We're home!

A quick post to say "We're finally home!"

Collin was taken off of oxygen Thursday night around 8:30 pm and did fantastic maintaining his oxygen saturation on room air. Friday morning Chris and I were in the NICU when the Dr's rounded and they said that since Collin has maintained his oxygen saturation he would be getting his circumcision on Friday and have his car seat challenge and after that we could go home.

We couldn't believe it. The day we had been waiting for had finally come!

After his circumcision and hearing test Collin had to do his car seat challenge where he had to sit in his seat for an hour and maintain his oxygen saturation between 85-100. The car seat challenge is to make sure that he can sit in his seat without closing off his airway because preemies are subject to lowering their heads and closing off their airways in the car seat.

Collin passed his hearing test and car seat challenge with flying colors and we were given the green light to go home. Mom and Kaitlyn met us at the hospital so that Kaitlyn could ride home with us but as soon as she got in the car she decided she would rather ride with Mee Mee.

So we all made it back here at about 7:00 pm Friday night and we have been enjoying being home and spending time with Collin without any tubes, wires, or monitors attached to him.

We have quite a few pictures and videos so once I have a free moment I will work on getting them uploaded but for now here are a few of the first pictures without any tubes or monitors attached.

First Picture without oxygen or feeding tubes

Collin during the car seat challenge

Collin and Chris getting ready to go home

Collin and Mommy getting ready to leave

Kaitlyn's 1st time to hold Collin

Home stretch

Today has been an eventful day.


Chris and I were with Collin this morning when the Dr's rounded. They told us that they are going to take him off the oxygen tonight and that I could start breastfeeding him and then offer the bottle to him after I feed him.


I fed him this morning at 10:30 AM and he did really well. He nursed for about 40 minutes and then had 15 ml from the bottle. I was able to feed him again at 1:30 pm and 4:30. At his 1:30 feeding he had another 15 ml from the bottle but at his 4:30 feeding he did not want the bottle at all.


He is now sleeping contently and Chris and I are in the lobby waiting to check into our room tonight and the nurses are doing shift change.


The Dr's asked us if we wanted him circumcised and said they would do that at most a day or 2 before he goes home so it will probably be tomorrow. He received his HEP B vaccination today and he cried more about having his temperature taken then he did when the nurse gave him the shot!


They asked us to bring his car seat in so that they can start putting him in his car seat and checking him out to make sure he is still breathing properly.


His temperature has been a little lower today and it seems like he has had a harder time maintaining it today. The room has been a little colder than usual though so the Dr. said that his temprature is acceptable. We have just had to keep him bundled up in his blankets and a fleece outfit today to keep him warm.

Here are a few pictures of him all bundled up!





Since moving to the Elephant pod he has been more alert and responds to our voices when we come in to see him. The room is much quieter because there are not as many alarms going off as there were when he was in the Rabbit pod because the babies in Elephant are more stable in their oxygen, respiration, and heart rate. There is, however; a very unhappy little girl, Deja Lynn, in his new room that is constantly crying and screaming. Collin opens his eyes when Deja Lynn starts crying and looks around like "What is all that noise?" and "Why is she screaming?" She has 2 swings in there and a bouncer. Mom came to visit last night and told Collin that he wasn't going to get any swings or bouncers in the NICU and that if he wanted toys he had to come home! Her pep talk seemed to work because Collin seems like he is making the progress needed for us to come home.


As I am typing this Dr. Doan just walked by and said he is going to ween Collin off the oxygen tonight for sure. We have been so impressed with Dr. Doan and Dr. Chen. They work at least 36 hour shifts when they are here and they do their official rounds in the mornings but usually stop every few hours and check in on all their patients so we usually see them several times a day.


Well, it is almost time for us to take all our bags and move back into a room so I will post another update tomorrow as soon as time allows. Hopefully I will not have time because I am hoping they will discharge him tomorrow but it may be Saturday.

Collin is moving to Elephant pod!

Last night was a long night because they changed Collin's feeding schedule so it caused my pumping schedule to change as well. We did not get as much sleep because of the new schedule because I had to catch up with Collin's new schedule.

This morning was an eventful morning though.

I decided to sleep a little more after my 5 am pumping before getting up for the day. Chris ran over to Starbucks to get us some coffee once I finally got up around 9 am. We were sitting in the cafe in the Ronald McDonald house and Matt, the guy in charge of the Ronald McDonald house here, came in and told Chris and I that he was going to transfer a phone call for us. Chris answered the phone and it was Kelly, Collin's nurse, calling to ask if I wanted to breastfeed for Collin's 10 AM feeding.

