Superstitions....Confirmed.

Dear Samuel,

I'm beginning to think you may have some sort of supernatural effect on Wisconsin sports teams while being held by your Mom or I.

Exhibit A) Wisconsin Badgers. News Years Day. Outback Bowl. We didn't get to the hospital until late in the game and the Badgers were actually losing at that point. Well, once I was able to hold you the Badgers tied the game up and forced OT.....You know the rest.

Exhibit B) Green Bay Packers. Today. We didn't get to the hospital until halfway through the third quarter. Down most of the second half, Mom started holding you, and it all turned around. (It's too bad we didn't stay for the Badger game tonight, they could have used our help.) We will for sure be there next Sunday though, we have another game to win.

GameTime for Sammy

Enough about my theory....

Today was another good day. 

Your alarms were far less today. The blood culture they drew on Friday came back negative at the 48 hours mark (they'll culture it for 5 days total). Also, your O2 needs were significantly less (or maybe it just seems like it, because it's lower than 30) than yesterday. When we were there today, you were set at 27% (And remember, "Room Air" is 21% aka the air the rest of us are breathing right now). Tonight, when I called down, you were set to 25%! 

Weigh-In today was even; you are still at 2 pounds 2 ounces. 

Your eyelids were getting heavy....

Your nurse today mentioned how much more comfortable you looked today compared to yesterday. I'm hoping that means that we are "Out of the Woods" with the RSV, especially with your O2 needs being lower.

Here's to another good night. 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

In a Holding Pattern (Pun Intended)

Dear Samuel,

Today was one of those "once/twice in a lifetime" kind of days. Today was the day your Momma got to hold you for the first time. It took 4 nurses to take you out of your incubator and get you over to momma, but I think it was well worth it. I was lucky enough to have my camera ready to capture some of these moments:

You also got to experience your very first Packer's game (With No sound....thank the Lord). Unfortunately, I shouldn't have mentioned anything about a "streak" in a previous post. So, I'll take this one....my bad. 

After a few minutes on momma's chest I think you were all snuggled up and fell asleep for about 30 minutes.

They finally got to the bottom of why your Blood Sugar has been spiking. The did a blood culture on Friday and finally this morning were able to tell that you have some sort of infection in your blood stream so you were started on antibiotics immediately. Hopefully, that will fix this problem we've been having.

You continue to have really gross looking diapers (which is a good thing, because it means you are getting rid of all of that bilirubin).

Your feedings were upped again to 8 ccs every 3 hours. Our goal is to get you to 10 to 12 ccs every 3 hours. If you can get there, we may not have to do the PICC line (which would be awesome).

Hopefully, we will get a chance to give you a bath tonight....That's where we are heading right now!

See you soon.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Rolling Along

Dear Samuel,

Another good day today buddy.

This morning you had a respiratory test where they removed the ventilator to see how you could handle breathing on your own. You made it about a minute and a half before you got too tired to breath on your own. It was sort of expected that you wouldn't "pass" this test yet, but we need to start prepping you for life without the vent. They are going to do this "test" every few days from here on out.

You had another head scan today that you passed with flying colors. This lifts the IHV protocol (keeping your head still and your body "midline") that helped prevent any brain bleeds.  Not that anyone is going to jostle you around now, but there isn't as much fear about causing any damage to your brain.

We are also still chasing your blood sugar as it keeps spiking in opposite directions (high to low). As of tonight, you were at 292 (which is in the acceptable range). They are working on finding the right mix of nutrients and insulin to keep your blood sugar in a good place.

Your feedings were upped to 7 ccs of breast milk today as well.

We aren't trying to get our hopes up, but they did tell us that we might be able to actually hold you tomorrow. I can't begin to tell you how happy this will make your momma (and me, of course). If you are having a good day and your vitals are still good, we should get to hold you! I'm bringing my camera with tomorrow just in case so we can capture some shots.

Sleep well tonight pal, big day tomorrow.

Love,
Mom and Dad

P.S. Since you were born both the Packers and Badgers (Mens Bball) are undefeated. Let's keep that streak going......