Latest Update

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. By the time I run around all day, do house stuff and Micah stuff, time has flown by. And being at the hospital a few times a day, by the time I get back from the hospital in the evening. I am wiped out. Excuse any errors. :)

Need to tell you about my EXPERIMENT. When I was at the hospital, I decided to pump as it had been a couple hours since Isaiah's feeding. Then I had an epiphany. I thought that if the pump is supposed to mimic a baby's sucking pattern, I should be able to visually see how much is coming out at certain time frames. So I started by seeing how much I got at 1 minute (during and right after let-down). Then I checked how long it took me to get to 20-25cc. Once the bottles were full, I stopped pumping and switched those out with some other ones. I started over doing the same thing. The purpose with the initial pumping was to see that if I didn't pump prior to feeding, how long would it take for Isaiah to get his full feed, or half or 10cc. Then when I took a break to change bottles and started up again, that would represent me nursing after I pump before hand. So I figured out that with the amount of time he was latched on and the amt of sucking, he was getting his full feeds. And when the nurse gives him extra, it was over filling his little belly. This theory was confirmed at the next feed. They check to see if he had residuals (milk left in his belly)....he did! He' is getting a full feed from me....how wonderful! It looks like I am putting my smarts to good use.

So here's the latest in a nutshell. The last several days have been good. Isaiah is nursing like he's been doing it his whole life (well, all 7wks of it.) On Sat. night, we went to dinner with our friends and had a wonderful meal and even better conversation. I really needed that. Thanks you all! We went to the hospital afterwards. We gave Isaiah a bath. Sorry, forgot the camera this time.....and batteries were actually charged! He really enjoys bath time. He lays there with his eyes closed just enjoying the warm water. He moves his feet a little and his arms. I am definitely convinced now that this will be the way to wind him down.

Prior to his bath, the nurse weighed him. He was down to 4lbs 7.9 oz OMG! He was at 4lbs 12.9 oz the night before. That was a HUGE drop. I was a little concerned and told myself I was going to talk to the Dr. in the morning about what they thought could be going on. I nursed at midnight and stayed there a little while. I didn't get home until about 2am. When I did get in, Antwan was still awake. I told him I was exhausted and I had fallen asleep up at the hospital. I just get so comfortable in that rocker while I watch Isaiah sleep. He said, "Why didn't you just stay up there?" That caught me off guard. I didn't even know that was an option. I think he just wants me to get a good night's sleep. I think I've only had a total of 3 good sleep nights since I delivered. I couldn't stay up there anyway. I still have my baby at home that I need to be with.

So today, I got a call from the Pediatrician. She was calling to introduce herself as she was notified that Isaiah would be her patient and went up to get her first glimpse of the necessary care. The funny thing is that she already knows us. She's Micah's Pedi. When I told her that my son sees you, she stopped and asked if he had a different last name. I said yes and that mine was hyphenated. She started to remember. It threw her off because they go by my last name in the NICU (Holliday-Piggott) but just use Holliday, they were calling Isaiah Baby Holliday. This was throwing her for a loop.....but she gets is now. She will be up several times a week to get updated on his condition and filled in on appropriate care.

When I was up at the hospital earlier in the day, Dr. Holcomb stopped me and gave me an update on Isaiah. He said the specialist was going to look at Isaiah to see how his pulmonary hypertension was doing. He also said they were thinking of giving him lasic's daily but his sodium was low and they needed to do something for that. They plan to increase his calories from 20 to 24. The Dr's are also concerned about his respiratory condition. He seems to be breathing heavier....labored breathing. Not sure if he's working too hard at nursing or if something else is going on. Could be from the pulmonary hypertension. Also, he said he contacted Dr. Schrop again about the hernia surgery and asked him to speak with a pediatric anesthesiologist to see if it is a possibility to give Isaiah an epidural to do his surgery instead of being put on a vent. He has yet to hear back from Dr. Schrop.

This evening when I went up, I ran into Val the Nurse Practitioner. She gave me another update. The specialist did a scan of Isaiah's lungs to see if the pulmonary hypertension had gotten any better. It hasn't There's been no change. DANG IT! They will be doubling his Silidefyn (Viagra) to see if it helps. If not, they are wondering if he will need to go back on the INO. Geez...I thought we were waaaaaay past that. His sodium is pretty low so they are giving him a sodium supplement for the next couple days to see if that helps. Once the Na is up, they will start lasic's daily. She also mentioned to me that he basically hasn't grown over the last two weeks and that is a concern. It could be that he needs more calories. As I mentioned earlier, they are increasing that from 20 to 24. Hopefully this will help. If not, I may have to stop nursing and give him fortified milk instead.

I could see this as the giant step back from all the forward momentum we've had. But I actually see it more like we were on an escalator and it just stopped completely. We are just going to continue to pray that he gets better. He is doing well right now, but he still has some pretty serious hurdles to still get over.

"GOD, please keep watching over my baby. Touch his spirit and heal his body from the hurt and pain. In Jesus Name I pray. AMEN"