Elf Attack

A six year old Paulding County boy is recovering from an apparent attack by one of Santa's elves. Jonathan Arwood, who resides in Dallas with his parents and three siblings, received "The Elf on the Shelf" book and elf on Friday of last week. The elf is said to stay with a family for the Christmas season. During this time he "watches" the kids during the day and will then fly to the North Pole every night to report to Santa. Jonathan was very excited although apprehensive about the presence of this elf.

As part of the tradition the elf was to be named, and the Arwood family decided on the name Elfis. One of the important rules to be followed while hosting Elfis is that he must not be touched, or he will lose his magic and not be able to return to Santa. Heather Arwood, the victims mother, describes the events as they unfolded. "Jonathan was already very nervous about having the elf in our home. He was innocently playing in front of the entertainment center where Elfis was perched on the top. All of a sudden Elfis appeared to leap off the top of the shelf and land on Jonathan's head. Jonathan, knowing that the elf could not be touched, was terrified. He screamed and jumped onto the couch. I was trying to figure out how to get the elf back on the shelf while Jonathan continued to scream and the poor elf was laying lifeless on the floor. I finally checked on the website and was able to convince Jonathan that it would be ok for me to pick up Elfis with a blanket and place him back in his spot on the shelf. It was horrible, imagine seeing your child attacked by something that was supposed to bring him joy." The mother states that Jonathan is now scared to be in the room alone with Elfis and has become obsessed with the elf.

The victim sustained no physical injury, although the full extent of his emotional trauma will not be known until a psychiatric evaluation is completed. The parents have set up an account for anyone who wishes to donate to Jonathan's future therapy bills. Phone calls to Santa for comment have not been returned.

Breakfast with Santa

Every year Jonathan's school has a breakfast with Santa where you can get your pic made with Santa, make some crafts, oh yeah, and have breakfast. Well this year we made quite a scene! We had just gotten there and had the two youngest in the double stroller. I had taken the big kids across the cafeteria to the cookie decorating station. Now keep in mind the cafeteria was very crowded and LOUD! While I was getting the kids seated I heard Justin's monitor go off. I looked across the cafeteria and saw Nate get up and start to mess with Justin. I expected the alarm to stop any second. Well, it just kept going and going and going. . . After about 10 to 12 sec I started walking toward them. Another lady got to Nate before I did, and it turns out she was a respiratory therapist and "recognized" the sound. By the time I got to him the alarm stopped. Seriously, it was his longest alarm ever!! Remember, the alarm won't stop until you fix the problem with the baby. Normally some mild stimulation usually gets him going, but not this time! Nate said that Justin was very pale and moving his head from side to side. Nate rubbed Justin's face and chest, and was in the process of unbuckling him when the alarm stopped. Once the alarm stopped and I looked around I could tell everyone around was looking at us. Oh well, I made no apologies!!! Justin seemed fine afterward. Once he got woken up enough he was looking at us like "what, did I do that?"

So here are a few pic of the day. Jase just LOVED Santa, not!

Jase with his Santa hat, right before the big alarm.

Poor Jase, why do we do this to our kids!

Jase was begging to be rescued!

The kids asked for all kinds of things from Santa. You know, things they hadn't put on the original list, things that santa can't get now. We are going back over the original list and reminding them how much they wanted those things!

Justin at 11 wks

I took a few (about 75) pics of Justin. I was trying out my new photo backdrops and wanted to get a pic of Justin in the blue outfit. The little blue outfit is the same one that Jonathan and Jase wore for their first pictures at about this same age. Justin is getting big! At his last appt he weighed 10 lb 2 oz. I sing a little song to him. "Chunky man, chunky man, what are they feeding you." And yes, it is to the tune of "Smelly cat"!!

Little man in his "hand me down" outfit!

His hair looks so red in this picture! Its so cute! Jase's hair also looked red at this age, then changed to brown. I wonder what Justin's will do?!?

Sweet baby face! I could just eat him up!

Cutest feet ever, and I don't like feet!

Holding Mommy's thumb.

We are so blessed to have Justin in our lives! Alarms and all!

I'm soooo behind . . .

I'm so ashamed. I have been so slack in updating the blog. I will try to catch up quick!

