Good day on the low flow

The low flow cannula seems to agree with carter for the time being. He had some Brady's today but they were short lived and he pulled himself out quickly. He kangaroo'd with both of us today - Sandy more than me since I had to work. He gained 30 grams overnight! He also got his hepatitis b immunization last night. The first round of three over his first year.

Tomorrow he will get his eyes examined in depth for the first time. We are told that we shouldn't attend because it is uncomfortable for Carter but it looks pretty bad from where we would sit. They clamp his eyelids open and dilate his eyes to check for the depth of the vessels in there. Wish him luck!

He really enjoyed story time with mom today. Sandy read him 3 stories and sang him a song and he really liked it - he was smiling a lot!

We appreciate the continued prayers for our little fighter; he needs them all.

More to come...

Bath Time

Carter got moved back to the low flow cannula today. He did very well all day with very minimal Brady's of which he successfully pulled himself out.

Oh ya, and he got a bath! Wanna see it? Copy this link into your browser...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyYbEiK9Xig&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Kinda blurry but still good. Check out his post-bath pictures too - I think he really liked it!

Nick & Sandy

Kangaroo all day!

Carter and mommy kangaroo'd pretty much all day. He didn't gain any weight but his nurse thinks that's because he pooped 4 times in a row for her - so much she's going to up him to the bigger diapers!

His eyes will be tested at some point this week so we will keep everyone up to date on that. He gets a hepatitis B shot this week as well.

Minimal Brady's and desats again today. They upped his feedings to 26 milliliters today and he's handling it very well.

Check out his big yawn in the pictures!

Nick & Sandy

Memorial Day at the Hospital

We spent the vast majority if the day at the hospital with Carter today. He had a good day with a couple big stinky poops. Despite these weight loss opportunities, he gained 70 grams!

We were going to give him a bath today but he had a new nurse and she wasn't 100% confident with bathing him in her first day watching him. It was disappointing but I would way rather her be honest about her feelings than her go ahead with it and not be comfortable or confident. He had a small group of Brady's tonight after being put away after kangarooing with me. He got to kangaroo for a good while with both of us today; mommy in the morning, me tonight. It's our favorite thing to do!

More to come tomorrow!

Nick & Sandy

Good Sunday

Carter had a good day today. He got put on a smaller nose piece for his c-pap and he seems to be liking it. He still was desatting after meals today but tonight he was trucking along like the feeds weren't even happening.

He gained 60 grams overnight. That's his biggest weight gain that I can remember! I got to kangaroo with him for an hour and a half tonight and he was a very good boy during.

No news is good news I guess. Since he's classified as a grower/feeder, I think he earned his keep today.

Nick Prince

Another good day

Carter had another good day today. He is really enjoying the pressure that the CPAP provides. Dr. Hagan had nothing but good things to say about our little man. The plan is that he will stay on the CPAP for about a week. This will give him time to grow and get stronger. They don't want to challenge him until he has regained some strength. Nick and I couldn't agree more with this plan.
He weighs 1140 grams, this includes the CPAP equipment. (No weight gain from yesterday)
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.
The Princes

Rest for the Weary

Carter's doctor switched him early last night back to a c-pap breathing machine. If you don't remember, the c pap keeps pressure in his lungs as well as providing a very minimal amount of oxygen.

He has responded beautifully! Last night zero - yes zero, zilch, nada - bradys! Zero desats! Only two Brady's today; all caused by human intervention (moving him, trying to put a little milk in his mouth). Once again, Carter has spoken loud and clear about what he wants. Thankfully the nurses speak baby.

For his 30 week gestational birthday he got an x ray of his stomach and lungs. Stomach was great - he's a pooping machine. His right lung, however, was a little immature. This was probably due to him tiring out from breathing on his own for so long. When his respiratory strength is low from fatigue, his lung can't fully inflate. When his lung doesn't fully inflate, the portion that is idle stops maturing. Fear not, this is something that the c-pap should be able to cure in a couple of days by keeping his lung inflated and ensuring that he takes deep, healthy breaths.

Other than that there is pretty much no news. He feels and looks great - save for the fact that he's in his "fighter pilot's mask" again :) He weighs 1140 grams now, up from 1100. But that includes the c-pap mask so it's obviously skewed.

We would like to thank everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts during that rough patch. They truly carry us in times like that. It seems as though every time Carter has a rough day, he springs back with vigor afterward to let us know that he's a strong little fighter. He shows us great strength everyday and is doing his best to teach us the necessary patience to be great parents.

We love him beyond words,

Nick & Sandy

On our toes

Carter had a really rough day. Probably his toughest yet. He brought his mother to tears today a couple times. Carter's pulse-ox (oxygen saturation in his blood) has been erratic at best. He had a couple instances where his breathing was shallow enough and his oxygen level was low enough (reaching 32% at one point briefly) to turn him blue. The nurse was in his room all day with Sandy and had the idea to push his feeding tube slightly lower into his stomach. This idea came about because as his stomach would get full of milk, it would crowd his lung space and he would have difficulty breathing and eventually brady frequently. Things would settle down as he digested. He seemed to be responding to the deeper placement during his last feed.

This will be a difficult night for him and he will need all the prayers he can get. He is strong and we know he can get through it and end up thriving in the end; it's just getting to that point that is difficult on him and us.

Nick and Sandy

Kangaroo again

Today Carter had a good day Kangarooing with mommy. Since he doesn't have his oxygen in his nose, the nurses have an oxygen tube blowing on his face constantly. His vitals were very stable all day.

