Daddy Again!!

[bc-chris]

hey guys

thanks for all the well wishes!

so i have a little update..... for those that have been around for a while you'll recall the issues we had with our first (the list was long). my wife and i often joke about how it seemed that "if something could happen to Jordan it did"..... well, that appears to be a trait passed onto Matthew too!

as i mentioned previously, everything went AWESOME with the delivery!!! both mom and baby were fine. things were going well until about 2am this morning when the nurse who was helping him 'latch' (for breast feeding) noticed his fast breathing. they did a thorough 'once-over' on him and then took him to nicu (pronounced nick-u) - basically an icu area for infants. i'm guessing the 'n' stands for neonatal?

chest x-ray was first up... showed fluid pooling in his lungs, then his breathing really went into high gear - something like 110-150 breaths/minute - which is NOT good!

they immediately got him an i.v., on oxygen and antibiotics (antibiotics in case the fluid build up in the lungs is from an infection)

by morning things were looking a LOT better. breathing was still a little elevated, but nothing to be concerned over. they were also slowly turning down the amount of oxygen he was getting. the nurse was awesome and told us he's doing soooooo much better and to not be worried.


here he is just before i left the hospital:



i came home to get a couple hours sleep and got a call from my wife that he's been moved to a "not as concerned" area of the nicu - so that's awesome. hopefully he'll be out tomorrow or saturday and we can come home (if mom is up for it)


time to get back to the hospital


chris

[jeffporfirio]

Chris,
Hoping little Matthew is recovering fast and that you are home for the weekend.

[Kipper is King]

Aww! Congratulations!

[ComixZone]

Congrats.

[pope04]

Congratulations! How're things going now?

[bc-chris]

thanks guys

so over night Matthew had crazy high breathing rate again... up in the 150 breaths/minute - so the nurses tweaked a couple things and got him back into a normal range. by morning it was apparent that jaundice was starting to set in. for those not yet parents (hey, all this stuff was new to me a couple years ago).....

Jaundice, a common condition in newborns, refers to the yellow color of the skin and whites of the eyes that happens when there is too much bilirubin in the blood.

Physiological (normal) jaundice: Most newborns have this mild jaundice because their liver is still maturing. It often appears when a baby 2 to 4 days old and disappears by 1 to 2 weeks of age.

one of the things that helps with the jaundice is the uv in natural sunlight. since it's kinda hard to get him into the sun, the nurses put a uv light over him. but the kicker with that is he then needs to not be wrapped up and as a result, he gets cold - so the only solution is the put him into an incubator - so it looks worse than it is....





^^^those are not the kind of baby pictures any parent wants to be taking!!

they also told us that he has a hole in one of his lungs. it should heal all on its own, but it's just another thing to be on our minds

tomorrow we are expecting the results from the original blood work taken on thursday. this will tell us if he is fighting a bug. if he is, the nurses can adjust his antibiotics accordingly (right now he's on just a general antibiotic in case he has a bug. if they do in fact find a bug, the antibiotic will change to be more specific in fighting off that particular bug)

on the mom front - she's doing as well as can be expected. i know it's really hard on her to see her little baby all wired/tubed up and in an incubator. one thing that she was soooooo looking forward to this time was being able to cuddle with her new born. mom wasn't able to do that with Jordan becuz she was put in a pavlic harness within a day of being born. phyically, she's doing really well with healing from the c-section. she's still really really sore, which it to be expected, but is a lot more mobile at this point than she was after having Jordan.

Jordan came by this evening to visit her little brother again and when she saw Matthew in the incubator she blurted out, "Maffew get out!! Maffew get out!!" heh - made me chuckle!

that's about all that's new right now. i'll give another update tomorrow

[Dion]

Any updates, Chris?

Hopefully Matthew is on the road to recovery.

[bc-chris]

well - today was a better day - lots of improvement!

Matthew was allowed out of the incubator for about 15 minutes this morning and was allowed to cuddle with mom - so that was great!!

blood work came back negative for bugs (i guess) since the nurses turned off the antibiotics.

early in the afternoon the nurses also removed the air from his nose to see how his breathing did. it appeared good. he was then allowed out of the incubator again so mom could bottle feed him - mom LOVED that!!

later in the afternoon the iv was removed and then the moment of truth.... mom attempted to breast feed him and he took to it almost immediately - so that was AWESOME!

he's still in the incubator for now and i believe the light therapy will be discontinued tomorrow at some point.

the big question mark will be his breathing rate and if it will stay in the 'normal' range and not spike up to 150 breaths/minute. he still does have fluid in his lungs, but it appears to be getting better






Jordan came by again this evening and was letting us know that "Maffew get out soooooooon!" heh heh!!

he's not out of the woods yet, but things are really looking good. my wife asked the doc about Matthew's issues and what we could have done differently to prevent them - the doc basically said it was 'bad luck' and had nothing to do with us

i do need to give a huge shout-out to the nurses/docs on the kgh mat-ward and in the NICU. they are absolutely AWESOME!!! just fantastic. i know the last time we were there with the birth of Jordan we had a similar experience. i'm glad to see that things have not changed and the staff are still top-notch!