Collin wasn't too sure what to do but he was at least alert and responding to my voice and he maintained his respiratory rate in the 40-60 range while trying to figure it all out. We ended up feeding him through the feeding tube because he couldn't quite figure it out, but he at least stayed calm and seemed content while we were trying.

The Dr. came by after I had tried to breastfeed him and said that he wanted us to try a bottle for one of his feedings today and see how he did with that before we tried breastfeeding again.

After our attempt at breastfeeding, we were able to dress Collin in his own clothes! This is the first time he has had clothes on besides the little t-shirt they put on him the other day that swallowed him up. We put one of his preemie outfits that Mee Mee bought him on and swaddled him up in a blanket. Collin was also moved from the incubator type crib with a heater to a regular crib!

Collin in his first outfit

Tonight at shift change (6:30-7:00) Kelly, his nurse, will move him to a different pod in the NICU. Currently Collin is in the Rabbit pod but tonight he will move to Elephant, which puts us one step closer to going home...Elephant is the first pod you get to when you walk into the NICU so he is close to the exit! We have now learned all the pods in the NICU, at least we think we have a good understanding, (Duck, Bear, Giraffee, Rabbit, Sheep, Cat, Elephant) in order of increased severity to decreased severity. Collin started out in Giraffee his first night here.

We have been really fortunate the past 2 nights because we were able to get one of the rooms through Ronald McDonald House on the same floor with Collin. I just found out that we have a room again tonight so we will be here with him again. It has really been such a blessing to be able to be so close to him and to be able to take his bottles right down the hall when it is time for his feedings!

Since Collin did not breastfeed, I was able to pump for his next feeding and it bought Chris and I some time to run home today and get more clothes for the next few days and bring a few things home. Today was the first time I have been out of this hospital in the past week. It is a beautiful day outside so it felt good to get away even if it was only for 2 hours.

Chris is now back there with Collin trying to feed him his first bottle so I will try to post another update later.

More signs of progress

2/23/10

New Pictures!

Chris holding Collin for the first time since he held him in the OR!

No More CPAP!!!

What a cute face!

Yesterday was a really long day so I am including the update for yesterday and today. I was discharged yesterday so Chris and I were trying to figure out where we were going to be staying the night after I was discharged. We were able to secure a room through Ronald McDonald House on the 7th floor right down the hall from the NICU. There are 7 rooms offered for families of children in the NICU and they are given out based on severity of the child. We had to put our name on the list and wait all day to see if we got a room. We were able to move into our room beween 7 and 9 last night so we had to wait on my nurse to discharge me and then get all of our stuff transported to the room on 7. Then Chris had to leave and find a 24 hour pharmacy to get all my prescriptions filled so that I would have pain medication for last night and today.

It was all worth it though because today was a great day!

Even more progress. They increased Collin's feedings today to 33 ml and disconnected the IV early in the day.

I just got back from visiting with him and they have now removed the IV completely and he is on 21% oxygen which is equivalent to room air!!!! Another milestone for him.

While I was in there his respiratory rate was between 40-60 which is exactly where they want it to be. Now he just has to stay there consistently. While I was in there he was sleeping but they want to see him maintain his respiratory rate between 40-60 while he is awake and being held then they will consider switching him to a bottle feeding and then to breastfeeding. They want to be sure that he will be able to maintain his breathing at the proper rate while sucking and swallowing so for now he remains on the feeding tube.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to see if he continues to maintain his respiratory rate and when the Dr's round we will know how they are going to proceed.

2/22/10

Collin has made a substantial amount of progress over the past 48 hours.

Yesterday Collin was still on the CPAP machine but was steadily decreasing the amount of oxygen he was requiring. He feedings were increased from 7 ml to 13 ml and he tolerated them well and had very little undigested breastmilk left when they checked before his next feeding.

Chris went up after 3 AM last night to take a bottle I had pumped and they had decreased his oxygen to 25%.

This morning Chris went up to take another bottle and to his suprise Collin was completely off the CPAP machine and only had a nasal canula. When Collin was on the CPAP the pressure he was requiring to force the oxygen in was at 6, then over last night it came down to 5 and then 4.

When he was switched to the nasal canula today they further decreased the pressure to 2 and today while we were visiting they decreased it again to 1.5.

Coming off the CPAP machine was a huge sign of progress. Throughout the day today Collin has maintained himself on around 30% oxygen but has only needed the pressure of 1.5.

They also increased his feedings today to 27 ml and he has tolerated them well and gained some weight. He was up to 5 lbs 10 ozs last night, which was good because he was down to 5 lbs 9 ozs, and they will weigh him again tonight to see what he has gained today.

The next step is to get the IV taken out. The Dr. had mentioned that if Collin gets to 30 ml feedings and tolerates them well they could probably turn off the IV. He is currently still at 27 ml because they only increase his feedings once a day but when the Dr's round in the morning they may increase it again and hopefully at that point will say that the IV can be removed.

