Archive for November, 2007

Random cuteness

Published on November 29, 2007 in Aidan. 0 Comments

There are several things I want to do with this blog.  Talk about what’s happening in our family, our journey along the road of preemiehood, and record snippets of things I want to be able to “give” Aidan as he gets older.  I think blogging them will be a great way to record them.

A couple of cute things I never want to forget:

  • How you say “GoodMoon Night” instead of “Goodnight Moon” to ask us to read your favorite bedtime book
  • That the number 8 was the first number you recognized and it is still your favorite
  • That you love the letter W and how pleased I was when you turned it around like it was nothing and declared it to be the letter M
  • The fact that you are starting to understand that you can use your cuteness to get your way
  • That I have been seeing your great sense of humor emerge
  • And that belly laugh….that laugh that makes complete strangers stop in their tracks to watch, smile, and giggle themselves

Aidan, watching you grow is the best gift we will ever receive.

Can a toddler survive on milk, yogurt, and macaroni and cheese?

Published on November 28, 2007 in Aidan. 0 Comments

Ok, so I admit this is a bit of an exaggeration, but Aidan has officially entered the picky toddler stage with food.  Nothing special, right?  Every parent goes through this.  Well…not exactly.  See there are lots of questions in my mind and an imaginary tightrope to walk with Aidan and this food thing.

Being born at 28 weeks and 1.5 lbs with a ventilator shoved down your throat doesn’t do much for feeling good about what gets put in your mouth.  This being said, Aidan was having a hard time when we first started solids well over a year ago.  We noticed it right away and got him into feeding therapy.  I was shocked at how much progress he made so quickly, and in the end he only spent 3 months in feeding therapy once a week. 

We had him eating some new things such as chicken nuggets, pizza, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, lots of crunchy snacks….even eggs. 

He is starting to get fairly proficient at spoon feeding and has been good at finger feeding for a long time.  He drinks enough milk (about 20-24 oz a day). 

So why the post?  It seems like his food likes are narrowing.  He would probably eat macaroni and cheese for every meal if I let him.  I tried eggs today (which he has been refusing for a while) and no luck.  In fact, even a gag.  Ugh.  He will eat some of the most unexpected things at times though, such as salsa and cheese/sausage stuffed pasta shells with marinara.  I add a lot of spices to this dish and it has sausage in it, which is usually a no go.  Not sure why this is a hit, but I’ll take it.

I worry where the right side is on this as a parent.  You see, I’m having a hard time deciding if this is a lingering feeding issue that needs to be dealt with or we are seeing a picky toddler.  I have had lots of people tell me to give him some of whatever we are eating and if he doesn’t want it, he goes hungry.  This seems harsh to me, especially when you are talking about a child that had feeding issues for a while.  Or do I continue to try, but fall back on what I know he will eat so that he gets his nutrition?  The questioning of whether or not you are doing the right thing never seems to end as a parent.

Here is Aidan chowing down on his fave…mac and cheese.

Advice, fellow parents?  :-)

Mom catches everybody up

Published on November 28, 2007 in Aidan, HELLP, PIH/Preeclampsia and Prematurity. 0 Comments

I sent this email on 9/4/05.  Our beautiful baby boy had dropped to his lowest weight of 1lb 3 oz.  But he was “acting” more like a 28 weeker and was dodging most of the major bullets.  I think I was still in shock to a certain degree, but was feeling good about Aidan’s prospects and keeping my chin up.

Hi all!

Brandon has done a wonderful job of keeping you all up to date on the health of Aidan and I over the last few weeks.

