Tiny Treasures Tuesday: 1 month

This photo was my poor little Aeson just after surgery. He is now over 1 month old. It was strange because he was sent to the hospital the first time on the fourth of August and this time it was the fourth of September. Let's hope everything is well on the 4th of October!

Aeson had his one month dr's appointment today. He weighed 9lbs, 4oz. He had been 9lbs, 6oz before the pyloric stenosis.. and then dropped down to 9lbs, 2oz while that was going on. He was 21.5 inches.. which leave both his height and weight around the 20th percentile. His little head was only in the 14th percentile! She said there's no way to account for his prematurity, so he's just going to be our little guy I think. :)

Our pediatrician showed me how to get him calmed down when he's upset. I cannot leave him ANYwhere without him crying! He can be sound asleep, but when I put him down he's awake within 5 minutes. The absolute only thing he'll tolerate sometimes is the Boppy.. thank GOODNESS for that thing!

It's so weird for me to have a blue eyed boy. I LOVE his eyes.. they're SO pretty. Having brown eyes myself and knowing they usually have dominance lead me to believe I'd never have a child with light eyes!

Aeson's doing so well with nursing now too. I'm so glad I didn't give up.

***

Westen is my little challenger right now! He thinks he knows everything and he will not stop arguing with you if you get started! Lately, he's been quick to tell people that Aeson doesn't talk when they try to talk to him.

Westen is always saying/asking the funniest things but by the time I go to write in here I can never remember them!

One thing he has been very 'into' lately is giving presents. He'll wrap things up in a Kleenex or envelope and give them to us as presents. :) He gets very excited about it too.

The past couple of nights, Westen has wanted to read the Halloween Clifford book each time. We went to a flea market thing this past weekend and he got a bunch of little pumpkins in his own bag that he has been playing with since. I think he's very excited for Halloween.

This past weekend too, his Uncle Eddie was teaching him how to throw a football. It was so cute, and I wish I'd taken my camera.

Pyloric Stenosis

Last Wednesday, Aeson started spitting up after he ate. He had NEVER spit up before.. none at all. Westen, on the other hand, used to spit up SO much with every single feeding. Most of his newborn clothes were ruined from it! This was different, though.. the consistency was different. I thought maybe I ate something that wasn't agreeing with Aeson or maybe he was just starting to spit up for some reason. On Thursday, the spit up changed consistency again. By afternoon, it was more like vomiting and quite forceful. I called the pediatrician at closing time and she told me to come in anyway.. It was odd that he would just start this out of the blue. She did an exam and said he looked well otherwise (the vomiting didn't even seem to bother him at that point either). She scheduled an upper GI for the following morning and said it could be two things- pyloric stenosis, which is when the muscles around one of your stomach openings enlarge and block food from going through, or it could be acid reflux (which is what Westen had).

As Thursday night wore on, the vomiting got worse. It was so forceful and really didn't stop. I continued to feed him because he was still hungry but I hated to at the same time because he just threw everything up. It would happen multiple times between feedings. We went through several outfit changes before deciding just to wrap him in a blanket.. and then proceeded to go through every single blanket he had. I knew this was totally different than what Westen had.. and I knew if it wasn't pyloric stenosis, something else was definitely wrong. We were up pretty much the entire night. I was too afraid to go to sleep and also too worried. I knew pyloric stenosis meant surgery.. my brother-in-law and my cousin both had it- and when they had surgery, the IV had to be put in their head, which also was freaking me out. I'd also looked it up online and it was very much Aeson.. all the symptoms.

Eric decided to stay home on Friday, just in case. We took Westen to school and went for the upper GI. I wasn't able to be with him during that, so that stunk.. but at least it was nothing bad. They sent us over to the pediatrician's office right afterwards and there she told us that it was pyloric stenosis and that they don't do surgery here.. so back to the children's hospital in Peoria we would have to go. She also said the radiologist had said his colon looked dilated.. which she said wouldn't be related to the pyloric stenosis, so she didn't know if it was something else or nothing at all.

So we all rushed around.. picking up Westen to see him before leaving him once again, getting clothes and things from home, getting Westen and the house key to my sister's, etc etc. And off we went to the hospital. Aeson hadn't been able to eat since 7:30 a.m. and they said not to feed him anymore.

