I couldn't resist..

Stocking Stuffer!! Merry Christmas

Two months old!

Today is the day I was SUPPOSED to have a scheduled c-section to have Jacob. Instead he went to the doctor for his 2 month check-up. He is making rapid progress in the growth department! 5lbs, 10oz and 19 inches long. He also got 3 shots today so he wasn't the happiest of campers today. When I got home from work I laid down on the couch with him while he slept on me, which is where we both remained until just a few minutes ago. I'm heading to bed now :)

Jacob's First Thanksgiving

With all the chaos that we've been through the last couple of months, we took a much needed "break" this Thanksgiving. Jonathan went to spend the holiday with one set of his grandparents, Ashley and Dagen were with their dad, so Zach, Jacob, and I headed to his Aunt and Uncle's deer lease for a long weekend of hunting and vegging out on the sofa. They have a REALLY NICE RV camper that they took down there, so while the boys were out hunting for deer, hogs, and whatever else they could, his aunt, Jacob, and I hung out watching movies, playing, and basically doing nothing. It was wonderful!

Jacob and his quilt

Ok so I'm a little behind on posting stuff...Jacob has received a few gifts since he came home from the hospital :) This one in particular is a quilt that was made by a group of online friends from all over the world. Some of these ladies I just met within the last year but some I've known for years. They all got together to make this adorable quilt for Jacob, complete with Air Force logos in the corners :) It is barely larger than a crib quilt and makes him look super tiny (which he is).

APHA Fall show

last Friday, Zach and I took Ashley and Dagen (and Jacob) to the American Paint Horse Assn. Fall show in Fort Worth. Zach's aunt works for APHA so we had a good reason to go. Ashley and Dagen walked the barns and greeted several horses, talked to a few riders, watched the competitions, watched the horses getting groomed to compete, and the winner's circle photographs. They had a great time. Ashley was in horse heaven!

6 weeks old!

Jacob has been home for a whole week. He's doing great. I'm exhausted :P He has a preference of sleeping ON one of us, otherwise he lays in his bed and grunts in his sleep, which, when amplified over the baby monitor into our bedroom prevents anyone from getting any sleep.

He weighed in at 4lbs 9oz at his first doctor appointment, so he is still gaining steadily, which is good. He's eating well, though only from a bottle which means I have to pump all the time.

I haven't taken new pictures yet but I'm going to work on that this week.

JACOB IS HOME!!!!!!

Jacob is finally home! We spent the night at the hospital last night. Jacob slept soundly (at least SOMEONE did...) and ate well, just as he needed to, and he got to take his first trip outdoors to head home this afternoon.

As soon as we got home, he ate and took a nice long nap on mommy, then hung out with us for a little while before dozing back off.

He has his first dr. appt this coming Friday, but otherwise will pretty much just be hanging out at home for the next few weeks.

Still making progress :)

Jacob is continuing to regain his progress he had made before his setback on Monday. He has completed 3 of his required 5 days being "apnea free" without any further incident. He has been a little up and down on his weight gains, which have been attributed mainly to alot of....diapers...the boy likes to poop.

He has gained back what he had lost, so he was just under 4lbs, 4oz this morning, a gain of about 1.5 oz over the last 24 hours.

Ever since Monday's episode he has been lazy with his feeds, not taking all of his milk, or taking excessively long to finish. We were on the verge of having to have his feeding tube reinserted to make sure he was getting all his required nourishment, but he must have heard us talking and stepped up, and has been taking his feeds like a big boy ever since.

Currently, the plan is to room in Sunday evening and discharge on Monday, the 10th at this point.

Update on coming home

We had originally thought he would be coming home today. He got a new doctor yesterday who disagreed, and had pushed it back an extra day or two. While I want him home more than anything I am thankful for that doctor's decision to keep him.

Yesterday was a tough day for Jacob. He had a shot, circumcision, was jostled about going from procedure to procedure, had tylenol, and had a long bath, while I was learning what to do to bathe him, and had more feeds by breast than normal. (All his feeds are breastmilk but some by bottle)

Last night/early this morning Jacob had an apnea spell where he stopped breathing for 20 seconds. His heart rate plummeted and he required the nurse to pick him up and stimulate him to recover. While these are quite common in preemies, we have been lucky that he has not had any episodes before now. While the doctor is fairly confident that it was the result of just too much stress on him yesterday, he now will not be discharged for several more days as a result.

The hospital's "rule" is a 5 day countdown without further episodes before they will revisit discharging him, so he will be there at least through the weekend.

Had I roomed in with him last night, we might very well have lost him, as he would not have been on the monitor that detected he had stopped breathing and set off alarms.

ATTENTION: WE HAVE A DISCHARGE DATE!!!

