Quick update

Little bear have been acting like a yo-yo the last couple of weeks but we are still trying to get his room ready. You never know when he will be send packing. Last Monday he started to require oxygen again. They think it is because he's mature red blood cell level is too low. They waited to give him transfusion because they wanted his body to produce the red blood cell. On Thursday he had a series of brady and had to be bag and in addition his stomach looks full again. His feed was stop and he was moved back to level III and given blood and anti-bacterias in case he's having NEC again. On Saturday they started his feed again because the blood culture and spinal fluid came back negative. He is still on oxygen when he move back to level II on Sunday. Wed. this week he was moved to Rockyview. Rockyview is closer to home and is also a level II nursery we are still adjusting to it. We have taking any pictures yet of him lately. We will remember to take the camera today and try to take couple of picture of him. He is still on oxygen and desaturates frequently. He's still being feed breast milk through a tube that goes from his nose to his stomach. They took out his picc line because it looked interstitial and because he's not yet on full feed, they are still supplementing it with TPN, protein and lipid via IV. They shaved a spot oh his head for that. He is not in a cot instead of isolette as he is heavy enough that they think he can maintain his own body temperature. He weighted in at 2010 gram last night however his lower limbs is very swollen so this weight might go down as the fluids are reabsorb and peed out. We hope soon we can have him home with us. He really needs to work on that breathing. Oh and he got couple of the routine 2 month shots yesterday. They usually give 3 different kind of shots for full term baby but because he's pre-term they are holding one for another week.

I gotta wash some dishes and head out to visit him. Will post more later if there is any changes

Major Purchases

As a lot of you know, my oven never work properly.  It came with the house and is old.  Couple years ago when I was making turkey for Christmas it was a disaster.  I been looking for a new range since but as we have a toaster oven, we were able to avoid using the big oven most of the time and the cooking part works fine.  That's why last year, when we got a new fridge, we didn't get a new range at the same time.

Last week I kept on hearing this Whirlpool rebate thing on the radio and I finally went to their website on one of my late night pumping session to see what's the deal.  As our new fridge is a Whirlpool, this would be a good time to get a matching range.  I found out on their website the range rebate was either $100 or $300 depend on the model we purchase.  As I wanted a smooth top with hidden element and convection oven and Craig was wanted self cleaning feature I looked at some models on futureshop and sears website and found that on futureship.ca the whirlpool gold model that have all the feature I wanted was about the same price as the regular whirlpool model and will give us $300 back instead of $100.  Sears' price was $400 more then futureshop so I figure this is a good time for price match since Sears' price matching policy is 110% of the price difference.

On Remembrance day, after having brunch with my mom we when to Sears. 
We couldn't find Gale, the salesperson who we like to  deal with so we talked to Jim. Jim finally price matched it after "talking to his manager" and we walk out of the store 30 min. later and $1400 poorer (there is GST and delivery plus we got suck into the 3 year warranty because they have a new thing where if you don't use the warranty you can get your money back after 3 years).  The salesperon had to call sears credit service to up my limit as I have not used my Sears card for so long that my limit was drop down to $800.  As it is also 2x sears point and with the rebate we figure this is a good deal.  I looked at the receipt after we got out of the store and realize he did not give me the 10% price difference so I figure I'll go and talk to him later.

The stove is delivered on Sat. at the same time as the phone call from the hospital  (see previous blog).  We didn't have any mood to deal with anything since and I been putting off getting the price difference of $40 taken care of.

Fast forward to Wednesday, Matt was doing much better and Craig told me we need to buy a new freezer now as our freezer can no longer hold any more breast milk.

I plan to go to the hospital visit Matt and  go to Greg's to get the stove receipt scanned for the rebate and then go to Sears to get a new freezer and clean out my office at work.

Because I stayed in the hospital longer then planned, Greg and I didn't finish scanning until 2pm and we didn't have lunch until 3pm. It was too late after lunch to go down to the south store to get the freezer so I got the freezer at the Brentwood store after checking out a cheaper brand at futureshop.  I had the salesperson price match it with leon.ca but the salesperson can not give me the difference of $40 from the stove.  The purchase put me $30 over my $2000 limit as a couple weeks ago I also got a crib mattress and a playpen from Sears
and after dealing with that I figure I'll get the $40 taken care of later.

