navy blog background

Monday, November 23, 2009

Thankful

I can hardly believe how quickly this year has gone by and how Blessed we have been. A year ago this week Isaac was conceived and the blessings and miracles started. My mother-in-law had a diabetic stroke and we are all healthier for it. After all the problems in February then being put on bed rest in March off and on till Isaac was born in April we had so much help from our church family and they were life savers the four months he was in the hospital helping out with the older children I don't know what we would have done without them. We are so thankful for all the prayers from everyone all over the world God has truly answered them and we will shout from the mountain tops his glory and all he has done for us. this will be a wonderful Thanksgiving even if it is just a small group of our family that is still in town. Thanks and Glory be to God we are truly blessed to have such Christlike friends.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ok wow its been a while

Well after the barrage of Dr's appointments we have all survived without getting flu of any kind thankfully.
Isaac has been dubbed a healthy flirt weighing in at 10 lbs 6 oz and 21 1/2" long he is in the 50%tile for
his adjusted age and doing the things a 4 month old would be doing. He can roll over from tummy to back
but hasn't quite figured out how to get back on his tummy without screaming till one of his siblings does it
for him. The pediatrician has declared he is ready to try using the bumbo to help him strengthen his core
muscles and help him sit up and possibly even get rid of his little hernia. We have also been told to put him
in the johnny jump thing and it look squite funny because he is so small his toes barely touch the floor and
he falls over to one side but through all that he really does enjoy it he spins himself around chasing his
brother and bounces then giggles. he is turnign into a little flirt with his chunky cheeks that get dimples
when he gives you his toothless grin. We are trying to find another eye Dr that won't mistreat us and abuse
poor Isaac so please be praying that we find a great Dr that fits what we need. sorry there won't be any
more pictures here just can't figure it out so if you have facebook there will always be some on there if not
you can email or leave a comment with your email and I Will try to get you some updated pictures. Well until
we know more or have something interesting to share with everyone then this is good night and have a great
day tomorrow.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Update

After a month of one doctor visit after another we are trying to rest and stay well.
Isaac's growing fast he is now 9 lb 10 oz and 19 3/4" long . His eyes are doing much
better and he is on track developmentally. He rolls over and even sucks his thumb but
only when it suits him of course. Here are his newest pictures
I hope you enjoy them and we will be getting family pictures done pretty soon to try and send out.
We are still needing prayers that Isaac doesn't get sick because his lungs are very vulnerable
and he has to get strong enough for a surgery in February that prayerfully will be the last.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Nightmare Friday

Wow I know its taken me a long time to post this our internet has been very flaky and I
would do this from my phone but it just won't let me log in.

Anywho
Well Isaac was scheduled to have "treatment" on his right eye Friday morning at 7am so
as not to interfere with his feedings. So we feed him at his regular 3am and proceed to
pack everything up and get it in the car, so we can be at the hospital by 5:30.
we get to the hospital right before 6am and having to find the right building and then
proceed to the 7th floor proved a tad bit difficult. We finally find the NICU where we were
told we could just sign in and they would prep him for surgery only to find out there is no
record of him on their computers for surgery that day a nurse finds a lone sticky note in the
back and after several nurses calling around franticly we are told to go back downstairs and
given directions to the registration office it is now 6:30am. So we sit and we wait and we both
have time to find and use the bathrooms in the time they figure out that the surgeons office
never sent over the proper paperwork so they have to call the surgeon whom is just coming
out of another surgery to make sure we were approved for surgery that day. I was like um do you
really think I would drag my family out at this early morning if we weren't suppose to be here.
After all getting squared away and signing our lives away we head back upstairs its about 9am now
and they tell us the swabs they took at 6:30 to make sure Isaac didn't have RSV or the flu could
now be sent to the lab and it would be about an hour I was livid by this point, Why had we even
bothered? After a barrage of people asking lots of questions that I had already answered when I
filled out the registration forms, could none of them read I will never know, they started prepping
him and I was very glad Nate had bought some toquitos and an energy drink on our way to the
hospital that morning. About 11:30 they told us to go scrub and bring Isaac back to where they
would be doing the surgery. On the way in a nurse gave us fits about bringing in our stroller that
had Isaac and his oxygen and monitor and all our personal information she wanted us to just carry
him in and leave purse and all out in the hallway where anyone could take it. Finally another nurse
stepped in and had us put the stroller in supply corner because she could see what was in it the first
nurse later apologized.

So prepped and ready we leave them to do their thing and I go to the bathroom and get back in enough
time to get comfy and the surgeon comes out and sits next to us and says the right eye was done and
went beautifully, but he didn't remember the left eye looking this bad on Monday when he did his original
examination. I was so angry at this point I couldn't look at him, He went on to ask if he could go ahead
and do the surgery on the left eye and Nate and I agreed better today than have to come back in a couple
weeks. The issue I had with the whole thing was that on the monday before both eyes were healing and
doing good, but the right eye that we knew was worse than the left wasn't healing as quickly so he wanted
to do the surgery. My opinion he just wanted the money because I was told by the first second opinion Dr.
that there wasn't any reason in her opinion to have surgery, So now onto the second second opinion that the
original eye Dr wanted not us and suddenly we are talking surgery even though the eyes are healing. big
confusion and not enough explanation to satisfy me and no one has up to date drawings of the previous Dr's
findings.
Isaac made it through the surgery on both eyes but looks freakishly dead because of all the sedation they gave
him miraculously he is breathing on his own though. Nate and I decide to go get lunch now that it is pushing 2pm.
We got back from lunch in time for the 3pm feeding he has now missed two meals and I know he should be
starving so I ask them to warm up the bottle while I change his diaper and get him waking up because they were
going to feed him through a tube since he didn't wake on his own. I got him awake enough to suck vigorously on
a passie but they wouldn't let me try and nurse him at this point for fear he might choke. So time for the 6pm
feeding and I insist on nursing him so they go along with it and he eats about 4 ounces and burps we let him
rest because they want to observe him for another feeding just to make sure he is on and all drugs are out of
his system. We come back for the next feeding and what do you know they put him on oxygen and have the Dr
waiting to "talk" with us and try and convince us that he needs to stay overnight because he stopped breathing
on his own. Nate and I are two perfectly capable adults of taking care of our child whom was already released
from one hospital on oxygen what makes them think that we wouldn't be able to take care of him this time
oh wait! it might be too scary to do CPR is their explanation, or we might not hear the blaring alarm that goes off
if he hiccups let alone stops breathing. Come to find out Isaac stopped breathing again while I was feeding him
and the Dr and nurses were freaking out guess what! HE WAS POOPING of course its stressful when a tiny baby
poops that happend all the time at the other hospital especially when you feed him straight formula when he's
use to breastmilk. How much do these geniuses get paid!
Anyway we were released around 11:20 but the printer was messing up and they couldn't get the discharge
paperwork to print we were on our way home by 12:15.

