HENRY IS HOME!!!!

We brought Henry home yesterday for the first time since he was born back on December 5th. We had to spend the night at the hospital Monday to be trained on his at-home monitor. We were quite overwhelmed with all the information they gave us before we left for home. We were prepared to go home, but it seemed like everything was thrown at us right before we left. Yesterday was very hectic to say the least....and throw on top of that introducing Henry to Phoebe! Jan (Jenny's mom) brought Phoebe over to the house after we got home and the introduction was a little awkward at first....Phoebe didn't know what to think, and at first I don't even she think she knew he was real! hahaha! Once he moved and started crying her eyes lit up and she ran over to him saying "baby! baby! baby!" We let her hold him and she was very up close and personal with him. She loved kissing and touching his face. It was all really cute! The problem began when we had to put Henry in his crib....Phoebe wanted him out so she could continue holding him. Phoebe was not happy! Last night was also interesting.....every time Henry woke up to eat, Phoebe would hear him crying and run to her gate (she climbs out of bed, so we have a gate up at her door) yelling "baby! baby! baby!" to let us know he was awake! Phoebe is very attached to Jenny, so she insisted on sitting with her while she rocked Henry (I posted a pick of this).
Everything is going great so far....and like I said, he is on a monitor to measure his heart rate and breathing....which is for the most part normal. He is eating all his bottles....and actually started sucking on my shirt after one of his bottles last night! It is so nice to not have to go to the hospital every day (Jenny) but it is also strange. It was very emotional when we left the hospital....the nurses who took care of Henry became very close to Jenny and it obviously made it hard to leave in that aspect. Every summer the hospital has a "NICU reunion" where all the NICU babies and their families can come to a party....so it will be really fun to attend that this summer! I will try to post as many pics and videos as I can.....and update you on different milestones as they happen. Thanks to everyone for all your love, support, prayers, cards, gifts, meals, and thoughts over the past 3 months!!! It all helped so much!

Any Day Now!!!

So I know it's been a long time since my last post....or at least that is what everyone keeps telling me! So I believe Henry is now up to 5 lbs. 13 oz., but it changes daily because he is being inconsistent with his feeding and usually saves his bowel movements until the very last minute and therefore they weigh a lot more than normal. Henry is now in a normal crib, or at least the crib that full term babies are put in when they are born. No more isolette (incubator). He looks so big in his big boy crib (what the nurses call it). I think he is up to about 65 mL of breast milk every 3 hours, but the problem is that he is not quite eating it all at once. He will eat 20 mL one feeding, 35 mL the next, and 50 the next, etc., etc. So obviously the doctors want him to take the entire feeding from the bottle at each feeding before he can come home. Do not tell Jenny this, but I kind of like hanging out at the NICU, so I am kind of sad about him leaving. The nurses and doctors have become like family. I know Jenny is ready for him to come home though!!! Henry is the biggest baby up in the NICU now!
Well I have a patient waiting, so I will update more shortly.....and add pictures. Jenny spilled breast milk on our laptop the other day and crashed the hard drive....so that is why there has been a delay in updating the blog! :)

5 Pounder!

Well it's not official....but it is safe to say Henry is now 5 lbs!!! When I held/fed him on Saturday he was 4 lbs. 14 oz. and I am assuming he has gained 2 oz. since then and is now 5 lbs. Jenny is going to call later tonight when they weigh him to officially find out. Well as you can tell, he is gaining weight at a good pace and is now feeding with both the bottle and breast. He is still on a 3-hour feeding schedule and the nurse or me/Jenny attempt to feed him with the bottle at the beginning of each feeding. The goal is to have Henry take his entire feeding with the bottle. He is currently being fed 38 mL each feeding (28 mL = 1 oz). When I fed him last weekend he took about 16 mL from the bottle and was too tired to finish the remaining 22 mL. He is then given the remaining amount via his feeding tube. Once Henry can take the entire 38 mL from the bottle at each feeding, they will give him the "ok" to come home! Right now he simply gets too tired/worn out when trying to bottle feed. Every once in awhile Henry will struggle to breathe while bottle feeding. He will suck and then the monitors will beep because his breathing drops so much and we have to take the bottle out so he can breathe. I think he will slowly get the hang of it and coordinate his sucking/breathing. He does a great job of latching on and taking the milk when he does feed. Henry actually breast feeds better than he bottle feeds, which is the opposite of a typical preemie. The nurses are encouraged by his successful breast feeding, but don't want Henry to completely favor the breast over the bottle....because it is the successful bottle feeding that indicates whether or not he can come home. It is difficult to determine how much he is getting from breast feeding, where as the bottle feeding can be measured much easier.
As you can see....I posted a lot of new pictures. Jenny got to give him a bath the other day and they took off all his leads and cannula. It was interesting to see Henry without any wires hooked to him. Jenny said Henry really enjoyed the bath....and probably not having all the wires attached! I posted a picture of the nurse measuring his length and he is now 17 1/4 inches long! It is becoming more obvious when Henry is awake vs. sleeping. He wakes up right around the time he is fed and lets everyone know he is hungry!
As of today Henry is now being fed 44 mL each feeding. We are trying to get a video of Henry taking a bottle....and will post it soon! Thank you again for all the thoughts and prayers! Henry is doing great and we are so thankful for everyone!
Oh, in one of the pictures, Phoebe is wearing the "Dupont Hospital" hat with Henry's footprints.

Henry's First Bath

Henry hiding.....and Phoebe's first dentist appointment!

