Still Going Strong!

It has been a busy, but good week for the Warners!  Blake is still growing like a weed and eating like a champ.  He is up to eating between 2 and 3 ounces at every feeding now, which is a huge leap from the one ounce we were struggling to get down him just a few weeks ago.  We are starting to settle into a routine, which history has shown me means another change is coming soon...I just hope it means Bennett will be home in the near future!  Bennett is doing great and is nothing less than amazing.  They turned the pressure on his CPAP down to 6 on Tuesday and he has been doing great with keeping his oxygen saturation levels up.  This morning he was on 23% oxygen which is lower than it has been in a long time.  They also started him on 2 different diuretics which seem to be helping.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will continue to do well and they can try to turn his pressure down again next week.  I know he will be so happy when he can get all that stuff off his face!

Blake at 5 Weeks Old!

Bennett and Mom at 5 Weeks Old!

Bennett and his Mia

Easter

Yesterday we spent the day relaxing and visiting with family.  We also managed to squeeze in some time to take some pictures of Blake!

Look at those feet!

We will put this up at high school graduation!

Sweet boy!

Blake with Auntie Mer Mer...she is practicing before Maddie Claire arrives this summer!

Snuggle time with Mia!

We took Blake to his 1 month check up today and he blew us away when we put him on the scale...6 pounds 6 ounces and 19.5 inches long!  We skipped right over 5 pounds!  I knew he had grown in the past 2 weeks, but I would never had guessed that much.  He is doing so well and is a pure joy to sit and stare at!

 We went to visit Bennett on Easter morning and had a great visit.  We didn't get to feed him again...I think he tuckered himself out eating so much from a bottle the day before.  The doctor told us that his chest x-ray looked a little worse than the previous x-ray so they were not going to turn down the pressure on his CPAP yet.  He wanted to give him a day and do another chest x-ray and if it wasn't significantly better he said he would start him on diuretics which he would stay on until after he comes home.  They did the second chest x-ray this morning, and while it looked a little better they started him on the medication.  I'm hoping this will be the fix to get him over this hump and off the bubble CPAP.  The plan right now is to turn down his pressure from 7 to 6 in a few days if his oxygen requirement stays steady.  Last night he weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces, but after the lasix today he had a diaper that weighed 4 ounces so it will be interesting to see what he weighs tonight.  I saw him briefly today and he looked great.  His face was less swollen and he was awake and alert.  It is so great to get to see him awake more!

Mommy holding Bennett on Easter.  We didn't have a fancy outfit for him to wear (I would rather him be comfy while in bed!), but we did make him bunny ears out of the gauze on his chin strap.  He looked so cute!

Daddy and Bennett on Easter

Bennett today

Bennett and his bunny ears on Easter

Wonderful Visit with Bennett!

Yesterday Jason and I went to visit Bennett together and it was such a surprise when his nurse asked us if we wanted to try to feed him his bottle!  He had taken his 9am and noon bottle perfectly for her so now it was our turn :-)  It was a little difficult to hold a bottle, keep his CPAP on, pinch his cheeks around the nipple so he didn't wear half of his bottle and hold him.  It took 2 nurses and a engineer to feed one baby, but we got it done!

Bennett is AMAZING!  I have no idea how he can eat a bottle with all that air and pressure being blown down his throat and he didn't even spit or sputter once...he is even a great burper!  He truly is a Warner...he likes to eat!

After we fed him he sat up and stayed wide awake for about a hour.  It was so wonderful to get to interact with him and watch him soak up his surroundings from a new view.  Jason thinks he was plotting his escape!

Starting to strike poses like his brother!

Is he cute or what!

After we put him back to bed the nurse asked me if I would put his arm braces on for his therapy...they always tell me that he does not appreciate it when they put his braces on so I was not really wanting to do it since we were going to leave right afterward.  I prefer not to have our last interaction of our visit be a bad one, but he didn't seem to mind at all when I put them on...not a tear was shed!  Either I didn't put them on right or he knows I don't know what I'm doing and took pity on me!

