Calgon... Take Me Away!

'Cause Mommy needs a break. And some uninterrupted sleep. Daddy needs some too. I'm not sure exactly what we're dealing with here, but since we came home Wednesday afternoon, Parker has not been sleeping well at all. He screams when he starts getting sleepy, and can keep it up for up to 30-45 minutes at a time before he will finally give it up and go to sleep... only to sleep for about 20 minutes, then wakes up screaming again. Perhaps the after-affects of anesthesia? At least at night he sleeps for two hour stretches before he starts screaming again. Ha. Right. Great.

Other than the fighting sleep thing, we are doing pretty well. The feeding is still really slow and sporadic, but beginning to improve. As far as his general demeanor, he is definitely back to his normal babbling, laughing, busy self. He's even managed two developmental milestones this week. He learned to clap and he's scooting everywhere. Fast. If we sing Pat-a-Cake to him, he will start to clap. Soooo cute!

Daddy and I are still trying to decide whether or not he will be able to go back to school tomorrow because the feeding is still not going as well as we would like, and we need to monitor his intake. They do great monitoring his intake at school, but we don't want to make his teachers nervous, and they have seven other little ones to look after as well. So, we may be home for the next couple of days, we'll just have to wait and see.

My Baby is Amazing!

Parker is a rock star! He has had a really good day today! He has still been a bit fussy, but I think it's more related to a gassy tummy and fighting sleep than being in pain. He is so afraid he is going to miss something and never wants to go to sleep - even on Tylenol with codeine! We weaned him off the morphine last night and onto the Tylenol with codeine. Good thing too, since the "mule" as I call him, (because he kicks so much and so hard) kicked out that hard-fought-for IV this morning. That meant he had to start drinking more by mouth and no more morphine, since it can only be given intravenously. I was determined there was no way they were going to stick him again after our experience last night, so he had no choice but to start drinking.

I was able to give him a good bath this morning and clean him up. He had a lot of dried blood in his nose that I was able to get cleaned out. We were able to put his own PJ's on him since we didn't have an IV anymore. You could tell it made him feel so much better, and he looked like my baby again.

He's still refusing his bottle and just does so-so with the syringe, so we've had to feed him with a straw. When we go out to eat we sometimes will dip a straw into water then dribble it into his mouth. Well, he loves that and now it's the only way we can get him to drink. It takes forever to feed him, but it's working, so we're keeping at it. He did eat a whole container of applesauce this afternoon for us, so that was encouraging!

Dr. Burstein came by to see us at lunch and said if Parker continued to drink well we could go home this evening if we want. We're going to see how the next couple of hour go, but we will probably wait until tomorrow morning to go.

We took Parker on a walk this afternoon to the lobby to get a change of scenery. There's a really cool donor recognition wall that has a background of a virtual aquarium. He loved looking at it as well as the Christmas decorations. Here's some photos from our outing. Will post more soon!

Surgery Day Update!

Parker is doing well tonight after his palate repair and ear tube surgeries this morning. Brian and I were amazed at how quickly Dr. Burstein and Dr. Yaunta completed his surgeries! Within 45 minutes he was totally done. Amazing! He's pretty groggy tonight, still trying to overcome the effects of the anesthesia and he's also being given morphine for pain. Hopefully we can wean him down to Tylenol 3 later this evening. The nurses say it's a bit more effective and lasts longer. Hopefully we can all get some sleep tonight! A friend I met on the Baby Center Message Board that had her daughter's palate repair here a month ago gave us the tip that they would bring a regular bed for Parker and I to sleep in if we asked. Thanks December! They're bringing our big bed now!

For those of you who know how nervous I have been, you'll be happy to know I held it together pretty well. A few tears when they came to take him back, then I did well. Waiting is so hard, but thankfully it took less time than we expected, so that definitely helped.

We are in room 101 at Scottish Rite. Once we got to the room they brought Parker to us. He's had quite a bit of bleeding from his mouth and nose, but it has gotten progressively lighter thoughtout the evening and has pretty much stopped now. He's shown some signs of his regular self - he's given Dad and I a few smiles tonight and is doing quite a bit of kicking, which is one of his favorite things to do!!!