Hope everyone had a great Rosh Hashannah!

Monday, September 14, 2009

its Monday what more can I say!

well the shower was a blast and we got lots of great things.
We had to take Isaac all the way to Dallas today for an eye exam at 8 am so we left the house at 6am
and guess what they still didn't get us in and see us till 9 and that was just to answer my questions so we had to wait even longer for them to actually do the exam. so it is now 12 and we just got home, and it was raining the whole time. What I am writing all this about if you make it through my complaining is to say that Isaac is going to have surgery(treatment in their words) on his right eye on Friday morning so if you could all pray we would really appreciate it they decided to go ahead and do surgery on the one eye because the left eye is regressing and doing good but the right eye is just being so they are going to help it along. This is all very stressful for us and I know it is in God's hands so we are going to do the best we can.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Home at last!!!!!!!!

What a crazy and wonderful day yesterday was Isaac got to come home it was a good friends
birthday and to my great surprise another close friend had her baby and it was a girl! We made
it through our first night although the monitor almost got thrown out the window a couple times.
Isaac is doing wonderful he has a pediatrician appointment on Thursday and an eye checkup
thursday afternoon so please continue to pray that he won't have to have the corrective surgery.
So for now He is happy and healthy and we are crazy busy so if you don't hear from us its good
news.DSC_5102
DSC_5091
DSC_5093

Sunday, August 30, 2009

HE"S COMMING HOME!!!!!!

Ok its been a whirlwind with eye checkups and second opinions and classes and wow am I tired.
Long story short Isaac will be coming home with Nate and I Monday evening and we already have
Dr's appointments for this next week its crazy. I will keep everyone updated on how he is growing
as I can and we thank you all for your prayers they are still needed because he could still need eye
surgery and he still has to continue growing and stay on their growth charts. I will add pictures as
soon as I can too.
DSC_5090
DSC_5088
IMG00013
IMG00015
IMG00040

Friday, August 21, 2009

A light at the end of the tunnel

Well if all goes well Isaac will be coming home in the next week and a half.
We are waiting to see if Isaac will need eye surgery and we will know that on Tuesday.
Wednesday he will have a Dr come to his bed and do a scope to see what kind of damage
he has to his vocal chords the two options are that when they did the PDA surgery
they could have nicked the nerve that goes right there next to the heart or the damage
was done from the breathing tube and is just taking its time to heal. So we are frantically
getting things done and getting ready for him at the house. There is another baby in the
NICU that isn't doing so well though and she really needs your prayers she has ans infection
and had to go back on the c-pap and is having to have blood transfusions for anemia her
heart continuously drops its rate and her mom is not in the best health and needs your
prayers she is very emotionally unstable and I am doing all that I can to help her. Please pray
for her and her parents as she is staying with them since she lost her job.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

answers!

Ok I was totally misinformed Monday we did an upper GI Track test and that looked perfect so
they just added a thickener to his milk and that was the trick he is totally loving feedings again
and has been upped to 5 bottles a day and 45-70ml of milk whatever he wants to eat. The eye
Dr came on Sunday afternoon instead of his normal Tuesday time because he was going out of
town and there was no change but I have been informed that had there been any hint of a bad
turn the Dr would have gone ahead and scheduled for a Wednesday surgery so it makes me feel
better that Isaacs eye looked as well as it did. I still don't totally understand what is going on with
his right eye it is called Retinopathy of Prematurity and in Isaac it is called "plus" disease so you all
can google your hearts out and explain it to me, but lets just pray that God heals it and that surgery
is not needed. He is on track to be home by labor day so please keep him in your prayers.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

?????

Unfortunately Isaac won't be coming home for a couple more weeks depending on what happens
with his next eye exam. He was pushed too far too fast and now he is a fat cranky baby. He
refuses to take a bottle or nurse and screams at anyone that touches him, so after and hour long
sit down with the Dr. of the day and several nurses that work with him we came to an agreement
to raise his oxygen pressure back up to give him a break and lower the amount they are feeding
him so he isn't overwhelmed by the amount his tiny body has to do. We will see if he goes back to
his happy self and go from there after tuesday depending on if surgery is needed to correct the eye
problem or not. We are praying that he doesn't need the surgery because that involves going back
on the breathing machines and more damage to his bronchial tubes. So please pray with us that his
eye problem corrects itself and we can bring him home.

