Back on Oxygen and starting to eat!

Monday Dashiell kept having "periodic breathing".  Basically that means that he would drop in his O2 saturation levels and was having a hard time maintaining the appropriate levels.  We were really disappointed that he had to go back on the oxygen but we knew that he would be on oxygen when he gets to go home because we have to go over a mountain pass that is 8200 feet in elevation and we live at almost 2000 above what the elevation is in Grand Junction.  We were just hoping that he could stay off of it. 

He still tries to pull the cannula out of his nose all the time!

 

On Tuesday they let him try to eat all by himself.  He did great so now he is getting two oral feedings a day.  This is really great news because this is the hardest thing he has to learn to do.  If he can keep doing the two and gain weight he will get to move up to a few more a day.  Once he can eat all of his meals orally and not have any A&Bs for five days then we can come home!  I have been praying that we can be home by Valentines day.  However, if he gets tired then he can easily backslide and we will be waiting for him to continue.

 

Andrew was able to give him his first bottle and he gives him the bottle every time we are doing an oral feeding.  The nurses seem to be surprised that he is so willing to do it, apparently very few Dads here are that active in the feeding process for their babies.  He gave Amaree her first bottle and Dashiell his first bottle so that was a neat thing for us. 

 

His first bottle!

 

Dashiell loves his Dad.  After his bottle today, Andrew was burping Dashiell and had him resting on his chest.  Dashiell looked up and just stared at him for a long time, then he fell asleep.  He really loves his dad!

 

 

Weight:  4 lbs 5 oz







Rosehill Hospitality house

Where do you stay when you are in another state and don't know anyone?  How do you manage to stay with your child while they are in the hospital?  In SLC we stayed at a friend's house and then at the Ronald McDonald House.  Here they have a Hospitality house called Rosehill.  You can read about it here.

It is really great to stay here.  It is so close to the hospital I can walk and if it is really late or l can't walk, like right after the surgery, the hospital security will give you a ride.  There is a simple room with a bathroom and there is a common kitchen and living area.

Most of the people here are dealing with hard things.  I think there are three NICU moms here right now.  Some of the people are getting cancer treatments.  Some just have relatives in the ICU.  We are all trying to survive the experience and get our loved ones home.  The staff have been wonderful and it is really nice to have a place to stay and not have to worry about how much it is going to cost and where we can rest.

We did have an adventure the other day, we woke up to the smoke alarms going off.  My Mom, Amaree and I gathered our things and went out into the cold with everyone else.  The fire department came and security showed up to make sure we were all okay.  Eventually they cleared the house and we were all able to go back in.

 I tried to get Amaree to take a picture with the fire fighters, but she was too shy. So I am sorry I don't have any pics for this post.  I am just so greatful we have this place to stay.  I don't  what we would do without it.

Amaree gets to see her brother!

My parents brought Amaree again this weekend.  She is so spoiled to have grandparents that will drive her four hours to see her mom.  We had a special surprise for her.  The nurse said if Dashiell was doing well enough, he could go to the room with a window and see his sister.  He was doing great so when they arrived we had Amaree wait on the other side of the glass and opened the curtain.

Amaree and Dashiell touch hands through the glass

It was really special for her to get to see him.  She tried to touch him and they touched hands through the glass.  She had been car sick on the way over but it made her day to finally see her brother.

Big Boy Bed (Roller coaster going up!)

Dashiell has to decided that he is way to cool (warm) to be in one of those silly isolettes.  He has mastered maintaining his own body temperature and has been moved to the open crib.  It is much nicer for mom and dad because it is much smaller so more space to move about in the room and he can be taken in and out much easier.  This is a major step and milestone.  One more closer to going home!

Dashiell has also been doing much better digesting his food rather than spitting it up.  They have put him back on fortified breast milk to give him the calories that he needs to grow.  It seems as though Dashiell just struggles a bit with re-flux.  They have discontinued Dashiell daily caffeine (Mt. Dew).  Caffeine is used as a respiratory stimulant but it also linked to re-flux.  Having discontinued the caffeine there is a risk that he may have to go back on breathing support but there is no sign of  that after day two without caffeine.  

