Day 14; 2 Weeks Today!

Sorry for the last two days having nothing but blank space for updates, it has just been a very busy few days. As for today's update, little man has officially hit and gone above his birth weight. He weighed in at a whopping 955 grams, or 2 lbs. and 2 ozs. That puts him 1 oz heavier than when he was born 2 weeks ago. The results from his most recent echogram came back this evening and the PDA in his heart has significantly shrunk, becoming almost non-existant altogether. The PDA is so small that the little guy no longer needs the medicine to help with it. The doctors expect him to return to his normal feeds tomorrow morning sometime, starting back up with 4 mL/hr, every 3 hours. He moves to a new bed tonight sometime in the middle of the night, where he no longer needs the humidity. The new isolette will allow him to wear the NICU clothing that Auntie Victoria and Uncle Jason bought him as a gift! Pictures will follow immediately after he gets to show off his new fashion statement. Thank you again for checking the blog! We will be updating again ASAP!

<3 B C L

Day 11; Mommy Holds little man!!

Where to begin...to start the day off, little guy was back to his normal routine after a very stressful night of trying to come off the ventilator. Back down to 21% O2 and still using the ventilator, everything was farely normal again. They decided to up his feeds to 3 mL/hr, yet again. This evening, however, we discovered he had gained a whopping 65 grams back! That brings his total weight back up to 905 grams total, or exactly 2 lbs! The nurse on duty also informed mom that she was able to now hold him for a period of 1 hour per day as long as he remained stable throughout the duration of the day. So needless to say, mom has not stopped grinning from ear to ear since she got to hold her precious son in her arms for the first time tonight :). It was nothing short of an amazing sight to see her with the little guy all bundled up in her arms. So all-in-all, a very very productive and different outcome of the day than yesterday, so now mom and dad can go to sleep with nothing but a giant smile on their faces :). Liam you truly are an Amazing gift, this year you have brought us more happiness than we have ever imagined!

<3 B C L!

Day 10 (and 9 oops!); Tough day for Little Man

First off, Merry Christmas! Yesterday little man began antibiotics for his tracheal infection (throat). The doc said it would be a few days before the medicine actually flushes the gunk out of his system. Other than that, it was an average day in the life of baby Liam. Today, however, was a totally different story. Early in the morning, they upped his feeds again to 2 mL/hour, or 6 mL for every 3 hour feeding period. Around 4 PM, the RPN on duty made the call to extubate little man, or remove the ventilator, and place him on CPAP. CPAP is basically a little mask that flows O2 into his nasal cavity, providing him with saturated O2. While it was a bumpy afternoon, with Liam fluxuating from good to bad back to good, they made the call to reventilate him around 10:30 PM. While we were hoping for him to stay off for good, we are certain the doctors made the necessary adjustments to benefit the little guy in the long run. They assured us that for a preemie as young as him, its perfectly normal for them to struggle coming off the ventilator, due to their reliance on the machine to do the work for them. He is doing very well again, very stable and stubborn, but resting. Like always. Keep him in your prayers and thoughts, again we appreciate it! God bless, Merry Christmas, and we love you all!

<3 B C L

Day 8; Poop for dad!

Only a few things happened while visiting Liam today, but they were definitely worth talking about! First, when we visited him around lunch time, the nurse was preparing to do hands on care, so dad got to change his diaper for the second time! He had a "surprise" waiting for dad to clean up, but that wasn't all....as soon as he was wiped clean and sitting in his new daipee, the little man decided it was too clean, and needed to be pooped in. That's right, he pooped on dads hand, in his new diaper, requiring him to be recleaned and re-undied up! After that, we learned the little man gained a few more grams back, weighing in at 840 grams total this evening. He also a slight bacterial infection in his lungs, but nothing to be too alarmed about. Antibiotics for a few days is what the doc prescribes to remedy the situation. He should be fine in a jiff. Thank you all for the concerns, keep praying, we really do appreciate it!

<3 B C L

Happy 1 Week Birthday Liam!!

Since we missed yesterdays blog due to being so tired; when we visited little man the doctors informed us that he was developing some redness on his bottom, sort of like a rash, but not really. The doctors ordered some lotramin to help with it so that it would lubricate his irritated skin. Other than that, the doctors told us about his scheduled cardiogram he had conducted today. That takes us to today: the cardiogram showed no significant changes, so were still keeping our fingers crossed for the days to come. The doc specifically stated he was hopeful for Liam to come off the ventilator, but did not give us a timeline as to when he would like to try that. Liam was definitely more active today during BOTH visits, keeping one or both eyes open, flailing both arms and legs freely and even yawning every so often. The activity has to be a good sign as to the progress and steps in the right direction for the little guy. And not to forget, the little man turned 1 week old as of 7:02 PM this evening. :D He's getting so old already ;-). Again, sorry for not updating last night, we were exhausted, but we hope this update suffices for the mishap. Thank you all again for following, and we look forward to updating again tomorrow night! Thank you all!

<3 B C L

Day 5; No more tanning!

Little Liam was taken off of phototherapy for the first time this morning! He no longer requires the phototherapy to flush out the bilrubin (sp?) in his system. His skin tone looks 10x better than the beginning and he seemed to enjoy resting without the blindfolds on! He was on a constant flow of 21% oxygen via Ventilator throughout the entire day, so that is great news. Daddy got to change his diaper and oh-man was it an experience! Daddy's got A LOT to learn about the little man. He seems to be opening his eyes more and more each day, almost getting a full blink or two every so often. Very active, especially while enjoying his feed from Mommy. Speaking of feeding, he gained 40 grams back that he had previously lost! All-in-all  little guy is continuing to progress, slowly but surely.

<3 B C L

Day 4; Stronger each and every day

Today our little munchkin was given an opportunity to breath using a Nasal Cannula (the tube with 2 prongs in the nostrils) and he took to it really well for about 2 hours. After those 2 hours he decided he wasn't comfortable breathing that way anymore, so the doc's had to put him back on the ventilator. They also did another EKG on his heart to check the valve connecting to his heart, and still it remains open (which is very common for a preemie at his gestation age). They're going to do another scan in the morning to see if it perhaps closed over the past 24 hours, so keep your fingers crossed! When we showed up for our morning visit, his eyes were wide open and he welcomed mom and dad with a big ol' grin. His feeding was upped from .5 CC's every 8 hours to .5 ml/hr. He continues to breath with the ventilator on 21% oxygen. Oh, and the little guy has tons of little blonde hairs all over his furry body! :D We were able to visit him 1 last time this evening, and watched him rest for a little while. He's doing well, still stable and healthy and continuing to progress, slowly but surely. Thank you for all the prayers so far! We will keep updating this blog as often as possible! :D

<3 B, C, L

The Beginning of A wonderful Miracle!

So, this is all very new to us. I'm not much of a writer so excuse me for some of my mistakes. Brandon & I thought this may help out with keeping everyone up to date on Our newest member of the family and a way to help us be open and understanding to a new situation.