The one bit of trauma this afternoon was a red, puffy IV site which caused the nurses to decide they had to pull it and call the IV team to re-start it. Well, it took three sticks and about 30 minutes before they could get it started. Dad and I both were about to become unglued, and Parker raised holy h-e-double hockey sticks. I don't blame him - those catheters HURT! I don't know if I could have endured three times myself, I still remember the IV stick being one of the most painful parts of my labor and delivery with him. Hopefully that will be the last bit of trauma while we are here. Now, we've just got to work on eating so we can get home.

I'll leave you all with some photos of the day, and will post more tomorrow after we (hopefully) get some sleep!

Thanks for all of the prayers, encouragement, calls and e-mails. We appreciate it more than you know!










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Again, I'm Just Really Bad At This.

But we have been soooo busy! We are at the beach for a long-awaited and well-earned vacation. We have spent the last three weeks moving from my house to Brian's condo. I do not suggest moving in June in Georgia (or at any time, really), but it had to be done since my house FINALLY sold. One down, one to go! We closed on my house Friday morning (YEA!) then headed south. We stopped in Albany for two days to stay with Grammy, then headed on down to the beach on Sunday morning.

The boys are doing great, Parker is eating well and starting to get chubby rolls on his arms and legs - so cute! I took him to the doctor's office last Monday to get him weighed when he was 12 weeks, and he weighed in at 11 lbs., 4 ozs. He gained exactly one pound in a month, which is really good. He's holding at the 19th percentile, so we're really happy about that. We saw Dr. Burstein (the plastic surgeon) a few weeks back, and he was happy with how he was doing, so they went ahead and scheduled his surgery for December 7th. I'm already dreading it, but will be happy to get it done and over with.

He's really starting to develop a personality, smiling and cooing at us. He's quite a talker and a charmer - no one can resist that gummy smile! We have also determined that he wants to be a big boy - one of his favorite things to do is to sit up and will try to sit up by himself and gets mad if you don't help him!

Peyton is going to Summer Camp at his daycare three days a week. They go on field trips at least 3-4 times per week. He's already done some really fun things this summer like attending a minor league baseball game (the Gwinnett Braves), a WNBA Game to see the Atlanta Dream, laser tag, trout fishing, soccer camp, and in a few weeks will be going to visit the Atlanta Falcons training camp for the day. Makes me want to go to camp!

We had the boys pictures taken 6 weeks ago - Parker was exactly 6 weeks old and Peyton is 6 years old. Enjoy, and hopefully we will be able to post some beach photos in the next couple of days.

Look Ma, No Tube!

I wanted to be sure it stuck, so sorry for the news delay, but we are officially tube-free! Last Sunday the 10th (Mother's Day), Parker pulled his NG tube out. Now, this in and of itself is not that unusual, he pulled it out quite often. The difference was that this time we didn't put a new one down right away because we needed a new one. Well, I think he figured out if he ate what he needed to from his bottle, he wouldn't have to have that horrible tube stuck back down his nose and throat, and he just took off with the eating! Not only was he finishing his mandatory 65 cc's, he started wanting more, first working up to 75 cc's every three hours, then 80 cc's. He has definitely moved to a three hour eating schedule, and when that three hour mark approaches, you had better be ready or you will feel. the. wrath. That boy gets angry if he has to wait for his food! He's doing fantastic and weighed in yesterday at 9 1/2 lbs. He is now in the 18th percentile for his weight when just a week ago he was in the 11th. We are very excited about his progress!

We have our first appointment with Dr. Burstein tomorrow. He is the plastic surgeon who will be doing Parker's surgery later this year. We are hoping after tomorrow we will know a bit more about what our course of treatment is from now until surgery, and what to expect when it is time for the actual cleft repair. Right now we don't know a whole lot outside of what we read on the internet. I will post what we find out so all of you will know after our appointment.

Little Mr. Clean

Here's Parker today after his bath, he loves the water! Today he weighed 8 lbs., so we actually got there sooner than I thought we would. We have a visit with Dr. Cooper (his pediatrician) tomorrow morning for a weight check and see if we need to increase his volume. Other than that, things are pretty quiet around here, which is how I like it!

