Ethan and I had a big day yesterday. We went to work!! I went to the office yesterday for a lunch meeting and to introduce Ethan to my coworkers. Ethan was such a good baby all day. It took a few hours to leave the house in the morning, but once we were on the road, everything went well. He didn’t poop all night – he saved them up for the morning. So I changed several very poopy diapers that morning, 2 of them back to back. He was determined that we were not going to leave the house at a reasonable time.

We got to work around 10am, and I didn’t see any of my coworkers. I didn’t want to be swarmed by everyone in the office (stay away from cold and flu germs), so we hid out in the bathroom lounge for a little while. Ethan was hungry, so I breastfed him. That was our first attempt outside of home, and it went great!!

After I found my coworkers, we went upstairs to look at our possible new workspace, then we went to Elizabeth’s for lunch. Ethan slept the whole time! He woke up briefly to let me know he was hungry again. I had prepared bottles just in case, and that certainly was a good idea. After we ate, we hung out for a while and talked about work. Ethan went back to sleep, lol. He likes all the ambient noise in restaurants. Everyone thought he was so cute!

After lunch, we went to visit Pam in the hospital. Ethan sat on her belly and was kicked by baby C!! He was awake for pretty much the whole visit. I think he was showing off for Pam – making lots of faces, being very alert, some baby noises, etc. He even reached out and grabbed her nose! He’s just starting to do these things, so I do think he was showing off, lol. We had a very good time visiting with Pam, and we hope that she stays there a good long time so we can visit some more!

After we left the hospital, we headed home. It was getting late, so we were at the beginning of rush hour traffic. Everything was fine until we hit the twin span. My car started to pull a little to the right and it got a little wobbly. I could tell my tire was low, but I wasn’t going to pull over until after the bridge because it wasn’t THAT bad. Well, my tire had another plan in mind. It blew out just as we were starting up the hump of the bridge. I had to pull over to the emergency lane in the middle of rush hour traffic. That is scary!! The e-lane on the bridge is JUST big enough for the car. Then you have to open the door and get out of the car!! Luckily my blown tire was on the passenger side, and a nice man stopped to help me change it. I know how to change a tire, but I was considering having Aaron come help because being on the hump of the bridge with the baby in the car was really pretty scary. I am terrified of heights too, and the guardrail on the bridge is not tall at all. Thank goodness I didn’t stop at the top – we were only about half way up. And call me ridiculous, but I really regretted NOT bringing my camera that day. The view was awesome!! I’ve always thought it would be cool to stop on the bridge and take pictures at sunset (if there was no traffic of course).

Sooooo…. the nice man changed my tire. Motorist Assistance Patrol showed up and helped make a break in traffic for me to get back on the road. We limped home on the spare tire. Ethan slept through the whole ordeal. He had no idea that anything even happened. I am very glad for that. I don’t know what I would have done if he had woken up and started crying while we were stopped. I certainly would not have gotten him out of the car in the middle of all that. The breeze could have swept him out of my arms and into the lake!!! YIKES!!

I have a lot of work to catch up on today, but later I want to play with the video camera and see if I can transfer our videos to the computer. If I am successful, I will post some here.

Thanksgiving was really nice this year. Mike & Marissa and Sten & Yoon came to visit us and meet Ethan. We all went to mom’s house to have a late lunch. Aaron and I cooked a turducken (from scratch, you slackers). Victoria came home from Dallas for a few days. Uncle Johnny came to visit from Fort Lauderdale. Here are some pictures:

Ethan certainly enjoyed himself….

or did he…..???

To cheer him up, Daddy put him on Grandma’s head

All the excitement made him very tired, so he took a nap on the boppy

He was really happy to see Auntie Victoria

And he loves to stare at Eris

We bought a video camera the day before Thanksgiving. I have some funny video clips to share, but I have to find a working firewire cable first. Once my cable arrives from Amazon and I can transfer the movies to the computer, I will share some very strange video clips of Ethan (moonwalking, quoting Shakespeare, attacking the dog, etc etc)

He was supposed to be weighed at the doctor’s office on Friday, but they were closed. I am impatient, so I tried to weigh him at home using our digital kitchen scale. I put one of his baskets on the scale, then I put him in the basket and tried to keep him still enough to get a decent measure. I estimate he was 7 lbs 10 ounces on Friday. I am going to bring him to the office tomorrow for his official weighing.

