I Forgot to Mention...

At Aaron's development appointment the first week in January, the doctor mentioned that he was gaining too much weight! Can you imagine that?! Those words are music to the ears of a mom of a 1lb 14oz baby! We had already cut his 30 calories/oz formula concentration to 28 calories/oz so we went ahead and cut down to 24 calories/oz after that appointment. And now, Aaron's eating about one-third of his food as solids which we aren't concentrating at all. So, today he weighed in at 16lbs 1.9oz. A whole 6oz since his discharge from the hospital last Tuesday (15lbs 12oz), which is still toward the upper limit of what he should be gaining. This kid is so amazing. Oh, how I love him!

24 in 28

Aaron has gained 24oz in the past 28 days, bringing his weight up to...12lbs 10oz!!! "Ideal" preemie weight gain is 0.5oz to 1oz/day, so this is quite a number to be excited about. Last month, Aaron skyrocketed from his own growth curve and fell within the limits of the 5th percentile group. This new weight today now puts him teetering on the edge of the 25th percentile. Woohoo!

For height, Aaron gained an inch from last visit, measuring at 23 inches. This put him in the 10th percentile for height.

As for head circumference, it is right in line with body weight, growing at the same rate and in the same percentile. This consistent growth was very pleasing to the doctor, especially with our history of hydrocephalus. But, since his last head ultrasound showed no increase in the hydrocephalus, the doctor is pretty certain that it's all "good growth".

Aaron was a really good boy with his two shots today. He screamed quite a bit but recovered very quickly. He's such a big boy!

Btw, ever since posting the video of Aaron screaming, I just can't stop watching it. He cracks me up and is amazingly adorable!

Goodnight!

Forget Cooing...

Aaron now likes to screeeeaaammmm....


And, he has a new girlfriend. She's French and her name is Sophie. Aaron can't get enough of her long legs!

Tomorrow we have a doctors appointment at DHMC. It'll be our monthly weigh-in (last month, Aaron was 11 lbs 2oz) as well as our 2nd round of Synagis and regular flu shots. I will update tomorrow with our new weight. Here's to chubby!!

Another Busy Day

Aaron had another busy day of visits today. Tetta visited during the day and was able to hold him for the first time he did very well with her. His numbers were high and he was ver comfortable. When it was time to swith to Gidu, Aaron had a brady episode. He recovered. It was mostly due to reflux though, since when he went back into his house and spit up a bit, his numbers went back up. Apparently reflux is a big issue with preemies, and Aaron is now getting some medicine to help prevent the reflux and related reflux episodes.
They did a head ultrasound today. I stayed and watched. Every picture the tech took made me nervous, even though I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at. Luckily, neurology was able to look at it today and it shows that the hydrocephalus is stable (thank God!). So there is no need to run into another surgery or procedure. Again, we just keep praying that the blockage resolves on its own and a path can be created to allow complete drainage of the fluid.

After the ultrasound and a few more bradys that were managed with some suctioning, I was able to do some kangaroo care with Aaron for over an hour and a half! Oh, it was so special and he did so well! His skin against mine feels so sweet and natural. I didn't want to give him up. Now that he is bigger and on the cannula I have a feeling that I will be asking to do kangaroo care every day.

Aunt Margo came and visited at night. The last time she saw Aaron he was 7 days old. She was so glad to see him doing so well. He really enjoyed her visit and was doing well the entire time! She was even able to hold him while the nurse changed his bedding. I changed his diaper and he had a big poopy!! Yay for poopy diapers!! And he is already back up to 9ml/3 hrs. He was at 5ml/3hrs yesterday!
Tonight, Aaron weighed in at 1410 grams (3lbs 1.6oz)!

Three Pounds!!!

YAY! As of last night, munchkin is 1370 grams, which puts him just over the 3lb mark! We knew he could do it. He is getting so big and finally filling out. Oh, his cheeks are just the cutest thing!

Aaron had quite a busy day yesterday. He was out of the "house" a lot! First with mommy then Nana came and held him for the first time and then finally daddy.
Aaron must've really enjoyed all the love he was getting and decided to put some more weight on so he can come home ASAP to even more love!

Aaron is going to continue having a busy weekend. Aunt Margaret is coming to visit for my graduation and the last she saw him was when he was 7 days old. Boy what a big difference she will notice. She is hoping to get to hold him, too. I absolutely love that he is finally big and stable enough for all these visitors so he can start to feel like a "real" baby. Clayton and I are just so proud of all the hard work he is doing and want to show him off to the world!

He wore his first shirt yesterday, which was gigantic on him, and did really well at keeping his pacifier in by himself. Sometimes, I just can't stand how cute he is!! :)
He is doing really well with the nasal cannula so far. As of yesterday he is back up to 5mL of breastmilk every 3 hours. He had a few episodes of bradycardia but he was able to recover on his own. Some of that they are contributing to reflux from eating. We are praying that all of that resolves on its own and Aaron doesn't have many more episodes. It is scary sometimes but we know he has so many angels around him protecting him that it makes us able to get through it. Aaron really is an inspiration and we cannot wait for all of you to meet him.

Such a Rebel

Ever since realizing the comfort of the nasal cannula, Aaron has been rebelling against the BiPap...in a good way, of course. For one thing, he has been trying desperately to pull the tubing off his face! Second, they've brought down the breath rate and pressure and he is still consistently hitting his 100% oxygen saturation on the pulse oximeter. He is soo wanting to be off the BiPap and back on the cannula. Clayton and I realized tonight that when they switched him over this weekend his settings were still pretty high on the BiPap. This time, they are actually weaning more. He is doing very well and having good blood gases. Maybe they will try the cannula again real soon.

