big!!

The NICU picnic is this coming weekend - it should be great to see some old friends from there but we are so very bummed that Jack's favorite nurse is working that day...boo!  We did stop by and see her the other week after Speech therapy...hopefully we'll get to hang out with her again soon!!

We are attempting the wean again this weekend - going for more than one day and hoping for continued improvement - I am waiting to find out how much food he needs to take in a day's time to stay hydrated and then want to work towards the amount that allows him to continue to gain weight - he truely does much better with oral feeds when the tube is NOT in place - it causes just enough irritation in his throat to make him not want to eat.  Go figure - probably like when we have a sore throat and don't want to eat anything that day...makes sense, right?

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Wean update...

Well, yesterday went pretty well.  We took the tube out early in the morning and had a fairly successful day.  Jack got better as the day went on in regards to the bottle or his honey bear cup.  We took some good bites of green beans and even ate some tiny pieces of turkey breast lunch meat!!  He sucked on a dill pickle, a strawberry, and a cheeto puff!  No gagging or crying - woohoo!!  He took a couple ounces of diluted apple juice from his honey bear cup (a honey bear bottle with a straw attached - which I adapted even more for his small mouth - OT skills coming in handy at home!) and towards the end of the day he started taking milk from the bottle!  It was very successful and our plan is to increase his days off next week to at least 2 and if that continues we'll just keep going! 

We took Jack to see the Indianapolis Indians play last night and he started taking the bottle while we were there - I got an action shot with my phone!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Wean today...

So, today is a big day - we are attempting to do a slow wean.  We went to see Dr. Escobar for Jack's NICU follow-up appointment on Tuesday and he thought we needed to do a wean to get Jack off the tube.  We started this morning - pulled the tube and we are going to email him as to what he takes for the day to determine how many days we are off next week.  Please hope for good results so we can continue to increase our tube free days till there is NO MORE TUBE!

Outside of the feeding thing (which is getting slightly better - no gagging or extreme crying anymore - he just now clamps his mouth down and we have to sneak in bites when he is smiling), Jack is doing wonderful - handling tummy time on all fours a little better and he has gone from a sitting position to his tummy a couple times this week.  No crawling yet but it seems close...he likes to do things in his own time...as we all well know. 

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Taking pictures...

So, I really don't know much at all about taking pictures - I wish I did!  Our camera is awesome - we went all out - mainly for Jack (we bought it before he arrived).  Now, we just need to learn how to use it and all the abilities it has.  This morning, Dustin was holding Jack just right where the sun, coming in from the windows at the side and above the front door, was making his crazy hair shine like a halo.  It was so cool looking, so I tried to take a picture of it...Here are the 2 different pictures I took - using different settings.



Jack looks so serious when his picture is being taken - I wish I could get a smile showing those 2 little teeth!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Laughing...

Last night after Dustin got home from work we were playing with Jack upstairs and he was laughing up a storm any time he got close to Turk!  Of course we didn't have the video camera up there, so we brought Jack downstairs and got this video of him and Turk!



We never realized Turk was so hilarious! 

Quick feeding update - still with the tube (boo) but he's been taking 4-5 bites of food 2-3x/day since Sunday (yay!) with minimal gagging, no crying, but still fighting the spoon.  We are doing speech and OT 1x/week to work on this. 



Jack's doing a great job sitting up and playing, we are working on crawling and standing while holding on to the couch.  He loves playing with Austin (cat) and Austin will just let Jack pull his tail and fur without getting mad - it's great!



Saturday, July 31, 2010

Another feeding update...

We think we are on to something now - Jack doesn't want to eat with the tube in place.  We took it out today and he took about 5 oz again.  The plan is to give it another go tomorrow and hope for some continued results.  He was much happier today without the tube in and tolerated me putting it back in so we could "catch up" overnight.  We are hoping for a continued increase in oral feedings and working towards being tube free.  The big thing is hoping for no set-backs during the week when we are at work and when Dustin leaves town for work soon.  It's going to be a rough road but I believe he can do it! 

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Still working towards no tube...

Well, Jack still has the feeding tube - we had hoped we had a breakthrough last Sunday...he took about 150mL by bottle(5 ounces).  That was huge for him, so we thought he had gotten over the 'hump' when it came to feeding.  Monday, we were back to the norm of fighting the bottle.  The only difference we can figure is that he had pulled his tube out on Sunday, so we were attempting the bottle without the tube.  Of course, we had to put the tube back in on Sunday night.  We are considering taking the tube out and giving him the option of only taking the bottle on Saturday and see how well he does.  We don't know if it is for sure but maybe without the tube he'll do much better - keep your fingers crossed!

Outside of working on feeding, we've been working on crawling - Jack can definitely sit up and reach for his toys, he'll get into a quadriped position to head to a crawl and then promptly roll onto his back!  What a goof ball!  I am sure he's close to crawling, so we are just going to keep working on it! 

We found out last week, Jack is going to have a girl cousin!!  Aunt Marianne and Uncle Steve are having a little girl and we are thrilled!!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

More 9 month pictures!




Just a few more of Jack's 9 month pictures! Hope you enjoy them! :)
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9 month pics...

We took a trip to have Jack's 9 month pictures taken - he did great, though it took quite a bit for us to get him to smile! It was time to change his feeding tube so we got the pictures taken tube free! It was so difficult to put the tube back in - we did it. Hopefully we'll be tube free here soon, especially when we start working with therapy more often. We did mash up some ripe bananas yesterday and Jack enjoyed them - ate 5+ good bites which is great! We are freezing a whole ice cube tray worth so we can have them for awhile.
Here's a couple of Jack's pictures

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Friday, July 16, 2010

Update...


We've been keeping busy around here lately!  Jack's sitting up and doing better each day!  Those 2 teeth have broken through the gum but aren't fully in yet.  Jack's getting bigger each day(over 14 lbs now!) and working towards crawling...

Dustin and the guys went to Put-in-Bay for Jared's bachelor party - they all had a great time!  I figured out that I'm definitely not cut out to be a single parent!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Teething and sitting up!


Well, we've hit one of the major milestones - sitting up!  Jack can definitely sit up on his own now!  He's doing great with it and loves playing on the floor.  It's wonderful to watch him!  He's doing so well - he tolerates tummy time for a little bit and then promptly rolls over onto his back!  It's comical!

I've been wondering why Jack has been so fussy lately - well today I figured out why - he's teething!  I was able to get a peek at his bottom gum today and there are 2 little white teeth peeking through - I'll hopefully get some pictures of them once they arrive!  It's nice to know why he's been so fussy lately!  We are still working on the eating thing - he's taking 4-5 good bites for the most part lately - it's a start!