Well, not much new to report today except Zac is continuing to take food very well, his blood tests are all coming back great, and he's doing well still without the extra oxygen from his c-pap. All good things!
Nana Nell just called to give us an update from the visit she and Puddin' just made, and she told me when they arrived, he'd wiggled himself not only out of his c-pap, but his little hat as well. :) She wished she'd had her camera because this was a rare chance to get a picture without that crazy tube in and while he was awake. So they were able to help get him weighed and I'm told he weighed in at 4 lbs, 1 oz. tonight, which would be 5 oz. more than the last time we knew about, which I think was Tuesday. He's been getting real food plus his supplements still, and they even doubled his food at his feedings today, so that might explain some of it, though the nurse did say she thinks he may be about to get rid of a little bit of that weight sometime tonight. :)
No new pics today, but I should say that when Katy first saw him this morning after her visit to have her staples removed (woohoo!), she took a pic of him sleeping completely spread out, arms behind his head as though he was just resting in a recliner. He seems to like being all closed up when on his tummy, but put him on his side or on his back and he's just all over the place. They try putting his legs in tighter and bundling him up, but the first thing he does is kick his legs right back out again. Strong-willed little guy, to be sure. :)
Friday, February 8, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Making Improvement
Just a quick update tonight. Zac is continuing to make solid improvement. Today we've both been able to hold him for quite awhile, and for the first time, he is getting to eat, albeit through a feeding tube! That's pretty exciting and is a good step forward.
Also, just a few minutes ago they stopped adding oxygen to his c-pap, which is that big breathing tube thingy you've seen in some of the pictures. He will wear the c-pap through the night and they'll test him again in the morning, I believe, for blood gas, as they have consistently so far. If all is well, I guess there is a good chance he'll be off the breathing machine completely, which would be great! We'd really like to be able to see him without all the extra tubes around his face. :)
Katy and I rejoice in the seemingly small victories God provides with Zac. And though it's been about a week, time has just flown by and it's not dragging along at all. Before we know it, he'll be out of here and terrorizing the kitties at home! A quick note about the picture in this post. We were getting ready to leave, when Katy noticed he had his hand stuck down his diaper. As Katy said, it's too early for him to be acting like a man.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Zac Updates for 2/6/2008
Well, good news here. Zac had a good night and has had a good day. His bilirubin count is down to 6.8, which is at a level to where they are willing to pull off the lights. So, no foam purple sunglasses today, and he likes that. Additionally, he had fewer episodes of apnea last night and today and so they've changed his oxygen level and he's doing well with that, too. He's seems very content and today we've been able to hold him again. That is something we are very grateful for. In fact, today was my first chance to get to hold him! I enjoyed talking to him and found that if I spoke in a certain tone or used a specific voice inflection, he would raise his eyebrows as he was listening to me and even looking at me. :)
At this age, he can really only see clearly about 8-10 inches in front of his face, so we try to be close to him as possible when he's in his little bed or when we're holding him. Katy is holding him right now, doing the kangaroo care again, where she holds him up close, with skin to skin contact. He becomes very content when she does this, and his sleep is supposedly even deeper when this is happening.
One thing we've read is that for premature babies, deep sleep is absolutely vital to their growth and health. They aren't awake much at this point anyway, sleeping about 22 hours or more every day, so it's important for us to let him sleep and not bug him just because we want to be near him. :)
At this age, he can really only see clearly about 8-10 inches in front of his face, so we try to be close to him as possible when he's in his little bed or when we're holding him. Katy is holding him right now, doing the kangaroo care again, where she holds him up close, with skin to skin contact. He becomes very content when she does this, and his sleep is supposedly even deeper when this is happening.
One thing we've read is that for premature babies, deep sleep is absolutely vital to their growth and health. They aren't awake much at this point anyway, sleeping about 22 hours or more every day, so it's important for us to let him sleep and not bug him just because we want to be near him. :)
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Back to the lights!
Hey everyone, thought I'd pass along an update for today, Tuesday the 5th. Zac's tests for everything regarding infection and how his oxygen is being processed, etc., are coming back just fine. Yesterday they did an MRI, I think it was, on his kidneys and liver and everything there looks good, too.
Today is he back on the lights for his jaundice. They advised us this is fairly typical. Hopefully he'll continue improvements and get that treatment out of the way for good here in the next day or two. The nurses advised us that he had 34 episodes of apnea yesterday, which is a fair number, but that today so far he's been better. It's my understanding that as of this writing, which is 5:25pm CST, he's had about 7 so far today. Right now as I sit here in his room, he's resting well, though suddenly very active as I see him kicking his feet up in the air quite a bit!
I did some reading on this and apparently the nervous system for premature babies isn't fully developed yet, so they make kind of jerky movements sometimes with their arms and legs. Same movements regular newborns make, just a little less smooth. :)
Katy has spend much of today here with Zac, as we arrived a little after 11 this morning. I had a computer job to work on, but returned here around 3:30 and we intend to stay for awhile yet. No new pics to post just yet, as not much has changed and we can't take him out of his little bed today, but maybe tomorrow! Take care all.
Today is he back on the lights for his jaundice. They advised us this is fairly typical. Hopefully he'll continue improvements and get that treatment out of the way for good here in the next day or two. The nurses advised us that he had 34 episodes of apnea yesterday, which is a fair number, but that today so far he's been better. It's my understanding that as of this writing, which is 5:25pm CST, he's had about 7 so far today. Right now as I sit here in his room, he's resting well, though suddenly very active as I see him kicking his feet up in the air quite a bit!