If things continue to go well the plan is to begin the process of learning to eat next week.  This is going to be one of the most difficult things he is going to have to do.  Learning to eat is the biggest thing he has to do before going home.  There are a few smaller things he still has to accomplish, but this will be the largest mountain we will have to climb.  It is a really important process and takes a while to learn.  Hopefully it will click soon!

Life in the open cradle!

Going to town on the binkie!  Ready to learn to eat! 

Weight:  3 lbs 15 oz

NICU-Roller Coaster Ride from Hell

One thing we learned last time, and that we are learning again this time is just how fast things can change in the NICU.  Your baby can be great one minute and then struggling for life the next, only to be totally fine the next.  We have been riding that roller coaster for the last few days.  When we got to the NICU on Saturday, they had removed his line that was going through his belly button because of concern of infection, that meant he still needed an IV so they put one in his head.  He was also struggling with feedings and not digesting all of his food.  They were really concerned about him.

I HATE the IV in the head.  It is really good location to put one because the veins are easy to find and the baby doesn't move it like he would his hand.  It is also not a place that they will pull so it works well.  I understand the reasons they put it there, but I can't stand it.  I don't think I have any pics of Amaree with the IV in the head because I didn't want to remember her like that.

I was brave and took a few pictures of him with the IV in his head while he was being held by Andrew.  It is really hard to look at.  We left him in the care of his nurses and went to get some lunch.  We were gone for a few hours and this is what we found when we came back:

Notice anything?  They took the IV out, took him off breathing support because he didn't need it AND put him in clothes.  WHAT?!?  He was doing great, no signs of infection, he is breathing entirely on his own and they put clothes on him in anticipation of transitioning him to a crib.  Yea!  But wait, this IS the NICU.  Here we go...

The next day he was doing great but kept spitting up but that is what babies do.  Because it was Sunday our family brought Amaree down.  Even though she couldn't see her brother, she got to see me!  We spent the time reading stories, talking and we even went shopping on Monday to Hobby Lobby in the Fagric section.  We LOVE the FAGRIC section!  (Translation:  Fagric=Fabric, Amaree always calls it fagric and it is just too cute to correct)

After she left and I cried, I gathered myself and went to the NICU to see Dashiell.  I was holding him and he was acting so strangely then he would spit up, and spit up and spit up.  He was just really lethargic and  the spit up was really curdled.  I talked with the nurses and the NNP.  (The NNP was actually the same NNP who took care of him when I delivered) She ordered a blood test and an X-Ray to see if there was a problem with his stomach.  The blood test and X-Ray were normal.  We decided to wait and see what was going on with him in the morning.

Tuesday when I arrived, they were really concerned.  There was blood in the stool.  There is a very bad disease NICU babies get and one of the first signs is blood in the stool.  My heart stopped.  He was still having issues spitting up so the NNP decided to remove the fortification from his milk, put him on no hold (Meaning I can't hold him at all), reduce his volume and just observe him.  He need to be able to digest his food and grow more.  He isn't gaining much weight because he needs more calories and they aren't sure why he is spitting up.  He needs the food he is spitting up.  The good news this morning is there doesn't appear to be more blood, we just need him to digest his food.  It could be the fortification, the volume, his digestive tract is just underdeveloped or it could be something more serious.  We are hoping that a couple of days will make a difference and he will be doing better.  Once he gets this conquered we are hoping to be moved to a crib and start the oral feeding process.  Hopefully the ride will take us back up soon!

Weight: 3 lbs 14 oz

First bath

Yesterday was a really good day for Dashiell.  He got to get out from under the lights, spent time cuddling with Mommy and then he got his first bath!  It was a sponge bath because he still has the IV that goes through his belly button, but I think he really enjoyed it.