Jacob's doctors are so impressed with all his progress! As his doctor stated to me today: He thinks he's a big boy so let's give him the chance to prove it!" Tomorrow evening I will be "rooming in" at the hospital with him overnight. Just as if I had had him at term, he'll stay in the room with me, I'll feed him, change him, etc. (only I won't be bothered by nurses coming to poke and prod ME all night..and I won't be in pain!) and they'll keep an eye on how he does. If all goes well, he's coming home on TUESDAY!

Good thing Zach and I already voted! Hopefully we'll have more than just Jacob's homecoming to celebrate that evening!

Halloween!

Please check back later because I will update with more and better pictures...I just had to share this:

I got to the hospital this morning to feed Jacob and noticed he had a new hat in his crib, along with a costume! One of the nurses made little pumpkin costumes for all the babies in her care. I didn't have my camera with me, so I slipped the outfit over his sleeper and snapped a couple of pictures via cell-phone...

Jacob had a banner day!

Lots of progress for Jacob today.
--He hit 4lbs 1oz
--He graduated from a temperature controlled isollette into a regular basinette
--He moved from 3 or 4 feeds by mouth to 6 of 8 feeds by mouth
--He increased his feedings from 37cc to 40cc per feeding

His doctor is very impressed with the rate of progress he is making, and even (cautiously) predicted that we could possibly have Jacob home as early as the end of next week if he continues at his current rate.

He'll get to sport his first real clothing now that he's out of the isolette. Since he prefers to be "free" to wiggle when he's being held and fed, I'm allowed to put some actual clothes on him to help him stay warm when he'd otherwise be wrapped up in a nice cozy bundle.

Guess that means I should go find him something to wear....I planned on having a big baby so we didn't get much in the way of NEWBORN or PREEMIE sized clothes!

Jonathan earned his Bobcat badge

Tuesday during his pack meeting, Jonathan was awarded his Bobcat badge in cub scouts. He has worked through a huge portion of his Tiger Scout book already, and earned 2 beads as well. Zach has been handling most of his activities in light of things, but I know he was very excited to earn his first patch.

No work for me...yet.

Well, Monday morning I called my doctor, and Zach took me to my appointment later that day. He was out delivering a baby, so I saw Angela, the nurse-practitioner who had seen me the day I delivered and sent me promptly to the hospital. She's also a labor and delivery nurse so she's seen the gammut of scenarios, and she's pretty understanding, yet very straight forward when it comes to what she sees.

No infections or anything which is good, but she basically told me I was trying to do too much and my body was "revolting" so I am not released to drive, and not released to work. Pretty much all I'm doing is working on a blanket from the confines of the couch, and going to the hospital to feed Jacob. It is frustrating when your mind tells you that you are fine, get up and take care of what needs to be taken care of, but your body tells you to park it, and let it go. The body wins because I have little tolerance for pain, and even the narcotics dont make it go away, they just make me sleep through alarms. :)

Jacob will likely hit the 4lb threshold in the next day or two. He was up to 3lbs 15oz at last weigh in. He lost an ounce which they attributed to a rather high number of dirty diapers :P He was observed by a therapist today during one of his bottle feedings and he did really well, taking the entire feeding by bottle without showing signs of stress or fatigue that were out of the norm. He's got the nursing "latching on" down, but if he's tired and sleepy, he just sits there and snoozes. Comfy for him, I'm sure, but for me-not so much. He's got to get up to 8 feedings per day in full by bottle or breast before he can lose the tube and he's hovering around 3-4 so he's about halfway there.

The nurse did talk to me today about preparing to "room-in" for him. Prior to his discharge from the hospital we will do a 2 night/day rooming in just as I would have done with him had he been full term. This way they can monitor his stats with me round-the-clock feeding him, etc. for a brief period before he comes home.

I forgot the camera today so I'll try to remember it tomorrow.

Bring on the milk!

Friday was Jacob's first experience in taste. He got his first bottle feeding Friday morning. The nurse spent extra time with him, showing me how to hold him, and check his progress from time to time. They had seen him exhibiting normal signs of being ready (hands up at his mouth, able to hold in the pacifier, etc) so they figured they'd see how he did. He took about 2/3 of his normal feeding before he fell into a deep sleep. He'd had enough but he impressed the nurse and doctors enough that they wanted to continue it. He's up to 3 bottle feedings a day now, and I got to try to nurse him for the first time yesterday.

He took awhile to catch on to nursing the first time, but he did manage to latch on, even if it was only for a few minutes. Today he was too sleepy to really be bothered with feeding at all, so after about 15 minutes I let him just sleep instead.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go back to work. That still remains to be seen I suppose. I had a bit of an "episode" today and Zach isn't so sure that I need to be working just yet. I woke up with alot of pain on one side of my incision, making it rather uncomfortable to walk. When I was leaving the NICU area a nurse stopped to ask me if I was ok, and I got really faint and dizzy at about the same time. They called Zach to come carry me back down in a wheelchair and not let me walk. He got me home and put me straight to bed. I'm feeling a little better. Very weak but not in as much pain. I hate having the desire to get up and do stuff around the house but not the energy. I'm going to be trying to figure out a way to make it up to him for all the extra work he's had to take on these last few weeks.