Friday, August 7, 2009

5LBS

Well Isaac has reached 5lbs now and since last week he has been moved yet again into baby steps meaning
he is a big boy almost ready to go home. He has done so well on his breathing and tolerating everything we
put him through that they have lowered his oxygen down to 2 liters of pressure, and if all looks good tomorrow
he will be moved up to 5 bottle feeds out of the 8 that he needs to go home. we are all scrambling to get things
done and ready for coming home so if I don't update you all i apologize call the next closest of kin that you can
contact or Mrs. Fascolino for all you MBC members. Thanks you so much for all the prayers and he will need plenty
after he comes home too.

New pictures can always be found at this link I apologize we could not figure out last week how to get new
pictures up here.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Wowzers!

Well the last couple of days have been a whirlwind. Friday morning Isaac was moved into a
small room in the NICU used to get babies on a more normal sleeping schedule for coming
home. when I got there he was rather stinky so the nurse suggested a bath even though
they normally do those mon.,wed., fri. evenings. She then proceeded to get a tuband it
totally confused me I was ready for a sponge bath. So he got his first real bath yesterday
and he loved it till we got to his back and then he screamed. His Dr. brought in the
developmental Dr to see if he was going to be ready to feed on monday and when she got
done they both agreed he could try a bottle that day so after Kay got some pictures and I
got some lunch we tried a bottle and he only sucked out 4ml and he actually used that to
blow bubbles at the nurse so I figured it really was going to take the rest of August just to
get him to eat.

Saturday morning I went back to give him his next bottle and wow a totally different child was
there he cooperated and sucked down the whole bottle 40ml in 20 min and let out some pretty
big burps to go with it. He loved it and was in such a good mood after that the nurses got some
pictures with Izzy holding Isaac and there was pure joy on her face. Isaac didn't seem to mind either.
So please pray this goes really smoothly for now he only gets one bottle feed a day and the rest
are the tube if all goes well he could be home in two weeks.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Update

Isaac is doing very well on the hi-flo nasal canula and they have lowered his pressure to 3%.
He seems to be having apneas when he falls asleep on his back and they are watching that
now but he has done it all along. He is weaning off his steroids and Monday we are going to
try bottle feeds again I am praying after all the problems we have had that he takes right to
it and can juggle the suck, swallow, breath routine. He will have to take a full bottle for 4
feeds of the day before he can come home and it takes alot of energy to do this so pray that
he can handle all this extra on top of maintaining his breathing. I also ask that you pray for
Nate and I as we are dealing with the bills and home life. Jacob, Isabelle,and Josiah are
getting to an irritated state and are starting to miss us and act out because of it. We are all
exhausted and just need a break and that won't happen till Isaac is home where he belongs.[caption id="attachment_155" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="sleeping in the big boy crib"]sleeping in the big boy crib[/caption]

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Back on track

Well after almost two weeks we are back on track with the breathing. Friday morning they gave
him a tiny dose of steroids and by his 11am touch time he was already doing so much better, they
did his regular breathing treatment and his O2 dropped to the 20's with everyone scrambling to
make sure everything was connected right and working properly I asked if anyone had suctioned
his mouth after the treatment and that was the problem more boogies came out of his nose and
mouth than you have ever seen in any child they even got some out of his bronchial tubes it was
so thick and gross the Dr couldn't handle it. We got him wrapped back up and started his feeding
and even on his back (which is normally the worst possition for him) he was having O2 constantly
100 we were so shocked God is truly working in Mr. Big and we should be able to do a bottle again
this week after his eye exam of course we won't make that mistake again. Isaac is between 4.5 and
4.10 in weight and we will get an accurate weight tomorrow evening and a new length. He is on a
nasal canula that is helping in just the tiniest little bit giving him some oxygen and he could be off that
in a week if all goes well.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Take a deap breath

Well I am not so happy about what the Dr. had to say today and will patiently wait till Wednesday
when the more flexible Dr is on duty I was told Isaac will be on the si-pap the rest of the week at
least because he is having to have lasiks (a diuretic) that has a side effect of making the body retain
co2 thus totally defeating the purpose of the respiratory machine that makes him puffy and the
reason for the diuretics such a vicious cycle So we will see what Wednesday brings and maybe we
can get back on track with the bottle feedings and then our little Mr. Big can come home. It seems
like all the other babies are doing so much better even the one that has had 6 surgeries very
discouraging so please keep him in your prayers and that the Dr.s do the right thing and he comes
home in Gods perfect timing.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Yay! first bottle feed

Yesterday we did Isaac's first bottle feed and he get 5 ml down before the nurse called it quits
because she didn't want to totally wear him out since he had so much going on with blood gas,
eye exam, physical therapy exam, and then somehow the oxygen tube came unconnected and
he was doing it all on his own just not as well as they wanted. it took us about 10 min to figure
out why. So we will see what the end of the week brings us as far as progress.
[caption id="attachment_159" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Yummy milk"]Yummy milk[/caption][caption id="attachment_158" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption=" nurse Mary giving my 1st bottle"] nurse Mary giving my 1st bottle[/caption][caption id="attachment_157" align="alignright" width="225" caption="first bottle feed"]first bottle feed[/caption]

Monday, July 13, 2009

One step closer

Wow what a weekend Isaac was moved onto a hi-flow nasal canula so he is breathing on
his own now. He is doing very good and is now getting 36ml milk and we are going to try
bottle feeding tomorrow. He is now 4lb1oz and if all goes well as soon as he can bottle feed
without choking and remembers to breath he will be able to come home. So we are scrambling
to get the projects finished and the house sanitized so it is all ready for him when they say
its time. This has been such a trying time and we really appreciate all the help and support
and prayers.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

quick update

Isaac is getting 34ml milk now and by this weekend he will upgrade to a high flow nasal
something its the little tube the older people have when they have to have oxygen.
He is 3lb 12oz and apx 20" long 39 1/2 cm to be precise. He is growing and doing great so
please keep praying.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Growing Up!