Yesterday I saw a post on redflagdeal.com on Sears sale which includes a whirlpool gold range for $899. $200 cheaper then then price we purchased it for.  I went back to Sears and got the $200 price difference back.  Better then $40 I would say which hopefully drop the final purchase price for the stove to less then $900.  I am happy with my new major purchases.  I still have to test out the oven. I am thinking of making banana bread when I have more time.

Ups and Downs

Sorry to those who try to contact us in the last few days.  We didn't mean to drop off the face of the earth, we were just a bit worried about Little Bear so we were at the hospital more.  Around last Wed. or Thursday, Little Bear was splitting up his milk more often, Nurses worried that they are feeding him too much at one and started a continuous feed.  We were still holding him every night.  On Friday night they told us that he is showing some sign or infection so they took a bit of blood for testing and started an iv to give him some medication and also his blood test came back to have low blood cell so they will give him a blood transfusion.  Nothing to out of ordinary for these little guys and we still hold him for an hour.  At the end of the hours he was having some brada cardias same as in the couple of days passed.  We didn't think anything of it.  The nurses was starting to talk to us letting him try breast feeding in couple of weeks starting slowly so we were very happy thinking he might come home in a month's time and planning to start on his room ( you all know how bad of a procrastinator Craig and I are).

On Sat. (Nov 14) Craig started to prep for putting test color on the wall while waiting at home to the stove we got on Wed. (I'll talk about that in another post) and I was out with my mom looking for drapes or fabrics for drapes for the baby room Craig got a call from the hospital that Little bear isn't doing too well.  Little bear's stomach is bloated and he's in pain when they touch him in the abdomen.  They also think his in pain while breathing and so he doesn't want to breath and therefore are desating lots and had quite a few bradies.  They have moved him back to level III and put him on pain killer and intubated him.  Craig called me on my cell immediately to inform me what they said but advised that there is no need to come home right away as the stove haven't show up yet.  I tried to keep browsing but just couldn't and throw the potential candidate back on the shelves and come home.  While I was driving home (the store is only 5 minutes away), I got calls from Craig that I couldn't answer.  I got home finding the stove have arrived and Craig had got another phone call from the doctor on duty to go into the hospital and they have called a sergeant for consult.  We were very worried and got ready at once to drive to the hospital.  

When we were got to the hospital the doctor came to talk to us.  He think the lower part Little bear's large intestine is either partially blocked or twisted.  X-ray showed lots of gas but he was still stooling and there is no blood in the stool.  As he was in so much pain and had so much breathing issue, we couldn't hold him.  They told us that they have also put in a larger OG tube (#8) to drain the gas in little bear's stomach.  We were told that surgery is likely needed to correct this and there is nothing we can do but wait.  They told us in any case they are withholding feeds so he won't get worse.  It was around 4pm in the afternoon and we were told the sergeant said he will be there before 6pm to talk to us.  There was nothing we can do but wait.  The sergeant did not show up at 6 we left about 7pm to go find something to eat and got back to the hospital around 8pm

At 9pm the sergeant showed up. He looked at the x-ray and asked us a few questions said he thinks this is not serious enough as the require surgery as Little bear was still stooling that afternoon he doesn't not think there is any blockage, he wants to wait and do a contrast enema on Monday to see.  Mean while he wants x-ray daily to monitor his gut.

On Sunday nothing improved.  They put Little bear on higher dose of pain killer as they think he's still in pain. x-ray still show large amount of gas just shifted a bit.  

On Monday: still nothing was changed a contrast enema was not done.  I couldn't understand what was going on.  I asked the nurses a few too many questions and they advise they can not answer some of those questions and I should come for rounds on Tuesday.

