Tired baby
Tired little girl, though she does look a lot like her uncle Jeff.
March 28, 2007
March 15, 2007
Mary Rose is Bulking Up!
She went to see her pediatrician today and she is now 6 lbs, 5 oz. and remains 19 inches long.
We had an issue with one of the monitors today. It had been plugged in all night so the battery would remain charged, but while I was driving to work with Julie (she needed the van for the doctor appointment) the battery died after just an hour. Obviously, that's unacceptable. We have a DC to AC converter for the van, but it's currently loaned out and we haven't had the chance to get it back yet. Regardless, an hour of battery time is not even enough to go to the store if you need more than a couple of things. What made it scary is that Julie had to drive to the doctor's without a monitor and you can't face the carseat forward nor put it in the front seat so there was no way to keep an eye on her. Another thing on our to-do list is to get a second mirror so we can hang it over the back seat and see her through the regular "inside" mirror.
Anyway, Mary's doing well and so is Julie. She'll probably see her OB/GYN next week.
March 14, 2007
So Far, So Good
Mary Rose is doing great so far. She's pink and perfect. She has occasional episodes where she desaturates, but that's what the monitor's for so we can make sure she doesn't drop too far, the same with her heart rate.
This morning, she started fussing and her pulse rose to 210 bpm (it alarms at 200). I put my hand on her head and stroked it and it dropped, so I went to lay back down. She started up again and my remedy was repeated. I ended up having to take her out of the bassinet until Julie could come back in the room and feed her, but when she did, Mary fell back to sleep. :)
But in any case, she's doing well and has a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks with the GI, and goes to her pediatrician for the first time tomorrow.
March 13, 2007
5 (real) Reasons Why Cats are Better than Dogs
Cats (typically) aren't noisy. Even those that are noisy are still quieter than a barking dog. - Cats can be left alone for a day or two. Just feed and water them and make sure their litter box is clean before you go and they'll be fine. Dogs need to be let out all the time.
- Cats "go" in one spot. Yes, that spot is a litter box indoors, but emptying a litterbox is a lot less unpleasant than stepping in a "dog bomb" somewhere outside.
- Cats won't hump your leg.
- Cats are liability free. Nobody gets sued because a cat bit the paper boy or their child was attack by a pack of stray cats.
March 12, 2007
She's Home!
No new pictures, but Mary Rose is home. She's on two seperate monitors and she is doing pretty well. she's de-satted a couple of times, but has come back up each time.
They also sent us home with oxygen, but that's only in an emergency and emergency is defined as "while we take her to the hospital" or "while we wait for the ambulance".
Now the fun really begins.
I slept as much as I could last night and the night before and even napped at the hospital a bit and I'm still so exhausted. It feels like I'll never stop being tired. I can't imagine how it must be for Julie.
Homeward Bound!
Mary Rose is going home in just a few minutes. I had to make a phone call so I came down to the Business Center for parents here at Children's and took the opportunity to post about her. She's going to have two monitors and emergency oxygen (just in case). Also, she'll be on Reglan and Prevacid (which has to be compounded which is a pain in the butt) and we have to take her to see her GI doctor in 2-3 weeks.
More tonight and probably more pics!
March 11, 2007
March 10, 2007
March 9, 2007
Going down...
No, she's not going downhill or anything. Quite the contrary.
First and most importantly, Mary has orders to go to a regular room downstairs (hence "going down"). That's just wonderful news. She'll be in the hospital for a couple of more days so we'll probably get to take her home on Sunday, and I'm thinking maybe even tomorrow (Sat) but that could be just dreaming, y'know?
Mary also no longer has anything on her except the pulse-O2 monitor and the other monitor. But she's not getting any IV's, nor does she have any needles in her "just in case". In other words, our pretty little Mary Rose no longer has something sticking out of her head, as you can see by my most recent post. Doesn't she look just great?!
Her color is SO much better. She hasn't been having cyanotic episodes in the past couple days and her jaundice is all but gone. I couldn't see it at all and neither Julie. It's nice to see her the way she's supposed to be looking. She's such a pretty baby.
Probably the most notable improvement has been how she is acting. No, a newborn doesn't really "do" much, but Mary wasn't even doing anything. That was one of the primary reasons that we took her into the ER on Monday. She wouldn't eat unless she was awakened and even then, she'd fall asleep after literally 3 or 4 minutes. The only times she was awake was when we were rousing her. She was so sluggish and lethargic.
Things are much different now. Not only is Mary Rose more active, she stays awake during entire feedings and for a while afterward. Just tonight she was awake for over an hour and long after she'd finished eating. It's truly wonderful to see the difference.
Additionally, she is now having bowel movements, which she had gone literally days without. She's very regular and we didn't even need that old lady on the Milk of Magnesia commercials. :)
Mary's diagnosis is officially Apnea. She'll be going home with two monitors, one for the apnea and one pulse-O2 monitor. The gastroenterologist is pretty certain that her reflux is what's causing the apnea and he has her on Prevacid and Reglan which is helping immensely.
