Happy 8 Weeks

Happy 8 weeks Jimmie! I realized that his 2 month birthday is Saturday. (not today) Duh . . .(-:

So Jimmie's eye exam today was pointless. The Doctor said after dilating his eyes and doing the exam that Jimmie's eyes were still too premature to see if he has ROP. So he will have this done again in a couple of weeks. Ugh! Kind of a bummer. They always try at the earliest possible time because if there were a big problem with ROP the earlier you catch it and act on it the better the outcome. We'll hopefully have news about Jimmie's eyes in a couple of weeks. Keep praying eye prayers!

Rachael kept noticing Jimmie was acting like he was too hot yesterday in his isolette. Her Mommy's intuition was that he just needed the temperature setting turned down a bit. And sure enough today after they've adjusted the temp settings he's been acting much more comfortable! Mommy knows best. (-:

Jimmie lost 6 grams today. )-: Come on Jimmie you gotta keep chunking it up little man!

Here are some more pictures from Sunday.

Ewww what's that nasty smell? Oh that would be me- filling my diaper.


Why does Auntie Amber talk so loud and flash that light in my eyes?


I'm puffing my cheeks out so I can drive Auntie Amber mad with temptation to kiss them!


I love sleeping in my Mommy's lap!

A Day In The Life...

Jimmie has gained a few grams today, but yesterday he gained a whole ounce so we are happy he didn't lose.

I thought it would be cool for me to kind of give you an idea of a day in the life of Supermom- Rachael.

I didn't think to ask Rachael the details on Justin's schedule. I know he is up there at some point every day that he's not at the fire department. And sometimes(once a week?) he spends the majority of the day in the NICU and gives Rach a break.


So- first of all Rachael pumps her breast milk every 3 hours around the clock.

She arrives at that hospital most mornings around 8:30am. She then holds Jimmie for about 3 hours until noon.



During that time she and Jimmie have a nursing session and the Doctor usually comes by during his rounds and does his daily exam of Jimmie. The Doctor looks at his charts of the last 24 hours and Rachael discusses everything with the Doctor. Then she eats lunch which she has usually packed from home.

After lunch she goes back into Jimmie's room. Then she usually holds him for another 3 hours from 3pm to 6pm. During that time they have their 2nd nursing session. The Nurse Practitioner usually makes rounds in the afternoon, stops in to look at Jimmie and his charts and again Rachael discusses all things medical and developmental.

Rachael likes to stay through shift change at 6:30pm so she can be there for the nurses giving each other the evening report. This way she can meet Jimmie's night nurse and discuss anything or share any desires or concerns about his care for the night.

She usually leaves the hospital around 7:30pm goes home and eats dinner and goes straight to bed. However if it's a night where Jimmie is going to receive a bath she stays and gives him his bath. On those nights she gets home around 9:30pm. She usually calls that NICU around 1:30am when she pumps to talk to the night nurse and check on how Jimmie is doing. Things they might discuss are his bowel movements, temperature, oxygen setting, whether he's having desats or bradys etc.. Sometimes she calls again later with her 2nd middle of the night pumping.

She rarely deviates from this schedule maybe once a week she'll come teach an hour at the studio. She comes straight from the hospital and goes straight back. And I think she's attending a service at their church once a week.

There is no eating or drinking allowed in Jimmie's room. There is a parent's room in the NICU where you can get a snack and a drink. There are no bathroom facilities in the NICU. You have to leave the NICU to go to the bathroom and every time you re-enter you have to wash your hands. This is true for all of the NICU staff, Doctors and Nurses as well.

So she holds Jimmie 6 hours a day and is in the NICU at least 12 hours a day.

And she does this with a happy and grateful heart. She has moments of sadness, annoyance and exhaustion to be sure, but I am just in complete awe of what she is doing right now. She is an amazing person and an amazing mommy to Jimmie.


Thank you for your prayers for Justin, Rachael and Jimmie!

Love,
Amber

All In A Days Work

Jimmie gained another whole ounce! 3 pounds 8 ounces! The Doctor decided to cut back on the fortifier they've been adding to Rachael's milk. I hope this also cuts back on his tummy troubles. Rachael said he was just pretty gassy and grumpy acting this morning.

Keep praying oxygen prayers. His needs were up a bit higher today. He's been hanging out around 23% or 24% and this morning it was up to about 32%. Wrong direction little guy. We want you to go the other way with that.

Doctor Time! All in a days work for little Jimmie.


Here- just let me stretch and pass a lot of gas so you can't hear my lungs! (-:



So if you like to click on the picture to veiw them bigger you might notice in this picture Jimmie has a pretty big outie belly button. He does have an umbilical hernia which is very common with preemies. The hope is that'll it'll close up on it's own.