They started feeding breastmilk again. Very slowly. There was no infection so they are discontinuing the antibiotics for the millionth time. I am trying my hardest to cut out ALL dairy and anything that could make Aaron gassy. I never realized how many things that would be!

Aaron is 1250 grams tonight (2lbs 12oz). This is a little less than a few nights ago but considering he wasn't being fed it's not too bad of a weight loss. I can't believe 3lbs is just around the corner.

Enough's Enough!

There were a few long nights this week on our part which led to no updates, so here it finally is. Sorry for the delay!

Aaron's vent settings have slowly been getting remarkably better over the past few days, from 35 breaths/minute to 30 BPM 12 hours later, to 25 BPM 12 hours after that. Then Tuesday morning when Mari went in to see Aaron with some friends from school she noticed that there was a "15 BPM" setting on the machine. She was so happy to see that and the low pressure settings. She asked the nurse if it meant that Aaron will be off the tube soon, the nurse just smiled and nodded. We were then told that they planned on making sure he could handle this setting for another day or so and they would take it out. If, however, he managed to pull the tube out himself, they would just leave him be and see how he does. Needless to say, that part didn't sit well with Mari.

Well, apparently Aaron inherited Nana's eavesdropping abilities and at approximately 3am on May 6th he extubated himself!!! The doctor told us later that when he did that, he didn't even need much support while they got the BiPap ready. He only desatted a few times while on no breathing support at all! The nurse, one of our favorites, called Mari just before 9am to tell her the news, so Mari headed right over to see Aaron's new breathing apparatus. It was so nice to see his face without all that tape on it. We definitely have one handsome little boy on our hands.Of course, we shared the news immediately with family. Aaron probably had one of his busiest nights with visitors. Both sets of grandparents rushed over to see him after work. He was so happy to finally show them his cute little chin.

So Aaron is now receiving oxygen with some pressure through his nose just as an aid. With the tube out, we can now (FINALLY!) hear him cry and hiccup and he even sneezed! To top it all off, as of last night (05/06/09) he weighed in at 1250 grams (2lb 12oz)! Feeds are continuously being increased by 1cc/12 hrs. He is currently up to 11cc/3hr.

He had a head ultrasound the other day. Although his head circumferance has been steady, the U/S did show a little blockage that is stopping the cerebrospinal fluid from draining properly. The attending doctor said it was "pretty big" but we know that nothing is too big for God. He's already brought Aaron this far so He is definitely taking care of him.

Thank you for the continued prayer. We are so happy to be sharing this news with everyone! And, we will definitely try to update more often :)

Daddy Time!

Since Mari took her boards on Saturday we were not able to get to see Aaron until aound 8:30pm. The nurse was even nice enough to call and see when we were going to get there because she wanted us to bathe him. I started the process by cleaning his head but soon found myself overwhelmed by Aaron's smallness and had to relinquish the washcloth to Mari. Once she was done it was time to re-diaper, so I jumped right in! It was then time to change his bed so I got to hold him while his bedding was changed, and then for another 20 minutes or so after that.Aaron weighed in at 1130g (2lbs 7.86oz) and had feeding up to 7cc every 4 hours, with a little residual.

Sunday was just another day at the NICU. He was doing well, desat-ed a few times and was just hanging out. Busy day for him with visitors though, first Nana & Pop showed up early, then Mari and I arrived probably within an hour of them leaving, then Tetta and Gidu got there a little after we left.

Mari just got off the phone with his nurse at 10:30 and she informed us that he weighed in at 1200g!!! (2lbs 10.33oz) His breast milk consumption has been upped to 9cc ever 4 hours (they went to 8 early this morning), he has no residual from prior feedings, and he has only had 2 desats since 7pm!

Chunky Monkey

What a great visit we had tonight with Aaron. He is finally over his 2lb 6oz (1070 grams) hurdle!! Tonight he weighed in at 2lb 8oz (1120 grams). All the breastmilk he's been getting must really be helping. He is officially up to 6cc every 4 hours. It was just four days ago that I was so excited that he was receiving 3cc of breastmilk every 6 hours!

Also, they've decreased his breath rate on the vent to 35 breaths/minute (previously 40) and his pressure is down to 12/5! It seems like the surgery is paying off and weaning him off the vent is going well.

He did need a blood transfusion, however, because his platelets were low. Luckily, everyone on Clayton's side and Aaron are all the same blood type so he's been getting direct donations from his dad and uncles. Now everyone can say they've helped him grow!

We are just so thankful! It is so nice to see him acting like a "real" baby.

Another Miracle

Just when we think God cannot amaze us even more than He already has, He proves us wrong...and thank goodness He does! Today, they lowered Aaron's vent pressure some more. They've also increased his feedings, AGAIN, from 2cc every 6 hours to 3cc every 6 hours. We have been praying over his tummy that he can tolerate his feeds and he seems to be doing pretty well with that.

But, here's the biggest news of the night. Aaron had some hydrocephalus in his ventricles that they seemed concerned about. They've been measuring his head circumference daily to keep up with it. The doctors told us he is too small for a shunt to be placed so our only option was for them to "tap" into his ventricles with a needle and aspirate the fluid out. They were waiting until after he recooperated from his PDA ligation to figure out what to do about it. Well, he had a head ultrasound the other day and it showed that the ventricles were getting smaller and the hydrocephalus was resolving on its own! Praise Jesus! We are so thankful to Him for answering our prayers that Aaron does not have to go through another surgery!!

Finally, he gained 40 grams from last night and is now up to 2lbs 6oz! Here is a picture from tonight of him playing hide-and-seek with us.