On Tuesday: I got to the hospital at 10 am but missed rounds.  Jen, a nurse practitioner, came and talk to me after rounds and told me they believe Little Bear have stage 2 Necrotizing Enterocolitis  (NEC).  Since there is no blood in the stool and x-ray dose not show sign of bowel perforation,  the treatment is to withhold feed for 7-10 days while monitoring him.  If he is doing well, not surgery will be needed.  They would do a contrast enema at the end to make sure everything is okay before start feeding slowly.  They said that the contrast might irritate the bowel when it is inflamed so they do not want to perform that right now. 

On Wed (Nov 18): Made it to rounds finally.  Was a bit more relaxed as they took Little Bear off the pain killer on Tuesday evening.  Was questioning how they come up with NEC as it was ruled out on Sat.  As little bear is breathing better they plan to intubate him.  I left around 12 to go to Greg's to get some stuff scanned and afterwards to buy a freezer.  We did not have any more freezer space for milk and it seem a waste to throw it away.  After freezer shopping (didn't want to deal with sales person who think they can pull wool over my eyes on a large purchase just because I am a girl) I drop Greg off and when downtown to clean out my office.  Met Craig at my office as I needed his help to carry things to the car.  We return to hospital afterwards to see Little bear.  I needed to pump badly as I was in such a rush that I couldn't pump since I left the hospital but I wanted to say hi to little bear before going to pump.  We were surprised that Little bear is not on any breathing support.  Apparently they put him back on regular nose prompt after they extubated him but he pull it off.  Since he wasn't desating, they left him to breath on his own.  Craig was able to hold Little bear while I pump.  When I got back, Little bear was desating so they had to bag him and put him back into his isolett.  Both Craig and I are happy that he no longer needs breath support if it's just for a little while.  

I am going to wash up and go visit with Little bear now.  He's given us a big scare but we think now he might pull out of this one just fine. 

Update on Little Bear

I intended to have this blog to tell families and friends what is going on with baby Matt but I am pretty bad at updating it.  Hopefully I'll be better at this in the future.  Be patient with me as anyone who knows me knows that spelling and grammar isn't my strong suit and sometime I would start a post only get too frustrated to finish it.  I am make extra effort today as I was browsing the web this morning and realize there isn't much story of little boy born this early and I want to keep this up for Matt when he grows up to see the miracle he is to us.  

Baby Matt is doing well.  He is now over 1kg (that is 2.2lb).  For the last few days we been able to hold him (Kangaroo care) for couple of hours each day.  Craig and I have taken to calling him little bear since Craig has been called bear and Matt looks so much like him.  I swear when I first look at him I wanted to call him Craig but giving him the same name as his father will just be too confusing.  His feet looks like they are made from the same mode, just quite a few size smaller. He have these little fat cheeks and double chins just like Craig.  How he have the fat for them at 800 grams I'll never know. 

Changes in the last days: He was 4 weeks old yesterday (Nov 5).   Little bear have been moved to level II nursery partly because they are out of room at level III and partly because he's the most stable one in level III to move.  That simply mean he's moved couple of pots down to bed 10 (instead of 17) but I am glad they deem him "stable".   He was on regular nasal prongs and was down to 1L flow but because of his tendency to swing wildly on his oxygen saturation level,  they have moved him back to high flow nasal prongs at 2L flow.  They started him on full feed (still thought a feeding tube) couple of days ago.  They have also added HMF (Human Milk Fortifier) to his feed to add extra calories to help him grow.  He was at 2 packages/100 ml yesterday.  They have pull out his IV as the test came back that he's no longer positive for steph infection.  He is now getting his caffeine (to help him remember to breath) through his milk.
Little Bear will have a eye exam this week and his head ultrasound came back with no alarming abnormalities.  Hopefully he will not get another infection and grow quickly in the next few weeks and work out his breathing issue.  They did say that he could go home on regular nasal prongs if necessary.  We are still far away from bring him home They will not try to start introduce breast feeding until he's 32 weeks (he will be 30 weeks this Saturday) and that will be done very slowly because he might not latch on correctly and he might forget to breath while he is sucking.