Dr. Grubbs came to talk to us yesterday while we were there and update us on his plan for Bennett.  They were going to take a chest x-ray this morning and if it looked better they would turn his pressure on his CPAP down to 6 and leave him there for several days before trying to turn him down to 5, which is where most babies are that are on CPAP.  He also informed us that his inguinal hernia will have to be surgically repaired before he comes home...that is not a day I am looking forward to at all, but I know we will get through it just like we have gotten through the rest of this.

One Month Old!

Yesterday (4/20/11) the boys were 1 month old!  It feels like we have had them forever, but at the same time that the past month has flown by.

Yesterday Blake and I played dress up for his 1 month birthday...

Bath time!

Dressed up in his baby robe from Aunt Meredith

Who's that sexy baby in the mirror?

1 month old...Blake is still too floppy for me to prop up and take pictures so since we were alone he had to lay down and we had to get creative with the monkey...

Maybe too creative with the monkey!  I thought this would help show how big Blake is getting and then I realized maybe not...oops

Bennett got his 1 month picture taken too...

Wearing his big boy newborn onsie!  He now weighs 5 pounds 3 ounces!

Bennett WIDE awake after I held him for a hour and a half today during our visit.  I tried to wait for him to go back to sleep, but he wouldn't...I hate for him to be awake when I walk away :-(  I bought him some soft baby books with bold colors and black and white patters to put in his crib today so he gets new pictures to look at now!

Bennett during our visit on Tuesday...I thought this was a sweet picture of him

UPDATE ON BENNETT:

We had a great visit today and his did wonderful with his oxygen saturation levels while I held him.  He is still on a pressure of 7 on his CPAP, and he was on about 30% oxygen with oxygen saturation levels ranging from 82-98% depending on his mood at the moment.  The doctor got the report for the heart sono yesterday and said that it did not show any signs of pulmonary hypertension and that everything looked normal...it was a huge sigh of relief!  His weight is still on track so they don't think he is retaining fluid.  He said they will leave him at his current settings for several more days before they try to change any settings to give his lungs some additional time to grow.  Unless something changes he won't have anymore tests done until next week.  He is getting to be much less temperamental and is only fussy when he is changed, gets a bath, is getting his arm braces put on or has gas...pretty much like his brother.  All in all it is great news, now Bennett just has to show us what he can do!

UPDATE ON BLAKE:

Blake is growing like a weed!  At most of his meals he is eating 2 ounces.  We go back to the doctor for his one month check up Monday and I can't wait to find out how much he weighs.  He finally fits in his car seat a little better and doesn't need quite as many washcloths stuffed behind him to help hold him up.  I took him in the car by myself for the first time yesterday to run some stuff for Bennett to Jason at work so he could take it to him when he went to go visit last night.  All in all it was a uneventful ride...I didn't even feel the need to pull over once to make sure he was ok.  I did however reach back a few time to make sure he was still breathing, but what paranoid new mom doesn't do that!

UPDATE ON MOM AND DAD:

That whole thing I said about one baby being doable and not that life altering was a lie.  I don't think the sleep deprivation had set in yet!  Blake seems to be the only one getting any sleep the past few days around here.  His new thing is to make billy goat noises all night long and keep mom and dad up.  It's really cute during the day, but about 11pm it's not so cute.  We are still trying to get into a routine where we can take care of Blake, see Bennett every day, feel like we accomplish something around the house and find time to sleep.  Basically Starbucks is a daily necessity at this point for survival!



Update on Bennett

I got to go spend some quality time with Bennett today while Jason's parents came to spoil Blake!  I talked with his doctor and his chest x-ray is improved since yesterday.  He's not sure if it was the lasix or increasing the pressure on his CPAP that helped, but he is going to continue to watch him and if he needs more lasix he said he will put him on a small dose every day.  He is going to do another sonogram of his heart tomorrow to make sure he doesn't have pulmonary hypertension again and to check to make sure the walls of his heart aren't getting thick from having to pump against too much pressure.  His blood gas was still ok today...not as good as yesterday, but still acceptable.  They are also going to decrease the amount of feeds he is getting from 45 to 40 and increase the calories so he isn't getting as much fluid just incase that's what caused his lung issues over the past few days.  Unless things change they will do another blood gas and chest x-ray next week to see how he is doing. 

