Surgery Day

Colt's surgery went well today. He was out at 8:30 am, and they were able to pull the breathing tube out by 11am. We were excited about that! He was still pretty sleepy but awake enough to breathe on his own when they pulled the tube out. Initially they put him on the nasal cannula, but then took it off so he is back to breathing all by himself. It looks like he has so many tubes in this photo, but some are just post surgery measures (blood pressure, IV Fluids, Heart Rate, Oxygenation, feeding tube and Respirations). He always has the last four on, because they monitor his vitals. The surgery itself went well. They corrected both eyes, but did more work on the right eye. They will know how well he took to the laser at his next check-up in a week. They will know if it progresses at his two week check-up, which would mean another surgery if it does- but they say that isn't very common. Because of the surgery and the ROP, he will need glasses for sure. He may even need them as soon as 3 months from now. He will get checked every week for 10 weeks, and then move on to every few months. Our surgeon said he could most likely have 20/20 vision with glasses.

Eye Surgery

Colt is having eye surgery tomorrow morning (Monday). It will be an early surgery (7:30 am). They are doing laser surgery on both eyes. It should only take about an hour.

Colt had a good day today. They discontinued his caffeine, as he has had one full week without any episodes. He took the bottle a few times, and took two whole feeds by bottle.

Sleepyhead

Colt had a really sleepy day today. Here are the pictures of him without any breathing tubes!! The only tube left is the feeding tube in the nose, and that will stay there until he takes all of his feeds by mouth. He is currently on the every other feed by bottle plan, which means he gets 4 bottle feeds a day. They will switch this to allowing to bottle feed at every feed, if he is awake enough- pretty soon. Tomorrow is the eye exam, so we'll know more tomorrow.

Nothin' New

The original wedding ring photo above on Colt's foot........Kreg wanted to take a new photo of his ring on Colt's foot to compare with the earlier one :)

Colt had a good day today. Nothing to report really. He did well all day again off of all respiratory support, and didn't have any episodes. He fed off of the bottle a few times too!

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who came out to donate blood this last week. The Blood Bank exceeded their goal on how many pints they wanted to take in! So thank you so much for taking the time to do that!!

Room Air

Colt was taken off of the nasal cannula today (after we left so I don't have photos of it yet). He was on room air in his nose prongs, with no extra oxygen support for awhile today and was doing really good so they took it off! He also took a whole feed by bottle today, and was fed a few other times by bottle but only took about 75% those times. It sounds like Colt will most likely need that eye surgery. We spoke with one of our nurse practitioners who said it sounds like since it progressed from Sunday to Wednesday they would expect that he will need it. But they will not know for sure until the eye doctor comes back on Sunday or Monday.

Eye Exam Info

He's starting to not look as tiny!

Colt had his follow up eye exam today. We talked to the eye doc and she explained in more detail what is happening. Colt does have ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity). As I said before, it is graded....I was incorrect in that it goes from one to five rather than four which I said in my last post. So he is at stage 2 right now. Stages 1 and 2 do not get treated unless they are progressing. Basically what happens is the blood vessels in the eye that form in a preemie sometimes do not form correctly because of unstable oxygen levels. They can attach to the retina and pull it away from the eye, which can cause blindness. The plan as of today is to watch him on a bi-weekly basis. His next exam is Sunday or Monday. They will check to see if it is stable, progressing or regressing. This condition can correct itself so we're hoping it does so he doesn't have to endure another surgery. If he does have more on his next exam, they will operate within 48 hours. They go in with a laser and burn off any of the blood vessels that have connected inappropriately, which will hopefully correct the problem. He'll most likely still need glasses even if he is treated as the laser does do some damage to the sight as well. It's weird because the laser will cause some sight loss itself to the peripheral sight, but without the surgery it can cause blindness. So I guess we're in for glasses for sure. In rare cases, the surgery has to be done twice if the condition continues after surgery. She said most cases are corrected with one surgery. Colt took the bottle 6 times in the last 24 hours, and mostly finished the whole feed at the bottle. He's doing really well with it, and seems to be sleeping much better in between feedings.

Merry Christmas

Colt was too busy blowing bubbles to smile for his Christmas picture!

Colt took one whole feed by bottle today!