It seems I will most likely be released from the hospital tomorrow, but of course little Aidan has some growing to do in here before we can take him to his home.  The last weeks and especially recent days have been extremely taxing on all of us in the  family.  There are things that were very scary but also many joys and reason for hope.  Here are just a few:

1.  Through self-awareness and the doctor’s help I was able to somehow know that the night we delivered Aidan, I was progressing in to a very dangerous condition called HELLP.  This can be fatal to pregnant women if not halted early enough and the only “cure” is delivery of the baby.  My labs on my platelets and liver the next morning told the story.  We had delivered him at exactly the right time to maximize his growth and stop any permanent damage to either Aidan or myself.  My platelets were slipping low and my liver values had multiplied by over 5 times and if the baby was left in, it could have meant terrible things for the two of us.  The doctor was impressed at my body awareness and said it had made a huge difference in the outcome.

2.  The doctor, Dr. Gavrila, came in to deliver Aidan.  He was the one managing my condition literally by day.  Even when he was off and not even on call, he would show up and be the one to do the doppler studies on Aidan, go over the changing course of the treatment plan , etc.  I have never known a doctor to give so much of his personal time to a family when he could have let one of his colleagues who was actually on call on his off days handle us. 

3.  It will take time, but I am already on my way back to health as my bad lab values are self correcting and my  blood pressure is already dropped back to almost normal.

4.  I have a supportive, unwavering husband who was there for me and our son every step of the way through this and it has only confirmed for me what a wonderful decision I made in a husband and fatherl

5.  We have amazing friends and family who are/were willing to do whatever they could for us and it was/is such a huge help and source of support for us.

6.  MOST OF ALL……Aidan is doing extremely well.  Many things that the nurses do not expect a baby his age and weight to have are present.  Such as the determined way in which he moves his limbs.  He moves them with a purpose and not a flailing as most kids born at his gestational age.  He is strong.  His grip is very strong.  When laid on his stomach for a bit today, the nurse tried to pry one of his arms out from underneath him because it looked “uncomfortable”.  Well, he let her have it!  He grimaced and pushed himself up off his tummy with a combo of knees and arms for a few seconds. 

He has had several tests know for things often present in a baby born when he was.  There is a valve called a PDA which normally closes upon birth in full term babies and almost never does in preemies.  His is open and he is being given a med to close it.  His blood sugar is stable.  Another big hurdle is finding out if he had an IVH which is a bleed in the brain.  There are 4 different severities of this condition.  He will be screened again in a few weeks to be sure he doesn’t develop one, but surprisingly he has NO bleeding there.  Also unusual for his gestational age.

7.  Last but not least, I had my first moment of bonding on Thursday.  A nurse offered to let me help wash his scalp/hair.  She removed his little hat and glasses (he has been under lights for jaundice).  I blanketed him across his arms and chest with my left hand.  Babies like this feeling as it reminds them of being in the womb.  The nurse rinsed his head with warm water and gave me a bit of baby shampoo.  I began massaging his scalp and cleaning it, when Aidan curled his hand around part of mine and grasped me.  Then he opened his beautiful  little eyes and stared right at me.  He sighed  and I got to finish washing his hair.  I did this through tears of course, as the nurse told me that Aidan most likely knows I am his mommy just through touch, voice, and smell. 

As I go home tomorrow (without him…for now) it will be hard.  But I know he has amazing care here and he is SUCH a fighter with a strong spirit.  I am so proud.

Keep in touch!

Welcome to the first tee Aidan

Published on November 28, 2007 in Aidan, HELLP, PIH/Preeclampsia and Prematurity. 0 Comments

This was written by Brandon just a few short hours after Aidan was born on 8/30/05.

Well… a mere 5 minutes after I click send on the mail indicating everything was hunky dori, things took a turn.  Lori started experiencing a lot of pain in her tummy.  It turns out the liver was starting to distend, causing some serious discomfort.  The baby’s heart rate started to fall off its normal baseline.

The doctor (Daniel Gavrila…a classic Italian accented soap opera doctor) decided it would no longer benefit the mom or the baby by continuing the pregnancy.  SSOOOOOOO….