There's No Place Like Home

We finally made it home! They released us from the hospital on Wednesday evening, and since then it has been a flurry of appointments, diaper changes and most of all, eating. Our entire day and night is consumed with feeding this baby. He has to take in at least 400 cc's (13 1/2 oz.) every 24 hours in order to gain weight. Our goal is an ounce of weight gain every day. This doesn't sound like very much, especially over a 24 hour period, but when you have feeding difficulties it seems like gallons. He's doing well with his bottles, but he did come home with a feeding tube, so whatever he doesn't finish by mouth we feed through his tube.

On Thursday we had our first appointments with the Cranio-Facial Center at Scottish Rite and with our pediatrician. We met with the nutritionist and the occupational therapist at Cranio-Facial, and both were very nice. We go back on May 20th to see the plastic surgeon and the therapist again. We will see our pediatrician again next Thursday for a weight check and to see if we need to increase his intake based on his weight.

Peyton had a tee-ball game on Saturday, so Parker got to enjoy some time outside. Peyton's team has had a rough start this season and hasn't won a game yet. They tied on Saturday 4-4. Yea! At least it wasn't another loss!

Before we left the hospital on Wednesday Parker got to meet his Grandpa Gardner! Brian's Dad came through town after a golf trip to Myrtle Beach, so he came by and spent a few hours at the hospital with us. It was great to see him. He lives in New Jersey so we don't get to see him very often. I was so glad he got to meet Parker while he was still so small.

I think that's it for now, time to go feed a baby again.

Homeward Bound

Parker continues to improve with his eating. We still have a ways to go, but after talking with the doctor today, we may get to come home this week, possibly on Thursday! We will have to come home with tube feedings, but the important thing is we will be home! Parker will be three weeks old tomorrow, and it's been a very long three weeks of traveling back and forth to the hospital every day, spending all day there with him, and his Daddy going in almost every night at 1:00 a.m. to feed him. I can't imagine that we will be more tired than we are right now once we get him home.

Parker weighs over 7 lbs. now and is normally eating 45-60 cc's by bottle (that's 1 1/2-2 oz.). The problem is he only takes a bottle three to four times per day. In order to gain weight, he needs to take in about 65-75 cc's every three to four hours. If we try to give him a bottle more than three to four times per day it just wears him out and he's only able to get down about 25 cc's (about 3/4 of an oz.). As a result, we have to tube feed him every other feeding to keep him from getting too tired. When you come home with tube feedings, you also have to learn how to change his tube. Luckily, this only has to be done once a month. Today his Daddy worked with the nurse and changed his tube for the first time. I know it wasn't easy for him, but he did great and got it in just fine. Right now I am just too chicken to try it. Besides, someone needs to hold his pacifier in his mouth and keep his little hands out of the way, and I think that's the perfect job for me.

Once we get home we will be able to begin working with the feeding team at Scottish Rite's Cranio-Facial Clinic. This clinic does nothing but work with babies like Parker with feeding issues. We will also be working with our pediatrician on weight checks, probably daily, and also will start seeing a pediatric gastroenterologist since we are going home with an NG tube. There's a lot of work still to be done, but we are excited to finally look forward to getting our baby home so we can start on the road to his repair surgery. Please keep us in your prayers as we move forward.

I've posted a few new photos from today just before I left the hospital. It kills me to leave him while he's awake, so I avoid it whenever possible. These photos were taken while he was making his last-ditch effort to get me to stay, but he dozed off right after I took these photos, so I was able to sneak out.

Great Friday!

Parker had a great day today! He took 55 cc's (1.86 oz.)from his bottle at lunch today, which is an all-time best. He then took 35 cc's (1.18 oz.) at his next feeding time, when normally he would have been tube fed. I was so proud of him, he's definitely getting stronger. He also hit the 7 lb. mark today! He weighed 7 lbs., 1.25 ozs. at weigh-in last night. Great job little man!

Day 18

Not a lot to report today, Parker is feeling much better after the day he had yesterday. He weighed in last night at 6 lbs, 15.5 ozs., so I'm hoping we hit that 7 lb. mark tonight! He got a nice bath this afternoon and he looked so handsome I had to take a few photos. I think he's changed already. What do you think?