Ethan’s room has gotten quite messy and disorganized over the past few weeks. Since he’s not using his crib, we got into a bad habit of putting his clean clothes in the crib instead of putting them away in the closet and dresser. Tonight I decided to organize everything – I just couldn’t take the mess anymore. Plus, I might want to have him sleep in the crib during the day so that he is closer to me while I’m working. I have some more cleaning to do in the room (and we still need to put up the blinds), but I will take some pictures of the nursery soon.

In the process of cleaning up all the clothes, I found his “Swaddle Me” contraption that Elise and Andrew gave us. I had to look up instructions online because I had no idea how to use the thing. Ethan was being really grumpy this evening, so I decided to try the Swaddle Me. Its fantastic!!! The fabric is really stretchy, so it locks his arms in place and he can’t bust out of it. We call it his “baby straight jacket”. Way way way easier than trying to wrap him in a receiving blanket when he’s really pissed off.

When Ethan came home from the PICU, we started our attempts at breastfeeding again. It was going OK, but pretty awkward and frustrating. I only tried a time or two per day because it just frustrated me. Pumping and fixing a bottle was much easier and less painful than pumping then breastfeeding then pumping again.

Well, Ethan was being a little jerk in the night time. He’d have his bottle then he’d fuss for hours on end. Not exactly crying, but fussy. I changed his diaper, burped him, dressed him warmer, dressed him cooler, swaddled him, gave him a pacifier – we tried every baby soothing trick we know. I had him in the bed, laying on me, and he was still really pissed off constantly spitting out the pacifier. Sometimes he would rip the pacifier out of his mouth and fling it across the room.

After a few hours of fussing one night, it was food time again. Aaron went to get the bottle and I decided to give Ethan the breast to keep him occupied until the warm bottle arrived. Well, he really enjoyed himself and nursed right to sleep. And he stayed asleep for HOURS.

The next night we decided that it would be a good idea to try breastfeeding him for all of his bedtime and early morning feedings. That night we actually got 4 hours of unbroken sleep because he slept so soundly without any fussiness. Its really nice to wake up to a calm baby sleeping next to you instead of a fussy baby who is ready to chew your face off.

Now the plan is that he gets bottles during the day and when we’re ready to sleep, he gets the breast. It doesn’t work every time, but it works really well. We are all sleeping so much better. Sometimes Ethan will eat a lot and sleep for 4 or 5 hours before he’s hungry again. Other time, like last night, he wakes up every 2 hours and eats just enough to go back to sleep. I really don’t mind waking up often as long as he’s not screaming.

Its nice to have him sleeping in the bed with us. I put his sleep positioner in the bed to keep him from moving around, and to prevent any pillows from getting too close. I tuck his receiving blanket around the sides of the sleep positioner to keep it away from his face and to further prevent him from wiggling away. And the body pillow is a barrier to keep Aaron from coming over to the other side of the bed. It really works out so well. He sleeps so well and he doesn’t have apnea. Prior to getting RSV, he would have 2 apnea spells per night. Well, we’ve been home from the PICU for almost a week now and he’s only had 2 apnea spells total. I had read that was one of the benefits of cosleeping with your preemie, and it really does seem to make a difference.

Another thing that is making life easier right now is Ethan’s new baby carrier. I bought one of the Infantino EuroRider carriers:
http://www.infantino.com/Carriers/151-578.html
This thing is fantastic!! It is very comfortable and easy to use. Even though Ethan is small, it still supports him very well. I wear him when he’s awake and I need to get some work done. I can sit at the computer and type while wearing him, and as long as I sway my chest a bit, he doesn’t know the difference. I even wore him to Sams and Walmart, haha. We can take him places, but he needs to be protected from people coughing and sneezing and touching him. The carrier is just what we needed!

Ethan is 6 weeks old today! To celebrate the occasion, we took some pictures! YAY! I know everyone is excited to see some updated pictures. Click on the pictures to go to the web album and see the rest of the pictures.

Ethan saw his regular pediatrician today for his after-hospital checkup. She was very pleased with his recovery. His chest is clear, and he’s not very snotty anymore. She said she was impressed with how well we knew how to read him, and that he was very lucky we were able to recognize his sickness early. She said we really caught the RSV early, and he was a very very lucky little boy.

We will continue his breathing treatments for the entire winter. He’ll get the pulmicort every day, two times per day for the whole winter. We’ll give him the xopenex only when he has congestion. He will continue to get the Synagis shot, but they had to find a pharmacy that our insurance will work with. He was supposed to get it today, but the pharmacy didn’t have it ready yet.