big boy clothes Well this has been another great week he has tolerated feedings and they have gone up to
32 ml of milk every 3 hours and they removed the breathing tube yesterday morning and the
blood gas this morning looked really good. They have started putting preemie clothes on him
and he is so adorable even though they don't quite fit. We are getting so close to him being
able to come home but we still have alot of milestones to overcome. At the moment he is on
a cpap/sipap machine that will help keep his lungs from collapsing between breaths and I don't
know what time frame we are looking at for that one to go away. He will have to drink a whole
bottle in 30 minutes in order to come home and be able to regulate his own body temperature.
He does a pretty good job keeping himself warm so I don't think that will be a problem and he
already sucked the tube constantly at feedings and takes a pacifier so as long as he can swallow
and not choke himself and remember to breath I think he will be ok. so we are still looking at the
end of July or the middle of august depending on how quickly he catches on. Thank you so much
for all your prayers the rest of the NICU could use some also there were 8 babies when Isaac was
born and they are close to 25 or 30 now there are at least 3 sets of twins and one set of triplets
now that take up alot of the Dr's time I have talked with one of the parents of a set of twins that
live in Sherman and those boys are not doing very good at all in fact they have been asked to just
let the babies die ans stop fighting it is very sad and I ask you all to pray for them they do believe
in God but are not Christians.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

3Lbs

Yay! Isaac has officially reached the 3 lb mark tonight when they weighed him he was 3lbs 6 oz looking very happy and fat his belly is so cute and very ticklish.

Friday, June 26, 2009

48 Hours

Well Isaac has been reintubated because he just wasn't getting enough oxygen into
his bloodstream. He did really well on his own for 48 hours and they are going to try
again in a week or so after he's had a little more time to grow.

some interesting information about the equipment
CPAP gives a constant pressure into the lungs
SiPAP gives pressure then a break like you are sighing

Isaac was on both over the 48hours and I had to ask what the difference was because
the website I looked up earlier in the week didn't say there was a difference and almost
made it seem to be the same machine.

This week Isaac is 2LBs 14 OZs and 13 3\4" long

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

What a great day !

I was relieved of my constant pain and Isaac has been taken off the ventilator. What a surprise I was
told they might turn down the support a little today if his gases looked good, but when I called the nurse
was confuse and then realized I didn't know they had taken his tube out. What a great surprise and I
can't wait to see the little guy first thing in the morning.

I am sorry I am still working on those new pictures and a birthday party for the other three kids so please
excuse us moving as slow as the government.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Yay!

Well Dr Walden A wonderful wonderful woman has decided that Isaac is in the clear and doesn't
need the Broviac (IV) any longer. So any medications he will need from here on out unless he gets
really sick will be given orally. about 1pm they took out the broviac catheter and I got to hold him
for an hour before I had to get Izzy to ballet. He did really well as far as breathing and not throwing
a fit to where the nurses would have to breath for him or anything so he is getting so much better
than he was last week so please keep up the prayers we can see God working miracles every day.
Just the fact that Isaac is alive is a miracle.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Another great day!

Isaac is doing wonderfully starting to get the hang of breathing on his own handle people touching him
a little better. After Friday's fit I wasn't sure they were going to let me hold him Kangaroo but the nurse
was all for it and what a surprise we got Isaac allowed me to hold him for 2 1/2 hours on Monday. Normally
I'm lucky to get 45 min to an hour. Today I didn't hold him because he had an eye exam and we were not
sure when that Dr. would get there. Nate and I had a class on Monday evening where we got to meet
several other veteran NICU moms and talk with each other about our experiences and what we are going
through emotionally. We had a great time and some good laughs. I asked the Nurse in charge about another
mom I had gotten to know and how her baby was doing because last I knew she had a collapsed lung and
several infections so she was on multiple antibiotics and pain meds and all sorts of stuff and I got some sad
news that she had died last week. So unfortunately there is nothing but a bunch of trouble making boys that
are doing their best to keep the nurses busy. Please continue to pray for Isaac and these other families as
well as Nate and I as we are feeling the strain on our marriage because of the extra stress with bills and not
being able to be in all the places we are feeling pulled. We miss being with Jacob Izzy and, Josiah in the
afternoons and several hours of our weekends because we are trying to figure out all this stuff that needs to
happen with Isaac. Insurance is covering 90% of my bills from the hospital and 100% of Isaac's, but the 10%
of my bills left over we are not able to take care of because our extra money went to add Isaac to the insurance.
Its all very confusing and I still haven't figured it all out and probably won't so please pray that it all gets taken
care of and we don't start getting people calling and hassling us for money.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Have you had a good day lately?

Isaac is doing wonderfully today breathing on his own and making the machines complain
because he isn't doing it its way. That is so much better than what he was doing! They have
gone up again on his feeds top 23 ml and 26 calories, and changed his caffeine from an iv to
oral and I'm pretty sure it tastes nasty because after it went in the feeding tube he literally
threw it up on me. Talk about grose! He went for a record today and let me hold him for 2 1/2
hours and loved every minute of it. The Dr came by and said he was doing great and was
just going to see how he did on the oral caffeine since he was breathing more on his own there
wasn't anything to change except to keep going down on his respirator settings. Thanks so
much for the prayers and please keep them coming and remember all the other babies in their
they all need just as many prayers.Stop No More

Saturday, June 13, 2009

interesting information

stumbled upon this website looking for baby doll patterns for Izzy's Isaac sized dolly,
and thought some might find it informative. Isaac is actually behind on his length and
head girth but they are not worried about that because he didn't have real food for a
couple of weeks and thus the stunted growth.

