Tuesday, April 14, 2009

That Blasted Cannula!

Yeah, I'm put out with it, lol. We can't get it to stay on unless we put tons of tape on the poor baby. It stinks. I mean, he's adorable, and with all that tape on him, well, his cuteness is being hidden!

The other morning, I woke up because he was wiggling around. I figured it was time to feed him. When I looked at him, he wasn't quite awake yet, as he usually is. So I watched him for a few minutes and figured I would go ahead and get him up. Maybe he was uncomfortable, maybe he needed a diaper change ... and when I got a better look at him, that blasted cannula was in his ear! Oh yeah, his ear was getting plenty of oxygen ... No telling how long it had been like that, but he was hooked up to the pulse ox and it never went off. I watched him for about 20 minutes with the cannula around his ear and he was satting in the high 90's and even at 100. Okay ... well, Dr. Schultz did say that if it came off, just give it a little bit and see how he does ...

So, with him doing so well with it in his ear, we decided to not worry about it fitting right in his nose all day long. It came out several times and finally my husband decided to just take it off and see how he does. We left the pulse ox on and watched him all day and he did wonderful. Now ... he has been on the oxygen ever since because we aren't sure exactly what it was Dr. Schultz wanted us to do as far as weening him. She did say when we were in her office that, at the time of March 23, she would give it another couple of weeks before we tried him off the oxygen. So ... the miracle of it all is ... he went 12 hours Sunday without his oxygen. He never changed colors, he never seemed to labor in his breathing. He seemed, overall, much happier just to have that thing off his face! But like I said ... he's had it on ever since Sunday evening because we aren't sure what we are really supposed to do.

So, we're just waiting. I pray he is ready. He seems to be doing ssooo well. He is growing like a bad weed. He gets chunkier every single day! And more alert, and he stays awake for much longer periods of time. And LAST NIGHT ... He slept from 11PM to 7AM and WOWEEE! I enjoyed sleeping from about 1 to 7 .... very nice!

I have some pictures of him from Easter that I will add when I get them off the camera. It's just a matter of doing it. I'm taking a break from working right now because I work remotely and needed someone to remap the drive for me ... since it's done now, I will go finish what I was doing and then cook some lunch for my husband!

Oh ... I almost forgot, we have selections for his baby shower at Wal-Mart and Target. You can look them up online or go to the store. I think you need to know my first and last name in order to look them up online, but it's a neat set up if you can't get to a store! If you have trouble or questions, give me a shout and I'll try to help ... Thanks! Looking forward to seeing you all on May 3rd at Kadin's Shower !!! YAY !!!

Leslie

Thursday, April 9, 2009

A Baby Shower Honoring KADIN!

Yes, I am so excited ... I was notified the other day that there will be a baby shower for Kadin on May 3 at 2PM. There are something like 12 hostessess - I am so honored!!!! I can't wait ... It will be so much fun! I am going this weekend to make selections at Wal-Mart and Target, so that should be a lot of fun.

There is an open invitation for anyone that wants to come - I believe it is going to be in our local newspaper. I am just excited about seeing everyone that I haven't seen in a long time. Since we have been home, I have spent the majority of my time in the house with the baby and have only gotten out for ball practices or games and occassionally to go to the store, but nothing else. It will be nice to visit with everyone!

Just wanted to put this here for my friends and family that read that I have not gotten to tell just yet.... Hope to see you all there !!!

This baby is .... SPOILED!

He definitely has come into his likes and dislikes! He knows that anyone in our family is more than ready to pick him up and hold him at a moment's cry ... yes, no kidding, this child is held and passed around more than he probably should be, but we just can't help it and probably won't stop! I'm not complaining at all. I am learning to work on my computer with him in my lap, feed him while I answer a text message, but I do lay him down for making bottles or cooking a meal! I draw the line at putting him in one of those little front-side baby holders ... although I did try it, I realized quickly it just wasn't going to work. So I threw that thing in a box.

Kadin is staying awake for longer periods of time and is now taking in more formula than he was just 2 days ago. He slept for a full six hours last night and he is (adjusted) just six weeks old. I hope by the end of his 2 months, he will be sleeping like that regularly. It will be nice, but then again, I kinda liked getting up at 3am and realizing I could sleep for another 4 hours as soon as I fed him and put him back down!