I gave him most of the bath, but I had the nurse do the head so I could watch.   Andrew was letting Amaree watch on FaceTime so it was a family event!  He also gained a few grams, not quite an ounce so we are inching our way back to the four pound mark.  

His feedings are still increasing so we are just in the game of waiting and growing.

I'll show them

Dashiell is continuing to impress, he is now allowed to go to dry breast to get use to learn where he gets his food.  He also was taken off the high flow nasal cannula today and moved to the low flow.  The biggest reason he was moved to the low flow nasal cannula was he is always pulling his cannula out of his nose and showing that he does well without it. This little man seems to be on a mission.  He seems to be telling all the nurses and medical staff "come on give me a chance to show you I can do just a little better".

Hopefully tomorrow his jaundice will be better and he can be done with the lights.

First father and son outing

Daddy takes his turn holding Dashiell skin to skin, Dashiell seemed to be loving his time with Daddy.  Dashiell also is gaining quite a reputation in the NICU among the nurses for being a "good" feisty.  They all say he likes things his way and he is showing that his way works pretty dang good. 

                                                            Dashiell loves Daddy

Dashiell, that is an interesting name!

I know it is interesting and we have been asked about it so I thought I would write a little about the name.  First of all, it is pronounced Dash-ull.  You may think you have never heard it before, but I bet you have seen Disney's "The Incredibles"!  The little boy is Dashiell Robert Parr, as his mother uses his full name once in the movie.  However, that is not where we got the name.  If you know much about me and my love of old movies, you have heard me talk about "The Thin Man".  These movies come from a book by the author Dashiell Hammett.  He also wrote "The Maltese Falcon".  If you are not familiar with these movies, check them out!

So, Dashiell is a name I reallly liked, but then I had to introduce it to Andrew.  He liked it but wasn't totally convinced until he found a page discussing the meaning of the name.  You can read it here, but I will give your our interpretation.  Dashiell is a french name without a known meaning but if you take the da or de Chiell, meaning from Chiell, but Chiell is not a place.  However, Ciel is a french word, and it means Heaven.  We really liked that and chose to let it have that meaning for us.  Our little boy is from Heaven and his name reflects that to us.

Little man under the big lights

 Dashiell is doing very well, he is weaned as low as they allow on breathing support, he is beginning to digest breast milk, and he is being taken off antibiotics. However with all these great things happening the little man could not keep from going under the big lights.  The lights are just to help him clear up his jaundice.

Getting a tan! 

Dashiell Arrives in Colorado

Dashiell Andrew Purcell joined our family on January 12, 2014.  He was two months early, which is so much farther than his sister!   Mommy was not feeling well the night of January 11 so she decided it was important to go to the hospital and be checked. When she arrived at the hospital they checked her to see if she was dialating, she was at a 1. They ran a few tests to see if she was truly in labor.  Two hours after arriving at the hospital they checked her again and she had progressed to a 4, they also checked little Dashiell and found out he was breach.  The doctor was very concerned that he get mommy and baby to a larger hospital with a NICU so he called to life flight her.   It was a stormy night and snowing in Salt Lake City, the university of Utah hospital where big sister went could not safely come and get mommy because of weather conditions.   Not wanting to delivery in Roosevelt the doctor contacted Saint Mary's hospital in Grand Junction Colorado and requested a life flight. Saint Mary's sent a life flight jet to come and get mommy before she delivered Dashiell.  The team also brought a NICU team just in chance Dashiell decided to come to quickly.  Daddy was also allowed to ride on the jet and be with mommy.  We arrived at Saint Mary's around 4 a.m., they checked to see if Dashiell was still breach and he was so they prepared to deliver him c-section.  Dashiell arrived at 6:43 a.m. and was cared for by a trained NICU  doctor and team which is a big deal.  Dashiell weighed 4 lb and 3 ounces he was intabated and put on breathing machine.