Kreg decided to video Colt having a little fit :)

Colt's first Christmas was a good one (minus the fact that he isn't home)! But the next best thing was that Tabitha was there to take care of him today. He took a whole feed by bottle (an ounce) and we gave him a bath while we were there, which he wasn't that happy about. He's been getting pretty spoiled, as the nurses have figured out how much he likes to be held...so he gets held a lot more now! We'll know more tomorrow about the eye exam and possible surgery. We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Merry Christmas Eve

Sorry no photos! I left the photo download cord at home again. I will post pix and a video tomorrow, we took a video of him taking the bottle today and some really cute photos. Colt had a good day. He had two bottle feedings today, and one last night. We got some potentially "bummer" news....Colt has been monitored for ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) which is a condition that affects sight. He has a weekly eye exam, and the one he had on Sunday was questionable. They don't know if he has it, and if he does it would be the very early stages of it. It gets graded by four levels, one being the least and four the highest. He wasn't graded, they just said it might look like the onset of it. So they are doing another exam on Wednesday. If it is confirmed that he has it, then he will need another surgery. They will do laser eye surgery, but he will have to be put under again and intubated. They have a high success rate of correcting this, so if he does have it at least they caught it early. This condition is caused by too much oxygen, and since preemies are sometimes on oxygen support for long lengths of time- this ROP shows up. They will most likely do the surgery this week if he does have it.

Back on Track

So Colt is just about back on track to where he was pre-surgery. He is at full feeds, but they haven't added the calories to it yet as they want him to get accustomed to the food first. They took out the IV. He was more like himself today, sleepy with his little awake periods. The nurse gave him a bottle today, and he took it (1/2 ounce like last time).

Tube Out

Colt finally woke up enough to get the tube out. So they extubated him around noon and put him straight back to the nasal cannula. He had a good day with the tube out, he was pretty awake while we were there. They also started his feeds again. They are starting small and will work their way back to the full amount. He did good on the feeds so far today, so they will increase the amount every three hours so he should be back to full feeds in a day or two.

Lazy Boy

This photo was from the day before surgery....I didn't take any today because it was pretty dark in the NICU. Colt is doing good post-surgery except for the fact that he is being lazy with his breathing. He is still on the ventilator because he isn't breathing consistently enough on his own yet...he sort of only does it when he feels like it. He is still really sleepy and recuperating from the anesthesia. They're doing another blood gas at 10pm tonight to try and wean down further on the vent settings, as like before he needs to get down to a rate of 10 before they'll pull the tube. I think he was at 18 when we left with low pressures. He needs to get the CO2 out, and since he isn't breathing enough on his own he needs the rate for right now. The hope is for the tube to get pulled tomorrow so we can get back to feeding him (he is still on IV fluids) so we can keep up the weight gain. His incision looks good, and he's getting Tylenol now for the pain. He was looking a little restless when we were there, I think he is becoming aware of the tube and isn't too happy about it. Hopefully he gets mad enough to remember to breathe so he can get it out faster!

Surgery Day

Colt's surgery went well. It took a little less than an hour and a half. They repaired both sides, and we also had him circumsized while he was out. The incision, to be frank, is a lot bigger than I had imagined. It really looks like a C-section incision, so at least we have matching scars now. I just hope he isn't in that much pain. He was still pretty sleepy when we left. They said 24 hours for it to wear off. He was still intubated and probably will be for a day or maybe more depending on him. He needs to get fully alert so he can remember to breathe. The pain medicine they gave him (morphine) made him even more sleepy so it may prolong the intubation a bit because he is so out of it. They will just monitor his vitals, and do blood gas tests to see how he is oxygenating after surgery. His levels weren't that great after sugery so they went up on his ventilator settings to control the CO2 levels. They said they'll just let him rest and recover before they push him to get off the vent. He was starting to show signs of pain, and opened his eyes a little and was moving around before we left. He'll just need lots of rest and meds over the next few days. Thank you for your prayers....I know it helped :)

Bottle Time

Colt sleeping the day away...the tube on his arm is his IV for surgery tomorrow.

Colt's first visit with Santa!

Colt taking his first bottle!

Colt had another great day. He met with Occupational Therapy to try bottle feeding again, and this time he took it! They only wanted to try 1/2 of what he normally gets at a feed, so he took 1/2 ounce. He did really good for his first time, and will be seen again on Monday to keep him going on it. Tomorrow is surgery day, so we'll be glad to have that over with! I guess he might have to stay intubated longer than I originally thought. They said that sometimes it takes a few days for them to be alert enough, and off the meds enough to remember to breathe. So we will have to see how he does.