We got there and got checked in. The doctors came immediately. We dealt with three different residents, the pediatric doctor, and the pediatric surgeon while we were there. It's amazing how many doctors are around that place. All have been wonderful too. They had to put an IV in him (but got it in his hand, thanks to us saying we'd rather it be somewhere other than his head!) and a tube down his nose again. :( It's absolutely terrible to watch your infant go through that. We got to hold him but there were several times when he was inconsolable. They scheduled a sonogram to look more clearly at the pyloric stenosis for 7am the following morning, with surgery to immediately follow.

This unit wasn't as nice as the NICU.. We found out we were to stay there, which was fine but that also meant the nurses weren't around like at all!

Saturday morning, Eric's parents got there before everything started. It was so nice of them to be there. We went in for the sonogram and the doctor showed us how thick the muscle was. We were then taken to surgery to wait, where we signed all the consents and waited with Aeson until it was time. As we had been reading through the paperwork on pyloric stenosis, it had the risks listed and at the end said 'Your infant may die.' Gah.. I know they have to include that, but that was pretty terrible to read.

While Aeson was in surgery, we had to wait in the waiting room. They had a neat system that updated you on what was going on though. The surgery took only about 15 minutes and the surgeon came to let us know everything went well afterwards. There was only a 1-2% chance the surgery wouldn't work. I got to go to recovery with him after that. He was still kind of out of it and crying the most pitiful little cry.

He then got to eat starting at noon and increase the amount every 3 hours. They said spitting up was normal but he actually didn't until the very last (and most) feeding. It was more like vomiting again but then he never did again through the night. I was able to nurse him after the initial three feedings.

He did very well, and we were able to get discharged the following morning. We have to follow up with the surgeon in 2 weeks. They really never said anything about the colon, although we kept asking! One resident had said it could be related to the pyloric stenosis.. and one talked to the surgeon and said they had noticed it but weren't worried about it.. that we can bring it up at our follow up appointment. One resident also heard a heart murmer at one point but then it went away when he moved.. which he said was normal.. but again, that worries me! Thank goodness everything went well, though. This is a relatively common thing, I think.

So now we're home and I feel like we're almost starting over again in some aspects. Aeson's seemed very well.. We give him Tylenol regularly, but he's seemed content and has had no more vomiting. He still acts like he's going to occasionally but nothing has come up. We go to his doctor tomorrow. They also confirmed his jaundice (which has still continued to some degree.. it seems to go up and down) is breastmilk jaundice.. because his score went down when he wasn't able to eat for that day. Once again, this is something that only occurs in less than 2% of babies.. It seems like everything has been that way with the pregnancy/birth.

Well, baby's up now. That's about the end of this story anyway. :)

Tiny Treasures Tuesday: 4 weeks

Aeson's due date was yesterday, and he turned 4 weeks old. Every day is different with him- some good, some not so good. :) I feed him 'on demand,' so sometimes it seems like all he does is nurse. After particularly rough nights I've wanted to give up, but I haven't yet (yay for me!). The bottles have decreased. I'm not sure why but sometimes those satisfy him more than I can. We're down to 1-2 (2.5 oz) bottles a day, though. He really is an eater! Sometimes he will eat 2 bottles fully, in addition to nursing!

Last night he had his first 'real' bath. He liked it too! Westen hated his first bath and cried the entire time, but Aeson didn't even fuss. I think he liked the sound of the water. :) He fell right to sleep after (in Daddy's arms), woke up to eat before bed, and then slept just over FIVE hours! It was very nice! It's amazing what those blocks of sleep can do for you!


Westen's falling into the big brother role very nicely. He's constantly going up to Aeson saying 'Hi baby brother!' and he often says how cute Aeson is. :) He's very interested in everything Aeson does.

Westen returned to school (daycare) one day last week. He did fine when I left, which was a huge relief to me. He's in a new room now (but with the same friends!), and they're having a preschool teacher come in for 3 hours every day. It looks like he will be learning a lot!