Tonight however he scared us. He had a long period (seemed very long, was actually 2-3 minutes) where he de-satted (desaturated his blood of oxygen). This happens when they aren't breathing properly, either too shallow or not at all. We had to jostle him a little and flip him over on his back while the nurse increased his oxygen. It was scary. His vitals tonight are relatively erratic and we are just hoping he calms down. It'll be a tough nights sleep.

3 weeks old!

Hello. My name is Carter Douglas Prince and I am 3 weeks old. Today I found out that my hand tastes delicious. Over the course of sucking all my tasty fingers today, I gained 50 grams and now weigh 2lbs 5oz!

I also love to poop and make my daddy gag as my mommy changes my diaper. Today I learned that if i am determined enough and I pull hard enough on the tube in my nose, I can yank it all the way out of my tummy so the nurses can put it back in again. I am learning to love that game.

My blood pressure is normal, my breathing is great in this stylish bubble that they have me in, and my heart rate is right on track. I also am getting good at another game although I play it less and less each day: brady real quick and set off my alarms and then fix myself before the nurses race in and stimulate me.

I had a good 3 week birthday today and am looking forward to tomorrow.

Carter

Good news

Today we got great news...Carter's two mild brain bleeds that were non-issues at the time of their finding, are resolving themselves! His thyroid function also came back as normal!

We just got an update from the nurse too..........he is up to 1,010 grams from 970! This marks the first time that he is over birth weight.

He is still in the hood and was enjoying his first day of being swaddled. He also had another successful day of pooping. His mother and I are very proud of him and are seeing the effects that Carter is having on the well being of us and everyone with whom he comes into contact. He brings inspiration and perspective to us all.

Nick & Sandy

Second day of the hood

Carter did really well in his hood, impressing all of the nurses. Of course he had some apnea and Brady's but for the most part, he was content to just lay around and suck on his pacifier.

He is noticeably more happy when he he is being fed and he bradys less when that happens. His digestion and pooping is going very well so we expect to see some weight gain in the next week. Speaking of which, he gained another 20 grams - up to 970 total which is his birth weight.

My parents left today so we will have to find out what "normal" life will look like now. It was so nice having my mother here to help us out with EVERYTHING!

Sandy's hand update: it's turned into a non-issue at this point. The antibiotics and ibuprofen have a good grip on whatever was disturbing her vein.

Although Carter's progress is nothing but encouraging, he still is in a very scary state consisting of random alarms indicating dropping respiratory rates, oxygen levels and heart rates. The encouraging part is that he pretty much fixes all of these alarms on his own. Still, he needs all the prayers he can get.

Still in the hood....

Carter is still under the hood, and doing well. He still has his spells of Brady's, but his nose is healing nicely. The doctor had all good things to say about him. He will get an ultrasound on his head again this coming week. They are just checking to make sure the bleeds have stopped. Carter gained weight!! Up to 970 grams!! He's been pooping today, looks like things are finally moving along!!!
We are looking forward to the week, and praying Carter keeps doing what he's been doing!
Thank you all for your support and prayers.
Sandy. Nick and Carter

In the hood

Our child is in the hood. Literally. The nurses put him in a clear plastic hood today that surrounds his head with oxygen so that his nose gets a rest from the pressure of his cannula. It was looking painful.

With this, comes forced maturity. He is being forced to breathe without the help of the pressure that he normally gets from his hi flo and low flo machines. At times, he's very happy about the hood and other times, he has bouts of apnea that lead to Brady's. The nurses are very aware of this tendency and are watching him like a hawk.

He was brought up to full feeding levels today! He is now getting good at pooping regularly as well. He didn't lose weight like they expected him to so that's a good thing! Unfortunately he cannot kangaroo with mommy until he's in the clear on his breathing though.

We'll check back in tomorrow!

29 weeks today!

Yes, we still are going off gestation age. This will be the measure of his age for all intents and purposes until he reaches normal-birth maturity. Then all of a sudden, he'll catapult to 3 months or so (whatever his birth age is at the point where maturity is determined). Anyways...

Carter had another good day full of his own breaths compliments of his low-flo oxygen cannula. He decided to continue his "streak" of poops too. Two days running.

Carter is now classified as a feeder/grower baby. Yep, you guessed it: his two jobs are to feed and grow. This is a wonderful graduation for him.

He lost 20 grams - but that is because they're ratcheting up his food and they haven't hit capacity yet. That'll be on Sunday, at which point he'll be expected to resume his weight gain. He is also beginning to have some bouts with apnea (not breathing for extended periods of time - today's longest was over 30 secs). This may sound bad but it is actually a sign that he's maturing. He generally pulls himself out of these on his own as his body is learning that breathing is a good thing to do and then repeat.

Reverend Dent from Trinity Methodist returned to the hospital today to pray with Sandra and read a scripture about patience. We appreciate him so much. Also, Sandy's hand is slowly progressing to a better state - less red and no line creeping up her arm. And that's a great thing!

Thank you for all of your prayers!

Nick

Graduation Day

Carter is doing very well. As of tonight he's completely off of any iv's and he has a regular cannula in his nose for some mild oxygen help. He's still having bouts of bradycardia and apnea but that sounds like its pretty common. All in all, we're so very proud of him.

He pooped 4 times today! Even after all of that, he weighed in a whopping 30 grams heavier - he is now back to his birth weight!

Sandy has been kangarooing with Carter for extended periods of time and today was no exception - 4 hours total! It makes both of them very happy and thus making me very happy. We are currently monitoring Sandy for a potential blood infection from her iv site so keep her in your thoughts and I'm sure everything will turn out ok. If there's one thing that our situation has shown us, it's that the power of everyone collectively praying and sending positive thoughts our way is not to be underestimated. It's truly incredible and for that we are so thankful.