At this point it looks like we may be able to take him home Wednesday or Thursday but hopefully he will suprise us and continue to improve as rapidly as he has over the past 48 hours so that we can take him home even sooner.

We want to thank you all for your prayers and emails. We look forward to seeing your responses to our good news.

Mom and Kaitlyn came up today and Mom was able to hold Collin. Chris is currently in the NICU with Collin having some bonding time so I will post some pictures when I get a chance.

Update on Collin

2/20/2010

The card Kaitlyn wanted to give Collin

Good news to report on Collin.

Chris and I went to see him after breakfast this morning and they had increased his oxygen to 64%, the good news is that since that time he has been able to have his first meal (via the tube they have down his throat into his tummy) and his oxygen has now been decreased, to the lowest it has been since he was put on the CPAP machine, 44%. He has to get down to 21% before they will take him off the CPAP, but he has made quite a bit of progress today.

At noon today he received his first feeding of breast milk and he was fed again at 3 pm and Chris just took the last bottle I pumped up for the 6 PM feeding and got a report that they have now decreased his oxygen to 42%. He is responding well to the feedings and has not had any problems keeping them down. I am pumping every 3 hours so that they can continue to feed him breastmilk but he is also receiving supplementation with formula.

He is also now sucking on the pacifier every now and then, which he was not doing before, so hopefully that means he will be able to breastfeed soon after he comes off the CPAP.

Chris and I will be here through tomorrow at least and if Collin has to stay Sunday night then we may also be able to stay Sunday night with him. Hopefully he will continue to make progress and we will all be able to go home together on Monday but we won't get to talk to his Dr's again until they make rounds tomorrow morning between 9-10.

Please keep Collin in your thoughts and prayers! He is making progress.

We will be seeing him again after the nurses have shift change tonight so hopefully we will have more good news to report.

2/19/2010 @ 11:09 PM

As many of you have already heard Collin arrived yesterday via c-section 4 weeks early.

Collin was doing well in the OR right after he was born but started grunting before we made it out of the OR and was taken up to the nursery for further evaluation and oxygen.

After a couple of hours in the nursery on oxygen he was still struggling to breath because his lungs are not fully developed and the Dr's made the decision to take him up to the NICU and admit him.

Collin has been in the NICU now since a couple of hours after his birth and will be staying there tonight. He started out with an oxygen dome over his face, then they put the tubes up his nose and now they have him on a CPAP machine to give him even more oxygen. We saw him about an hour ago and his was getting 50% oxygen. They need to be able to decrease it down to 21% oxygen before they will take him off the CPAP.

He is receiving IV fluids and has not been able to breastfeed. We are hopeful that he will continue to improve over the next day and be able to come off the CPAP and attempt to eat.

Kaitlyn is anxious to see him. She hasn't be able to see him since they brought him out of the OR and put him in the nursery.

Chris was able to hold him in the OR quite a bit while my arms were still strapped down. I was able to hold him for the first time while I was in the recovery room for a few minutes before they took him up to the NICU.

I am hopeful that I will be able to hold him tomorrow if he is doing better. He has made some progress today but does not want to suck on the pacifier. Overall, he is doing pretty good he just needs some help breathing because he is having to work so hard to breath because of his underdeveloped lungs. His heart rate is good and so far he is not showing any signs of infection.

I am doing much better today than yesterday and have been able to get out of bed since around 7 this morning and move around. Chris and I have been up to the NICU several times today and are about to visit again before trying to get some sleep. We are both super exhausted but Chris has been taking good care of me.

I know this is a long rambling message but I wanted to post an update so that I could catch everyone up. I am attaching some pictures of Collin hopefully he will have some more pictures soon without all the tubes and wires attached.

Collin in the OR

Collin in the NICU on the CPAP

Please keep him in your your prayers. We are so eager to hold him and have him in the room with us.

Collin has arrived

Collin Andrew Barry arrived February 18, 2010 at 2:16 PM

5 lbs 13 oz

18. 5 inches

We're home for now

I had another ultrasound this morning and the ultrasound showed that the amniotic fluid had increased to 6.8, not a great increase, but better than a decline. In fact, the tech said really .4 couldn't even be considered an increase but basically that it had stayed the same.

Chris and I went back to our room expecting Dr. Jurney to say that she would do the c-section tomorrow or Thursday but that I had to stay in the hospital until then. Suprisingly, when Dr. Jurney called she actually said that I could go home today and come back on Thursday for the c-section.

So we are now back at home and the c-section is scheduled for 1:30 PM on Thursday.

We are happy to have a little more time to pack appropriately and make sure we have everything we need and give Collin a couple more days to grow before he is forced from his warm comfy home!