Lots of Changes!

Sorry, it has been so long since my last post. There have been a lot of changes to Henry's status...all positive so far! Last night Henry took 10 mL from a bottle for the first time!!! The nurses decided to try this earlier last week and he wasn't up to the task at first, but the nurses continued to attempt the bottle feeding throughout the week and he finally latched on and drank last night! I actually have not been up to the hospital since Saturday (been under the weather) but I do not think his feeding tube is removed yet. Since he is on scheduled feedings, they can simply elect not to use the tube and feed Henry with the bottle. Jenny also said last week while "kangarooing" him the doctor told her to place Henry near her nipple and see what happens. He actually opened his mouth and tried to suck. Jenny said it was really cool! We will definitely get a video of him bottle feeding and post it soon.
Henry is now 4 lbs 2 oz!!! The nurses are surprised at how fast he is growing! There is a weekend nurse who is with him it seems like every Saturday, and she was shocked last Saturday at how much he had grown in 1 week! I believe they will soon move him from his isolette (incubator) to an open crib. This is just one of the progression steps to prepare him to go home. Pray he continues to successfully bottle feed as this will speed up his "going home" date! It is crazy to think he could be coming home in the next couple weeks! Phoebe is in for a surprise! I am sure I forgot a few things....but Jenny will be sure to remind me of them and I will update you soon.

Getting Big!

Henry is now 3 lbs. 11 oz. and doing well! He actually does have another urinary tract infection though. He spiked a 102 temp. last week and Dr. Arcellana took blood, urine, and CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) samples to test. Everything came back negative except a trace of bacteria in his urine. He is now on an antibiotic to clear everything up. He actually should be off of that in a few days. The CSF fluid was extracted from his lumbar spine area and we had to leave the room for this procedure. I was a little nervous about a needle penetrating his spine, but better be safe than sorry. They had to do this just in case meningitis was present. It kind of stinks when a fever spikes with infants because it's not like he can tell us it hurts when he urinates or something.....so they have to check everything to determine why the fever is occurring. Henry is now on 2 L of oxygen per minute which is an improvement from the previous 3 L per minute. He has been tolerating this well....not having an increased number of heart rate drops. One of the nurses told us they will not start trying to feed Henry on his own until he is removed from the "continuous" feeding cycle. We are not sure when this will happen.....so we have to jump this hurdle before he can move on to the bottle/breast.
I will jump on my soap box for a minute. It is kind of ironic that Henry has developed a urinary tract infection because the "medical" method of treating this is to administer antibiotics. Well if you give someone antibiotics, it kills "all" the bacteria in one's body. So it only makes sense that the bad bacteria takes over his urinary tract when he doesn't have any "good" bacteria to fight it off because they were all killed from the previous dose of antibiotics! Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems there should be another way to treat this! Antibiotics are not my favorite method of treatment. I think I might ask the nurses if it is possible to mix in probiotics with his breast milk, so he has some way of replenishing his good bacteria. Although, Jenny's milk is giving him some natural immunity, it just seems that the antibiotics take quite a toll on his system! We have only given Phoebe antibiotics once in her almost 2 years of life and we obviously loaded her with probiotics during this time and that was the only time she as ever been sick! It was a simple ear infection. Anyway, I will get off my soap box now....just some food for thought!
On a positive note....Henry is doing great...getting bigger every day! I might request a TV in his room so he can watch the Colts on Saturday....but that might be wishful thinking!

1 MONTH OLD!!!

Jenny was upset that I didn't mention in my previous post that Henry is 1 month old today! So happy 1 month birthday Henry!!!

Pushed Too Far.....

Well, I was up at the hospital over my lunch break and Henry was sound asleep! He is still doing very well, considering. He is now 3 lbs. 5 oz. and lung, heart, bowel function remains normal. Last week Dr. Kim decided to reduce his oxygen flow (thru cannula) from 3 L/min to 1 L/min. The cannula is used to allow a steady flow of oxygen for his lungs. Henry did not appreciate this change too much. He started to have an increased number of "bradys" (heart rate drops) toward the end of last week and they decided to bump the oxygen back up to 3 L/min. Dr. Kim is notorious (so the nurses say) for trying to "push" preemies by allowing them to work harder on their own. Well, Henry wasn't quite ready to work that hard yet! We haven't been able to hold him because of this for the past 3 days. Jenny has not been happy about it.....but understands that he is exhausted from last week. I talked to Dr. Arcellana today and he said there is nothing except for his "tiredness" that is causing the heart rate drops. He then said....."I think it is just Henry being Henry!" Thought that was kinda funny. Nurse Sarah said Henry had the largest poop she has ever seen last night. It was 51 grams! So if I did my math right....his last poop was roughly 3% of his body weight! hahaha!
Henry also had another head ultrasound last weekend, and everything came back normal. I also go to see the opthamologist check Henry's retnia the other day. That was not fun to watch! Glad Jenny was not in the room! I guess a normal retina has blood vessels which grow to the front of the eye, but a preemie does not have completely developed vessels and they want to monitor the growth to make sure there is no abnormal vessel growth around the retina. He literally stuck what looked like a steel ice pick in his eye and moved the eye ball around. The doc then said, "oh don't worry, he can't feel that." hahahahaha! They will check his eyes again in a few weeks.
All the nurses say Henry is cute as a button and looking more like a little man every day! Not sure if they are just saying that....but it is fun to hear at the least! Thanks again for the continued thoughts and prayers!!!