Still chuggin' along...

Jacob is continuing to make more progress each and every day. Yesterday they removed the IV from his arm, so he is down to just the feeding tube and monitors on his breathing, heartrate, and body temp.

Today they moved his feeding tube from his mouth and it is now through his nose. Apparently this will enable him to work on his ability to suck/swallow while maintaining his breathing. He's up to 31ccs per feeding and weighed in at 3lbs 9oz today.

They had him in one of the hats my step-dad made for him tonight, which is still a little big on him, but it reminded me of that character in Fat Albert where the hat is completely covering his head :)

lots of pics....

Here's a whole crop of photos, from the beginning up through today. Enjoy!

Jacob-update and new pics

Well, this morning marked a full 24 hours of Jacob breathing without the aid of the cpap and all is well. Ashley and I went to see him around 2pm this afternoon and he was all stretched out, snoozing peacefully. He is up to just over 1/2 oz per feeding, and they plan to continually up that, and decrease his fluids he is receiving via IV as long as he continues to tolerate his increased feedings just fine. So far that has been a non-issue. He was also off the BP monitor so he has just the IV, feeding tube, and heart/lung monitors left, along with his temp monitor, which he has also been maintaining on his own for 24 hours.

He is wearing a little hat that was in his isolette yesterday when we went in. The nurses told me that they have a girl who was born there at 24 weeks who is now a healthy, active 14 yr old. She makes little hats and booties for the babies all the time, and delivered some yesterday. She makes them for the holidays so this is his "candy corn" hat. Apparently it was annoying him in his sleep because he kept pulling on it so I finally took it off.

I held him for a little over an hour and a half "kangaroo" style, which he seems to like. He was actually awake for a good part of the time I was there, looking around, just kinda taking it all in. I have a feeling it is only a matter of time before he figures out how to yank out his feeding tube. He's trying really hard to get that thing out, both by tugging on it with his hands, and pushing it out with his tongue. All the nurses describe him as very feisty :P Can't imagine where he could have gotten that from....

Update on Jacob's progress

Well, yesterday was a banner day as far as progress for Jacob. He was completely off the dopamine, completely off all medications. He was also taken off the cpap. All he was receiving was fluids with vitamins and proteins via the IV in his belly button, and his feeding tube, which he is was getting 5ccs of breastmilk every 3 hours.

This morning he was back on the cpap, but still breathing room air-not getting any extra oxygen help. His doctor stated that he was able to breathe ok, and was off any assistance for just over 24 hours, but he was working a little harder to do that than she wanted him to be, so this is just making it a little less stressful on him. They upped the amount of breastmilk he is receiving to 9ccs per feeding, and were working their way up to 12ccs tonight.

This afternoon they removed the IV from his umbilical cord and gave him a "pick line" IV into his arm, which is where he will continue for several days still to receive fluids. After a week or so, the umbilical cord is deteriorating and makes the original IV not nearly as feasible as it was when he was first born. They don't want to risk it falling out or becoming dislodged on it's own, which would cause him to bleed from his belly button. (drama I certainly don't want or need) He was also taken off the phototherapy lights, as his bilirubin levels were much better than 2 days ago.

Removing this IV will make it possible to finally be able to hold him, not just reach into his isolette and touch him with one hand. I am sooo looking forward to that tomorrow! Today he had a very firm grasp on my finger, and had no intentions of letting go when he needed to be changed by the nurses.

He does NOT like being messed with, and has made that clearly evident, as he whimpers and cries whenever they change his diaper, or move him. He prefers to either be curled up on his tummy, or stretched out completely on his side, but he doesn't like it on his back. The nurse came to change his dirty diaper today, and forgot to "cover" him first, and ended up having to change out all the blankets in his bed because he pee'd all over them :) After he was all cleaned up and settled in he stretched out both legs, crossed his feet, and tucked one arm behind his head like he was lounging poolside getting a tan. I wish I could have taken a picture of it, it was too funny, but he was still under the phototherapy lights so his whole face was basically hidden behind the cpap and the shades over his eyes.

We'll make an attempt for pictures tomorrow when hopefully we'll be able to get some where you can actually see his face.

Birth of Jacob Paul Beauford!

Well, he came nearly 10 weeks early, but he is here! He weighed 3 lbs, 13 oz, and was 16 1/4 inches long. I'll add pictures of him shortly, hopefully tomorrow when I can get pictures of him without so much "stuff" attached to him.

Introduction...

Ok I've been meaning to do this pretty much since the beginning of my pregnancy but, I just didn't get around to it. Now that we are a family of "6" I figured I should spend a little of my time waiting for Jacob to come home getting this set up and all "pretty". I'll work on the pretty part later since I really don't know what I want it to look like just yet. :)