So, Thanksgiving. We had a great week. The kids were out of school that week and we managed to get a lot of decorating for Christmas done. Justin was sick that week, but it did not result in any increased alarms or a hospital visit, thank goodness! We had Thanksgiving breakfast on Saturday before with Nate's family, it was good! Then on Thanksgiving day we went to Cumming for Thanksgiving with the extended family. The food was great and it was good to see everyone. Then after a fun day of Black Friday shopping with Mom and Krista we went to the Wynn family Thanksgiving. Here are a few pics from Thanksgiving Day.

Jase doing his stunts with Marc.

Jonathan and his baby brother Justin.

How many pictures does it take. . ., in this case about 15!

Angela and Malachi, cute!

It's always like pulling teeth to get a picture of everyone!

Here is our update . . .

I know, I know, I am way behind on my posts. After Justin got home last Sunday we have spent the past week trying to recover. I will give a quick update on the whole family!

Justin: doing good! Of course we are watching him very close and analyzing every little symptom. He has had some congestion with mild cough, not sure if this is left over from the first virus, or something new. He has to stay home most of the time. No crowds, and no sick people are allowed to visit. We are trying to keep the other kids out of his face as much as possible, especially since they can't seem to stay healthy! He has not had any alarms this week, except for one apnea alarm today. Nana was keeping him when it happened. He was asleep, but we are hoping maybe it was a false alarm. I plan to get a monitor download this week, so we will find out then. Justin has his 2 month check up on Wednesday!

This picture was of him getting a bath while in the hospital. He had an IV in his head so we put this little hat on him to help it stay in place. This was on Friday night before he went home on Sunday. You can see that he was feeling sooo much better!

Jase: getting into more and more trouble every day! My sweet, quiet little boy has turned into an active, almost 2 yr old tantrum throwing boy. His favorite thing to do is climb on top of the kitchen table while I am feeding Justin. He also has learned how to climb the baby gates I have all over the house. I'll be feeding Justin and all of a sudden I will hear little feet running around upstairs! Of course, he is usually just going to his room to get his paci and "ki-ki" (his silkie). And he has started the fall in the floor, screaming thing. It's really hard not to laugh! I want to get his "mean" look in a picture. He gives that look when he is getting in trouble, or when he just doesn't know what else to do. It is too funny!

Jase and Mommy!! He was making his "cheeeeeeessssseee" face. I can't even get the camera out of the bag without him making this face!

Jessi: had a great birthday! She had a lot of fun at her party with all her friends. Most of her presents were either princess/barbie or horses, which she loves!!!! She is getting sick again. She seems to keep a yucky nose the whole winter. She will be going for her 5 yr check up on Wed (same day as Justin) so we will see what the doctor says she needs. She is doing great in school. She loves to learn. The other day she wrote her numbers from 1 to 100 all by herself. She knows all her sight words from school and loves to write her letters. She is a sweet little girl and loves her family!

Jessi and Nana. We're still not sure who Jessi looks like. Any ideas?

Jonathan: is sick right now. He had a fever of 102 today and is complaining of a sore throat. He said he thinks he has "strap throat". I figure we will be going to the doctor on Monday. He just finished his soccer season and had his party today. The party was at a park and it was freezing!! We only stayed for about 45 minutes. Jonathan is doing great in school. He is reading more and more every day. He loves that he can sit down and read a book by himself. He got straight A's on his report card and made the honor roll. I had a hard time explaining to him what that was. He didn't understand how he was "on" the honor roll. When he found out it was just a list of names out in the hallway he was not impressed. He is a great big brother and loves his family!

Jonathan and Alex at Jessi's party.

Nate and I just do our best to keep up! I wish we had as much energy as the kids! We are so blessed! Now, we just have to keep the youngest Arwood out of the hospital.

Great day for Justin

I am back at the hospital after being gone last night and today for Jessi's party. Justin is doing great! He has been off the oxygen since 8:30 this morning! He had 2 low heart rate alarms early on but nothing since then. He stayed with Nana and slept good and ate really good. Then Granna came to stay for a while and he did the same for her. I am hoping he will sleep good tonight for mommy, and behave so we can get out of here! His IV did come out today so instead of trying to restart it the doctor ordered Rocephin shots for today and tomorrow. If all goes well we should be headed home tomorrow around 5 pm!! I am very excited, and I know if Justin could talk he would agree!