Kadin is smiling a lot more too, except the last couple of days he hasn't really. He's just been clingy to me, wanting to be held, crying if I even put him down to make him a bottle, except right now, he is laying in this playpen beside me and relaxing - not sleeping, just chilling.

This cannula is about to drive me MAD. It will NOT stay in his nose. It slips thru the tape or the little circles and ends up trying to give his eyeball or his ear some not-so-much-needed oxygen! He turns his head so much when he's laying down or in the swing that it just moves it and I don't know how to keep it still. When I am holding him, he likes to rub his face or his nose in my shoulder or my shirt and that moves it too ... it's like his nose itches and he is scratching it with my shirt. It's probably that cannual getting on his nerves ... poor baby, I can't wait til it is not needed anymore.

Guess I'm gonna go see if Kadin wants to visit his bed ... mine is calling my name, maybe I can fake him out!!!

Night!!!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Six Weeks Old

That calculation seems a little strange since we have been with Kadin since November 3, 2008. However, for 16 weeks of his life, he rightfully should have still been in my tummy. It's hard to believe that all this began 22 weeks ago. We have to adjust for his age beginning around his due date, which makes him now about six weeks old. And wow, how quickly he is growing!

He is beginning to stay awake for longer periods of time now and "babble" a little bit. He gets the biggest, silliest, most tickled smiles on his face when he has his big sissy and big bubba talking to him. And you know THAT makes them feel on cloud nine every single time! It blesses me and Danny also to see Kadin react to his siblings that way. When someone talks to him, he gets all wiggly and opens his mouth as if he wants to say something - you can tell he is excited that someone is paying him attention .... as if mommy holding him throughout the day and night isn't enough, lol .... he's an attention hog, for sure, but frankly, we don't mind a bit.

We have developed quite a pattern and thankfully!!! We lay him down for the night around 11 after his bottle and he awakes again around 3 for another feeding and back down til approximately 7. Sometimes we get off schedule by half an hour or whatever, but who cares when I am getting about six or seven hours of sleep a night, even if there is an intermission ... I enjoy holding him in the middle of the night anyway.

He is traveling better these days also. Granted, we aren't going anywhere long distance, but he seems to really like getting out if even for a little bit. We did take him to a baseball game last week and he slept the entire time! I am a firm believer in introducing the "sounds" of it all tho ... that way, he will recognize it all later and not freak out (like Dakota used to do at basketball games when that big nasty mean buZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZer would go off).

We have appointments in May and June as it stands. At that time, we will visit the NICU again for the first time since we departed for home on Feb. 28, 2009. I pray we get to see all those that we came to love so dearly...

Speaking of those that we love ... I can't get Dr. Porter and Dr. McGuirk off my mind. I wish there had been some way to get their information (email) so that we could keep in touch. I know they were so proud of Kadin before they both ceased to being his primary Dr. Kadin really took off in his progress right as Dr. Porter left the unit. I left him this URL so that he could visit if he never thought about it and I pray that he does ... so if you are reading this Dr. Porter, know that my family is eternally grateful to you for all that you did for our miracle child and I know you would be so proud to see him today. And Dr. McGuirk ... we appreciate your willingness to push Kadin a little bit and challenge him in his growth! We miss you all, the nurses, the secretaries, the respiratory therapists, the techs ... EVERYONE. We even miss that cafeteria, lol ...... oh, and Starbucks. Sheesh.

It is great to be home though and watch our little baby growing. He has dealth with some allergy issues, but we all have. The climate here is HORRIBLE and for example, today I have done nothing but sneeze and blow my nose! I am excitedly awaiting what's next in Kadin's growth ...

ECI has come to the house twice and is scheduled to come again around the middle of the month. It will be for occupational therapy and I'm excited about that. Kadin's little head seems to be misshapen a little bit because he truly favors one side and hates to lay on the other side ... we work on it but you know, he's stubborn - which has gotten him this far in the first place, so I'm not gonna gripe!

Until next time ......