Surgery Details

We met with Dr. Hilfiker today, who will be performing Colt's surgery on Thursday. His surgery will be at 3pm (unless they get a cancellation and may bump him up). He'll have to go under anesthesia, and a paralytic and be intubated before the surgery. They'll make two incisions on his lower belly to correct both sides; they fix them both just to be safe even though he only has one showing on the left. They'll keep him intubated until he wakes up enough, and the doctors feel it is safe which they said could be up to 12 hours. They'll then put him on CPAP for a bit to transition back to the cannula. He'll get an IV and they'll stop the feeds 6 hours prior to surgery, and then continue back on them shortly after. He'll get some local anesthesia at the incision site to help with pain and some Tylenol. They said he should be back to himself within about 24 hours, and may have some swelling where the hernia tissue is removed.

Surgery Week

They put Colt back on nasal cannula today. They also increased the calories that they are supplementing him with so that he can keep gaining weight. He weighs 3 lbs. and 15 oz.....almost to 4 lbs! Speaking of that, they decided to move up his surgery now that his weight is up. They will do the surgery on Thursday, Dec. 20th. That is starting to scare me a little, we meet with the surgeon on Wednesday to talk about it. I guess it will take about an hour and a half, and the pain afterwards should be manageable by Tylenol. They say it is a pretty common surgery. They will have to intubate him for the surgery- but Toby says they will extubate as soon as it's over and he is awake. They also gave him more blood today as his hematicrit was a tad low. They are running cultures to check for infection again too.

Last Day on CPAP (Hopefully)

Supposedly we're off CPAP tomorrow...thankfully! I think they will not do the sprinting and just go straight to the nasal cannula. Colt had yet another very sleepy day today. He is still doing well with his temperature, so still in the big boy crib. He also gained more weight and is now up to 3 lbs. 13 oz. Almost to 4 lbs!!

Sleepy Day

Colt is still doing good with his temperature, so he is still in the crib. They are still keeping him on CPAP for at least one more day. He pretty much just slept all day and nothing too eventful happened. The only change they made is to increase his iron dose.

Snorkel Mask

How uncomfortable does this mask look?

This is a new one they're trying since he keeps pulling out the ones that go in his nose. Not much to report today. He gained some more weight and is still in his big boy crib!

Big Boy Crib

Colt was put in a big boy crib today. They're trying it out to see how he holds his temperature. He is still on the CPAP and will be for probably two more days, and then back to sprinting. He had a head ultrasound yesterday that I heard about today. The bleed he had has absorbed, so that is good. He is still not so happy about the CPAP so we had to hide his hands in his little outfit so that he can't yank it off anymore. He's figured out how to take it off when he wants to.

Fussy Little Man

Colt was pretty pissed off about being back on the CPAP. He hates it! He tries to rip it out of his nose constantly. He has to wear it for a few days before they start back to sprinting so he can gain some strength. They checked him out again to see if he was getting sick, which he is not...the blood tests came back good. Toby reassured me that this back and forth is completely normal for these little preemies, they are asking so much of them when really he would still be in my tummy. He is weighing in at 3 1/2 lbs. now!

Tired Boy

Colt was pooping out pretty bad today....he had a few episodes and was looking worn out. So they decided to put him back on CPAP for awhile to give him a break. They will do what is called "sprinting" like they did before.....a portion of the day on CPAP and a portion on nasal cannula. His blood gases were much better when he was put back on CPAP, so it helped him out. The surgeon decided to go ahead and schedule his surgery for December 28th (the hernia surgery) so that is a little scary! But on the other hand a good thing, because they obviously think he is getting strong enough to handle it!

More Acid Reflux

Colt had more acid reflux today. He was taken off of the medicine to control it a few days ago, but now it's back. They think this is causing some labored breathing today. He was evaluated by occupational therapy today for feedings by bottle and he wasn't quite ready for it. He wasn't ready to take the bottle and wasn't quite sure what to do with it. They will evaluate him daily for it, and she has said that it's kind of like a light bulb that will go off for him one day- and he'll just figure it out. Let's hope that is soon! He also had another eye exam, with nothing bad to report.