He looked really good today.  He was less fussy and his oxygen saturation was 88-94% on 28-32% oxygen.  He let me hold him for about 30 minutes before his oxygen saturation said he had had enough.  Once they put him back to bed he was doing better and we had music therapy time.  Jason discovered yesterday that he likes the sound of deep voices in music...his favorite (or so we think) is World's Greatest...a Camp Reynal hit!  Once I started playing music for him he started to open his eyes and look around.  I will never get tired of looking into those perfect eyes!

Music therapy time!

Seeing his eyes open melts my heart

What I wouldn't give to know what this little guy is thinking!

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Yesterday Jason and I went to visit Bennett together while my mom came to stay with Blake.  When we got there the nurse told us they did a chest x-ray because he had been needing extra oxygen and they found that he has fluid on his lungs.  The doctor said the fluid is due to his lungs being immature and that it is not uncommon for this to happen.  She ordered 2 doses of lasix to help get rid of the fluid.  He went from 5 pounds 2 ounces to 4 pounds 15 ounces with just 2 doses.  I called to check on Bennett this morning and the nurse told me that they had to turn his pressure up on his CPAP from 6 to 7, which the nurse yesterday told us is borderline for having to go back on the vent...my worst nightmare for him.  You could just see the dispair in his eyes when he was on the vent and I would do anything for him not to have to go back through that.  The nurse today said they have his oxygen between 30 and 33% and that the doctor today ordered daily lasix and another chest x-ray tomorrow.  He is still feisty and temperamental which is good.  They tell you to expect set backs while you are in the NICU and I guess I thought after such progress day after day that we were going to be the ones to keep going forward and never go back.  I just hope for Bennett's sake that this is as far back as he is going to go.  Jason is going to go see him after work today and I will go up during the day tomorrow to visit...maybe some good ole TLC from mom and dad will help pull him through!

First Week Home with Blake

Our first week home with Blake has flown by!  We came home Monday, went to the pediatrician for his first well visit Tuesday and made our fist trip to Jason's parents house with him yesterday for dinner.  We have also made it to the hospital everyday to see Bennett, which is something I hope we can continue to do.  I will be so proud to tell him that we never missed a day coming to see him!

It has taken a bit of adjusting to having a baby in the house that wants to eat every 3 hours, but I think we are managing pretty well...not sure that will be true when we have 2 at home though!  Having one baby at home is totally doable and isn't that life altering, but 2 will be a different story.  I'm sure we will have good tales to tell when the boys are older!  Even though I'm not sure what we will do when both boys are home, I can't wait for Bennett to be here so our family will be complete at home.  It's hard to be at home having fun with Blake (taking pictures, going for first outings, etc.) and know that Bennett isn't a part of it.  I hate for them to have different "firsts".  I know Bennett will have his time for all of his first adventures with mom and dad, he just needs a little more time to keep getting better and letting his little lungs grow.  He has come so far in 3 weeks and we are amazed by him every day.

Bennett is still on the bubble CPAP this week.  He ranges anywhere from 23-29% on his oxygen.  It's been a little difficult for Jason and I when we have gone to see him this week because he seems to do worse when we are with him.  The nurses tell us that his oxygen sats are great and then we show up and he goes down in to the 70's and 80's.  The doctors aren't concerned that he has needed a little extra oxygen this week and said it's par for the course.  They have increased his feeds to 44 cc's every 3 hours and he is tolerating them well.  Last night he weighed 5 pounds 2 ounces!  He's had a pretty nasty diaper rash this week that is finally starting to clear up.  The occupational therapist started splinting his left wrist, in addition to his right elbow, every 3 hours.  He tends to pull his left wrist down and she said it can be sign of radial nerve entrapment.  I also found out from his nurse when I was visiting Wednesday that he has a inguinal hernia that may have to be repaired before he comes home.  It feels like the list of things he needs done to him just keeps getting longer and longer...I can't wait for the day that he has no list at all!  I know that will make him happy too!

Sweet boy taking a nap!

Bennett at 3 weeks old!  We took him his mobile from their crib for his birthday present!

Bennett's "room"

3 weeks old!