Keep checking back for updates on Thursday afternoon. Hopefully I won't have anything more to add until then!

Possible change of plans

So today was an interesting day. The Dr's office called this morning and asked me to come back in today for another ultrasound to re-check the amniotic fluid levels. I went in today for another ultrasound and it showed that my amniotic fluid level had dropped to 6.4. On Saturday it was at 7 and it should be between 5 and 25 so although it is in the normal range, it is lower than the Dr. wants it to be given that I have placenta previa. We left the Dr's office after that ultrasound and the tech told us they would call us tomorrow to review the results.


We had just pulled out of the parking garage when the nurse called us and asked me to go over to the hospital to Labor & Delivery for IV fluids to try to hydrate me to get the amniotic fluid levels up. Chris and I thought that this would be a simple in and out type thing and that they would just hook me up to an IV for a few hours and then send me home. After we were triaged and admitted the nurse asked me if they had explained to me that I would be staying overnight. I told her that they hadn't. She said that they needed to keep me overnight to get the fluids in and do another ultrasound in the morning.

So we are here for the night now and will have the biophysical ultrasound in the morning where they will measure the amount of amniotic fluid again. We are at Children's Memorial Hermann in Room 584. Hopefully, we are not here to stay!

We were not yet packed for the hospital (I had just begun to pack my bag since we were supposed to have another week and 1/2) so Chris had to go home and pack for me and him and get Kaitlyn and Emma packed for Mee Mee.

I will post an update in the morning if time allows. Going to bed soon just in case this is my last night for a full night of sleep ;-). I am hoping to go home tomorrow and wait another week though!

Getting ready for Collin's arrival

This past few weeks has gone by fast. I am now 35 and 1/2 weeks pregnant, just a week and 1/2 to go!

I have been keeping busy lately with a baby shower, scrapbooking weekend and preparations for Collin's arrival.

Jorja (Chris' sister) and Lindsey (Chris' niece) hosted a baby shower for me 2 weekends ago.

The shower was great. We received bottles, pacifiers, hooded towels, blankets, baby wash, diapers and more. I spent my first week off work washing all of Collin's precious new outfits, blankets, and towels. It is so much fun to wash his clothes, although that is probably not what I will be saying when I am washing 2-3 loads a week!

Here are some pictures from the shower. The cake was the cutest cake I have ever seen!

Unwrapping gifts

The crocheted blanket Jorja made for Collin

And last but not least, Kaitlyn felt like as the Big Sister she should test out Collin's Bumbo seat...for quality assurance and safety of course. I can't believe her little butt fits in a baby seat. She didn't even get stuck!

So after the shower and a week of running errands, I was able to get away for one last scrapbooking retreat before Collin arrives. We tried out a new place in East Bernard, which is only about an hour from Pearland. The short drive was really nice because if we had gone to our usual place in Rockport I would not have been able to go because I cannot ride in a car for more than about an hour and 1/2 at this point. One of my projects while I as there was to work on Kaitlyn's big sister scrapbook. I was able to complete it, as much as possible at this point, without pictures of Collin to put in there. Once he is born I am going to add pages for his footprints, pictures of Kaitlyn holding him for the first time etc.

Here are some previews of her big sister book. This is one of the gifts she will receive when she comes to the hospital to visit Collin.

She is also going to receive a James Avery big sister necklace from Collin!

And finally, this week was my 35 week visit. I saw June, the NP, and she said that I am measuring about average size for this stage in my pregnancy. She also said she wanted to get one last ultrasound to check the position of the placenta and get a better estimate of Collin's size.

Since the ultrasound tech is not in on Thursdays, which is the day I had my appointment, my ultrasound was scheduled for today.

Nothing has changed as far as the placenta and Collin is still head down. The ultrasound tech estimated that Collin weighs about 5 lbs 7 oz at this point, so he has gained about 2 lbs since my last ultrasound at 31 weeks. According to the ultrasound, he is measuring around 33 weeks gestation, but I am actually at 35 weeks and 3 days.

At this rate, with only a week and 1/2 left until the c-section, he will probably be around 6 lbs, just like his big sister! His heart rate was a strong 130 and he was moving all around during the ultrasound today. Chris and Kaitlyn were with me and we were able to see him practicing breathing on the ultrasound by watching his chest move. We were also able to see his heart beating strong. The tech said that my amniotic fluid is measuring a little on the low side of normal so she wants me to chug as much water as possible this weekend.

My next appointment is scheduled for Feb 18th, next Thursday. This will be my last appointment before delivery!

Until then, I will close with some pictures of my belly at 35 weeks. I will be taking maternity pictures this coming Wednesday so I will have at least a few more pictures of my belly before I deliver.