Bath Time

Colt got his first tub bath today. He did really well in the bath, I think he liked it! He had a pretty good day. They will give him blood this evening as his hematicrit was low.

Baby Kangaroo

I got to Kangaroo my little one today, it was kinda funny....I put him in my shirt and held him for awhile. My own little baby kangaroo. Colt had a good day, he did well on his nasal cannula all day. I think he only had one little episode that he resolved on his own. He has more labs due tomorrow and they may discontinue some meds after they check labs. They are not going to give him blood right now as he doesn't need it! I will post photos tomorrow!

Colt's Way

Colt decided to throw a big huge fit last night when they went to put on his CPAP for his six hours on it. He is supposed to have 6 hours on it from midnight to six am, but as soon as they put it on him he went nuts. He got really upset and his heart rate shot up. He would not settle down on the CPAP and threw this fit for about an hour. So the doctor said fine, give him his way- they put him back on the nasal cannula and then he was happy. He did well on it all day. No major changes today. They changed a few of his meds around, and will do more labs tomorrow to check his hematicrit levels to see whether or not they will give him some more blood.

Smiley

This picture was big sister Kelsey's idea awhile back. She found this mini flip flop in my mom's car.....it was a little decoration and she said she wanted to see if it would fit Colt. So Tabitha said we should try it out. So just for fun, this one is for Kelsey.

Colt has started doing the little smiles that babies do as a reflex while sleeping. It is pretty darn cute. I will have to attempt to capture it on film one day soon. He has started doing it a lot more recently so maybe I can get a photo. He had a good day, one little episode that I heard of. He slept the whole time I was there again, he gets pretty cozy while he is being held and drifts off to sleep. He will have labs tomorrow morning to check everything out. Other than that, it was a quiet day.

Less CPAP

Colt had another good day...his days have been better than his nights (not sure why). They are going to reduce his time on the CPAP to 6 hours, so he'll be on the nasal cannula for 16 hours a day. He still has had some little episodes, but they say that's just part of being a preemie. He may get blood again in the next few days, as the unit they started may be coming up on expiration and they may give him some rather than waste it. He is producing his own red blood cells, so the iron is helping. And he is still tolerating full feeds well. He's up to 3 lbs. 3oz today.

Bath Time

This is Shannon holding Colt before bath time.

This was Colt during bath time! He did pretty good but got a little fussy towards the end! We gave him a sponge bath on a towel in his incubator so he would stay warm and toasty.

This is Colt after bath time, much happier!

Colt had a good day today. Not much happened other than his bath time. I got to give him a sponge bath and then lather him up with baby lotion. He was pretty happy when all that was over! They're going to start weaning him off of the phenobarbitol (I have no idea how to spell that), the drug they put him on as a precaution since the seizure activity. They're going to get rid of it since he hasn't had any since and his EEG report came back good. He did good on the nasal cannula for the 12 hours, so he got to wear it again during the day today.

Snuggled

Here is Colt asll snuggled at the top and all stretched out at the bottom. He had a good day today, and I guess his night was a little up and down. His heart rate was high today and he had dropped his heart rate a few times. His bloodwork looked okay so they decided not to give him blood. He will get an eye exam later today. I'll post if I hear what the results were today. He also had a chest x-ray that looked decent, but not great. They gave him a respiratory treatment to help him out a little. They're going to keep an eye on the high heart rate/heart rate dropping and see what he does. If he keeps it up he may go back on antibiotics and have cultures drawn again. He was super sleepy while I held him, and then decided to wake up right as I was leaving (just in time to give Shannon a hard time while she was doing his cares!).

UPDATE: Eye exam looked fine. And they will be alternating 12 hours on CPAP and 12 hours on nasal cannula.

3 Pounds!!!

We hit three pounds today! And he took his big boy pacifier (notice how small he is in relation to the normal sized pacifier), and we put the preemie one in the baby box. Two little milestones we're very happy about. Tomorrow he gets a chest x-ray and labs to assess where he is at. The surgeon came by and took a look at him for the hernia surgery and said he is still too small to have surgery...but the hernia is still easy to move so it isn't a rush anyway. The bottom pictures are a quick shot without the "snorkel" looking mask, just giving him a quick break from it before we moved him back in the isolette. They said they might try him back on the nasal cannula soon. Hopefully he'll stay on it this time.