Carter is puffy

:) That just sounds funny. He has been retaining fluid yesterday and today so he is looking very puffy. His little feet look like Fred Flinstone feet! Poor little guy. They are tweaking his fluids but it appears they will have to give him something to help flush the fluids out, but first he needs to stop holding it in his soft tissue. Tonight he is getting some more blood. This is his fourth transfusion. He had a good IV line in his arm, but of course it went bad last night so they had to stick him again in his foot. He will get platelettes tonight also. He is so little it is hard to get IVs in him and we just hate that they have to stick him all the time.

As for the house. It seems that God has sent us two angels in our lives to watch over us. We will be moving after all. It is truly a miracle.

You've got to be kidding me

I'll start out with telling you about Carter today. He looked really good. He was very tired, but he had a busy day. He had a belly xray, a visit from the physical therapist and of course they poked on him during rounds so by the time I saw him this morning/afternoon he was tuckered out. He slept most of the time I was there. He did give me some eyeballs, well mainly just one. (When he opens his eyes I say his giving me eyeballs) He didn't flip out quite as much when we were changing his diaper and stuff. They've decided to keep treating him for NEC just in case. He'll stay on antibiotics and off feeds for 4 more days. He won't be gaining as much weight so I'll update you on that in about a week or so.

As for us, our buyer backed out of the contract today. It was for something totally stupid but there isn't really anything we can do. I am devestated. I had found my true dream house, bid and got an amazing deal and now we are back at square one. Our house has been on the market since July and I am starting to think I am going to have to live here for the rest of my life :(

Tuesday

Carter had a pretty good day today. His belly xrays are still coming back good and they don't think he has NEC. (a nasty infection in preemies) He is still off feeds and just recieving IV fluid but HOPEFULLY since he most likely doesn't have NEC he'll get back on the feedings soon. Carter was showing off again today. He was wide awake while Mom and Grandma were visiting. He has a new attending Dr. now who he apparantly likes b/c he gave him a thumbs up while he was talking about Carter!

Another day of up and down.

"They" say that having a baby in the NICU is like being on a roller coaster. It's all ups and downs. That couldn't be more true. Today Carter was doing ok. He is still having trouble with his glucose but nothing too bad. Then tonight he has a problem with a bloody stool. They did a film and so far nothing to cause alarm. They are checking blood cultures and have started antibiotics just to be safe. They've stopped his feeds and he is now only on IV fluid. It is so hard for us to watch these ups and downs.

Sunday

Well, what a day. Carter got to meet his Great Grandma and Grandpa today. He was very excited to meet them. I think he might have been shy b/c he started showing off for Grandma and Grandpa after they left! He had a good day today. They are trying to get him totally off the IV fluids. He is still having issues with his glucose levels (sugar). They are trying to add calories to his breastmilk to help make up the difference so they don't have to give him the extra sugar through the IV. Hopefully his little body will get the hang of it soon and he can be totally off the IV> They also did an xray of his belly to make sure everything was looking good, it was. :)

The Results Are In...

and no real change from last week. That is good and bad, good b/c he brain isn't swelling, bad, b/c he still has a level four bleed on his brain (the highest classification). To be honest I don't think we've completely internalized the results. There is always the chance that he will be perfectly fine, babies are very resilient and find ways to heal themselves. The reality is that with this level of bleeding it is higly likely he will have some form of Cerbreal Palsy. How bad, we won't know until he starts missing milestons like sitting up, crawling, walking. Keep praying for Carter. God works in mysterious ways.

Carter is big stuff!

Tonight Carter weighed in at 606 grams. That is 1lb 5.5 ounces. He was doing great tonight. He had to have another blood transfusion earlier today. He is doing well with his feedings. He is at something crazy like 3.4 mls or something. It's on odd number on account of the IV fluids he is getting to help regulate his sodium and glucose levels. He is getting the equivalant of like one teaspoon every two hours. We won't get the result of his ultrasound until tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Carter busted out!

:) Carter busted out of his isollette today! I got to take him out and hold him for he first time. He looks a lot larger in this picture than he really is. Trust me, it's all blanket! It was so fun to hold him. We had to take all his wires, tubes, and respirator with me but it was awesome!

Thursday

Carter had a great day today. Nothing really changed. He is back up to every two hours of the milk again. They are still watching his levels to make sure he doesn't have anything funky again. They are watching his sodium still and his glucose. Hopefully he'll be stable and he can keep up with the milk. Carter is 582 grams today. I didn't check but I think that still keeps him at 1 lb 4 ounces. Tomorrow is the big day. I'm not sure we'll get the results tomorrow or on Saturday. I'll let you know as soon as I know. We are praying that he'll have downgraded or even better it will disapear alltogether. I know that is pretty unrealistic but if there was ever a time to dream big I think today is the day.

Wednesday January 23rd...i think :)

Carter had a pretty good day today. His echo came back and he does have a couple small little holes in his heart but nothing big enough for them to worry about. They described them as "miniscule" so that is good! He doesn't have to go back on that medicine to close the holes so he can have milk again. The big man is up to 578 grams or 1 lb 4 ounces. He is looking better and better everyday. He was looking nice and pink today. I think the blood he recieved last night made a HUGE difference. I took some new pictures today but I still need to load them on to the computer. Carter's big day is Friday. They are doing a repeat head ultrasound. We are crossing our fingers and praying so hard that it will come back better than last week.