So Wednesday is Jimmie's 1st eye exam. (And his 2 month birthday!) We were told wrong a month ago that he was getting an eye exam. He never did. They usually wait until the baby is about 6 to 8 weeks old. Jimmie is expected to have Retinopathy Of Prematurity because almost all preemies like him do. About 70% don't require any intervention though. So hopefully he is either really really rare and doesn't have ROP. Or if he does- hopefully it won't be severe enough to require any intervention. So lets add his eyes to our prayer list.

He certainly seems like he can see his Momma and Daddy.


As always- thank you for praying!

Love,
Amber

Family Picture

I got to see my amazing little man today!!! He is getting SO BIG you guys. Well-- he's still probably the tiniest baby you've (most of you) ever seen, but he's so much bigger than he was...

I was there today when the Doctor came in and he explained that although Jimmie is off the caffeine it is still in his system and we really won't know how he's doing without it for another 4 or 5 days. So pray that when it is finally all out of his system that he does fine without it!

There were a couple of rooms opening up in Tulip today. That's where Rachael wants Jimmie to be. So hopefully they'll get to move back. Jimmie's friend Miranda got to go home today! She was a micro-preemie. Congratulations to her family. What an amazing day for them!

While I was there today I went kind of crazy with the camera. (-: I'll spread the pictures out over the next couple of days in my posts.

1st family pictures!




The sign I wrote today. I re-did it cause I wanted it to say I'm AWESOME! (-:


Jimmie is really starting to remind me of my son Cole.

This is Cole. (Rachael is holding him.)

Cole again.



This is Jimmie.


Check out that TOTALLY CUTE DIMPLE!


I don't think I heard what he weighed today, but the Doctor did get out his growth chart and show us how Jimmie was staying right on his curve so that's great! Keep praying those fat prayers!

Love,
Amber

P.S. Rachael just called and Jimmie weighs 3 pounds 7 ounces! Wow!!! And he got to move back to tulip. Yeah!

No More Caffeine

Wow- last night's post was number 100! (-:

Jimmie lost a few grams today. )-: That does happen sometimes after he's gained a lot. Hopefully he'll pick it right back up tomorrow.

His rash on his bottom is almost gone- so that's great.

Rachael said today the Doctor ordered that Jimmie not be given any more caffeine. He's out grown his dose and is doing fine. So - yeeeeah-- no more caffeine for Jimmie. This is awesome that his breathing and heart rate are doing great without it.

There is a baby across from Jimmie who is 3 months old and was born at term. We don't really know his story, but the poor little guy cries all the time. Rachael said it's really hard and grating to hear this kid screaming for hours. His mother is not there very often and he just wants to be held and have attention. The nurses do their best, but it's just not possible to be there for him in that way with all of their nursing duties. We are not judging the mother, we have no idea her situation, but we do want you all to say prayers for this little guy. It's breaking my heart to hear about it.

Rachael said this is a situation where a volunteer who wanted to hold babies could do a lot of good. Lord hold that little one in your arms.

I'm going to visit Jimmie tomorrow. I'm so excited! I haven't seen him for a couple of weeks. I'll be sure to get some new pictures to post! (-:

Here's Cole watching Jimmie's video. The pictures are a little blury. )-: I'll have to try again next time.




Things are calm and steady with Jimmie right now. Praise the Lord!



Love,
Amber

Placental Pathology Report

Jimmie weighs 3 pounds 3 ounces today! He's also had a sleepy day so maybe he's growing. The last few days he's really been gaining.

Rachael really loves nursing him and she and Jimmie make improvements every time. We are talking drops though. Rachael makes sure she is fairly empty before they start so she will not overwhelm him. He is still so tiny that it wears him out rather quickly to suck and swallow, but he is so strong for his size and doing really well. It is logistically quite a challenge to breastfeed a baby in the NICU. For 1- there is no where for Mom to sleep and when baby should be fed every 3 hours well-- that becomes pretty impossible. And 2- it is harder to keep track of how much the baby is getting and that is very important with these little ones. And 3- bottle feeding is less work for the baby. (the milk comes out of a bottle quicker and easier) For these reasons most mothers do not choose to breastfeed. However Rachael really really wants to. I'm so rooting for her in this and know you all will too. Hopefully Jimmie will be one of those kids that will switch back and forth between the bottle and the breast as needed. So far he is really doing well at the breast and Rachael is encouraged and excited to continue.

One thing Rachael brought up today is that the oxygen hood Jimmie is in is starting to get old! It's awkward to work around. It makes it hard to get to him and it's starting to get crowded when Jimmie tries to get his hands up into his mouth. He is not far from 21% oxygen which is room air so Rachael wants us to start praying that Jimmie can be weaned from the oxygen completely! This would be so awesome!