Blake has been doing great at home.  This week he has almost doubled the amount he is eating.  He is eating 2 ounces at almost all of his feedings.  This morning Jason put him in a newborn onsie for the first time and it fit!  He is getting so big!  He weighed 4 pounds 13 ounces at the doctor on Tuesday...I'm sure he is closer to the 5 pound mark by now.  It is such a joy to have Blake home and to be able to do what we want when we want with him.  If he is hungry before his 3 hours is up we feed him, no one can tell us we can't hold him or that we can't give him a bath because it hasn't been 3 days!  Overall he is a calm, even tempered little guy.  He really doesn't cry unless you are changing him or he is hungry.  He is such a joy and we love just sitting and watching him...it's way more entertaining than TV!

This eating stuff is hard work!

3 week old picture.  We bought monkeys for both of the boys to take their pictures by so we can watch them grow.  The blue bear is from friends in Italy...they had their names put on both of the bears...they are so cute!

"Geeze mom...haven't we taken enough pictures"

My favorite time with Blake...tummy time in bed with mom.  He is a great snuggler!

B-Dizzle...Blake's alter ego!

First trip to Grandmother's and Poppy's

First time at home in his room with mom...Hunter isn't quite sure what to think!

All dressed up for our first trip to see Dr. Brown

First time to fit in a newborn onsie!

Daddy and Blake talking about finishing his bottle...Blake won!

As for Jason and I we are doing well.  A little sleep deprived and slower at getting out of the house, but that's expected I guess.  Jason is going back to work this week until Bennett comes home, so Blake and I will have to fly solo...scary I know!  It has been so nice this week to be totally on my own and independent.  I have gone to the store for myself and even gotten my eyebrows waxed for the first time since December (made me feel like a new woman!)!  I appreciate everyone who did things for Jason and I while I was in the hospital and we couldn't have made it without the help and generosity of all of our friends and family, but it was just so nice to not have to rely on someone 24 hours a day.

Milestones!

The past few days have had many milestones for our boys!

Last night we got to "room in" with Blake at the hospital.  Basically we had to prove that we are fit parents and can take care of our baby before we brought him home.  It was pretty much a sleepless night between the crummy bed and the baby squeeking while he slept.  The bed was the softest queen bed known to man, covered in plastic, made with twin flat sheets that didn't tuck in...in other words we had a ball of sheets in the bed by midnight.  If we weren't feeding Blake, or layin in bed not sleeping, the nurse was in the room telling us how to do things like mix formula.  You would think they would tell you important information during the day and not at 1am when you are delirous.  All in all Blake survived and they deemed us fit parents and we brought him home today!  The car ride home was the most nerve racking experience of my life.  There was TONS of traffic, and what normally takes 25 minutes took a hour.  The part that really set me on edge was making sure he was in his car seat right.  He just looked like he was slouched down in his car seat and not nearly as secure as he was during his car seat test when the nurse put him in.  The one thing they don't make you deomonstrate is how to put your baby in their car seat!  I think I can read a can of formula and figure out how to mix it, but putting a 4 pound baby in a car seat is a different story.  I am not looking forward to the drive to the doctor tomorrow!

In the car ready to go HOME!

He stayed awake most of the ride home.

In his bed at home after 19 days in the NICU!  Our little graduate :-)

Before we left the NICU we were able to get the boys together for the first time!  We put Blake in Bennett's big boy bed with him and Bennett instantly started screaming...he was not happy about having to share his space with Blake again.  As soon as we took him out he was a happy camper!  We got pictures, but none where Bennett is happy about the situation.

We also got to see Bennett free of tubes today while he got a bath!  He looks just like his Daddy!  He was so happy while his CPAP and feeding tube were out, but he still needs the oxygen so he will have to wait a little longer :-(

Bennett has started being more alert in the past few days.  It's really nice to see him with his eyes open for a period of time and for him to be calm!

NO TUBES!  The nurse had to change out his CPAP and feeding tube today so we got to see our boy for the first time with out any machines!  His nose is a little stretched out from the CPAP prongs, but they say it will return to its normal size a few days after they take him off CPAP.

All clean after his bath that he did not enjoy!  He sure did smell and look so much better :-)

It is so nice to have Blake home, but it was so hard to leave Bennett there.  We are going to have to come up with yet another new schedule to adapt to so we can spend time with both of our boys since we can't take Blake back into the NICU.  I can't wait for the day that our entire family is home, but I'm not quite sure how we are going to manage 2 babies at the same time...it's going to be a learning process!