Gavin's Home!

We finally have our little guy home with us!  His surgery was a success and after two full days of recouping in the hospital, on Thursday, October 28th, Gavin got to see his nursery for the first time.  It is such a fantastic feeling to have him with us 24 hours a day!  To get him home, we had to promise to feed him tons.  Gavin lost a little weight post surgery and Dr. Sweeney was concerned about sending him home before regaining the weight.  He told us with any other parents, Gavin would be staying in the NICU for a few more days, but he knew that Gavin was going home to very attentive, loving parents that would focus all their energy on getting him to eat well and grow.  I was somewhat nervous about bringing him home, so it was nice that he had that much faith in us.

His homecoming was pretty smooth until early Saturday morning.  I was changing his diaper and noticed a new bulge above his groin on the left side.  So we found ourselves back at the hospital less than 48 hours of getting Gavin home.  Turns out he has developed an inguinal hernia on the left side, the same issue that required surgery on the right side.  The doctors have decided to postpone surgery for the time being, so Gavin can get bigger before going under the knife again.  We will keep you posted on when Gavin has surgery and his adventures in his new home.

Home Stretch

Gavin has been in the NICU eight weeks today.  He has made such good progress since he was first admitted.  He has graduated from his isolette bed to an open crib that does not control his body temperature.  They no longer monitor his oxygen levels and they removed his feeding tube today.  He is getting to be such a big boy!  He is now bottle or breastfeeding all of his meals and was moved to an "ad lib" eating schedule.  This means he can eat whenever he acts hungry.

We thought Gavin would be home this weekend, but we hit a minor bump in his progress.  The doctor's discovered that he has an inguinal hernia and he needs to have surgery.  His surgery is scheduled for tomorrow.  Inguinal hernias are very common in preemie boys, one in six boys will have one.  A person with an inguinal hernia has a piece of intestine that protrudes through an abnormal opening in the abdominal wall in the groin.  Gavin is not in a lot of pain, but has been more gassy due to the hernia and is having a difficult time passing stool.  We are told it is a very easy surgery and should last just about an hour.  If all goes well with his recovery, we should be able to bring Gavin home this Wednesday.  Erik and I are counting down the hours.  We are so excited to bring the little guy home!

Progress!

Sorry that it has been awhile since I've updated the blog.  Running back and forth from the hospital keeps me on my toes.  The great news is Gavin has made tremendous progress since I've last blogged.  He has been growing like crazy.  He looks like a completely different baby compared to the pictures we took when he was first admitted.  Gavin now weighs 4 lbs 11 oz.  He typically gains an ounce to two ounces a day.  We hope to celebrate his 5 pound mark by the end of the week.  He is learning to breastfeed and hopefully will graduate from the feeding tube in the next few days.  Babies his age don't always have the coordination needed to suck, swallow and breathe.  All skills necessary to breastfeed successfully!  He is a quick learner and making progress everyday.  We will soon start to master bottle feeding as well, so Daddy can help with the feedings at home.

Gavin was weened from the nasal cannula three days ago.  He is now breathing great on his own.  It is so great to see his face without all of the equipment attached.  He has been in the NICU 6 weeks today, so he's an old veteran around there.  We have seen many babies come and go through our stay.  We are anxiously awaiting our time to go home, which will hopefully be in in the next two weeks.  Cross your fingers that it's sooner!

Growing.......

We feel incredibly fortunate that Gavin is a healthy little boy who just needs to grow.  Most of the tests that the physicians need to run on him have been completed, all with great results.  After eight days straight with the CPAP, Gavin got a little taste of freedom.  The physicians decided it was time to give him a trial run of  breathing without any type of assistance.    The CPAP machine doesn't breathe for him, but helps inflate his lungs.  He doesn't have the strength to fully inflate his lungs on his own, due to his prematurity.  He made it 48 hours before his breathing got a little shallow.  The attending physician then decided to put him back on CPAP for a few days to give his lungs more time to mature.  This made Gavin mad, and he made sure his nurses and physicians knew it.  He cried angrily and continued to rip out his nose piece whenever they would reattach it.  Gavin eventually won the fight and the CPAP was replaced with a nasal cannula.  The nasal cannula is still a two pronged device inserted in his nose that helps his lungs inflate, but it is a lot less cumbersome than the CPAP.  Gavin seems much happier with the change.  It is also a step down with the amount of assistance it provides him. We hope that he can come off this in the next few days and breathe completely on his own. 

We are also waiting anxiously for him to grow.  He has his good growth days and his not so good growth days, sometimes gaining close to two ounces in one night and other nights growing only about 1/3 of an ounce.  The physicians' goal is to have him gain about an ounce a day, putting on about 2 pounds a month.  He is currently weighing in at 2 pounds, 14 ounces.  We think he will be in the NICU another 4 to 5 weeks before he is strong enough to come home.  

*The first picture above is a picture of Gavin with the nasal cannula.  The second picture is a picture with the CPAP.

Gavin in the NICU

Gavin has been fiesty since birth.  During his first four days, he managed to rip out two IV's. The nurses have been amazed by his strength and have dubbed him fondly, "The Little Wild Man".  After going through two IV's, the doctor then decided it was time to insert a PICC line into his arm, something he could not rip out on his own.  He was on a CPAP machine for the first 8 days of his life, which would help him breathe in the times that he would forget to on his own.  He has now been off the CPAP and breathing completely on his own for the last 48 hours.  He also had to be under a phototherapy light for about 4 days to help with jaundice.  Gavin hated the light. All of his skin needed to be exposed and Gavin would prefer to be swaddled in a blanket, so it's nice to be done with the light.
Thankfully all the tests that have been run on Gavin thus far show that he is a healthy little boy.  His only issue is that he needs to put on some weight.  Please continue to pray that all of his future tests come back with positive outcomes.

How Gavin came into this world

I had a fairly easy pregnancy for the first two trimesters.  Just the typical bouts of nausea and fatigue.  Right around my 28th week I started to swell and had a persistant headache for two days.  I went in to see my physician for a normal check up and discovered I had pregnancy induced hypertension.  I was not diagnosed with preeclampsia at that point because I didn't have protein in my urine.  My regular physician referred me to a Perinatologist and the very next day he discovered that I had quite a bit of protein in my urine.  Because my symptoms were progressing fairly rapidly and due to the point I was at in my pregnancy, I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia and was admitted into the hospital.  Then it became a waiting game.  My goal was to stay pregnant as long as possible, but the physicians would list off a long list of symptoms that would require me to deliver right away.  I was able to make it 10 days in the hospital, where they stablized my blood pressure somewhat and tested my blood everyday, sometimes multiple times a day, for signs of kidney or liver failure.  On Sunday, August 29th, my liver enzymes had doubled the normal range and I was told I had to have a C-section that night.  I was 29 and 1/2 weeks into my pregnancy at that point.  I had no complications with the surgery and Gavin came into this world breathing on his own.  He weighed 2 lbs 7 oz and was 15" long.