At 3:24 a.m. Aidan was born.  12″, 1 lb 8 oz of pure pink joy.  He wasted no time in filling a diaper from both ends and doing his best to flail around so the nurses couldn’t get him wired up (IVs, temp probes, O2 sensors, feeding tubes, breathing tubes, ventilators etc….).  The doctor indicated he was really strong for his gestational age, and had a lot of fight in him.  We aren’t out of the woods yet, but he seems to have the courage to keep fighting.

He is too young to really determine who’s features he has with one exception…  the kid has some HUGE hands for his size.  Comes from his poppa. I have taken the liberty of attaching the first pics taken of the little man. 

Lori is doing fine after the C-section.  Drugged out and tired, but feeling much better in general.  I will know more after she wakes up.  Me?  Dunno… too tired and drained from one hell of a roller coaster ride.  What I can say, is that we are truly blessed to be parents.  I love this little tadpole/alien-looking thing and can’t wait to see him start to survive on his own.

Wow…

What a ride.

The scary thing is that it is just starting.

Love to all

Brandon, Lori and Aidan (Biscuit)

Treading water

Published on November 28, 2007 in Aidan, Bedrest, PIH/Preeclampsia and Prematurity. 0 Comments

Captain’s Log, Stardate 8.25.05.

Evergreen Hospital:

Day 6 finds the family still in the hospital with Lori hooked up to continuous IV, Oxygen and a baby monitor.  She is getting daily shots in the tummy to help thin the blood so it flows easier to Aidan.  Lori gets to take a 45 minute warm bath every day to help open her blood vessels.  Lots of drugs, lots of protein in the diet, lots of ups and downs.  Overall, Lori is doing very well considering. 

The baby is doing well.  Still small but has gained 2 oz in the last 9 days, pushing him to a whopping 1 lb-6oz.  His little humerous is 4.4cm (just under two inches), to give you some perspective on size.  Brain, bladder and kidneys seem to be forming as expected.  He is a little fighter.  It is weird to feel like the birth is either imminent, or within the next two/three weeks.  A little nerve-racking whenever a nurse comes in the room.

The last three days have seen 2 room changes to various floors in the hospital, 2 emergency C-Section false alarms, one pretty pissed doctor for the false alarms, 3 ultrasounds, flowers, cards and more love and support from our friends than we ever anticipated. 

I am trying to balance a bit of work, a bit of time for myself, and a lot of worry…. doing well at one of them. 

More updates to come

Thank you all for the kind words/thoughts/prayers/cards/flowers/support/love.  It helps makes things a lot easier to handle.

Brandon, Lori and Aidan (aka Biscuit)

P.S.

We are about to be moved to the 4th floor (again).  Good sign since this is a longer-term room, away from the surgical area on 2nd floor.

In the klink

Published on November 28, 2007 in Aidan, Bedrest, PIH/Preeclampsia and Prematurity. 0 Comments

This was written by Brandon shortly after admission to the hospital for hospital bedrest on 8/19/05.

Just a quick note to let everyone know the status of Project Aidan:

Friday night started out like any other night.  Lori was camped out on the couch and I returned home from work. Lori was experiencing shortness of breath, heartburn, high bp and slow pulse (45 bpm).   This means only one thing, and it ain’t Brandon playing golf on Saturday ;-)  

So off to Evergreen Hospital we go to get everything cheked out.

They decide to admit Lori to the maternity care facility and administer some drugs to help thin the blood.  This helps lower bp, increase heart rate and give Aidan more nutrients through the placenta.  They are keeping Lori there at least until Sunday to monitor mom and kids’ heart activity.  Incidentally, the nurses have a hard time tracking down the boy inside the tummy because he keeps swimming around and won’t sit still (remind you of anyone?)

