Thanksgiving

We had a pretty crazy weekend... Bode threw up Wednesday afternoon and I was really worried, but it was just one feeding and he was able to keep things down after that. Thursday he was kinda fussy and still throwing up on occasion. Friday morning we saw his pediatrician and he got circumsized. OUCH! I asked him about the throw up and he said it was fine and just baby stuff. Bode has not been gaining as much weight as he should so the Ped told us to feed him more. He had a horrible night Wednesday and Thursday, which isn't normal for him. He usually sleeps 4 to 5 hours at a time during the night. Later Friday afternoon Bode kept throwing up all his feeds. He was very fussy and you could tell he was uncomfortable all day. I have never heard him cry so much. Around 9 pm after he had thrown up all over pretty much everything in the house I called the pediatrician after hour office. I told them he wasn't able to keep anything down and wanted to bring him in. After putting me on hold forever they came back and said that much throw up was not normal and it might be a complication from his surgery and to take him to the ER at Primary Children's hospital right away. After a bunch of tears and a quick blessing from Clint and the neighbor we headed to the ER. A few xrays later, along with blood tests and 6 hours of waiting, we found out he was allergic to formula. We fed him tiny amounts of pedialyte every 20 min for an hour and he was able to keep that down. We got home around 4 am and fed him another 2 oz of Pedialyte and he was able to hold milk down the feeding after that. I ran out of my frozen milk from when he was in the NICU and not eating on Wednesday and that is when I started supplementing with formula. After a few days of that his tummy couldn't keep down anything. God must have known I was about to lose it because I somehow produced enough milk for him all day long Saturday. I am back down now, but he is able to keep down our mixture of half breast milk and half Soy milk just fine. I am so thanful it was not anything more serious. I thought for sure my strong baby was finally hitting levels of milk his intestines could not tolerate after doing so good for so long. I have never had such an emotional month in my entire life. Bode will be 5 weeks old tomorrow! These are a few of the many things I am thankful for: -My sister Kelli. Without her phone calls and text messages I would have lost it by now for sure. She was there when I needed someone the most. She will never know how much she has helped me the past month. -My husband Clint. It's amazing how much having a baby and scary things have brought us closer together. He manages to hold it together when I am a ball of tears. -Hospitals with Drs who can figure out what's wrong. -Medical technology these days. Bode would have died had he been born in another time. -Bode. He is such a strong little baby. It amazes me what he is able to endure and still be happy. I feel lucky to be his mom. -Insurance. You'd be shocked to see all our medical bills. We hit the deductables and max out of pockets on both policies we have Bode on within 3 days after his birth. -Friends and church friends. I love all my blogging friends and the support I get from them! -Family who are always calling to check up on me, Clint, and Bode. It's so nice to know that they are so concerned for my little family. -Sleep. Although I need way more these days than I get. -God. I know it's only by his loving hand that Bode is here with us today. He really does hear all our prayers and answer them. There are so many other things to list, but this is getting way too long already. Here are a few cute pictures.

Life at Home

It has been so nice to be home! I feel like we are getting more sleep now than when he was at the hospital. He is so much fun and we feel so blessed that he is doing so well. The Neonatologist who discharged Bode from the hospital last Friday could not believe how fast he was able to recover from his surgery. He said that most all babies born with his complications get to a certain point on their feeds they can't tolerate. All the Doctors were just waiting for Bode to hit that point, and he never did. It's just amazing. He is one tough kid! That is the reason why we were able to come home sooner than expected. God is really looking after Bode. He is just perfect. I love being a mom!

GREAT news!

Bode is home!!