He's been quite dramatic lately, saying he will 'never get to do' something again or 'never have it again' when he loses something. It's quite funny. He's very interested in machines of all sorts and has been pretty excited to watch them working on our street lately.

Tiny Treasures Tuesday: Dr. Westen and 3 weeks old

I've already written one post today, but I want to start Tiny Treasures Tuesday (adopted from Lerin at mycatholicfamily.blogspot.com). This photo is from Westen's first visit to the NICU when Aeson was in there. Siblings had to wear a mask and while I thought Westen wouldn't want to, I was surprised to find out he loved it! He insisted he was the doctor, and he wanted to take the mask home. Lately, he's been very 'into' pretend. He is obsessed with Batman, Spiderman, and the Transformers. I don't think much time ever passes without him talking about them. :) He's gone between all three of them as his choice for Halloween costume, and I think he's decided on Optimus Prime. (Is that the correct name?? haha.. I don't watch any of this stuff!)

Westen's really adjusted well to Aeson being here. He was scared to touch or hold him at first but slowly he has started doing things.. kissing his head, holding him a couple of times. He wants Aeson to be able to talk to him. :) He always, always tells me when Aeson begins to cry (as if I can't hear him too :)). He loves helping by giving Aeson a bottle or binky, and he's been a HUGE help to me by getting things I/we need when my hands are occupied. Which brings me to a funny story.. The first time I went to nurse Aeson at home, Westen came up and yelled out 'Mom! I don't want him to eat you!!!' Oh my.. It still makes me laugh.

I haven't uploaded photos since we've been home and this is the best photo of Aeson's face from the hospital. I think I've already written mostly everything about Aeson. :) He's just over three weeks old now. I can't believe it's been that long already. I don't remember if I mentioned, but he has blonde hair and blue eyes.. really looks like his father and doesn't have any of my features, I don't think! I forgot to mention in the last post that the heart irregularities never showed up again after that first day either. I read that they can occur if there is a knot in the cord and it gets tightened during delivery.. so I wonder if that's what happened. Our little lucky, lucky boy. All he really does so far is sleep and eat (constantly!), with a few wakeful periods during the day/night. He gets hiccups constantly (multiple times a day), just as he did in the womb. His most wakeful time is always when we're going to bed, also just as it was in the womb! He's a sweet, sweet baby.

Hospital days and adjustment

So Aeson ended up in NICU for eleven days. The doctor assigned to him was actually the medical director of the NICU, so that was nice. Eric's parents visited frequently. Westen got one visit. (The place isn't very family friendly.. I suppose because of germs and so on) At first, Aeson was getting oxygen through a CPAP, he had a feeding tube in (and actually lost none of his weight going the first couple days with no food-- they explained it takes too much work for them to eat), he had an IV in his little hand, and his little heels were frequently stuck to test for jaundice. His jaundice score fluctuated the entire time we were there. He had to go under the 'bili' lights three times.. during which his eyes were covered by a little mask and we were unable to hold him. We didn't even get to hold him for the first time until either my first or second day there. It's sort of all a blur now. I kept everyone regularly updated on facebook, so all the details are there. Eric and I stayed in hotels, as the hospital was an hour and a half away from home. Westen was perfectly fine staying with the grandparents, but it was still very hard for me emotionally to be away from him for so long. We made a couple trips home but then I felt bad being away from Aeson. It was all very rough, especially the days before Aeson really started to get better. Eric and I got along better than ever up there, though, and I was glad he was the one I had to go through this with. My healing was rough the first couple of days but by a week out I was on no pain medication and really felt like I hadn't even just had a baby! (Except for the weight! ..which unfortunately many people mistook for me still being pregnant.. That was a little hard to deal with too in those first days without my baby there with me to show that no I was no longer pregnant) Aeson got better little by little each day. They eventually began bottle feeding but had to keep the tube in until he really got the hang of it. They eased the oxygen off little by little and after my first day there they had changed his mask to a much better kind. He was on a 3 hr schedule and except for at night, we were there for pretty much every diaper change and feeding. (And got to do them all!) By the end of his time there, the only thing that was holding us back was the jaundice. They actually kept him one day longer than they said they would (which resulted in another emotional breakdown for me :)) because of it.