[billybob123]

My son had to go under the bili lights. I hated the eyeshades most because he hated them. Stats are really high for jaundice especially for preemies. My daughter didn't need the lights but spent a bunch of time in the NICU. Everyone is totally healthy now. Don't know if KGH is the same as Foothills in Calgary, but the photos of all the "graduates" from the NICU along the walls makes you feel so much better about your little guy/gal and the problems they're facing.

Congrats BC-Chris! You have the million dollar family (boy + girl). Don't believe anyone that they won't fight because of different genders! My two fight like cats and dogs. Something for you and your wife to look forward to - two healthy kids driving you crazy!

[killer_carlson]

congrats.

Glad to hear things are improving and the quality of care is high.

[flamesfan1297]

Congrats! Hope all goes well!

[bc-chris]

thanks guys!!

ok - today was really good!! the light therapy was turned off today and Matthew is out of the incubator!! mom is doing her best with feeding him, but he's having a little bit of trouble with the breast feeding - so it just means pump/bottle the breast milk for now. he starts on the breast and then usually falls asleep (ha ha!) and then she uses the bottled breast milk.

it sounds like the only thing we're waiting for now is for him to take in enough milk at his feedings - then he can come home! (jordan had the same issue)

there is still some fluid in his lungs but that should just work itself out of there naturally

he still isn't allowed out of the NICU, but that's ok - he's doing sooooooo much better!!!




the nurse gave Matthew his first bath today - can't you tell it went well? (she told us babies NEVER cry for her when she gives them baths)




the joys of blood work on a new born....




and taking a rest on mom....



we asked the nurse when we should realistically expect for him to come home. if all goes well and he starts gulping down the milk then likely tuesday.

my wife asked me to bring him some outfits so she can 'dress him up' tomorrow. i grinned and exclaimed, "no problem!!!!" then she added - and i want at least two that DON'T have flames logos! (she knows me all too well!)

[Royle9]

This is really eye opening I appreciate these personal updates Chris.

Now I'm not a father myself yet hope to be one someday soon, and I've got to say seeing things like his really scare me. I honestly cant help but also feel almost worried when just reading these updates and concerns regarding your 2nd child Chris.

I don't know how I would cope myself it it were actually happening to me so kudos to you being able to be there for mom, children and updating us folk here on CP. Glad to see he's doing better, truly amazing to see something like this documented.

[Galakanokis]

Glad to hear things are looking better for little Matthew. My little man spent about 6 weeks in NICU. I have a massive appreciation for the men and women that work in those areas, it's an extremely tough job, very trying conditions.

It's hard now but it will soon be forgotten. Love the top pic of him sleeping.

[bc-chris]

thanks guys

Royle9.... being a dad is freakin' AWESOME!! don't let experiences like mine freak you out. my wife and i regularly joke that we are 'stats'.... you know the "1" in the 1 in 10000 chance of something happening.... well that's us! ha! ha! as for going thru 'stuff' - i'm very level headed when it comes to emotional stuff (don't get me wrong, i will loose my mind the next time the flames hoist the cup, but that's a little different! ha! ha!). my wife rides more of the emotional roller coaster - i think that we sorta balance each other out!

Galakanokis - 6 weeks!!! gaaahhh!! that would suck.... and seem like an eternity!!!

as for today's update....
well, it was FREAKIN' FANTASTIC!!!!!

Matthew was discharged from the NICU and able to rejoin mom in her room, and shortly after that mom was told that both she and Matthew were good to go home!!!!!

well, after a couple trips of hauling stuff to the car we were outta there!!!!

we got home and just enjoyed being at home with Matthew (my mother-in-law had Jordan in the morning and folks had Jordan in the afternoon)

my folks came by with Jordan after dinner and Jordan was pretty happy to see her little brother!!

first up was to give him a thorough look over




then she had to point out he had a mouth, a nose, eyes, eyebrows, etc.




and then she just stared at him for a bit - so awesome!



so yea - today freakin' ROCKED!!

[Dion]

Excellent news, Chris! Glad to hear Matthew is healthy and doing fine.

Those pictures of Jordan looking at her brother are priceless!