Busy Busy

The past few days have been so busy! We haven't been getting out of the hospital before midight. AHH! So Tuesday the 18th they increased his milk to 74 ml spread out over 2 hours every 3 hours.. It sounds kinda confusing but he was still on the feeding tube and they didn't want to give it to him all at once.. so they spaced it to 2 hours but he still fed every 3. He basically had milk in his tummy all the time. They also let me feed him twice that day by myself. He lost a bit of weight that night. Wednesday the 19th they upped his food to 75 ml through the tube over 2 hours every 3 hours and they let me feed him 4 times that day. He once again lost weight that night. So today they took out his feeding tube, and are letting me feed him every 3 hours or whenever he feels hungry and then supplementing him a bottle to see if he needs more. It's kind of a test period since we don't know exactly what he gets when I feed him. If he loses weight again we will know he doesn't get enough. He would then have to have the feeding tube again to supplement him what he needs. If he throws up we know it's too much for his belly and they probably won't offer him the bottle after. They have us staying in a room with Bode over night tonight to see how he does with me feeding him around the clock. I hope he gains weight! I am really nervous. I am trying not to get my hopes up, BUT they had us pass off infant CPR, watch a movie about shaken baby sydrome, pass off all this other stuff we had to learn and asked us to bring in his car seat so they can pass off the car seat test. These are requirements for discharge.... MAYBE IT'S SOON? Who knows. Update: Here are pictures! He finally got an almost real bath! After they took out his pick line we got him as wet as we could. He loved the warm water. If he wouldn't have duked in it TWICE we could have had him in there a lot longer.. The lovely CPR baby.

yes..

Bode was awake a lot of the day today, which was so much fun. They upped his milk by 5ml every 12 hours and tonight by 11 pm (RIGHT NOW!) they were increasing him to 24 ml per hour which was his goal! SOOOO tomorrow at 12:00 pm we have an appointment to meet with occupational therapy to see if Bode remembers how to suck and swallow. (I say an appointment, but really they just come up to his bed.) His sucking is good to go, he loves his binki! If they say he is ready then he can either try a bottle, or try breast feeding TOMORROW. Go Bode. Yay. Oh and he is no longer on any other fluid except milk. They won't take all that junk off his arm though until they know he can tolerate all the milk. He's never had it all at once before, so hopefully things go well. He was so awake he was practically bug eyed! I have never seen him so awake. The past 3 weeks all he ever did was SLEEP.

Due Date

They are increasing Bode's feeds by 1 ml every 12 hours now. We just left the hospital and he was up to 13.8 ml an hour. The nurse was telling us that hopefully he will be off his tpn and lipid iv fluids by tomorrow. Hopefully he can handle feeding on milk alone and if he can, they will take out his pick line all together! It will be nice to have his arm free at last. Today is my due date. How weird is that?

Poor Gunner

They increased Bode's feeds twice today! He went up to 10.3 ml and now he's up to 12 something. I can't remember! Hopefully he can start bottle feeding and breast feeding SOON. That will be nice. I did hair from 1:30 to 5:00 today, and the entire time I felt like I should be at the hospital! Tonight we are at our own house, sleeping in our own bed, and hanging out with our DOG! Oh how we have missed Gunner. Kelli and Aaron are still helping us out so much and watching him. We go to their house every so often to have dinner or just hang out, and Gunner doesn't even get up when we leave. It's so sad! He knows he won't be able to come with by now. I still feel guilty for not being at Bode's bedside but I know he is in good hands. We call every few hours and get updates. I am sitting in his nursery right now just thinking about the little guy. My first trip back after I had him I was sitting in here bawling. I feel much better now. :) Grandma and Grandpa B. visited the baby tonight and kept him company. Grams said he was sleeping peacefully in her arms. Thanks Great Grandparents! - Bode I didn't take any pictures this morning of him to post. Weird? I'll have some more tomorrow I am sure.

Cry Baby

Bode is up to 8.2 ml today. I'm sure no one really cares, but I do this more for a journal than anything. My blog is my only journal! Bode's new thing is ripping out his nose tube and screaming bloody murder when they put it back in. Poor thing. When he first got it put in, he didn't even make a fuss.. but the second, third, fourth etc. times he didn't like it so much. I have only been there one time he yanked it out, and it's the first time I heard him really cry. So sad. At least his lungs work, right? Hospital clothes aren't the cutest, but if we bring our own they get lost in laundry. He is still pretty cute though.

Just another day...