I did some reading on this and apparently the nervous system for premature babies isn't fully developed yet, so they make kind of jerky movements sometimes with their arms and legs. Same movements regular newborns make, just a little less smooth. :)
Katy has spend much of today here with Zac, as we arrived a little after 11 this morning. I had a computer job to work on, but returned here around 3:30 and we intend to stay for awhile yet. No new pics to post just yet, as not much has changed and we can't take him out of his little bed today, but maybe tomorrow! Take care all.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Katy is being sprung!
Just a quick note this morning...Katy is being sprung! Yeah, I know it sounds like "from jail", but though that's not accurate, it does feel that way after you've been here so long. :)
She's being discharged sometime this morning, which will be nice so life can begin to resume. We'll be back here with Zac at the NICU this afternoon a bit and then this evening, I'm sure. I have many errands and chores to do at home, including buying food for us to eat, so it'll be a busy day!
But, I just wanted to let everyone know she's heading home. If anyone in town wants to see us or Zac, just call us on our cell phones so you'll know where we are at that time. :)
She's being discharged sometime this morning, which will be nice so life can begin to resume. We'll be back here with Zac at the NICU this afternoon a bit and then this evening, I'm sure. I have many errands and chores to do at home, including buying food for us to eat, so it'll be a busy day!
But, I just wanted to let everyone know she's heading home. If anyone in town wants to see us or Zac, just call us on our cell phones so you'll know where we are at that time. :)
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Sunday, Feb. 3rd Update
Well, just a quick update for Sunday. We spent significant time in Zac's room today and tonight. Last night they put him back on the c-pap (sp?), which is essentially just a bigger breathing tube, to help make sure he's getting enough oxygen. The percentage they are giving him is fairly low, less than 25% oxygen. To compare, the air we breathe is 21%. He had some episodes of labored breathing overnight last night and a few bouts of apnea. As I'm sure everyone knows, apnea is when you essentially quit breathing for a short period of time. We're most familiar with it in people who we say have sleep apnea. No difference here with Zac. At this age, he shouldn't have had to be ready to tell himself to breathe just yet, and so it'll just take a little while for his mind to figure it out. So occasionally he'll take a deep breath and then just wait a few seconds before taking another. While for us that's no big deal, for him it's not what they want.
To aid in figuring this out, they began today giving him a daily dose of caffeine. That's right, caffeine. This stimulates him so that he'll be a bit more active and also helps keep his mind alert so he remembers to breathe, so they tell us. They'll keep him on this with a once daily regimen for at least a few days here. Other than that, he is doing very well overall. He has a little bit of jaundice and so is under the lights and has been since Saturday. Won't be too long before he can remove his cool purple foam shades. :)
Just about everything else is pretty normal, and he is certainly alert and active, moving his arms and legs often. Might sound like something simple, but Katy and I think it's pretty funny when he'll just suddenly kick his legs up in the air. Saturday, while Katy was holding him (something we couldn't do today), he followed us around with his eyes, and was watching many things. Tonight I was able to assist the nurse while she changed out his medicines and nutrition tubes, and with weighing him as well. While I was holding him and then lifting him up so she could move things around, he watched me very intently. It's nice to know that, even at this very young age, and even as premature as he was, he still is aware of his surroundings to the point where he can follow what is happening. He's one tough cookie, but I'm just glad he's too young to remember all these tubes and poking and prodding years from now. :)
To aid in figuring this out, they began today giving him a daily dose of caffeine. That's right, caffeine. This stimulates him so that he'll be a bit more active and also helps keep his mind alert so he remembers to breathe, so they tell us. They'll keep him on this with a once daily regimen for at least a few days here. Other than that, he is doing very well overall. He has a little bit of jaundice and so is under the lights and has been since Saturday. Won't be too long before he can remove his cool purple foam shades. :)
Just about everything else is pretty normal, and he is certainly alert and active, moving his arms and legs often. Might sound like something simple, but Katy and I think it's pretty funny when he'll just suddenly kick his legs up in the air. Saturday, while Katy was holding him (something we couldn't do today), he followed us around with his eyes, and was watching many things. Tonight I was able to assist the nurse while she changed out his medicines and nutrition tubes, and with weighing him as well. While I was holding him and then lifting him up so she could move things around, he watched me very intently. It's nice to know that, even at this very young age, and even as premature as he was, he still is aware of his surroundings to the point where he can follow what is happening. He's one tough cookie, but I'm just glad he's too young to remember all these tubes and poking and prodding years from now. :)
Grabbing On
This is during the first time Zac was out of his incubator today, Feb. 2nd. Katy was able to hold him for about 25 minutes.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
New Baby!
As we've contacted just about everybody in our lives by now with an e-mail update, I'm sure I missed some. Even when you add in all the phone calls Katy's parents made, surely someone has been missed. If you didn't get the full details, please e-mail Scott (scott@bythebookkeeping.com) and ask away. For now, I'm adding a pic here and there in this blog until I can figure out how to get the ones I've saved online to show up here. Also, you can click here to see what we've placed out on Shutterfly. I'd hoped not to have to send anyone to an external link, but hey, I'll take what I can get at this point!
We'll try to post here regularly moving forward, and this is where I'll place any updates, so if you have a desire to follow along, you can subscribe to this blog through the link provided on the page, which I think shows up somewhere below the blog lists. :)
We'll try to post here regularly moving forward, and this is where I'll place any updates, so if you have a desire to follow along, you can subscribe to this blog through the link provided on the page, which I think shows up somewhere below the blog lists. :)
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