Both mom and baby are doing well.  Lori continues to amaze me with her strength and perserverance through all of this.  We both know in our hearts Aidan will be fine.  He is going to start out small, but will catch up in short order and be just fine.  A good friend of ours mentioned the similarities between Aidan and Seabiscuit… kinda fits.  Hence a possible nickname has been born. Since ‘the little pain in the caboose that drove mom and dad nuts for months even before he was born’ doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, we will shorten his nickname to ‘biscuit’.  I’m sensing a possible snack at a baby shower snack at some point…

Thank you all for your kind thougths and prayers.  The support we have received from friends and neighbors has been astounding.  We are truly blessed.  We will send out another update when things change.

Bless you all,

Brandon, Lori and Aidan

8/18/05 pregnancy/bedrest update

Published on November 28, 2007 in Aidan and Bedrest. 0 Comments

Hi all!

As promised this will be shorter than the first email we sent last night.  The biophysical profile on Aidan was encouraging.  He is doing what is called practice breathing and the dopplers on the blood flow in his umbilical cord were slightly better than on Tuesday.  He even yawned for us during the ultrasound!  And wouldn’t you know it….we forgot our videotape at home!!!   We were so ticked at ourselves! 

Then they did a non-stress test on him which evaluates his heart rate variability and how his heart rate responds when he moves.  That was also good. 

We are on twice weekly appointments just like these from here on out with every other week growth ultrasounds to assess growth and weight gain. 

Our perinatologist said, “I don’t have a crystal ball.  That is why you got steroids to develop his lungs, but as long as this is what we continue to see, he can stay put.”  She is hopeful we will get him to 30 weeks and go from there.  She said we may even get a few more weeks out of him than that, but it is hard to tell at this point. 

So for now, Lori is supposed to rest, eat lots of protein and try to think of other things as much as possible. 

We will let you know as things change, but today’s appointment was hopeful.  He is holding his own.  I guess little Aidan is earning his name’s meaning of “fiery.”

Love you all,

Brandon, Lori, and Aidan

Trying to hold back the tide (an email dated 8/17/05)

Published on November 28, 2007 in Aidan, PIH/Preeclampsia and Prematurity. 0 Comments

The following is the email I sent to all of our family and friends on 8/17/05, just 13 days before Aidan’s arrival.

Hello to all our family and friends:

First, of all, let us apologize for the length of this email, and I am sorry if some if this will be redundant to many of you, but it will get everybody caught up.

Some of you are more up to date than others, so in the interest of not updating everybody by phone individually, it is easier to send out an email to you all and keep you up to date on what is going on with us.

As of Wednesday, August 17:

A couple of weeks ago Lori had slightly elevated blood pressure at a routine doctor’s appointment.  Her urine is showing no protein and she has no prolonged swelling so she has not progressed into preeclampsia, though there is a possibility of that happening.  She has what is considered PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension).  This can strike any pregnant woman and research has still not been able to discover exactly why and who this will strike.  For those of you who are curious, here is a link explaining the conditions.

http://www.preeclampsia.org/FAQ.asp

Lori was put on bedrest and has been doing that for a little over 2 weeks.  It has brought her blood pressure down pretty successfully while she is lying down.  Yesterday, we had another ultrasound at the perinatologist following us to check Aidan’s growth.  We had seen the perinatologist for some other  possible concerns that proved to be a non-issue after we were given an amniocentesis.  Aidan has lagged a bit behind in his growth for the last 6 weeks.  He is measuring about 2 weeks behind predicted in a few measurements.  But he is holding his own.  At each ultrasound he is not losing ground but rather maintaining.  The concern yesterday is that while the blood flow in his brain, heart and vital organs is good, the blood flow in the umbilical cord is not optimal.  The doctor said the doppler readings on these can look different day to day, so we are returning Thursday to have another look and also complete what is called a Non-stress test on Aidan to see how his heart rate responds when he moves.

We will continue to do this 2-3 times per week to keep a close eye on how he is doing.  If there is a point where he can be supported better in the NICU that in the womb, they will make a decision to deliver him.  The good news is that the hospital where we are patients is Evergreen Hospital and is well known for their excellent Level 3 NICU and outcomes if this is necessary. 