The bottom line is she's much improved and well on her way to recovery. We're so glad that we were able to discover this stuff now, both good and bad, given the health of her brothers, both of whom have heart and considerable esophageal issues. We now know that while Mary does have GERD, her esophagus is in much better shape than her brothers' are (and aren't an issue) and that she doesn't have any heart problems that could be detected in various tests.
March 8, 2007
More pictures of the Baby
You can go to a Picasa Web I've created that has a few pictures of Mary Rose. There are about 50 I need to get off my phone though and that's going to take some time.
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| Mary Rose |
March 7, 2007
Mary Rose being fed
Mary is currently being fed a combination of breast milk, formula, & rice cereal (doctor's orders)
pH probe results
We got the results back from the pH probe that was put in yesterday. There are basically two sides to this.
Yes, she has reflux. To a greater or lesser degree, we all have reflux. However, hers is somewhat significant. What this means is that her stomach contents do go into her esophagus more than they should. At one point, she was refluxing for two hours according to the probe. Now, the other side of this equation is that while she does have significant reflux, she doesn't have significant acid production. The only points in which she had acid in her esophagus was after we had given her apple juice (which was part of the test due to its high acidity). So that's somewhat good news.
I'm not trying to minimize the impact of her having this kind of acid reflux, though. It's a problem that has to be addressed. I'm only saying that it's good news in the sense that it's not what caused her to have the episodes that brought her in here in the first place.
The down side to this is that it still doesn't explain why Mary Rose was having such significant episodes with or oxygenation level being so low. Thus far she's been examined (and cleared) by cardiology and partially cleared by GI. Her gastroenterologist (which ironically ended up being the same one that her two older brothers see for their very significant stomach problems) has decided to put her on Prevacid (which we don't understand at this point because if there's no acid, what's the purpose of an acid reducer? The nurse hypothesized that it might be preventative and we'll talk to the GI tomorrow about that) and he has ordered an upper GI for tomorrow. I'm not entirely sure what that is though Julie can tell me, I'm sure.
One very good piece of news is that Mary Rose is now on room air. They weaned her off of it yesterday and she hasn't had any signification de-sats (desaturations) since then. It's normal for a newborn to drop into the 80's (from 100%) as long as she gets herself back up without intervention (which she apparently has done today). This is because a newborn really hasn't stabilized her breathing patterned and in essence "learned" how to breathe right. Remember, for over 8 months, she never had to breathe so when you think about it, it's a minor miracle that they come out knowing how.
Mary Rose will be fine and will come out of this whole. Before the tests, I gave her a blessing in the ER and I have received the assurance that while there will be some challenges, all will be well. I have complete faith in this and in the power of the priesthood which I hold and with which I act on behalf of our Father in the Name of his Son.
There is no doubt that there will be struggles throughout her life, but I have an assurance that goes beyond confidence that little Mary Rosetta has a mission here on earth that won't be thwarted by something such as this.
After I post this (I'm at the business center in the ICU at Children's Hospital) I'm going to figure a way to photo-blog from my phone and then send some more pictures. So keep an eye on this spot for more pics.
March 6, 2007
The aliens want to probe her!
Well, not the aliens, and not in "that way".
They just put a PH probe in and she has to have that in for 24 hours and then they'll analyze the results of the test and tell us what's what.
When ICU smile...
Mary Rose is now in the ICU geting everything tested that it seems can be tested for. The oxygen seems to really help. We'll know more tonight or tomorrow I guess.
Meanwhile, Julie's staying with the baby at Children's and I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything done. I'm starting to get seriously exhausted.
Mary Rose to the ER, stat!
We brought the baby home on Friday finally. She's such a beautiful little girl. I'm so glad I have the opportunity to be a daddy one more time.
Unfortunately, while Mary Rose is perfect in many ways (and certainly perfect for us) her lungs appear to leave something to be desired.
Over the weekend, we observed that around her lips (between where the lines are drawn on this picture) she would periodically turn purple. It wasn't a lot and it was subtle enough that Julie asked me to verify that I was seeing it, too. It was also very sporadic. If we rustled her a little bit, the normal color would return. She also was looking more jaundiced (I still don't know why they didn't even send her home on bilirubin lights) and hadn't had a significant bowl movement in days. Last night we tried supplementing her breast milk with formula to make sure she wasn't dehydrating, but still there was no bowel movement. So we called the pediatrician (who hadn't even had a chance to see her yet) and after describing the symptoms, she told us to take her to the ER.
So, that's what Julie did, asking a sorta-relative/friend (her brother's ex-wife - I know, it's strange to me, but that's another story, but she's a good person and has been a big help) to take her down to Children's Hospital.
It looks like they're going to admit her because her saturation level has been fluctuating and her heart rate skyrocketed to 220 briefly. They're running all kinds of tests on her but will probably keep her here tonight.
I miss my baby girl and I'm worried about her, but at least she's in the best children's hospital in the South and if anyplace can find what's wrong with her, they will. And we'll be able to know what to do about whatever problem she may have and not have it surprise us down the road.
So here I sit (at 4:18pm) in the waiting room of the ER without evenh WiFi to submit this post.
I'll update more when I know more.