Bode is up to 7.8 ml an hour now. Slowly but surely..... One of his Doctors told us he will need to stay for at LEAST 2 more weeks if not more. It's already been 3! We were hoping to have him home for Thanksgiving, but oh well! To help understand how much food he is really getting there are 30 ml in an ounce. So his belly is nowhere near full on the amount he is getting now. He doesn't seem to mind. He sure is cute! :) No pictures today since I can't upload any at the hospital and I want to go to bed before midnight.

Chunky Monkey

Yesterday they increased Bode's feeds to 4.5 ml an hour and today up to 6 ml an hour! They are slowly getting him up to where he needs to be, which is 30 ml every 3 hours, all at once. Right now his tube is a continuous drip around the clock, but hopefully his stomach can heal enough to be able to feed all at one time. His little tummy is doing just fine and he is continuing to pass everything through. The Drs told our nurse that she was lucky and had the best baby in the nicu since he's so content and easy going. Maybe she was just saying that to be nice, but I like to believe it! The night nurse said he didn't cry one bit last night and I was with him all day today and didn't hear him fuss at all. I just love that baby. He is getting to be quite the chunk these days. Someone asked me what he weighs, and right now he is 7 lbs 15 ounces. He was born 7 lbs and 10 ounces, and dropped about a half a pound that first few days. He usually gains 20 grams every day. Here are a few cute pictures of my chunk. I love his double chin. :)

Bath Time!

Bode is up to 3 ml of milk every hour and doing great. Things are making their way down and out which is another good thing. Hopefully they can just slowly keep increasing his amount of milk and decreasing his iv fluids until he is just on milk! We might have a few more weeks until that happens, but we will see. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he gets a sponge bath. Today he was so cute. He liked it! It made him shiver, but we warmed him right back up. :) Fluffy bath time hair is the best. It's healing up quite nicely. Bode's room has 5 beds in it. As soon as one baby gets discharged, there is another in it's place within hours. The parent's waiting area is all under construction to make way for more rooms. Consider yourselves VERY lucky if you have healthy children! We are all so blessed. It's amazing what some time at a hospital does for your perspective on life.

FOOD!

Yesterday they started feeding Bode! We enjoyed his face free from tubes for about a day and now he has one down his nose. :( BUT it means he's getting to eat a bit, so it's ok. They have him on a constant drip of 1.4 ml every hour. It's hardly any at all, but they have to be careful of his healing tummy. They started yesterday around 3:30 p.m or 4 ish and at midnight they had to stop because the residual in his stomach was light green. Green means bile which is not good. After the surgeons did their rounds earlier this morning, they said poor little Bode is always going to have green stuff coming into his belly, but that his body should be able to pass it. They told the nurse to stop checking it and to keep feeding him. This morning around 11 a.m. they put him back on the 1.4 ml an hour. So far so good! We are just waiting to see if it's able to be digested and come out ok. He slept most of the day today just as peaceful as can be. Grandma Cozette holding Bode yesterday before they put in the feeding tube. The tube. We watched the nurse put it in, and Bode hardly fussed at all! It was crazy. 1.4 ml of breast milk. Close up. Clint is such an amazing dad. I love watching how he acts with Bode. We both feel so weird because when we are at the hospital we feel like parents, but when we leave we don't. Normal new parents don't go anywhere without the baby, and it feels so strange to not have him with us all the time. We can't wait until he gets to come home!

Bode's Cute Face

They took out his suction tube today! We had no idea they were going to take it out, but we are so happy! The surgeons told us they were going to turn the suction off and just see if he passed the stomach fluids on his own and if he did then they would take it out, but they were confident enough this morning to just take it out! Clint and I did his cares tonight and he had a pretty nasty poopy diaper. I know this is normally too much info, but THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!! He hadn't had one in 3 days. Clint was about to throw up, but I know he was happy too. Even more happy I changed it. Here is a picture of his face without anything going down his throat! He is already so much cuter. Clint and I feel like we practically live at the hospital. This last week and a half has been EXHAUSTING! I just feel in major need of a nap all the time. Clint is back to work half days and works from the hospital whenever he gets a chance. Thank heavens for internet, work laptops, and understanding employers. Poor thing never gets to sleep though. He took a snoozer with Bode and I thought it was just adorable. One of the NICU dad's saw me taking that picture of Clint and Bode, but couldn't see that they were sleeping. He told me to get in the picture and he would take it. Poor Clint gets woken up by me saying, "Wake up we are taking a picture!" This is what we ended up with..... Poor Clint. He hates pictures. I am sure he hates them even more when he is trying to sleep. Hopefully Bode can start having milk in the next day or two. It will be hardly any, but we are anxiously waiting.