">
preemie growth chart

A Bad Day :(

Well Friday wasn't a very good day for Isaac while trying to hold him(normally he loves this) he pooped
like major poop for such a little guy and the nurses had just gotten him situated on my chest when he
did this so they told him he would just have to sit in it. Well he didn't like this very much so he threw his
typical Isaac fit and made his heart rate drop way too low and had apnea so the nurses had to bag him
and manually breath for him and got him stable so they could start his feeding and he pooped again!
and threw another fit so badly he turned a nasty grey color(not blue, but grey) and thats when the nurses
really ran. they got him back in that bed so fast it wasn't funny he refused to be stabilized and so they
changed his diaper and all was better. He is such a turd when it comes to a dirty diaper and half the nurses
up there know it now so when he throws a fit they check his diaper first. He needs lots of prayers that his
lungs will grow some more tissue and his breathing and oxygenation will get much better so they can take
the nasty tube out. The Dr thinks the tube might be half the problem but won't take it out because his
breathing isn't stable enough. He is 30 weeks gestation and they like to get these little guys able to go home
around 34-36 weeks but they have to be able to breath on their own for the most part.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Growing like a weed

Isaac has had another really good week He is now 2 lb 8 ox and getting fed 22ml milk and 26 calories
He is getting to be a chunky boy and has such a great personality he is going to be a ladies man, but boy
does he demand attention. while holding him last night he threw one of his little fits setting off all the
alarms and th nurse couldn't get him settled down and then she realized that he was poopy. As soon as
he had a clean diaper all was better. Who knew that such a little thing like a poopy diaper could come out
so bad. His respirator settings are slowly coming down he is getting a small dose of caffeine every 12 hours
appearently it helps the babies breath on their own by helping keep the lungs inflated and elevates the
blood flow. I found out they also give it to asthma patients and they give Viagra to preemies too for blood
flow when they have low blood pressure crazy stuff but it works. Anyway Isaac is tolerating everything very
well and there will be new pictures in a couple of days so check the gallery.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

A great week

Isaac is doing great he has been dubbed the desat king referring to the sensor that monitors the oxygen levels in his blood (not very accurate but keeps them from having to draw blood too much) He sets this alarm off constantly. The Dr. explained that this is more than likely caused by the breathing tube being irritating and him clenching his throat. So until he can come off the respirator the only other option is to put the tube down his nose and the Dr. said most baby tolerate that even less than down the throat. He is gaining weight and is at 2 Lb 1 Oz and right on track so now we are just waiting for him to grow. He is looking chunky and we will have new pictures up soon.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Pictures

Since everyone doesn't have access to facebook here is a post of pictures.
me and my buddytiny toesdaddy's visitcutenesshey

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

We are up and running again

wow what a mess it was to figure out what was keeping us from accessing the blog, but now
we are able to access the website and update you guys again.
1month-collageblog
Isaac is doing great he isn't on any medication, they are just running some saline solution
through the Broviac catheter to keep it open just in case we need it, and he is off the steroids.
His gasses are doing ok they are not the greatest because he does play with the nurses to get
attention and that causes a lack of oxygen in his blood stream so until his lungs are mature we
will continue on this course. I am getting to hold him pretty much every day and wow does he
enjoy that. So for now we are praying his lungs mature. He is right on track for weight gain and
getting breast milk, but he is in the bottom percentile as far as head girth and length so they are
wanting to add some protein powder to his milk to help with that.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Little stinker!

Well everything medically speaking is going good we are waiting for his lungs to mature and for him
to put on alot of weight. Until his lungs are better the little stinker likes to play a game with the
nurses where he holds his breath to make the oxygen sensor alarm to go off so the nurses come
running and he gets attention and the oxygen sensor shows he's excited and getting lots of oxygen
in his blood stream , but as soon as they walk away he makes it drop again. He did this while I was
holding him once but ignoring him by talking to a group of the staff and I asked him if he was happy
because he got some attention and he smirked just like Nate does. After that we all laughed and he
got an even bigger smile on his face and opened his eyes.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Excited,Elated, Extatic,

well I think you get the idea from the title Isaac is doing wonderfully. He had his last dose of antibiotic today and he is getting some fortifier in his milk because he is back down to 1LB 13OZ but he is tolerating his milk very well and they keep going up 1cc every 11 hours. I got to swaddle hold today and he LOVED that. He is definitely a stinker and knows how to get attention and gets a little smirk when he's been naughty. Dr. August is very pleased with his progress and now we are just waiting for him to grow the only trouble he has at the moment is the ventilator and he is too little to be taken off completely so we just have to pray his lungs get stronger and he gains weight.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Awesome Day

First Hold We had an awesome day today Aunt Kathy and Uncle Johnny and Uncle O'dell came to see Isaac and I got to hold him yay!(squeals of delight). I held him close to 2 hours and his #'s were wonderful until he stretched and yawned at the same time and choked himself on his breathing tube and then it all went downhill. every alarm you could think of went off his heart rate dropped to the 80s and his oxigenation dropped to the teens they normal do the little bag when it gets to the 40s so when they didn't come I was like um someone needs to check him and then the ventilator said apnea and I was really trying to get someones attention but they were resuscitating another baby and so one nurse comes to check and very calmly says he needs to go back to bed now and you should have seen how quickly every nurse in sight came running even got the respiration guy to stop in the middle of drawing blood on another baby and Isaac was fine as soon as they moved him to the bed it must have really hurt to do all that and get all that attention. Isaac is doing really good but please keep up the prayers we still have a couple more months so he can grow and come home.First Hold closeup

Sunday, May 24, 2009

A little mix up

Well we had a great day I did not get to hold Isaac today the nurse overstepped her territory and said I could hold him but the Dr. hadn't cleared Isaac for that kind of stimulation especially since he hadn't been on the new respirator for 24 hours and they needed to observe how he was going to handle sooo many changes so quickly so I am pretty sure that if he continues his good behavior then I will get to hold him this week. So for now I am going to relax and enjoy my family being in town for Memorial Day.

