11.24.15

To the little man that keeps us on our toes- Happy 4 weeks on this planet Mr. Jack!

This season Bruce and I are thankful for a month with Jack. A month full of precious life just beginning.

weight: 1,134 grams (2 1lb 8 oz)| height: 13.5 inches

Brain Bleed– Same as last week, no new fluid build up and will just continue to monitor through biweekly head ultrasounds. We’ll take it!

Ventilator– Oh how I hate thee. Jack has been having a really rough time with his breathing. The doctors tell us the lungs are last to develop while in a mothers womb and the reason I was shot with steroids on my way into labor was to try to help speed along the development as much as possible since they knew he was joining this world too soon. He has to work extremely hard to take breaths on his own and he has test driven pretty much every ventilator the NICU has to offer. They continue to tweak his settings, take chest X-rays, pull blood gases and did a second spinal tap this week to check for any infections. It’s brutal to watch your baby pull with all his might to take a breath. It’s brutal to not be able to hold your baby because the ventilator he’s on requires him to lay within his isolette very still. It’s brutal celebrating 4 weeks alive but in totality he is still only 28 weeks gestational. Even if he was born today he would still have been born too soon.

The nurses have been amazing and let us kiss and talk to Jack with his isolette ‘roof’ off for a little bit each day. It can’t stay open too long because he will get cold. They see how badly we want to hold him and know we cannot on this vent right now so this is a way to give us a little something. NICU nurses are special people, there is no way around it. They’re angels disguised as therapists disguised as cheerleaders disguised as nurses. They are our heroes. Each time they open the roof we sprint over as to not lose a second of smelling him and Mommy proceeds to cry all over Jack’s belly knocking his temperature probes off. One day, not this month it seems, Mommy will get through a day without tearing up.

UPDATE: As we are writing this week’s blog we were told Jack’s ventilator is switching and Mommy can kangaroo if he cooperates.  HOT OFF THE PRESS PEOPLE! It’s all happening.

Feeds– Our favorite topic because it’s a good one. If this family can get one thing right, it’s feeding! Jack is snorting that breast milk up his feeding tube in his nose down to his belly like a champ! Our favorite update exchanges (see below. Sorry Aiden, we heart you but we are a family of competitive eaters) are about how many grams he was up that day. How our conversations have changed! We used to text each other the bar for happy hour to meet at. Slightly different these days.  The hope is Jack continues on this gaining path and that will help a lot with overall development and strength so eat up buddy!

NICU + Real Life– Guess NICU life and real life are the same and both seem to be finding their rhythm within our new norm. Daddy is back at work and Mommy was given a gift from her job of extended time with Jack and for that the three of us will forever be grateful.  We mentioned this in an earlier post but it bears repeating- to our family and friends- your outpouring of love and support is unparalleled. There have been many days this past month when we come home from an exhausting day at the hospital to a care package, meals, cards, texts, emails from loved ones we haven’t seen in years and from ones we talk to on a daily basis. Our hearts burst knowing you took the time out of your day, your life, your own obstacles to reach out towards ours. We will never forget this. Jack will be raised to be kind and help others. And we will always teach him that remembering this moment. To you all, we are thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving and this is your public service announcement to hug the ones you love just a little bit tighter this week for these moments are all so precious.