Parker's Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

My poor baby had quite a difficult day today. His day started with a new feeding tube and an inexperienced nurse. NOT a good combination. Now you can probably imagine how uncomfortable it is to have a tube stuck up your nose and down your throat into your stomach, but imagine having to go through it twice because the first time it went into one nostril and out the other. Now try to imagine you're an infant and can't communicate (or say really bad words) having to go through this. Not to worry - Mommy uttered those really bad words for him under her breath, and it took all I could do not to say them really loudly to the obviously very nervous, very young, inexpeienced nurse.

After we settled down from the tube fiasco, we found out that today would be the day that Parker would have what is a very common *ahem* "procedure" on his little boy parts. After the neonatologist realized he would be having said procedure in the afternoon, she ordered labs because when he was first admitted his platelet count was a little low. Apparently to check on whether or not you might bleed excessively during a procedure, you get blood drawn. Makes sense, right? This time a second nurse decided she probably needed to help the young, nervous, inexperienced nurse with the blood draw. They started out with a heel stick which wouldn't bleed enough, so they stuck him again. It took a long time to get the blood drawn because the blood - get this - kept clotting. After about 30 minutes, they get done and send the blood to the lab. The lab promptly calls back and tells them they can't use the sample because IT CLOTTED. So what does this mean? You got it - they stick him again. This time in the hand, and again, must do it twice because he clotted again. They finally decide that he (and they, thankfully), have had enough and stop, figuring that he's clotting so much during the blood draw that he should have no issues with his "procedure".

I had to leave for a while to pick Peyton up from school, and when I got back, said "procedure" has been performed. One of the more experienced nurses comes to tell me that Parker is having "moderate" bleeding from the procedure and they had to call the neonatologist to come check on him. They now must check the bleeding every five minutes to be sure it's slowing, which of course causes him more pain. At this point I'm close to becoming unglued. Good thing I was so tired I couldn't put up much of a fight, because it wouldn't have done either of us much good at that point. Parker had some Tylenol which helped him sleep. I felt like I needed a valium. The bleeding did begin to slow, so I guess he will be fine. As for me, I got to feel all kinds of Mommy guilt. Tomorrow has got to be better, right?

Rock Star

What a difference a day makes! Parker is doing so well today. His Dad came back to the hospital for his 1:00 a.m. feeding, (yes, my husband is already an amazing father, he's been doing this almost every night since Parker was born)and he took 40 cc's (1.35 ozs.) for him. This is fantastic! He also weighed in last night at
6 lbs., 14 oz.! Our goal was birthweight by today which was 6 lbs., 11 ozs., so he blew that goal out of the water by gaining 4 ozs in one day! Go Parker!

This morning he ate a personal best of 54 cc's (1.83 ozs.) from the bottle, so we hope we're turning a corner. He's definitely more alert and awake, which helps when he eats. His actual due date was today, so maybe now he feels fully baked. :)

Bath Time!

We got to help the nurse give Parker a bath last night - he loves it! I have the best baby, he hardly ever cries unless he is hungry or has a dirty diaper. I just hope he stays that way when he gets home!

He also gained another ounce last night bringing him to 6 lbs., 10 oz., just one ounce away from his birth weight. His goal was to get there by tomorrow, so we are right on schedule! Yea Parker!

Also, Parker's genetic testing came back yesterday and everything looked normal, so it appears that Pierre Robin it is, and not a genetic problem. This was also quite a relief.

Enjoy the photos!

My Baby Does Not Suck!

As a matter of fact, he sucks so little they won't let him leave the hospital. That's right - he's still in the hospital.

After Parker was born on Monday afternoon, we were moved to my room at around 6:00 that evening. They took Parker to the nursery to check him in. We ate some dinner and waited for him to come back. My family left and they brought Parker back to my room so I could try to feed him. When I tried to get him to nurse, he had a really hard time latching on and sounded very conjested. Brian and I suctioned out his mouth a couple of times and just got clear fluid, so we figured it was just left over amniotic fluid or something. After a few minutes when the conjestion didn't improve, we decided to call the nurse to take him back to the nursery to be checked again.

After what seemed like half of forever, our nurse came back into the room and announced that the neonatologist had determined that Parker had a cleft palate and was going to the "Special Care" Nursery, which is the NICU (his lip is fine, which is why no one saw it earlier). I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My whole body went numb. Then the tears started. I was so scared, angry, confused. How did this happen? Was it my fault? What would this mean for his future? I turned the lights out and cried. Brian remained calm, and tried to console me as best he could, but I was very upset. I know he was too, but he kept it together for me.

