First Day of First Grade

Can you believe my Bubs is in First Grade?!?  Where has the time gone? Mr. Man is so ready to learn and grow.  He is in a sweet little class and has the best teacher ever...his Mama!  I am so blessed to have my own son in my class this year.  It's going to be a great year!

Two Months Old - Ava

Can you believe my Little Miss is already two months old?  She is such an amazing addition to our family...I think I wrote that last month.  It is hard to remember what life was like without her.

Ava still has red, curly hair and blue eyes.  She is a great eater {transitioning from every two hours to every three} and is growing like a weed.  I continue to avoid all dairy and soy and Ava seems to be thriving. 

Ava's current stats are:

Weight:  12 pounds 2 ounces
Height:  24 inches

You can check out Noah's two month picture here.  It's amazing to see how far my Bubs has come!

 

Another Trip to Los Angeles

We got up early, very early this morning and headed down south for Noah's eye procedure. We arrived at Children's Hospital Los Angeles at 5:45 a.m. and Noah was prepped for the procedure. He was NOT happy with his choice of hospital gown...it was way too big and had funny ties on the back.
The nurses took Noah back to the operating room and Dr. Song hooked electrodes to his head while lights flashed over his right eye. Dr. Song was able to determine that Noah's right eye is non-functioning. The doctor will be consulting plastic surgeons over the next few weeks to make a decision about the next course of action. We were relieved to learn, however, that Noah's left eye is doing well. Dr. Song has advised us to slowly discontinue the use of his eye drops - what a joy.
When Noah was in recovery, Kc and I were allowed to see him. He was quite sleepy but VERY happy to see us. After about an hour of waking up we were allowed to leave. We met up with my dear friend Robyn (of Team Noah shirt fame) and had a wonderful lunch full of great conversation. It was the fuel we needed for the long trip home.

We moved again

Today was a pretty good day for Noah. He had his Upper GI test in the morning and we should have the results of that tomorrow. I was able to feed him from a bottle at his 3:00 p.m. feeding. Nana was there to cheer him on and he drank 27 ml but managed to spit up twice. If he cannot learn to bottle feed, the doctors told me I will need to learn how to put in an NG tube (the tube that goes from his nose to his stomach). There is a reason that I became a teacher and not a nurse. I told Noah that I did not want to be putting any tubes down his nose and that suctioning out his trach is hard enough as it is. We had a big discussion about keeping his food down, and Noah promised me he would think about it.Late in the afternoon, Noah moved to another room. He was transferred from Room 1 to Family Care West. It is a larger room with more babies. We were told by the nurses that he is now "one step closer to going home".It is quite an ordeal to move NICU babies around. Noah has six wires/tubes connected from his little body to different monitors in the room. When he moves, all of those wires/tubes need to be disconnected from the old monitors and reconnected to new monitors in the new room. It's a good thing he's such a little guy in a big crib, notice the "mess" he has around him. We received a "care package" in the mail yesterday from our good friends Robyn and Ira. They included some treats for Kc and I as well as the cutest "Team Noah" shirts for the three of us. Noah will have to grow a bit to fit into his, but I was able to smuggle it into the NICU for a picture. Thanks so much you guys!

One Week and Counting

It is hard to believe that one week ago, Noah was born. This week has perhaps been the longest week of our lives. The ups and downs are becoming less jarring as we take two steps forward and one step back.

Last night, after his midnight feeding, Noah had some acid reflux and aspirated a bit of his milk into his lungs. After a chest x-ray, the doctor was concerned that his lungs did not look as developed as they had first thought. He has been put on oxygen (the green tube covering his "nose") with the possibility that it will be pressurized later on.
After pulling out his OG tube (the tube that leads down his throat to his stomach) for the fifth time, the nurses decided he just didn't like it gagging him constantly (how intuitive of them). They changed it to a NG tube (going from his nose down his throat). He seems to tolerate that much better. To help with his acid reflux, Noah is feeding much slower (only 3 ml every hour) and is given some meds. Unfortunately, this means he will not be bottle feeding any time soon. Kc and I were hoping that we could start feeding him in the next few days, but that dream will have to wait.

Both Kc and I suctioned Noah again today. This suctioning involves taking serile gloves, putting them on in such an exact way that they remain sterile, connecting a long, sterile tube to a pump and then putting it down his trach. You must slowly, but not too slowly, twirl the tube as you pull it out of his trach, hopefully taking lots of goo along with it. Because Noah cannot breathe with the tube down his trach, he does not like being suctioned. It typically takes one of us to hold him still while the other suctions. He is suctioned about every four hours, depending on how "junky" he sounds. We are learning to listen to him breathe and determine when suctioning is needed.
Tomorrow, we should have some results from the voiding cystogram (pee test) and spinal ultrasound that were done today. Once again, we cannot thank you all enough for your love, prayers and support. We feel as though we have been out of touch for so long. Our days are spent morning to night in the NICU. This blog allows us to keep everyone in the loop without multiple phone calls. What started out as a way to share thoughts and pictures with out of town family members has grown into a phenomenon known as "Team Noah". Our little man has touched our lives and reinforced our faith. We are humbled to know that his story has touched so many of you. THANK YOU!!!!!