Life after the NICU

Sam is home! Praise the Lord! We brought our baby boy home Monday afternoon. We were so excited to finally be leaving the NICU after 18 days, but it was also slightly terrifying. I was finally feeling how all new parents must feel when they bring their baby home.

1. Did we really make this thing? The fact that Sam was in my belly less than 3 weeks ago and is now here and thriving (and so stinkin adorable) absolutely blows my mind.

2. Is he eating enough? I feel like I could group this question into an "is he eating/pooping/sleeping/peeing enough, but once you have a baby in the NICU, the scheduling for eating becomes something else entirely. Everything in the NICU is strictly scheduled and enforced. He would have to eat a minimum of 35cc within 20 minutes, or else they'd have to look at putting the feeding tube back in. After his crazy intense day of transitions last week (open bed, all mouth feeds, circumcision) he had 2 bad feeds. He ate 18cc and then 26cc and they had to put his feeding tube back in as a precaution. I understand it, but it doesn't make it any easier to transition from the NICU to home. It's hard for me to nurse him when he has trouble latching and gets tired and I can tell he isn't getting close to his 45cc that he eats by mouth. It's hard for me not to be a milk nazi, but we are working on it.

3. Is he still breathing? Chase and I must check him every half hour or so just to make sure he's still breathing. Again, when he was in the NICU, there was a machine right above his bed to tell us his pulse and how well he was breathing. It's wonderful to not have the alarms going off, but it can also be scary.

4. How should I dress him so he doesn't freeze? We like our apartment COLD at night. I mean put on a sweater and slippers if you get out bed because it is cold, cold. However, now that we have Sam, we are trying to keep the air at a cool temperature instead of so cold. But we still are nervous about his temperature, because once again, in the NICU we checked his temperature with every diaper change. He had to stay between 97.5 and 99.5. Our pediatrician told us only to check him if he feels too warm, so we're trying to do just that.

5. Will I ever be able to sleep more than 4 hours again? No, probably not. But that's ok. Chase and I are taking turns and trading shifts so that we can both try to get 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep in our wonderful, relaxing, oasis of a bedroom (cue the lavender essential oil, darkening curtains, and fans...it's seriously amazing and I want to go get in bed right NOW).

6. Has there ever been a cuter kid?! I mean, seriously. I can't get enough of him. His little smiles, his tiny little body, I love this kid so much already.

There are loads more questions I'm sure, but because I'm a parent of a newborn, I can't remember them haha Please continue to send prayers our way. We appreciate them and need them so much.

- Courtney

Updates on Little Sam

First of all, thank you for all of your support and love. Through all of your visits, texts, phone calls, dinners, etc. we have felt so loved!! We can't wait to bring Sam home because we know you all will want to love on him even more.

So, updates:

Last time I updated you, Sam was under phototherapy (those blue lights to help his jaundice go away). They took him off of the phototherapy, but he had to go back under for a few days last weekend because his billirubin levels went back up. This is pretty typical, but now they are very low so hopefully he is done for good! So, now Sam is working on 3 things before he can go home: Temperature, Feeding, No Deceleration. 

Temperature: They were slowly weaning Sam's temperature so that he could come out of the isolette. So the nurses would take his temperature every 3 hours. If his temp was 98 or higher, they would lower the temp in the isolette by .5 degrees C. If his temp was 99 or higher, they would lower the temp by 1 degree. So he started with the temp in the isolette at 31. It took it a while to be lowered to 27 (which is the goal), and once he got to 27, he had to stay in the isolette in maintenance mode for 24 hours. He was able to do that! So, he was moved to an open bed where he would be fully maintaining his own body temp with no warming action. 

Feeding: Sam was doing every other feeding by mouth (either breast or bottle) and he was doing SUCH a good job! They decided to increase his feeds to all by mouth (which is a pretty big deal). He was having to work harder to get his food since he had to use all those muscles every three hours. A nurse in the NICU told me that a baby feeding was equivalent to him running a mile. It's tough work..no wonder he would fall asleep afterwards!

No Deceleration: Sam has to maintain his temp and feedings with no deceleration in his heart rate or breathing.

He was doing all of the above and doing a fabulous job until yesterday. Yesterday was a BIG day. Sam was able to transition to the open bed, all mouth feedings, and my sweet little boy was circumcised. Talk about a rough day for such a little man! Needless to say, Sam was tired from having to work so hard to keep his temp up, eating, and from the exhaustion of the surgery. So, he didn't eat very well at his 3 pm feeding. He only ate about 18 out of the required 35 cc, and at 6 pm he only ate 28/35cc. So, his feeding tube had to be put back in as a precaution. His nurse did tell me that at 9pm he ate 40/35cc and that she hasn't had to use the feeding tube at all! He has done really well all day today too :)

He also had to go back in the isolette because his temp got down to 97.2. He has to stay between 97.5 and 99.5. So, we started the process of weaning and maintaining all over again. He was able to be weaned to 27 degrees at noon today. So, he will have to maintain his temp until noon tomorrow. Then, he can be put in an open bed and will need to maintain his temp for 48 hours.

He also has to pass a car seat challenge. Sam will sit in his car seat for 1.5 hours to make sure that he maintains his temp and has no decelerations.

Once he passes all of these tests we will be able to bring him home...It seems so close, yet so far away! I'm glad he is getting great care and we aren't in a hurry for him to come home because if something were to happen, and he had to go back to the hospital, he couldn't go back to the nicu, he would go to pediatrics...and we don't want that. So, he can take his time because that means that when he comes home, he is home to stay. 

Please continue praying for our little man, all of the nurses and doctors taking such great care of him, and for our patience as we anxiously await his homecoming.