It wasn't until around 11:30 p.m. that we actually saw the doctor that admitted Parker to the NICU. He explained Parker's condition and what we may be looking at for the future and some information about the Special Care Nursery. I have to admit I remember little of what he said, I was so shell-shocked and upset. I do remember the doctor saying these babies have a really hard time eating/feeding because part of the roof of the mouth is missing, creating problems forming a good suction on the breast or bottle. In retrospect, that was quite an understatement.

On Tuesday evening, Dr. Burstein from Atlanta Plastics came to see Parker. Dr. Burstein is affiliated with Scottish Rite's Cranio-Facial Center, and does the majority of their surgeries. He has an excellent reputation and is considered to be the best for this type of surgery in the southeast, so at least in dealing with this problem we are in the right place, thankfully. He examined Parker and thought he looked really strong. When Dr. Burstein checked Parker's mouth, he pushed his tongue against the tongue depressor and yelled. The doctor said this was a good sign, because babies with clefts tend to have "floppy" tongues which can obstruct their airway. Parker's tongue is not floppy, so luckily he doesn't have this problem. Dr. Burstein talked to us for a while and explained what he thought happened with Parker and his cleft. He believes Parker has what is called "Pierre Robin" Sequence (looks like the bird, but is pronounced "roban"). In Pierre Robin, somewhere between six and twelve weeks gestation when the facial bones are forming, the baby tucks the chin to the chest and stays there, possibly getting the chin stuck between the collarbones. This pushes the chin back and the tongue up into the roof of the mouth, blocking the palate from being able to close together. Parker's cleft is the exact size and shape of his tongue. They will still do genetic testing to rule out a genetic problem, but the doctor thinks this is likely what happened with Parker. He said in some babies they need to do surgery when they are about a week old (!) called a mandibular distraction to lengthen the jaw to help with breathing. Luckily, he did not believe Parker needs this surgery and prefers to see how his jaw grows on its own. He would like Parker to be followed at Scottish Rite's Cranio-Facial Center and their feeding clinic, then he would have surgery to repair his cleft at around 9 months old. He said after surgery most babies make a full recovery and needs very little follow-up after that. I felt a lot better after talking to Dr. Burstein.

We started out in the 2nd floor NICU, where we were from Monday night the 30th through Saturday night, then we were moved to the 7th floor NICU on Saturday night, where we have been ever since. The 7th floor NICU is a transitional unit where babies go that are not quite as critical and are on their way home. It is so much nicer upstairs! We're working with physical/occupational therapy every day until Parker figures out how to feed from the bottle. The special bottle he uses is called a "Haberman Feeder". It's a bottle that requires very little suction to get milk out, but he's still having a hard time with it. He needs to take in 50 cc's (1.69 oz) every three hours in order to gain weight, and right now he usually takes in around 20cc's and gets so tired he just poops out on us and goes to sleep. We also only have 30 minutes to feed him, then we have to stop because at that point he's probably expending more energy and burning more calories than what he is taking in. Wish I had that problem. I've also been working with the lactation nurses here at Northside to see if he will also be able to nurse some as well. In the meantime, I'm permanently tethered to a breast pump every. three. hours. Good times, people, good times.

The bottle feeding and nursing have both been very slow going, which is why we are still here. Right now, he tries to take a bottle two to four times per day, and the other feedings he gets through tube. He's never finished a whole bottle, and when he doesn't, the remainder of the bottle also gets fed by tube. The important thing is that he is gaining weight. He was 6 lbs., 11 oz. at birth, then lost a few ounces and weighed 6 lbs, 5 oz. As of last night he weighed 6 lbs., 9 oz., so we're almost back to birth weight. They want him back there by the time he's two weeks old, so he has two more days to gain two more ounces-come on buddy, you can do it!

The doctor that has been seeing him here in the hospital has started to talk about sending us home with tube feedings, which terrifies me because the feeding tube has to be changed every three days, and they expect us to do it. We watched the nurse do it last night, and I can tell you I want no part of it. This is something that I will probably have to leave up to his Dad.