A cannula with the prongs cut off may be an option, but Rach really doesn't want any air blowing right into his nose just in case that were to irritate it again. We want to keep his nasal passages safe at all costs. Rachael is putting a sign up on his isolette to not put ANYTHING in his nose. It is in his charts, but it is such a normal thing to put cannulas and feeding tubes and suctioning instruments in preemie's noses that it could easily get forgotten. I know that has almost happened at least once since Jimmie's "crash and bleed".

Hi- I'm Jimmie, I'm awesome. Please don't put anything in my nose. Thank you! (-:

The big news today is that Rachael spoke with Dr. Watts- the Doctor who delivered Jimmie and he reported that the pathology on Jimmie's placental tissue did show signs of an infection! He called it "chorioamnionitis". He said it would be termed a mild case, but that is most definitely why Rachael went into labor on Feb. 11th and had Jimmie. As far as whether or not this infection caused everything to begin with? That we will never know. It's that chicken or egg scenario. Did she start to dilate and then get the infection? Or did the infection come first and then dilation? She will be meeting with one of the Perinatologists to discuss future pregnancies. More than likely a preventative cerclage will be the recommendation. We'll see . . . I'll update you after Rachael has that meeting.

This news is sobering, but I think a relief for Rachael. At least having answers as to why she suddenly went into labor after a month of bedrest. She was so devastated that day, but now we know that her body responding to that infection as quickly as it did by birthing Jimmie very possibly worked out to save his life. Sometimes that type of infection can fester until it becomes severe and this is life threatening for both Mom and baby. I read this today, "A strong association is observed between very preterm infants dying when younger than 24 hours and chorioamnionitis."

So Lord- thank you! Thank you for your mercy and for your presence in Rachael. Thank you that Jimmie has thrived and is so strong. Thank you that You were there that dark night when Rachael gave birth to Jimmie and thank you for being our light.

When I think about how close we were to losing Jimmie in so many ways since that night at 20 1/2 weeks I can't help but cry. There have been many dark nights, but His light has always been shining bright for us to see. Like a beacon in a stormy sea. The words that have sustained us through this after all were Jesus' words to the storm, "Peace be still!"

I thank you all for your words of prayer and encouragement through this. Thank you for continuing to be our warriors!

Love,
Amber

Fun With Daddy

Drum roll . . . . . Jimmie is 3 POUNDS!!!! And almost an ounce. Wow! You are really growing this 2nd month of your life little man!

Jimmie had a good day. His diaper rash is a little better. Keep praying for that to clear up all of the way. He's been pretty uncomfortable with it.

Rachael said he is becoming so aware when he's awake now. It's so cool for him to show obvious recognition and excitement when she comes in- in the morning. And to see him so reactive and responsive to his Daddy.

Mom said the other day when she was there Justin was playing with the controls on Jimmie's bed and moving it up and down right after Jimmie had eaten. She was scolding Justin to stop. I asked what Rach was doing and Mom said, "oh- she was putting up with it." and then I asked what Jimmie was doing and she grinned sheepishly and said, "I don't want to tell you." I laughed and she said, "He was loving it!" He was very reactive to his Daddy's little way of playing with him. Well- Jimmie is Justin's son after all- of course he loves it. I can't wait to see Justin tossing him around while he's giggling and then watch as Jimmie throws up in his face. LOL! Every parent has had that happen! And if I may tease my Mom for a minute- she is VERY protective. My brother Evan says when I'm gone she follows my kids around and puts her hands over the corners of the walls and sharp edges of furniture as they walk by. LOL! I love you Mom! (-:

Justin and Rachael went on a date tonight! They went to see Phantom Of The Opera. Justin bought her the tickets for Christmas. I'm so glad they are getting to use them. Rachael said she dressed up and did her hair and make-up and when she walked into the NICU everyone was like- "Oh wow- do you have a date???" (-: I'm sure she looks beautiful.

The other day Rach said one of the Respiratory Therapists who hasn't been there for a while came to see Jimmie in his old room and about had a heart attack in the hall thinking Jimmie was VERY sick all of the sudden. Nurse Carolyn joked she almost had to give him CPR. 0-: And then she showed him to Jimmie's new room. (-:

Say some prayers for the little one in Jimmie's old room- Tulip section- room 2. *sigh* The NICU is just not an easy place to be in any way. There is a lot of heartache there.

We are so grateful for your prayers!

Love,
Amber

P.S. Jimmie is still being fed by a tube that goes in his mouth and down his throat. It is very small and so far Rachael has been able to work around it when he is breast feeding. He doesn't really get much sucking and swallowing yet. Jimmie loves pulling that feeding tube out. He'll get a hold of it in his tiny little hands and then just yank and out it comes!