The only bad news is that he hasn’t gained any weight in the past 2 weeks. He was 7 lbs 2 ounces again, so he’s got some catching up to do. We were concerned about feeding him too much, so I asked her about that. We started feeding him 3 ounces for some of his bottles because he was still hungry after 2.5 ounces. The hospital doctor was concerned that was too much for him and discouraged me from feeding him that much at a time. When I asked his regular pediatrician about it today, she said that I should feed him based on his hunger. If he’s still hungry and wants more, give him a bit more. She said if I fed him too much, I would know because he would spit up a lot more than usual. She said it definitely wouldn’t hurt to feed him more if he wants it because he needs to gain weight.

I had a meeting with the lactation nurse while we were in the hospital to get some pointers on getting him started breastfeeding again. She told me to offer him a supplemental bottle after each nursing session to make sure he got enough to eat. The pediatrician agreed that was a good plan since he needed to gain weight. We started nursing again before he left the hospital and so far it is going well. Sometimes he will take a supplement and sometimes he won’t, so I think he’s getting enough milk most of the time. Right now its a pain because I have to pump before we nurse and after we nurse. So its a lot less convenient than just giving him a bottle. But once we get the hang of it, I can cut back on the pumping, and things will be so much easier.

Overall, Ethan seems to be feeling so much better. He’s eating well and he’s very alert. He’s only had one apnea episode since we put him back on his home monitor on Wednesday. He wakes up and demands food on a regular basis instead of sleeping through his meals. The pediatrician was amazed that he tries to hold his bottle already. I fed him a bottle while we were there and as soon as I stuck it in his mouth, he put his hands on it. Sometimes, he will grab my fingers like they are handles and pull the bottle to his mouth. He’s still being a bit fussy, especially when he gets sniffly and snotty. But he’s also giving a lot more smiles and cute baby noises these days.

The doctor said that it is OK for us to start taking him places, but not to let anyone touch him or sneeze/cough on him. And use common sense – don’t take him somewhere really crowded. She said she is more worried about Thanksgiving and visiting relatives than she is worried about us taking him to the grocery store on occasion. Even if someone appears well and has not been sick, they can still pass the germs. So anyone that wants to touch him has to scrub up. If there’s any hint of sickness, we’re going to make you wear a mask!!! We don’t want any more hospital visits.

Finally, we are home! And we are going to stay here this time.

Ethan was discharged from the hospital this morning. He has to continue his breathing treatments with the nebulizer, and he will see his regular pediatrician on Friday.

There’s not much else to say. I’m really tired. I plan to sleep a lot!

Today is Ethan’s due date, which means he is now 40 weeks gestational age. As he continues to get older and more mature, he will start to outgrow alot of his preemie problems such as the apnea. He’s already become an expert as suck-swallow-breathe and has no more issues when taking a bottle. Even with all of his congestion from the respiratory infection, he still did really well with eating and breathing.

This afternoon we were moved out of ICU and into a regular room on the pediatric floor. 4th floor – same as the NICU – home sweet home (yeah right). We might be able to come home tomorrow, but nothing is certain. Ethan is finished with his ribavirin treatments, and his chest sounds very clear. But he now has diarrhea and is throwing up. He started running a fever earlier this evening. This could all be side effects of his treatments, or it could be something else. We just have to keep an eye on him and make sure that he’s staying hydrated. His IV came loose earlier, so they took it out. It will stay out unless he throws up too much and starts becoming dehydrated. He really hated that thing, so I hope they don’t have to put it back.

I should be sleeping right now, but I’m wide awake. I was so tired earlier, I was starting to become delirious. Aaron helped me get Ethan all settled and sleepy, and I was ready to go to sleep. Just as we got him settled, the nurse came in to check his vitals. She had to strip him down to his diaper, and of course, this woke him up and made him fussy again. After she finished, I wrapped him all up again and got him settled just in time for the respiratory therapist to come in and give him a nebulizer treatment. After that was finished, I realized that I might as well stay awake for a while because I will need to pump and Ethan will need to eat again in the next hour. Hopefully after his next meal, he’ll want to go right to sleep and we can start to catch up on our rest before the next interruption.

Ethan is feeling a lot better now. He wakes up and demands food on a regular schedule instead of sleeping through his meals. He has been so alert and awake for the past day. Probably the most alert I’ve seen him since he was born.

