Lightning Round

Dear Samuel,

Not a lot of change today (If this continues to be the case, I may skip a night or two).

Weigh-In you are back to 2 pounds 2 ounces!

You continue to have your "alarms" (de-sats), but have been MUCH better since you had your transfusion. That's what the staff seems to be chalking this all up to; is low hemoglobin and acting your age (somewhat typical in micro premies).

Al of the tests have come back "clean" so far from Friday morning. The 24 hour mark of the blood culture came back negative (and hopefully continues to come back negative), as well.

Overall, you've had a much better day today than Friday. Wish I could say the same about myself. Remember how Mom and Isaac were sick last weekend and I was healthy as a "horse". Yeah, that may have caught up to me....

Have another good night buddy.

Go Pack Go,
Mom and Dad

The "Seinfeld" Post

Dear Samuel,

I want to pitch you an idea for a blog post...... It's a post about......Nothing.

One day you may get my attempt at REALLY subtle humor. I thought it was funny (If you have to ask, you may not have lived through the 90's). And If you think that's bad, wait until you meet Papa Steve. 

This post won't really be about "Nothing" (referenced above), but it will be short because there hasn't been a lot of change. 

For the most part, everything remains the same as yesterday. O2 levels have been between 30% - 40% all day. Only 1 Brady tonight so far and the usual de-sats and "re-sats" (I just made that up, we'll see if it sticks). 

Your weight did go back up to 810 grams today (1 pound 12.6 ounces)!!! 

I got to hold you again today and we both caught some Z's. 

Your mom and Isaac are still trying to fight whatever this virus is they have. Isaac was running a fever now tonight and has a lingering cough. Hopefully, we can all get healthy before the weekend is over. 

We did have a rather lengthy discussion about you tonight with Isaac too. He says that he is excited for you to come and live with us and will share his toys with you (He says that now....); even his beloved "Stephen" train. He said that he is excited to be a big brother (I may have been leading the witness a bit, but regardless it was cute). 

Get some sleep tonight buddy and get that weight up! 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

Acronyms for Everyone!

Dear Samuel,

Not a whole lot of change today, which is what we like.

You did have a few ABD's today (We are learning all kinds of acronyms through all of this....ABD stands for Apnea, Brady, De-Sat) but nothing like you did yesterday; at least anything prolonged. Unfortunately, (Or Fortunately?) this is fairly common in premies. However, all of the tests/cultures that they took yesterday have all come back negative still. One thing they did to counteract these ABD's was to increase your overall dose of caffeine but split it into two doses per day. So far, this seems to be doing the trick.

Other than that, there hasn't been any change today. Your weight is barely up at 1 pounds 11.9 ounces

Your mom and I only came down once today. We think Isaac got us both sick and don't want to run the risk of giving it to you. We are hoping to give you that bath that you desperately need, tomorrow.

I'm glad that these are starting to be short and shorter. I can't wait for the day when I can stop writing these! Not that I don't like talking/writing about you.....Just that I can't wait until the day when we get to take you home.

Love,
Mom and Dad

No News is Good News

Dear Samuel,

Not much in the way of updates tonight, which is awesome.

Doctors gave you another dose of surfactant to help with your lung development just as a "reserve" to help with any future problems and not because you "needed" it. You are taking some oxygen from the ventilator but only 30% (Room air is 21% OR what you and I breath with normal breaths) AND that is a side effect of the surfactant. So, needless to say, you are still doing awesome.

One thing I watched you do today....and it scared the crap out of me....was when I was in the room alone with you, you were being so active that your Respiratory monitor was going off the chart and then back down to 0 (I saw it go up to 160 bpm and then all the way down to 0). Well, as it turns out, you were SO active that you finagled ($10 word of the day) the monitor off of your arm.

Tomorrow will be a big day for tests though. They will be doing ultrasounds on your head and heart and also an "echo" on your heart (Possible Edit: Your mom and I can't remember exactly). They will also be measuring you and weighing you again to see how we are progressing.

I was able to leave the hospital for a bit tonight and take your big brother Isaac to the Christmas Train in Sparta tonight. I didn't really know what it all entailed, but I guess its a train with lights on it and they do a small concert:

Apparently, Isaac didn't like it too much.....

One last note, in your mom's room there are thermostat gremlins. One minute it's a sauna, the next you can hang meat. She does have a conspiracy theory going about the nurses possibly manipulating the thermostat in some weird psychological experiment. I think it's just hormones. And I end up cold. No one wins. 

Sleep tight little man. 

Love, 

Dad