Now we just have to see how the next few months go. The doctor recommended that we not take Justin to any public places for at least a month. This includes shopping places and church. I also have to turn into a paranoid, germaphobic mom and say that no one who is sick is allowed to visit the house. I will also be standing guard over Justin with a bottle of hand sanitizer for anyone who wants to touch him. I know, it may sound excessive, but watch your baby stop breathing and struggle to take a breath and then we'll talk. I have never been one to sit at home, I like to get out of the house, but I guess I will have to adjust. The cold/flu/RSV season isn't really that long, right? Oh, who am I kidding? It's going to be a long boring winter. But I will gladly do it for my little Justin, it's a small price to pay.

Thanks to everyone that has been praying for Justin, again. Nate and I joked that he is such a dramatic little guy! I hope he's not one of those that whenever he doesn't get his way he holds his breath. We figure he is already competing with his big brother Jase. I can just hear him saying "Oh yeah, so you had 2 surgeries, well I stopped breathing. I can cause more problems than you can." Hopefully my two youngest will find something else to compete over as they get older. I'm thinking soccer or baseball is sounding good. Anyway, I know Justin has been on so many prayer lists all over the country since he has been born. I wish I could thank everyone personally, it just means so much to know that people care enough to offer up a prayer. I have no doubt that we have experienced the grace of God over the last 8 weeks, and pray that He continues to give us and Justin His covering and grace to get through the rest of the winter with no more illness. Thanks again! We love you all!

Not much change

I don't have any real new info to post on Justin today. He is still on oxygen. We tried a trial last night of taking him off the O2, and he didn't cooperate. He started threatening to have some true apnea spells by taking 10 - 15 sec pauses in breathing. His O2 sats, which stayed at 100% while on oxygen, began dipping in the 80's. So, back on the oxygen. Doctor said his body is just not ready yet to go without the oxygen, and we can't force him. Little Justin gets to call the shots, and right now he is saying he wants oxygen! So, oxygen he gets and mommy gets to stay at the hospital longer!

Tonight I am going home for some much needed sleep. Nana Sue is coming to stay with Justin through the night and Granna will come tomorrow to stay while I have Jessi's birthday party at Jump for Joey. I'll be back to my little man tomorrow night and hopefully he will be without the extra oxygen and behaving himself. Right now he wants to eat, so I will update tomorrow!

Keep Justin in your prayers!

Trying to wean off of oxygen . . .

Justin had a pretty good day. Right now it is 1 am and we are trying a trial of him being off the oxygen. So far he is not cooperating. Within about 20 min of turning it off he started having long pauses in his breathing and his oxygen sats were dropping to around 84 - 85 %. So, we are giving him another 30 min or so to see if he will level out, but the doctor orders say that he has to maintain his oxygen sats above 92% so I think he will be going back on the oxygen soon. Maybe we will try again tomorrow when I'm not trying to sleep and the alarm is going off every few minutes. We also had trouble with his IV again tonight, but were finally able to get the midnight dose of antibiotics to work. If this IV goes out they are thinking about doing a PICC line, but I am really praying that we can either hold on to this IV or maybe find another vein that will work for just a few more days. I just feel like a PICC line is a little to invasive for just a few more days of antibiotics. I'll update again tomorrow, or today since it is technically already tomorrow. Sigh . . . I have got to get some sleep, I'm not making any sense!

Happy Birthday Jessi Sue!!!

My baby girl turned 5!!! I can't believe she is 5 yrs old now. I remember when she was born, and the first thing I noticed was that cute little dimple in her cheek. She is the sweetest girl and loves to be mommy's helper and daddy's princess. She has no problem being the princess in a family full of boys and she also has no problem keeping them in line. I think Jonathan is actually scared of her! I posted a few pics of my favorite little girl in the world. She gets more beautiful every day! I dread her teen years. We have already told her she can't leave the house until she is 30, so I figure I have a good 25 yrs of her being my sweet baby girl!

Happy Birthday Princess, We love you!!!!

Justin's Daily Update

Time for another update! Today Justin was moved to a room in the acute care unit. Basically that is a unit in between the ICU and the regular floor. He is still on oxygen with the high flow and is maintaining his oxygen well. He is on antibiotics and will be until Sunday night. The doctor said that the original lab work was suspicious for a bacterial infection and he responded so well to the antibiotics that she "doesn't have the guts" to take him off the antibiotics until at least a 7 day course is completed. He seems more alert today and doesn't seem to be as uncomfortable as he was before. We will soon start weaning off the oxygen and he will have to be off oxygen for 48 hrs with no apnea or drop in heart rate before he can go home. So little man, you have a lot of work to do!! He is eating well, and hopefully we can get back to breastfeeding in the next day or so. He was just too tired out earlier on to be able to breastfeed.