He has one more ribavirin treatment this afternoon. After that treatment is completed, he will be monitored for 24 hours. If he continues to improve, he can go home after 24 hours. If the doctor is not satisfied with his progress or if he has any relapses, he will stay longer. Sooo,he just might come home tomorrow night. And wouldn’t that be funny as it is his DUE DATE!

When we go home, he will still need to have regular breathing treatments, so we will be taking home a nebulizer. I’m glad they’re sending us home with one because I’m sure it will be very useful over the years.

Aaron has been working on the nursery while Ethan and I hang out in the PICU. He’s putting up the finishing touches today. I can’t wait to see it when we get home!

Ethan checked in to the Pediatric ICU at Northshore yesterday (Friday, November 9). He’s had a cold all week. It was just a minor cold with runny nose and some congestion. Things got a little worse on Thursday, and they got a lot worse on Friday. I could tell he wasn’t feeling well on Thursday, then Thursday night he had many many apnea spells. I decided to have a talk with the pediatrician on Friday when I took him in to check his weight. While we were in the pedi’s office, he had several apnea episodes. His monitor starting alerting us that his heart rate was dropping too. His doctor said that he was unstable and that he need to go to the PICU. She told us to go home and pack a bag and she would make the necessary arrangements so that they’d have his room ready.

Mom came over that morning to help me get him to the pedi, and thank goodness she was there. Ethan got really scary on the way to the hospital. She drove and I sat in the back so I could watch him. He had continuous apnea episodes the entire ride to the hospital. I had to constantly poke him, blow in his face, yell at him, shake his little hands and feet, etc in order to get him to remember to take breaths. His feet and hands were turning blue and his face was a really terrible color. I was terrified that I might have to give him CPR before we made it to the hospital.

As soon as we got to the hospital, I took him out of the car seat and held him, and he improved quickly. By the time we were filling out the paper work to be admitted, he was awake and wanting a bottle for the first time in 5 hours. I fed him and by the time we made it to his room, he was doing pretty well. If the pediatrician hadn’t seen him do the scary stuff, they might have thought we were crazy.

He’s doing well now – no more scary episodes since we got here. He’s on an IV to prevent dehydration and he’s in a humidifier tent to help him breathe. He tested positive for RSV, so he’s on Ribavirin to prevent the RSV from multiplying and getting worse. RSV is Respiratory Syncytial Virus – basically its the common cold for babies and they all get it at one time or another. For most babies, its just a serious cold, but for babies with weak immune systems, it can become a serious respiratory infection. Luckily, we caught it early and he will be fine. The apnea was really scary, but it was just his body’s way of handling (or NOT handling) stress. He also had really bad gas on Thursday and Friday, and even that was causing him to have apnea. He’d stop breathing, the alarm would go off, then he’d let out a huge fart, lol. He’ll be here for at least two more days to finish the Ribavirin treatment. After that, his doctor will determine how he’s doing and when he can go home. The Ribavirin is an anti-viral medication that prevents the RSV from making more copies of itself. The RSV already in his system has to run its course, but the Ribavirin prevents it from continuing to reproduce. He has the Ribavirin treatment 4 times per day, 2 hours at a time. I can’t be in the room when he’s having the treatment, so its making for some pretty sleepless nights.

The experience in the PICU here at Northshore is completely different than our NICU experience. There were some fantastic nurses in the NICU that we really liked a lot, but many of them were just miserable. The PICU nurses, respiratory therapist, and his pulmonologist are wonderful and I have no complaints at all about the PICU. In the PICU, Ethan has his own room and I get to stay with him 24/7, except during his Ribavirin treatments. I really don’t think I have one negative thing to say about the PICU here at Northshore. It sucks that I have to leave the room, even in the middle of the night, for him to have the treatments, but there is a huge waiting room with hot coffee right outside the PICU. Ethan and I are about as comfortable as we could possibly be under the circumstances.

Rest assured that Ethan is doing really well. He’s starting to be more and more alert as time passes. Since this afternoon, he has woken up and let me know he’s hungry instead of sleeping through his feedings. I can tell that he’s feeling better.

Ethan has been sick this week and last night he got really scary with constant apnea episodes. We saw the pediatrician this morning and she wants him to go back to the hospital. he will probably go to the PICU at Northshore, but if they are full he may end up at Children’s in NOLA or UMC in Jackson, MS. That’s all I know right now, sorry.