Mom's Happy Boy

Ped visit and Diaper Rash

Here's Jack smiling while asleep in his car seat which is what he's doing at this very moment and the reason I'm able to take a minute to post. He really does smile when he's awake, I just always hate to waste the moment by running to grab my camera and instead enjoy every coo and grin all to myself. I had him propped in his boppy yesterday and read him a story (thanks for the books Watkins!) and he smiled so much that he practically giggled. Ok - not quite, but I think we've definitely got a reader on our hands judging by his reaction to The Quiet Cricket.

Today we had a weight check with the pediatrician and Jack is now 9 lbs. 1 oz. which is perfect. I keep adding a little more volume here and there to his bottles. I don't want to overwhelm him so I always keep a close watch in case he starts sweating from over exhertion, but he now eats around 2.25 ounces of breastmilk fortified with high calorie formula every 2.5 to 3 hours. I even slip in a straight breastmilk bottle once in a while just as a special treat which he really enjoys. Next week he has his 2 month check up with the pediatrician and a visit to cardiology so hopefully they will both go well. He is just growing and getting cuter by the day, doing normal baby things, which is why I don't have too much to post lately.

Our biggest issue at the moment is that yesterday he got his first diaper rash so his poor little bum is a tad sore. I keep trying to let him air dry a bit when I change him to help let it heal and I keep getting peed on, but maybe he just wants to make sure he wears all his newborn outfits one more time before they don't fit any more.

A big thank you to my dad and Hardy's mom who have come to help me in the evenings the past few days while Hardy had been out of town. My sister also came and helped during the day Monday, and some of my co-workers came over for lunch yesterday so I have been very blessed to have adults to talk with and a chance to get a few things done while someone else held Jack. We have survived surprisingly well while dad has been gone, but we sure are excited to get him back tonight. I'm sure they can't wait to spend a little quality time getting reaquainted during one of his middle of the night feedings. :)

Taking care of Mom

Jack is such a nice baby. So far he has been very good at following his daddy's directions before he left town instructing him to be good and take care of his mom. Last night he was alert and happy all evening and had a great time with his grandpa and my aunt and uncle who came over to visit. He slept really well last night and has taken several good naps today. Hard to argue with that. Of course it always makes me nervous that he sleeping too much and I start to worry that he's in heart failure or that he's not getting enough calories because he missed a meal rather than just enjoy the fact that he's sleeping really well. But I guess those worries come with the territory of having a heart baby. As long as I don't freak out too much I guess it's normal. Hopefully we'll have another good night again tonight.

Cute Wiggly Jack

Growing like a weed

Last night Jack had a mega poop, right up the back and out the diaper. After changing his diaper I grabbed some clean jammies that he had worn just a few days ago, and suddenly they were snug and barely fit. He's getting too tall. I can't believe he might soon outgrow his newborn clothes. It seems like just yesterday it was all too big for him. Where does the time go?

Just chugging along

Jack continues to do well and gets more alert every day. We spend most mornings playing, then take really long naps in the afternoon.

Hardy is leaving town for work this next week so it's just going to be me and Jack. I normally would have my mom come stay with me, but she's going to be out of town as well. I'm a little bit nervous to go it alone, but I think we're going to be ok. My dad is on high alert in case anything comes up and I need help. He and Hardy's mom are scheduled to come over in the evenings, and my sister is coming over during the day on Monday for a while. Knowing a few people will be popping in will help me keep my sanity and make sure I get at least some sleep in case the little guy decides not to. I just pray that things are nice and quiet and we don't have any problems while I'm here by myself.

Starting to get a few creases and big strong muscles.

Pics w/o his oxygen

I had to change Jack's oxygen cannula today (it was a tad boogery) so I took advantage of his tube free face and took photos. One of these days we hope to get off the oxygen so he can look like this all of the time.

I haven't managed to catch a grin on film yet, but oh, they are sweet. I can't believe he'll be 6 weeks old tomorrow. It seems like just yesterday that we were worried with anticipation and getting ready for his arrival. Now he's home and getting bigger by the day.

Jack had another appointment with his pediatrician this afternoon. He's now 8 lbs 8 oz and getting little baby creases. Got to love it. Everyone is very pelased with his eating and weight gain. His sats were 85 so that's right where we want it.

Toys and Smiles

Not much to report today other than I think he's having a growth spurt since he ate and slept a ton today. Can't complain about that.

Tomorrow is his last day on his lasix so after that we'll be down to just a few medications - asprin once a day, reglin 4 times a day, and zantac twice a day. It's almost harder to remember to give them to him now that he's not taking as much. His chest is feeling much better and he now will let me hold him up on my shoulder to burp him. I even strapped him into the Baby Bjorn (thanks Gwen) tonight and we took him to another Olympus football game (well, part of it anyway). He did really well and just snuggled up and slept though most of it. He's even starting to get the hang of the car seat now that toys are starting to be more interesting to him. I went through all the toys we got from showers today and pulled the tags and wrappers off and hung them in the car seat adn stashed them throughout the house. They don't hold his interest very long as he seems to prefer looking at the artwork on my walls, but he's getting there.