Well, I think that should bring everyone up to date - now I'll try to post a little update every day so everyone knows how he's doing as well as a few photos here and there. Please pray for Parker's feedings and growth, for Mommy and Daddy's sanity, and that he can make it home with us soon. I have now been in this hospital for 13 days, and most days I'm here for 10-12 hours. I just can't bear to leave him for much longer than going home at night to sleep, and even that's hard for me to do.

We're going to be able to give him a bath tonight, which I'm really excited about. Hopefully I'll have some photos to post later.

Happy Birthday Parker Brian!

My nurse came in around 8:30 and started me on the Pitocin to get my contractions started. She hooked me up to the IV and we were off. I hung out all morning having some pretty uncomfortable contractions. Around 11:30 I was squeezing Brian's hand pretty hard and was starting to be in a good amount of pain. My midwife came to check on me and found I was dilated to 4 centimeters, so she went ahead and ordered my epidural. Thankfully, the anesthesiologist showed up pretty quickly. Now don't get me wrong, getting an epidural is no fun, but the relief after you are done - shew... Well worth it! Brian stayed with me and I think this time I just about squeezed his hand right off his arm!

I hung out for the rest of the afternoon, numb as can be - it was absolutely lovely. Around 3:45 I started feeling contractions again really low and some pressure, so the nurse called my midwife in to check on me. I was so surprised when she said I was 9 1/2 centimeters! It was showtime baby!

Now you need to understand that my labor and delivery with Peyton was a nightmare - complete with 27 hours of labor, 4 solid hours of pushing and a post-partum hemorrhage. I was also stuck at 4 centimeters dilated for about 8-10 hours before I started to progress again with him. This could not have been more different!

My midwife came in and told me we were going to shoot for 20 minutes of pushing max, and that we were not going to have any of this four-hour stuff, which was fine by me. Well... it took two pushes and we were done - he was here! Now that's the way a delivery should be! He was beautiful, just perfect, and looks just like his Daddy! I couldn't believe how much hair he has - brown with what looks like blonde highlights all through it, just the way his Dad's hair looks at the end of summer. The shape of his hairline is the same as his Dad's as well - complete with the same cowlicks. Genetics are so fascinating.

Parker was born at 4:15 p.m., weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs, 11 ozs., and was 18 1/2inches long. I was so surprised he was that small given the misery he had caused me the past couple of months, and I expected him to be much longer given the fact that his Dad is so tall.

In a matter of minutes everyone was in the room, and Parker got to meet his Big Brother, Uncle, Aunt and Grammy. I couldn't have asked for a better labor and delivery. We are so blessed and so happy he's finally here!

Ready or Not...

Yesterday morning when I took my blood pressure, wait...back up... Last Wednesday at my regular check-up, my midwife was a bit concerned about the sudden increase in my blood pressure. Now you should know that my blood presure normally runs around 100-105/60-65. Last Wednesday it was 120/80. She told me to continue to monitor it over the next several days and come back in on Monday.

I took it at work Thursday and Friday and at home through the weekend on our small battery-operated machine, and it kept going up, even though I did absolutely nothing over the weekend but sit in the recliner with my feet up. On yesterday morning, it was 131/96 - quite high for me, so I decided to call my doctor's office. They had me come into the hospital for labwork and monitoring, and decided to keep me and induce me this morning. I was surprised but very excited, I am so ready to meet my new little man!

They started me on a medication called Cervadil last night to help the induction process get started, then this morning they will start me on Pitocin to get my contractions started - oh, yea. I'm already in pain and have had about an hours worth of sleep all night. When they start the Pitocin there had better be an anesthesiologist close behind... Maybe then I can get some sleep. Why is it that you never sleep in the hospital and they have the most uncomfortable beds ever???

So... sometime today we should get to meet our new little boy! I'm excited, but also pretty nervous. Will post more later!

Peyton's First Tee-Ball Game

Today was Peyton's first tee-ball game. He looked so cute in his uniform, and he did so well. He managed to even make contact with a pitched ball! He scored twice, but his team lost 10-9.

Baby Face

Yesterday we went to have a 4D Ultrasound so we could get a better look at our little Valentine. I may be a bit biased, but I think he's quite adorable. We are doing very well, with only 8 more (or a little less, God please make it a little less) to go!