 

Last few days

We didn't do much the last few days other then visiting baby Matt.  Yesterday we actually got to hold him.  It' is snowing outside.  White fluffy snow like what you see in Christmas movies except some of the trees still have green leaves on them.  It's only been 10 days but I feel like My whole world has changed.  Tomorrow Baby Matt will be one week old.  It still feel surreal that I have a baby: there is no baby crying around the house, no holding him and rocking him to sleep and no diaper changes.  The only thing I got to do extra is that a few times a day is to pump.  I am afraid of hearing the phone ring thinking that one of the calls could be calling me to the hospital because something have gone wrong.  Not that there is anything indicating that anything will but they are so small and so young and he have a long road in front of him until he can come home.  Right now all I can is pray. 

So much for making birth plans

On Tuesday, I was thinking maybe I should look into this birth plan thing.  Originally I was going to wait until I started my pre-natal course to do that.  late Tuesday night/ early Wednesday morning I started to feel pain on the lower part of my tummy and it got so bad that I couldn't sleep.  I informed the nurses and they hooked me up to monitors to but they couldn't pick up any contractions.  Later on I started wanting to go to the washroom but when I went nothing comes out.  Finally the doctor comes back the 2nd time and decided to do an exam.  At this time they found out that I was 8cm dilated.  They rush me upstairs to a birth room and called Craig.   At 3:40 a 840gram baby boy was borne.  The birth was relatively quick (because he is so small) and with very little pain.  We event hear him cry right after delivery.

Baby is doing well for the situation.  We have yet to name him.

Hospital

I was debating if I should keep this in order of events but I figure it does not harm to go back and forth anyways.  So I am in the foothills hospital and likely will be for a while.  My water broker on Friday Oct. 2 at around 1pm.  I went for a walk at lunch to pick up a bit of salad and went back to the office for a 1pm meeting.  As soon as I get through the door for the floor my office is in I felt a gash of warm fluid coming out of me.  At first I was embarrassed and confused.  I didn't know what it was.  Last time I felt that way it was blood and clots at 8th week of my pregnancy and I had to stay in bed for 4 weeks.  I excuses myself from the meeting to go to the washroom and found just wetness, no blood.  I was happy but what is this wetness? Did I somehow pee'ed my pants?  But it doesn't smell the same and it is very clear.  Also I hear more "tingling" but I don't feel myself peeing.  I pull up my pants and went back to the office; feeling more confused.

I ate the little salad that I got during the meeting and once the meeting was finished I asked my co-worker who had a baby last Dec. What water breaking was like.  That's the only thing I can come up with at the time.  She said it's a lot of water and that it is way too early.  I told her it was a lot of water.  Both of us googled it a bit and I was still convince that's what is and gather it was a good situation. 

I called bear and he told me to call the ob/gym.  I spoke to the nurse at the ob/gym's office.  They told me to go to Rockyview.  My co-worker also told me to put on a pad just in case.  I have some normal size pad in my office so I went to the washroom.  On my way there, more fluid came out; enough to soak my jeans and drip down my legs.  I called Craig again and he came and pick me up outside of city hall after hailing a taxi outside of the Hyatt.  We make it to the Rockyview and more gushes on the way up.   By the time they got me into a room and gave me a robe to change into, there was a big puddle on the floor.  With that much liquid, the nurse had no doubt what was going on but they still tested to confirm.

We waited for a while for the doctor to come in.  They wanted to transfer me to foodhills in case I go into labor because they are not equip to handle babies this young (24 weeks) at the rockyview.  They gave me a staerio shot for baby to develop its lung.  They had a hard time starting an iv on me before the transport.

I got an ambulance ride to Foothills. It is the only hospital that handles pre-mature babies before 32 weeks in southern Alberta however it's about 30 minutes drive from home when there is no traffic.  Once we were at the foothills, I got put into this triage bed.  It is in such a small space about 8 of them in this room that's full of women coming in for various pregnancy issue.  I was there all night.  There was no dinner and a woman in labor screaming like a porn star all night.  The space is so crammed I sent mommy and bear home.  I was hoping they will stay until I was moved into a real room but it doesn't seem it would happen and there is nothing they can do there.

First post

Since I am sitting in the hospital (more about that later) I am starting a blog about Bear and I starting a family.  I'll try to post frequently since for now I have nothing to do but sit in bed.