An Awesome Week

Wow this week flew by so fast and we have have great news Isaac is doing so good they are giving him 8cc milk every 3 hours
and the ccs go up every 11 hours. His breathing gets better every day and his arterial iv came out Thursday so they oked me to
hold him today and we will be posting pictures asap Kay Macintire is going with us to take tons of pictures. and she does such a
wonderful job.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Wonderful Days

Isaac is having wonderful results on the new antibiotic he is totally off the blood pressure meds and they started him on steroids and he is almost off the ventilator and because they were having problems with the monitor and his PAL(arterial line) they were talking about taking it out because it wasn't doing him any good it is in fact just hindering me from holding him so we are moving in the right direction and I will see what kind of surprises I get when I make it up there this afternoon and again Saturday evening after our crazy day with family and friends.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Never question a parent on their decision! why read on

Nate and I had decided that a spinal tap was unnecessary and would actually cause too much stress on little Isaac and possibly cause some brain bleeds. Well after 3 days of being nagged that there might be spinal meningitis and that would cause more brain damage than a bleed. We caved and well the test results came back negative for any fungus and bacteria so in the end it was unnecessary and a waste of time and money. Nate and I had faith that what they are calling pneumonia wasn't as bad as they thought. Isaac is doing wonderfully and is getting milk again his blood pressure is great and steady, his oxygen level is being weaned off and the vent settings are getting lower every day. Praise God all without steroids and he is proving to be a miracle baby.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Silver Lining in the Clouds

Well after a very obnoxious call from the immunologist right as I arrived at the Crammers to pick up our yummy dinners I decided to call Isaac's nurse and what a surprise he has had a great day full of miracles. They have weaned the oxygen down from the 80s to the 40s. His blood pressure has been steady and Dr. Walden wanted to give him milk this morning but decided to give him one more day to make sure he would be ok and they plan on starting the milk feeds first thing in the morning which will help hinder any infections from continuing to take over and make Isaac sick. We are currently praying that there are no other infections other than the one that showed up last week that they are calling pneumonia because it reacted to a certain antibiotic as pneumonia would I have heard two different nurses and the immunologist call the growth on his tube ecoli so I might need a medical person to explain that one? Anyway He had an awesome day today after the horrible weekend so we are headed in the right direction and maybe they will go ahead with the steroids later this week and it will really make a difference in a good way. Well I'm off to bed and will head up there first thing in the morning (10:30AM) so pray everything will still be good tomorrow.

A long week

Ok latest update Saturday evening Isaac took his vent tube out again and the Dr's started to poke around to see why the infection wasn't getting better or worse. He has also had to have more blood and platelet transfusions than what they are taking out so they are worried about their being another infection like meningitis or ecoli because of all the swelling the tape holding all the iv's and monitors on have caused tiny cuts in his skin and an infection could have gotten in there. So all that to say they have done a urine analysis and another round of blood tests and if anything comes back in the blood test they will want to do a spinal tap. He is getting another brain scan this morning to see if there are any bleeds to try and make since of why he is needing so many transfusions, and the scan can show if there is meningitis also. They weaned him off the blood pressure meds Sunday morning so 72 hours from his last dose they will start his milk feeds again and that is a great thing because the milk will actually prevent more infections from getting started and I am trying to convince them that an iron supplement will greatly help him since he is anemic. The info I found on this will be a link at the bottom. since Isaac hasn't been having regular milk feeds the bile in his tummy is building up so much it is coming out of his feeding tube so he is basically throwing up a very sad thing to see. Because we will be waiting to see results of new treatments and test this will be a very long week for us not to mention the holiday weekend with tons of family coming to see us. Please continue to pray for little Isaac and for our sanity we are a witness in that NICU for God and they have already noticed we are different from the other families. Thank you all for your support and we will keep you updated as results come in. He has gained more weight for those of you who asked he is 1LB and varies between 13 and 15OZ

Effects of fortifiers on the antimicrobial properties of human milk

Sunday, May 17, 2009

A good day

Mommy and Daddy visit
Saturday was a good day Isaac was doing good with all his #s blood pressure ok and he wasn't making the alarm on the vent go off. We are concerned about how high he is having to have the oxygen set at the lowest it has gone all week was in the 40's but mainly it has been in the 60's and 70's better than what it has been but still not healthy. We are watching this because the longer he is on oxygen at such a high rate the more risk he is at having eye damage. He is still currently on two blood pressure meds so it doesn't drop too low and he isn't currently getting milk because of those meds so we are looking into giving him steroids just to get him off the vent and the blood pressure meds because he needs me to hold him just as much as I need to hold him so pray that during this next week the steroids do their thing and not harm him because the team of Dr.s are not in agreement on steroid use because there hasn't been any study about long term side effects the only thing they do know is that some babies have smaller heads and lower weight and shorter and some even scored slightly lower on iq tests, but then there are the babies that we have seen in the past month who have gotten them and out grown their twins and gone home sooner and done better on weight gain. so again with the contradictions. We are at the agreement that it is to better his health right now so he has a better chance of surviving and we are going to consent to low doses. He is still on one antibiotic for the bacterial growth on his vent tube in his chest it hasn't been confirmed as pneumonia but it is reacting to the meds as pneumonia would so pray
that his lungs get stronger and this growth goes away. He is doing very good for the circumstances and everyone calls him a
fighter even the nurses that have experienced his mean streak.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Better but not 100%