Tuesday Night

Carter is getting his second blood transfusion tonight. They put an IV in his arm and so he has a big splint on it to keep it in place. I don't think he likes it. He slept the entire time we were there. He opened his eyes for us a few times. We left before they weighed him tonight. He is retaining fluids and looking puffy anyway so I'm sure his weight would be a little high b/c of all the water weight.

Tuesday

Carter is doing ok today. He seems to have stablalized a little with his breathing, which is good. It is so scary to be sitting there with him and have his alarms go off all the time. He is off the milk for now. His sodium is going up but it is still down overall, the best way to fix it is through IV Fluid only. He will also probably start a medicine they gave him his first three days of life to close a hole in his heart. It seems to have opened again. (the murmur) We are awaiting his echo results to know for sure but they think that is what it is. When he takes that medcine he can't have any milk, so doubtful the our little man will be packing on the ounces as he has been. They've ordered a repeat brain ultrasound for Friday. We are PRAYING so hard that it will come back with better results than the first one.

Monday

Today was about the same. They had to decrease his feeds to 2 mls every two hours, not b/c he wasn't tolerating the milk, but b/c he had low sodium levels today. They increased his IV Fluids with sodium so they decreased the milk to allow his fluid intake to stay the same. He had the same fluctuations on his respirator again today. They also noticed a heart murmur which they think probably is what is causing the respirator issues. They will do an echocardiogram tomorrow with hopefully results back the same day. (They are going to take pictures of his ticker)

Carter is 564 grams today! Special shout out to Danielle, Becky, and Nate for helping out with the conversions. You all know it would have taken me another week to look that up! :) Tpday he is almost 1 lb 4 ounces.

Thank you to everyone who is checking up on Carter and praying for him. Luke and I are so thankful for all of you. As hard as this is on us, it would be much worse without the love and support from all of you.

oh yeah, and we sold our house today. It's funny how things happen the way they do. The same people have been putting in offers over the past week, the first of which we got the night Carter was born. Needless to say this hasn't been the best of timing, but hey, take what you can get right? We don't exactly know where we will be moving to. We've got until the end of Feb. to figure it out.

Sunday

Well, Carter is doing about the same today. They've up'd his feeds again to 4 mls every two hours. He is now getting more breastmilk than IV fluid so that is a good thing! He is still having trouble on his respirator. His settings are still good and low, but he has had a lot of secretions in his lungs that they've had to suck out. He is blowing lots of bubbles too. He opened his eyes a lot for us this evening which is good and bad. Good, b/c we love seeing our little man, bad b/c it is so hard to leave for the night when he is looking at us. His weight is now 529 grams. I promise I'll convert these to pounds/ounces here soon.

We are still really scared about what his future will bring. Please keep praying for him every day as hard as you can.

One more post today, just for good measure

In case you haven've figured it out yet this blog is kind of like therapy for me. I'll be using it to not only update you on Carter, but to help gather my thoughts and feelings on the day. Today pretty much just sucked. That is the only way I can describe it. Luke and I went back up to see our little man this evening and I just sat there and cried in disbelief about him being born so soon, so little, and now that he could have developmental delays/impairments. When you have a child you have so many hopes and dreams for them, to have them come crashing down in such a short time is devastating. Luke and I have chosen to believe that Carter is going to be ok. We've decided that he is going to come through this with flying colors and no one will be any the wiser of what he dealt with in the begining stages of life. We pray to God to help for all the above things and know that he will see Carter through this.

Carter's weight today 510 grams. Don't ask me to convert that b/c I have no clue. I also do not remember how much he weighed yesterday BUT it was like 4oo something so whatever, he is gaining big time! :) He is up to 3 mls every 2 hours now...soon I won't be able to keep up!

With the good comes the bad...

Well we got the results of his ultrasound today and they were not good. He has bleeding in the area of his brain that controls motor function. This will affect his ability to walk, and feed himself among other things. This is a wait and see thing so we don't have any other information right now. Please pray for Carter.

Day of Life Seven!

That is how the Carter's Doctors refer to today so I will use that and call it a medical term. Carter is doing good today! We are awaiting results of his head ultrasound that was done yesterday. We were worried his billi levels were going back up and he'd be back under the lights sporting his shades BUT his levels went back down so no more sunglasses for now at least!

Carter has a feeding tube that leads straight to his belly. He is now geting 2mls every 2 hours. He is big stuff! They've doubled his feedings the last three days in a row b/c he has been tolerating the breastmilk so well.

They had to turn up the settings on his vent today. (how he breathes) The numbers are still low and they aren't concerend. The little guy just needed a little more help breathing last night/today. The nurses told me usually they have to up the settings on day 3 or 4 so since he made it until day seven that is good.

Carter is a little fighter. We love him so much already. I'm on my way to visit him here in about an hour and then Luke and I will go up and see him later on tonight. We like to visit him when they do his "care" b/c we get to change his diaper and help with changing his linens etc. Ok that's all for now! I'll try to update daily...no promises. My little guy is keeping me busy and he isn't even home yet!

Introduction

Luke and I thought we would start this blog to keep everyone updated on Carter. We are so fortunate to have so many friends and family who care about us and we want to make sure you all are up to date on how he is doing. Love, Tiffany and Luke