Bode Loves Visitors!

Today we got a visit from Grandma & Grandpa B, and my cousin Sara. Thanks for coming guys! Here is a picture of Bode and Gramps. Kelli hung out with me at the hospital all day long on Sunday. Here are some pics of Bode and Auntie Kelli. She was the first to hold him besides Clint or I. She was tickled pink about that! Bode had a good day today. He still can't have milk, but is still perfectly content about it! I am just waiting for the day when I go in and he is just fed up and screaming for milk. Day 9 and so far so good. He is such a good natured baby. I just love him so much!

Babysitting

Aaron and Kelli have been watching our dog, Gunner, while we have been staying at the Ronald McDonald house. We are going to owe them FOREVER seeing as how it's already been one week and could be 3-5 more. Thank you so much Thurgoods! They asked if we would watch Kaylan while they went to the Jazz game. It was nice to get away from the hospital and have some fun with Kaylan. Clint's mom hung out with Bode tonight so he wouldn't get lonely. :) Thanks Cozette! Here are some cute pictures of Clint and Kaylan. She just loves her Uncle Clint.

Big Yawn

Here is a video of Bode just because he is so cute.

Count Your Blessings

Today was another good day for Bode. He has been so content the last few days! He should be screaming since he probably feels so hungry, but he isn't! I had a total eye opener earlier today. I was in the waiting area checking my email and another parent asked me how my baby is doing. I told him Bode is doing great and things are going really well. I asked him how his baby was doing, and he said that she was probably going to pass away sometime today or tomorrow. I felt awful. I had no idea what to say and it really made me feel lucky that Bode will be just fine with no long term side effects. Every Wednesday they have a lunch and presentation for all NICU parents. Today was our first one and we watched a presentation about Children with special needs. None of this presentation applied to us and again made us realize how lucky we really are. It's easy to think why did this happen to us? How are we going to afford this? Why is this so hard? But after today, I am feeling So grateful and so humbled. During this lunch they had a drawing for 6 little outfits. Three were girl ones, and three were boy. Clint's name was drawn for the last outfit. The lady said, "Is your baby a girl or a boy?" Clint said, "boy." The lady was relieved her last outfit was a boy and brought it over to us. Clint said, "That is supposed to be a boy outfit?!" I was so embarrassed and told him he shouldn't be making comments like that!!! Here is the outfit and Clint just being disgusted. He told me that Bode will never wear it because it's for a girl. Everyone in the room got a good laugh. People donate hand made hats and blankets and things for NICU babies and we got this cute little hat. He is just adorable with it on. It's a bit big, but he is a giant for being in there with all the other premies and all the other hats were way too small.

The Bodester

Today was pretty rainy and dreary, but I spent the majority of it holding Bode! His nurse today had a student in training and the two of them were hilarious! They nicknamed him "the Bodester." When Clint went to work, and I was away pumping they took turns holding him. They just said he was too cute! None of the nurses usually hold him. He is such a cuddler. He is going on 7 days without food and he is starving! The Ivs give him all his nutrients, but he feels hunger pains. The surgeon said he probably can't have milk for 3-7 more days. :( Poor kid. He just wants to eat! He is a pretty good sport about it. As long as he is being held he is not fussy. Maybe that is why his nurses held him today. He is pretty lucky too because he has a lovely view of Salt Lake City right out his window. OH and he graduated to an open crib instead of an open warmer!