Isaac was doing much better yesterday they have taken him off two antibiotics and so now he is down to the one for what they think is pneumonia, a very normal thing for preemies because they have the tubes going into their lungs and aggravating stuff then the swelling from the IVs and the transfusions. He was active yesterday and the nurse seems to have found that he prefers to be on his tummy and it will also help keep him from pulling all the monitors off. They are weaning him back off the ventilator he is down from 100% oxygen to between 57 and 65 a very good thing because the higher and longer he is on the oxygen the more chances he will have of eye damage. God has blessed us that there isn't any bleeding in his little brain and that he has done this good so please keep up the prayers, and thank you everyone for all the help you have given us with food and babysitting.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

2 steps forward 1 step back!

Well as the night nurse put it He has been a turd! They have had to do a ton of tests today to figure out whats going on in hiss tiny body. They know his platelets are down and have given him a blood transfusion and platelet transfusion today as well as puting him back on antibiotics they have also put him on a med for a yeast infection just in case. He is back on dopamine because his bood pressure was slightly lower than they would have liked it. Isaac has pulled off his heart monitor more times than they can count and he managed to pull his breathing tube out. After getting the tube back in they put him back on the other ventililator because he had had several bad blood gasses.The good news is both of his eyes are open and he is wiggling around like crazy. 5-12-09

Monday, May 11, 2009

A Wonderful Day!

Wow what a diference from yesterday. Isaac is now off all medications and doing really good as far as
his breathing goes. The Dr and nurses are working towards getting him stablized enough this week to
where they don't have to have as many blood gasses and can remove his PAL so I can hold him. His
swelling has gone down dramaticly and he has gained weight. As of Sunday he weighed 1LB 9OZ and he
has gained a little more since then acording to the scale. His lef eye opened today and I know the right
eye isn't far behimd because it looked like it was trying to open. His tiny little hand is looking bigger and
he grips more and more of my fingertip everyday Please keep the prayers coming Isaac needs as many as
he can get What a blessing to see God working in such a miraculous way.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Little Stinker

Well Isaac has been keeping the Dr.s and Nurses busy today and boy was it funny.
He is doing good as far as recovering from all the surgery and procedures that
happened this weekend, but his blood pressure is doing some crazy stuff then
stabilizing just before the medications or new machines get there. and every time a
certain nurse gets near him he makes his oxygenation sensor sound the alarm He
behaved while I was in earshot but as soon as I stepped back for them to do the
x-ray on his chest to make sure everything was still in the right place he would start
the alarms again. Too funny and his room mates were doing the same thing the little
girl who's twin went home earlier this week had gas and refused to eat for anyone
including her mom. The other baby they call baby George was making all sorts of
problems keeping Isaacs favorite nurse busy.

Isaac is very swollen from all the IV.s and blood transfusions and Platelets and just
the fact that his kidneys were being affected by the heart problem up until Friday
his weight today was 1LB 9OZ its good that he gained back to his birth weight in
thw two weeks but we don't know what kind of stress he is under because of the
swelling and his body recovering from surgery so pray that his sono will come back
with no brain bleeds and that he will get back on track asap. Thanks for all the prayers
and support I had a great Mother's Day and am getting rest, now if we could just get
rid of the construction or shorten the drive from 30 minutes it would be a miracle.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

moving the catheter

appearently they didn't get the catheter in a good location on friday so to my surprise
when I went to visit Isaac today he had tubes coming out of both hands and the top of
his head (very disturbing). They explained that that was what they had to do till the
surgeon could make it back to reposition the Broviac line. By the time the surgeon called
me and made sure it was ok to proceed I'm irritated and upset and ready to google it to
get some answers because he said he would x-ray when he got done to make sure it was
in the rite place which they did on Friday while I was there. He said that he might have to
go back and reposition it again and at this point I'm ready to tell him forget it thats why
they wanted this catheter in was to prevent multiple iv lines over the next couple of weeks
and to keep the possibility of infection down by not breaking his skin. The opposite of what
he is telling me he is going to do. So on to Google and wow have I learned a ton in the past
hour. Follow the link below

Broviac line placement explained.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Surgery a sucess

[caption id="attachment_24" align="alignleft" width="453" caption="doing great after his first surgery"]doing great after his first surgery[/caption] Isaac made it through the PDA was actually pretty big the surgeon said it was as big as his aorta so no wonder he had low blood pressure. God is so great and we are so blessed and apprecite all the prayers. Please continue to pray because we have a long way to go but this surgery will make it a lot better and an easier journey.

First surgery

Isaac has his first surgery scheduled for 8:30 this morning to close off the PDA in his heart.
It is not like a normal heart surgery cracking open the rib cage and all they will go in his
side/back through a small hole and since the picc line didn't work because his veins are just
too fragile they will put a line in his chest through the same place they do the surgery so it
will be as minimally invasive as you can get with a preemie so as not to cause stress and
bleeding in his brain. Well I'm off to fight traffic and sign consent forms. Thanks for all the
prayers.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

a couple bad nights

This week has been very hard Tuesday and Wednesday evening especially. Isaac is
having problems keeping his blood pressure at a steady place but last night it dropped
so low they had to give him dopamine. He is also having problems breathing as far as
getting enough oxygen in and expelling all the carbon dioxide out. All of this the Dr
thinks is being caused by his heart what they call a PDA Here are some links to help
everyone understand.
Keep the prayers coming and the biggest problem right now is the PDA
they will be taking the tubes out of his belly button and putting in a picc line
which is basically an iv that will go through a blood vessel all the way up his arm into
his chest so it doesn't get ripped out when he moves around.