So, all in all, he is doing well. Now it is just a time thing to see how things progress. At the earliest we are looking at Monday for discharge, and that is if he behaves himself!! Come on Justin, I know you can do it!!

Here are a couple of pics. Even with the tubes/IV he is still sooo cute!

That is his IV in his head. Hopefully that one will hold up for a while, he doesn't have any good veins left!

Still in ICU

Justin is still in ICU. He had a decent night, only a couple of short apneas/ low heart rates with a decrease in oxygen saturation. They had to increase the oxygen flow late yesterday afternoon because his oxygen level kept dropping. Once he stops having these spells while on the oxygen then he will be moved to a regular room to start the process of trying to wean him off the high flow oxygen. This process could take around 5 days, sometimes as much as a week. At least a regular room will be a little more private and comfortable for me.

I will update more later!

Here we are again

I should be posting pics of Halloween, but no, I am posting about Justin being in the hospital. I think he just likes having his own nurse taking care of his every need 24 hrs a day! I tried to explain to him that he has that at home, but I guess he likes it better here. I'll try to make a long story short. It started Friday night when he wouldn't take but 1 oz of his normal 4 oz bottle. Didn't think too much of it. Around 2:45 Sat morn he had the first of 4 apnea alarms over the next 4 hrs. We got a monitor download that confirmed they were real events and headed out the door to the doctor. He was diagnosed with a cold and we were instructed to "wait and see" if he got worse. From 11:40 on Saturday afternoon until 8:30 am on Sunday he got worse. After a night of no sleep and watching his every breath, or lack of breath, I called in to get another monitor download. This showed 27 true events, most of them apnea that lead to low heart rate. The longest spell was no breathing for 27 seconds. Yes, 27 seconds, try to hold your breath for 27 secs to get a clear picture of exactly how long that is! (Thank God he is on this monitor) This time we packed up, made a few calls for childcare and headed out the door to the ER at Scottish Rite. We were taken straight back to a room (they don't let babies who stop breathing sit in the waiting room) and saw a doctor in about 10 minutes. We were told he would be admitted and he was in a room by 3:45. He had 5 alarms while were were in the ER and he wasn't in his room long before he started to act up. About 10 minutes after being in his room his nurse witnessed one of the apnea spells where his heart rate dropped and he struggled to come out of it. He had really started struggling and having this strange cough sound when trying to take a breath. So the nurse called the Rapid Response Team, which includes respiratory tech and an ICU nurse along with the doctor. The decision was made that he needed to be in the ICU so he had more individual care and the set up for an emergency. We were in the ICU room by 6:30 and he got all hooked up and on oxygen. We were warned that if the oxygen didn't decrease the number of apneas, that he would have to be placed on a ventilator. Not what any parent wants to hear, even if it is the best option at the time. So, thanks to a lot of prayers, the oxygen did the trick, at least for now. He had a decent night but seems to not be responding quite as well this morning. They have had to up the oxygen flow in the last hour because he isn't maintaining his oxygen level. Doctor said to plan on being here at least 4-5 days, and more likely until next weekend. He is being test for all kinds of respiratory viruses and for pertussis. I won't get started on that, most of you know I am very pro-vaccination. I've seen babies with pertussis, one in particular that I will never be able to get out of my mind. I don't know how quickly the cough progresses with pertussis, I will have to do some research. They are actually recommending that parents get a pertussis booster. I may look into that for Nate and I. Hopefully pertussis is not what Justin has but just the thought has renewed my pro-vaccine campaign!

So for now we are here at Scottish Rite and plan to be here all week. I will be staying with him most of the time, although I may have to switch out with someone for at least one night. I need to get at least a little sleep! I know moms require little to no sleep, but I think I may even be pushing the limit of that! I will definitely be going home for a little while on Thursday because it is Jessi's birthday!! My baby girl is going to be 5 yrs old. I will also be going home some on Saturday because she has a birthday party with 20 of her closest friends planned. So this week may be crazy but we have lots of family helping and we'll just take it a day at a time. Keep Justin in your prayers. We are praying for a quick recovery and that he doesn't get any worse before he gets better.