Very Informative

Ok friends... What Bode had was called a Small Bowel Atresia. His was a Jejunal atresia which just means which part of the intestine it was located in. Instead of one obstruction, the little guy had 3. So they had to repair 3 different spots which can mean longer recovery time. The surgeon said that it was probably caused by a mini stroke sometime while he was developing in the womb and there was a loss of blood flow during the time intestines were forming. NOTHING else is wrong with him though. He is a perfectly healthy little boy, just with this atresia thing. I found out it occurs in 1 out of 5,000 babies. I found this on the Internet googling Small Bowel Atresia and it was the first link that popped up. I can't remember the website to give credit, but I am on the Internet at the hospital and can't have two windows open. We had no idea anything was wrong with him until after he was born and he was throwing up green stuff and his stomach was the size of a basketball. This was really helpful for me to understand what the heck is going on.. so read on! Sorry no cute Bode pictures this time. I have plenty though so maybe I will blog again when we get home tonight. What is small bowel atresia? Small bowel atresia is a birth defect that affects a part of the small intestine, the tube that connects the stomach to the large intestine. The small intestine, which helps digest food, has three parts: the duodenum, ileum and jejunum. A child who is born with duodenal atresia has no connection between the duodenum and the ileum. Ileal atresia is when the ileum and the jejunum aren't connected. Jejunal atresia is when the jejunum and the first part of the large intestine aren't connected. How is it diagnosed? Doctors may suspect a fetus has small bowel atresia if a pregnant woman has too much amniotic fluid. (Let me just tell you, I had enough fluid when my water broke to make up for 3 women. It actually broke 3 times.) Duodenal atresia may be diagnosed on an ultrasound before the baby is born. Doctors may also notice the problem on an ultrasound or X-ray after the baby is born. Newborns with small bowel atresia vomit frequently, which is also a sign that something is wrong. About the operation Small bowel atresia requires immediate surgery. Before surgery, a small tube — called a nasogastric (NG) tube — will be placed through your child's nose or mouth and down into the stomach to drain excess fluid and air. During the operation, the surgeon will make an incision in your child's abdomen so that she can examine the stomach and intestines and locate the blocked part of the small intestine. She'll open up the blocked end of the intestine and connect it to the area of small bowel just past the blockage.

Another day in the NICU

It's been so much fun to go and visit Bode now that we can hold him! He is much more alert and I love it! His suction tube in his stomach was sucking out clear liquid all day yesterday which is GREAT since it was green before. They were going to try and feed him today, but earlier this morning the liquid turned to a dark yellow color. Not good. Yellow is better than green though! His poor intestines are trying their best to clear every thing out and get it to go down, but had a rough time. It's already starting to change back to clear and as soon as we get 24 hours of clear, they can try to feed him. Hopefully by Wednesday! One great thing is that he is pooping now! I never thought I would be SO happy for poopy diapers. He is also able to maintain his temperature on his own now. He doesn't need to be in a little bed warmer. Now he is just wrapped up in a blanket. Look how cute he is!!!

Halloween

My Halloween wasn't like many of yours, but my little guy was able to get off his ventilator at 11:30 that night! So it was a great day for me. :) The first few pictures are from my dad's camera. He just emailed them over, so it's from a few days ago. He is doing MUCH better now, but I will post new pictures after the old ones. :) Me doing my makeup the morning after he was born. My sister couldn't believe it so she took a picture. It was hard the day after I had him because I didn't want to discharge myself from my hospital, but since I didn't.. I could only take a 4 hour leave. We waited until surgery was over and then we had to wait an hour for them to do shift changes, and then I got to see my little guy for the first time after his surgery. This picture just breaks my heart. My mom and dad took this picture and got him this cute outfit. It was the closest thing to Halloween since we couldn't dress him up! His face is so much less swollen now, and looks so much better without all that stuff on his face. Daddy and Bode Our first family photo! He was trying so hard to wake up and say HI mom and dad! It was so cute. November 1st, getting to hold him for the first time since before surgery. Ventilator is gone!! Woo hoo! Isn't he cute? His face is still a bit puffy, but much better! And he's also jaundice just a little. They aren't worried about it though. It seems to be getting better everyday. Clint is such an amazing dad! Hopefully more great updates to come!