Meriter Heath Services

Primer on Preemies


parenting in the NICU

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

1 Week

Wow I can't believe its been a whole week already so much has happened and our littel Isaac is such a miracle baby living up to his name. Just a few things have happened but they are such big things for him. his Jaundice has almost completely gone away, they have given him meds for his low bood pressure and weaned him off. He barely uses the ventilator basicly it is there so he doesn't wear himself out. He has gained weight and looks a little more chunky too. They did the sono on his brain on Sunday morning and it showed no signs of bleeding which is such an answer to prayer, and I pray it stays that way. They have given him the first round of meds to close the passage in his heart that will prevent his lungs filling with liquid since they are doing so well we really need this to close and stay closed. They are going to take the lines/tubes out of his belly button sometime this week and as soon as that happens we can hold him.

Our church family has been such a huge blessing taking in the other children and ringing us meals we really appreciate it and it is such a HUGE help not having to worry about what we are going to eat when we get back from the hospital or all the other Dr.s appointments and the kids are having so much fun they really don't understand whats going on and they miss us but not to an extreme that they are crying or causing problems they just thing its a really long play date.

Nate and I would like to thank everyone for all the help and can't wait to bring Isaac home to show everyone what they are working so hard for. I am working to get pictures linked here but might have to have a little tech support before they are up but for now there is Facebook.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Isaac's Story

[caption id="attachment_8" align="alignleft" width="604" caption="Isaac Xavier Finch"]Isaac Xavier Finch[/caption]Wow has it been a busy and exciting week.  Since everyone keeps asking how it started I will start with that. Friday April 24th I had contractions all day feeling like Braxton Hicks (practice/fake) so didn't think anything of it but didn't do much at all because I wasn't feeling energetic just tired and achy so I rested till dinner. By the time Nate and I made it to bed they were painful but thought they would stop as soon as I got off my feet and rested. Nope just wasn't going to happen by 2 am I realized these were labor contractions and needed to change position and take some stuff to stop them Nate looked up on the computer what would work best to stop the contractions and found out that Wild Yam would work better than the Blue or Black Cohosh so I told him where the last few capsules were and took them. 10 min later the contractions were almost completely stopped so he called his mother to get some more to make sure they wouldn't start back up.

Saturday morning I called the midwife to let her know what had happened I wasn't worried because I had an appointment with her on Wednesday and as long as they didn't start back up no problem it always takes me a long time to dilate.  She said she wanted to do some tests but her lab was closed till Monday so she sent me to the Dr. that had done the emergency sono earlier in the pregnancy since he had access to the hospital lab and could come in to see me there. 3 hours later Nate and I are off to the hospital for testing. all tests come up negative but surprise I am dilated to 2 and 50% effaced (not good) so they keep me the rest of the day just to watch me to see if there are any contractions showing up on the monitor and NOTHING for 8 hours so I beg to go home and they agreed there was no reason to keep me as long as I stayed on  bed rest till I could go get a sono on Monday just to see if there was something going on inside like placental abruption. Saturday night goes by and all day Sunday and nothing not a muscle twich or anything, but Monday morning I get an appointment for a sono and my wonderful single brother-in-law drives me to the OBGYN's and I am dilated to 5 and the bag of waters is going to burst any second. We rush to the hospital getting turned around somewhere and getting lost in Murphy we finally got turned back around and got to the hospital the same time Nate gets there from Flower Mound and they admit my and proceed to have me lay at an awkward angle where I eventually slide up the bed and hit my head on the headboard. Remember not a single contraction till this point even with all the walking I had to do in getting ready and getting up to the dr. office. The instant I am hooked up ti the IV and laying flat on my back the contractions start 15 min apart and getting closer. They start Magnesium to try and stop the contractions and order up the steroids to strengthen the babies lungs just in case they can't stop the labor. Emilly Minich, and Jenny Hebert were there pretty much all day and even after Nate had to go home to shuffle children around and get them to their designated families for overnight. Thats when it got interesting! I was finally falling asleep and feeling better and then gush(10:15pm) what the nurse didn't tell me was that the blood meant it was imminent and they were not going to get labor to start.  I call Nate and tell him I want him there with me because I needed support and in my heart I knew is would be soon so he scrambles to get his car to the guys he carpools with and then drops his brother off and races up to the hospital to be with me I had called Jennie Hebert to update prayer chain and her and Tiffanie decide to come up and pull an all nighter ( don't know how to thank them enough). Jennie keeps me distracted and comfortable between contractions while Nate sleeps and gets that nice little bit of info out of the nurse while I slept for an hour. So at this point I have no clue what time it is but I wake up because of a really sharp pain and call the nurse because I'm feeling lots of pressure and everyone starts scrambling calling Dr.s and getting the NICU people ready and then they tell me I have to wait for my Dr. to get there even though there was a delivery Dr. standing right next to me so it was probably about 45 min longer then when they tell me I can push everything stops no more contractions just pressure and I can feel his head moving. Eventually I just push without contraction and it seemed like he was at my feet for 5 min but it was only long enough to get him out of the bag and cut the chord. We heard him cry a few times and then they started their little breathing bag and cleaning him off and all the other stuff they do, such a blurr but he was born and alive they took him out and I got to try and rest.

There was some confusion as to name and we appologise we only had 24 hours and we flip flopped a couple of times but his official name is Isaac Xavier Finch born at 5:42 on April 28th weighing 1Lb 4 Oz and 11 1/2" long.

Sunday, May 3, 2009