BUT, we finally got to bring him home. That was the best day ever. Westen rode up with us and they had him all ready so it was a very quick in and out! I had to take him the next day to get yet another jaundice test (after which his dr here decided no more!) and just over the weekend at home he gained 5 oz and was up to 7lbs, 10oz. He went back to the doctor yesterday for a weekly weight check and he was up to 8lbs, 8oz.. He gained 14oz in a week! They'd told us to expect an ounce a day. :)

It's been an adjustment since being home. It's much more difficult taking care of two kids than I thought it would be! I'm extremely thankful that while Eric works long days, he only works three a week, so he's home to help the majority of the time. We've had some visitors but not really too many. My sister and her husband have been over every day to see their newest little nephew. :)

Nursing has been pretty rough. While Aeson was in the hospital, I pumped regularly so that's what Aeson always had.. but through a bottle. I was also producing 2-3 times what he was eating. Since being home, we've tried decreasing the bottles but he still has 3-4 a day (2.5 ounce bottles). I've tried just nursing him and it has definitely increased but there are certain times where he still cries afterwards like he's hungry and I'm just too exhausted. My goal was to solely breastfeed, but I'm not so sure anymore. It's very frustrating. :( I'm just so darn tired.. and he nurses every 1-2 hours sometimes! I am glad we've decreased the bottles, though. We'll see how we continue to progress. I've been in contact with a lactation consultant here and she's been over once. Some of the things I've learned have been helpful but some things seem so conflicting.

I seem to have completely forgotten about the sleep deprivation as well! Or maybe Westen slept better, I'm not sure. Aeson seems to be spoiled already too with being on us 24/7! ..Which results in him crying when he's put in his bassinet and sleeping much better when he's in bed with us.. BUT that scares me to death too. Gah.. the days of adjustment are so hard!

However, Aeson's healthy and doing well and nothing is wrong with him.. so that's what's important! We'll all adjust.. eventually. :)

Aeson's birth & the last two weeks

We're finally home, so I finally have time to write about Aeson's birth and the last (almost) 2 weeks!

I couldn't sleep at all the night before going in for the scheduled C-section. I was so nervous. They'd called to ask me to come in at six and we ended up getting up around 4 a.m., I think, just because we couldn't sleep. We arrived at the hospital a little early and the nurse got me all prepped. IV's and cath's stink.. they were the worst part. It was a new girl taking my blood too so that also wasn't fun. Add all this in with my nerves and I wasn't in the best of moods! My doctor came in to do one last sonogram to make sure Aeson was still breech, which he was. The whole morning went so fast after that. They wheeled me down to the surgery waiting area after I was all ready and Eric was able to wait with me. The anesthesiologist came in and asked me lots of questions. It was freezing in there which again combined with the nervousness made me shake. Doctor checked with me one more time and then they came to wheel me into the surgery room. Eric had to wait outside and when the midwife came in my room, she said his eyes were huge and she thought he was more nervous than I was. :) (Up until that point, he'd insisted he WASN'T nervous) There were two anesthesiologists.. one a nurse, one a doctor. The nurse tried to get the spinal in first. I'd been nervous about this, but they'd put something on my back already to numb it and I couldn't really feel anything. He did have trouble getting it in so I felt a pinching on each side as he was trying, but that was it. The doctor then tried and got it right in. Yay! I'd been soo nervous it wouldn't work and I'd have to be put to sleep for the birth. I didn't get an epidural with Westen so I had no idea what to expect, but the two men doing it were WONDERFUL. They told me everything to expect and just their manner was fantastic. I started to get warm and numb from my feet up. The midwife talked to me and explained what was dull versus sharp pain. They then laid me back, put oxygen on, and it seemed everybody came in at once. The room is FULL during a C-section! There were nurses.. the two anesthesiologists.. the pediatrician.. the OB doc.. the midwife. Eric got to come in at that point too and they'd put a sheet up so we couldn't see what was going on. When the doctor started, I couldn't feel a thing. As they kept working, there was some movement of my body I could feel but no pain or anything like that whatsoever. Not even dull. They said at first that Aeson had lots of hair.. and that he was almost head down.. and then they said there was a knot in the umbilical cord and everything got kind of rushed after that. I had no clue what that meant, quickly asking 'is that bad?' to which the doctor said 'it can be!' in a voice that didn't reassure me at all. I didn't ask anymore questions because it was at that point that Eric and I both got pretty scared I think. We heard a couple of cries, which relieved us somewhat, and when they got him out they held him over the curtain for a minute before saying he needed some oxygen and taking him over to his doctor. Eric stayed with me while they were working on him.. They used one of those things (not sure what it's called) to help him start breathing and while it seemed like FOREVER, I guess they had him breathing within two minutes. The anesthesiologists were the ones keeping me informed, which again they were SO wonderful about. As far as me, surgery went perfect. My blood pressure from the pre-eclampsia dropped so much when they took Aeson out that they actually had to give me something to boost it. I guess a lot of people feel sick or vomit during a C-section too and I had none of that. Back to Aeson.. his Apgar score at one minute was only a '2' but by five minutes it was an 8. Eric went over to see him once they had him breathing and they brought him over by me quickly before taking him to the nursery. I had to go to recovery for an hour, but they didn't make me stay quite that long. I had them call to check on Aeson once too.