We also occasionaly are seeing some tiny real smiles. They kind of look like a cross between a yawn and a smile, but it's definitely a happy face, and he's not yawning, so I count it. If he's more awake tomorrow I'll try to get it on video. Too cute.

Pediatrician Visit

After Jack's not so stellar performance at the cardiologists yesterday, we had to go in to the pediatrician this afternoon to check his oxygen sats and make sure he was doing okay on the 1/2 liter. Well, on a 1/2 liter he was hovering around 88, so we dropped it down to 1/8 liter for 10 minutes to see what he would do and he stayed around 84. I knew he was in better shape than the 70 they were seeing yesterday. He just hadn't quite recovered from his temper tantrum yet. We go back again on Monday for another check. They also weighed and measured him and he's now 21" and 8 lbs 1 oz. Making good progress. We like growing babies.

Our other good milestone today was that Jack passed his speech therapy. He finally ate without a tantrum in front of the therapist this morning and she said he was doing great and could probably even take more than we were giving him. Unless he starts having problems, she doesn't have to come back and we are officially done with the tube. It's so nice to only have to do basically 2 feedings every 3 hours (pump and bottle feed) rather than 3 (pump, bottle feed, then tube feed).

Cardiology visit

Jack had his post-op visit with the cardiologist, Dr. Tristany, at PCMC this morning at 8AM. Whoever thought that was a good time to try to get a newborn to the hospital was very, very wrong, especially since Hardy had to work at 7AM so I had to get him ready and out the door by myself. It was a little crazy, but we made it. Jack was a good boy for half the ride there, then we hit Foothill Dr and he started screaming bloody murder. We were so close but traffic was slow so his fit lasted longer than I would have liked. By the time I got him out fot he car and calmed down he was very blue and looked awful. Good thing I was already at the hospital, right?

When they looked at his oxygen sats he was in the low 60's which is not good as he needs to be between 75 and 85. Eventually he got up into the mid 70's, but when they turned off his oxygen to see where his baseline rate was he was hovering around 70. The doctor wasn't too pleased with that so we're now up to a half liter of oxygen. Still not a ton, but definitely not going in the right direction. I'm supposed to take him to the pediatrician tomorrow to have them check his levels again and then have the home health nurse check again Friday so we can make sure he's doing okay. I think he'll come back down to a 1/4 once he recovers from this morning, but they said that if he keeps having blue fits and his levels don't improve then he might have to have anotehr proceedure between now and his next surgery. That would just be something minor done in the cath lab and hopefully only a night or two in the hospital, but we really hope everything is okay and that he was just having a moment.

He always seems to do great until he's suposed to see the doctor or speech therapist and then he freaks out. So apparently our little rock star doesn't like to behave in front of audience.

The best part about our visit was that we got to go see some of our heart friends. We went to visit with Daxton and bring him a little gift and HE'S GETTING A HEART TODAY! They found out this morning and he'll have his surgery this afternoon. I am just so happy for them. It's a long road having a transplant, but it sure beats waiting at the hospital for a heart for who knows how long. Yay Daxton! We also got to visit Little Laurie who was Jack's NICU neighbor. Born at less than 2 lbs, and she weighed less than 3 when we first met her, she's now about to hit 5 lbs and will be going home soon. What a cutie. I am so excited for her and her wonderful mom Patty.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Video

We finally finished his 1 month birthday video! Be sure to turn your speakers on to hear the music. The song is "He's my Son" by Mark Schultz. It's sums up much of our past month and we've listened to it a lot.

We’ve come a long way in one month. It’s hard to believe now as he wakes us up in the middle of the night with his lusty cries how tiny and fragile he was just a short time ago. He’s rather stubborn, and very passionate when he feels strongly about something, just like his father. He hasn’t been with us that long, but I can’t even imagine the world with out sweet Jack any more. He is just about the nicest baby ever made. We sure love him.

Football and feeding tubes

Friday night, to celebrate Jack's 1 month birthday, we took Jack to his first football game - Olympus vs. West Jordan. He had a marvelous time and it felt great to be out and about until around half time when Jack got hungry and hit his limit so he screamed the whole way home.