He is at the age and weight where his prognosis is very good for a positive outcome.  Our perinatologist is hopeful that we can make is another few weeks because she is not seeing any signs of contractions in Lori and his doppler flows in the umbilical cord are not yet absent or reverse flow which are indications of impending need to deliver.

We have had so much support from virtually everybody we know.  We appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and deeds more than we can say.

That being said, the question arises from most everybody we know, “What can we do?”

While we understand the desire to call and speak to us, the best thing for Lori right now is lots of rest and as much peace of mind as she can get.  That being said, if we do not answer your call for some reason, please do not feel slighted and take this personally.  It is simply taxing to tell the same story 25 times in a day.  This does not mean that we will not want to talk, just that we may not always want to and really appreciate your understanding when that is the case. 

As much as possible, we will communicate status changes via email.  (They will be shorter than this initial email.  ) 

That being said, your offers of help are all SOOOO appreciated and we are so touched to receive them.  And we know we will need much of this support at some point (i.e. meals, etc.)  But we have no idea of exactly what we will need and when it will be needed until this situation makes itself more clear to us, so we will let you know as we have a better idea. 

Meanwhile, we are so grateful for all of you and we will keep you updated.

Love,

Brandon, Lori, and Aidan (26+ weeks and still cooking!)

Still figuring this stuff out…blogging, life, you name it

Published on November 27, 2007 in Aidan and Computer savvy or lack therof. 0 Comments

I have been messing around with a lot of different wordpress themes and layouts and really have yet to find one I *LOVE*, so I think I finally just need to get on with this business of blogging and tweak as I become a little more savvy.

Last Friday, November 23, was Aidan’s 2 year “adjusted birthday.”  For those of you not “lucky” enough to be in the preemie club, this was the date Aidan would have been 2 if he had been born on time.  We spent it with family celebrating the holiday and watching this wondrous boy plunge forward full force into toddlerhood.

Sometimes it is easy for me to remember all that I missed out on when he arrived so early, there are many more days where it is easy to forget.

Aidan is, after all, doing scores of things we may never have had a right to expect from a 1.5lb preemie.  Aidan is running, tumbling, counting (sometimes to 20!), reciting his ABC’s, learning his colors, singing along to nursery rhymes, learning how to manipulate us ;-) , and getting quite the sense of humor.  He will even declare to us that certain things are funny…in fact he is always right.

At this point, to catch up some of my fellow bloggers, I will start posting entries from an old site I kept when Aidan was first born.  Bear with.  :-)

Took this cute pic last week.  This might be a contender in a best “bedhead” contest.  :-)

And a great one of him playing Nintendo Wii with his cousins on Thanksgiving.  Do you think he was having a good time?

 

Feeling kinda clueless!

Published on November 18, 2007 in Aidan, Computer savvy or lack therof and Family. 0 Comments

If you only knew the number of hours it took me just to get this blog remotely up and running, you would laugh and then go tell all of your friends.  I am intelligent about a lot of things, but coding is definitely not one of them.  I did find a theme to plug into my site that would allow some pictures to randomly rotate when the page is loaded.  (you should notice if you reload the page, that a new image appears in the header) I am still monkeying with the correct settings for the pictures to display correctly, but I think I am on my way. 

 I plan on writing a post in the next couple of days that will give you some back history on all of us and probably posting some of the updates I sent out to an MSN Group shortly after Aidan was born. 

I promise the blogging will get more interesting than this, I just wanted to get something down and make sure I remotely know what I am doing. 

So I can get some eye candy on the page, here is a copy of the family photo we took last week.  Aidan is usually SO eager to pose for the camera, but as you can see he most definitely was not in the mood by his expression.  Sadly this was the best picture of the bunch.  ;-)   The photographer says 2 is the hardest age to shoot.