We didn't find out until later (because they didn't do too much right away b/c of the problems) that Aeson weighed 7lbs, 5oz.. at four full weeks early!! He was 20 inches long and he was born at exactly 9a.m. We also found out later that the knot in the cord could have lead to his death. The doctor didn't think it had been there for long, though, and it hadn't tightened. I don't even know how to express my feelings about this.. It's extremely scary.. and makes me extremely thankful actually that I did have pre-eclampsia making him come early.. and thankful too that we decided to go with C-section instead of trying to turn him (which could have tightened it). I'm so thankful for how things turned out, even with how the next week proceeded.

I didn't get to see Aeson when I got back. He was in the nursery hooked up to things and getting oxygen. They explained they couldn't feed him because it requires too much work for him. I was still numb so I couldn't get up to go in there.. and he couldn't be brought out. Eric continually checked on him, though. I finally got to go in later that night but of course there was no holding. He was getting better on the oxygen and they expected him to throughout the night. Then, about 2:30 a.m., we were woken up by the pediatrician saying they'd had to give him more oxygen and she thought he should be transferred to the children's hospital about an hour and a half away. They were going to fly him by helicopter but it was foggy and stormy out, so they ended up taking him by ambulance. We went in and stayed with him until the last minute. It was so scary when they took him because he was in this box thing, hooked up to so much. They'd also discovered a heart irregularity. Eric and his parents left when they did to head up there. I cried in my room all morning after that. I ended up not able to leave that day, but I was able to leave by Wednesday.

Time to feed us and baby.. I'll finish the rest of the story later.

August 3rd

I forgot to say that when the OB first came into the room the other day I was having a contraction and my stomach looks really funny when that happens. The doctor started laughing and called in both his nurse and the midwife to look! The midwife said it looks like he's standing in there. :) And the doctor said he's never seen a baby look like that that wasn't a multiple. So I don't know what's going on in there, but they sure found it humorous!

So the doctor called yesterday to say my levels were up but still in the mild range.. which is good but we're still going ahead with delivery on Monday. I told him my thoughts regarding which decision to make and he said that while they're low, I do have to be comfortable with the risks of turning Baby. Which I'm not. He still wouldn't say he recommended one over the other, but he said he thought most people would choose the scheduled C-section. So that's what we did.

We go in Monday (tomorrow..yikes!) at 7am. He has another surgery before mine, so he said it would probably be about 9am when he does mine. I asked him about the risks with my scoliosis (curved spine) and getting the spinal and he said there aren't more risks.. They just can't get it to WORK in some cases. If that happens, I'd have to be put out. :( I do want to be awake when he's born.

I'm very, very nervous. Everyone's been praying for calmness and for everything to go well. I'm scared to death of major surgery. I think I'm even more scared of the spinal and of everything being okay with Baby after all this stuff. It will be a huge relief if the spinal works and Baby comes out perfect.

So please.. have us in your thoughts and/or prayers.