Saturday was a good day except Jack again decided he couldn't remember how to eat and every meal became a long battle just to get some calories in him. Hardy went to the Utah football game in the evening so after struggling through a few more meals I asked Hardy's mom to come help me put his feeding tube back in when she called to see how we were doing and found me near tears. We got it in and he got to sleep through his 9:00 and 12:00 feedings and get some good rest, getting just enough energy to yank his tube completely off his face around 1AM. Oh, I was so mad. I finally had to go tell dad it was his turn because I was not happy with the little fella. And what has he done ever since he yanked the tube out? Ate like a champ. I don't know what the problem was yesterday that is suddenly now fine, but he better stay fine since I am out of feeding tubes at the moment. Such big trouble.

The winner is...

$131,000 - and yes, that's just the bill from Primary's. I think that's more than I paid for my condo. Every person who ever walked passed his bed seems to have a separate bill that arrives every day. At least they give me something interesting to look for in the mail rather than junk ads. And thank goodness for insurance.

Great guess Lisa Trent. You're the winner!

On another note, Jack gave me a bit of a scare this morning. The speech therapist came to watch him eat at 9AM and I was sure he was going to impress her with his skill. Instead he screamed for 45 minutes, turned blue, and then was too tired to eat. An hour and a half later when he woke up and I tried to feed him again since he should have been starving he did the same thing again. At that point he wouldn't even put a binky in his mouth so I knew something must be wrong. I called Hardy in tears and asked him to come home at lunch time to help me put the feeding tube back in and called the home health nurse to have her come check on him. Well, dad got home and Jack decided he was hungry and downed the whole bottle for him. Then the nurse came and since he now had a nice long nap, a full tummy, and several full diapers he pinked right up and looked great. She even decreased his oxygen since his sats were too high. So we didn't put the tube back in and everything is fine. Apparently he just needed a good poop.

Little stinker.

Place Your Bets

Jack's hospital bill arrived in the mail today. It's a doosey, but less than I was expecting.

So, how much do you think it cost? Seriously - I want to hear some good guesses. Consider that he was in the hospital 18 days and had major open heart surgery (thankfully) without any set backs.

Whoever guesses the closest gets to come snuggle with the baby for an hour:)

Our other good news for the day - the cardiologists said that as long as he's eating, Jack doesn't need to have his tube any more! And trust me - he's eating. Those cute little cheeks are starting to get a little chub on them. All the better for kissin'.

Eat, Sleep and Clean

After decided yesterday not to put Jack's NG tube back in, guess who forgot how to eat around midnight last night? I was none too thrilled with the little guy about that and pulled out all the stuff to put his tube back in, but thankfully dad kept his head on and suggested that we wait and try again at his 3:00AM feeding before I put it back in and of course he did great and hasn't had any eating problems the rest of the day.

Jack has been much more awake today than usual which is both good and bad. It's great when he's kicking and happy, less great when he's crying and not letting me get anything done because he needs to be held all the time. Not that I mind holding him one bit, it's just really hard to pump or mix a bottle with a babe in arms. My little sister came over for a couple of hours to watch Jack for me so I could take a nap and get some things done, but of course he picked those exact two hours to sleep soundly so she just rocked him. Then the minute she left he decided to wake up. He did the exact same thing last week when his Grandma Strong came to rock him for me. If it weren't for the video clips, everyone who comes to visit would think all he does is sleep, and trust me, that is not the case.

On a really good note, the Merry Maids came and cleaned our house today. I must say, that has been a great investment these past couple of months. I'm not sure how much longer we'll keep having them come now that I can get around again, but it's so nice to know that once a month my house is getting a really good cleaning. They dust, vacuum, scrub floor boards, mop floors, change sheets, scrub toilets - the works. It feels like a new house when they leave. I love it.

Just the two of us

I was going to post a picture of me and Jack going on a nice little walk today, but unfortunately 3 blocks from home Jack decided he had had enough and started freaking out. I finally picked him up to calm him down and he passed right out in my arms so I wound up carrying him home in one arm and pushing the stroller with the other. It was a highly ineffective walk other than I got to say hi to a few neighbors and enjoy the sun and fresh air for a moment. We are definitely going to have to work on Jack's tolerance for the stroller.

Today was my first day at home with Jack and no outside help. I was a little nervous since I didn't get a ton of sleep last night, but he managed to sleep just long enough this morning for me to take a shower, then he kicked and wiggled happily on the bed long enough for me to get dressed. More than that I can't really ask for.

Sometime's he was happy.

He took some very nice naps.

And once in a while he got really mad. :)

Busy Fingers

Well, Jack pulled out his feeding tube again at 3:00 AM last night. He was quite pleased with himself. I decided that since he has been eating almost entirely from the bottle lately that we'd wait to put it back in and discuss with the Home Health nurse later today to decide if we can go without it. In the mean time I've been trying to get some photos of his cute little face without the tube but he's been so wiggly this morning that they keep coming out blurry. I'll keep trying and post some later today.

All in all he's doing really well. He's getting more alert and interested in looking at things around him. I could just watch him for hours. Oh wait - that is what I do. :)