January 23rd, 2011

We were able to visit with Myles today. He seems to be doing great! He's gained again and is currently weighing in at 3lbs 11ozs. He's tolerating his feedings pretty well. He's spit up a few times, but the doctors aren't too worried because he's still gaining.

You gotta take the good with the bad...

So, I guess you have to take the good with the bad. Myles was put back on the nasal cannula today. I was at Target with Jakob shopping for some new clothes for Myles... I came home and Brett told me that the NICU had called because Myles was having a hard time breathing. They put him back on the nasal cannula and he's been fine since. It scares me to know that he's still a fragile little person who should still be in my belly. We also got some good news with the bad. Myles has finally passed his birth weight!! He started out at 3lbs 8ozs and has been losing since he was born. The nurses and doctors assured us that this is normal. At his lowest, he was 3lbs 2ozs. This morning the nurse weighed him and he was 3lbs 5ozs. Tonight she weighed him again and he is now at 3lbs 9ozs!! He's finally bigger than he was at birth! Now we just have to keep stacking the pounds on him. He's just a tiny little guy. The more he gains, the better! It was nice to get some good news. I was getting a little concerned about his losing weight. Now we can celebrate because he is gaining!

The start of week two

We were finally able to hold him!The day Myles turned a week old, I was able to hold him in my arms. It was the most amazing feeling. I couldn't help but just cry and stare at this beautiful little person in my arms. He is so tiny! I don't think I realized how tiny he is until I was holding him. He's doing so well. He's taking his feedings in like a champ! They've upped him to 19ccs of breast milk and so far he's tolerating them really well. It hurts to have to leave him there every day, but I know he's getting the care he needs right now.

Myles' 1st week in the NICU

January 12th 2011, I gave birth to a beautiful little boy. After 2 days of laying in a hospital bed being monitored, Myles' HB started to drop here and there. The doctor decided that getting him out ASAP was the best thing to do. After pulling him out, the doctor realized that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his body a few times. He was 3lbs 8ozs 15.5 inches long. He came into the world at 30 weeks screaming clear as day. He scored a 9/9 on his APGAR test and has done awesome since. He started his life on the CPAP but quickly learned how to pull that out. He moved on to the nasal cannula after just a few days. Finally at 5 days old, he had the cannula removed. He also started tube feeding. One his 3rd day of life, he was taking in 2ccs of breast milk. Now at a week old, he is up to 19ccs of breast milk. He is still on the bililight due to slight jaundice, but otherwise, he is doing great!
We had a small scare when he was 4 days old. I walked into the nursery and saw a yellow sign attatched to his incubator. After asking the nurse, we learned that his white blood cell count was low. That could be a sign of infection so we were told we couldn't hold him yet or even touch him. I'm glad they found out when they did because the nurse had told us earlier in the day that we could hold him. Now I'm glad that we were told as soon as we got there because I really don't want to risk exposing him to germs if he doesn't need to be. The following day, the white blood cell count was normal and the sign was off of the incubator!
Myles continues to get stronger and stronger with each passing day.

Myles Joseph

Well, I didn't expect to be making a post about Myles' birth so soon, but he decided he was going to have more fun if he came out a little early. So, January 12th at 8:10pm Myles made his way into the world and into our lives. He was 10 weeks early so we were not expecting to meet him so soon. January 10th, I woke up to a gush at 5am. I knew what it was as soon as it happened. It wasn't a HUGE gush, just a small one so I decided to go back to bed and see what happened. Throughout the morning, it just kept leaking and knew I had to go in. We ended up at the hospital at about 2pm. The doctors confirmed that I had ruptured and decided the best thing to do would be to keep me there until I delivered. We were thinking it was going to be a long 2-4 weeks. Well, Myles had other plans. Weds. night, the doctors noticed that Myles' heart rate was dropping then picking back up. They told me to call Brett and get him up there ASAP. So, I called Brett and within about 3 minutes of hanging up with him, they were wheeling me back for an emergency c-section. I don't remember all of it because I was pretty much freaking out the entire time. I was scared to death because this baby was coming very early and I was going into it all alone. I couldn't believe that I was laying on an operating table without Brett by my side. It was tough. So, after about 10 minutes, Myles was out and screaming.

I found a HOBBY!!

So, I started to get a little stir crazy while being a stay at home mommy to these two little men. After being bored out of my mind for months, I decided to give sewing a shot. I started off doing easy things like cloth wipes and small little blankets with ribbon. I've done some burp cloths and some PJ pants for the boys and Brett. I even made a rag quilt! That thing was so hard to make at first. I was having a hard time cutting out the squares until Brett decided to buy me a rotary cutter and a big cutting mat. I think he felt sorry for my big pregnant butt. It feels good to actually DO something. It gives me time to myself and it's actually very relaxing. I might even attempt to make a few cloth diapers before Myles makes his debut in a few weeks!
So... Here is my rag quilt that I am seriously so proud of! It turned out bigger than I thought it would which is good!