Why they don't let 6 yr olds vote . . .

When Jonathan got home from school today I noticed that he had an "I voted" sticker on his shirt. I figured that his school must have had a mock election so I decided to ask him about it. This is how the conversation went:

"Jonathan, did you vote today at school?"

"Yes"

"Who did you vote for?"

"I can't tell you."

"Well, can you tell me what the vote was for. Tell me what you were picking something for?"

"We were picking the two new princes."

"Oh, (trying to hide my smile). Who were your choices for who was going to be the new prince?"

"The first one is John..., John McWilliams."

"John McWilliams? And who was the other one?"

"I can't remember his name, its something like. . . Obama. Yea, it was Obama."

"So which one did you vote for?"

"Obama"

"Why did you pick him?"

"I just liked his name better than John McWilliams."

And that is why I am very thankful they don't let 6 yr olds vote!! We really don't need Obama being our new Prince.

Justin's Bathtime and 1 month check up

Can you believe that Justin is 1 month old?!? This past Saturday (the 11th) was my due date, so he is officially supposed to be here now. We went for his one month check up today. He weighed 6 lb 12 oz and is 20 inches. Dr. Gaines said he looked like a normal newborn, which is what he should be now. We got a second monitor download report on Tuesday. It was basically the same as the first one. He had 47 recorded events, 9 of which were significant events. The ones that are of most concern to the doctor are the events where he had apnea and bradycardia. The lowest his heart rate got was 52 bpm and he had several apnea's of 23 - 24 seconds. He was started on Zantac on Monday for reflux. Sometimes reflux in infants can cause apnea. We are going to give it until Monday to see if he has a decrease in the number of alarms and if not we will get another download report and change to a different reflux med. We are hoping that now that he is considered a full term baby that the apnea/bradycardia will resolve on its own. Dr. Gaines did say that because he is having true apnea episodes that he will have to go at least 2 full months with NO events before he will be able to come off the monitor. I'm ok with that, as I am in no hurry to get rid of the monitor!

Here are a few pics of Justin getting his bath. He is finally starting to really enjoy his bathtime, especially his warm towels (a trick we learned in the NICU). These were taken yesterday.

Getting ready for my bath!

I'm splashing in the water!

Wrapped in my warm towel and getting my hair washed.

This isn't so bad!

A pic of Jase with his black eye! This week he got three boo-boo's, all on the same side of his face. Poor thing looked like he had been in a fight, and lost!

Update on Justin

I know, I know. I have turned into a blog slacker now! I wanted to give an update on Justin since we got some new info today. First of all, as of Wednesday our big boy weighed 6 lb 4 oz!! My wimpy boys always like to take their time gaining weight and it drives the doctors crazy! So after several visits to the Dr. for weight checks and a trip to lactation on Tuesday we are finally above birth weight and have satisfied the doctors for now.

After a day on the phone with the home health agency, and the apnea center at Egleston (a whole other story) we finally got some results from Justin's first monitor download. I have to say they were not what I was hoping for. The results covered the first 12 days that Justin was home. During that time he had 53 "episodes". These episodes are either apnea (not breathing) bradycardia (heart rate below 80) or a both. Of the 53 episodes he had 10 of what they call "significant episodes". The significant episodes involved either not breathing for more than 20 secs, or a heart rate down in the 50's or both. I think what they considered one of the worst was when he didn't breathe for 24 secs and his heart rate dropped into the mid 50's. All of the significant episodes trigger the alarm on the monitor to go off and we have to stimulate him (gently shake or rub his chest) and this makes him take a breath or his heart rate go above 80 and the alarm will stop. By the way, the only way to make the alarm stop is to correct the problem. So even though your instinct at 3 am when there is a loud shrill noise is to stop the noise, we have learned to focus our attention on Justin and get his heart rate up and breathing and the alarm will stop on its own. When he has an alarm the only change that is noticeable in Justin is that his face is pale. Once we stimulate him the color quickly returns.

So now we wait for the final report from the doctor at the apnea center along with their recommendations. Then Justin's pediatrician will decide how to proceed. We are expecting that he will be put on a medication for reflux to make sure that this is not contributing to the problem. There has also been some talk (even when he was in the NICU) of putting him on caffeine to keep his heart rate up. I think they will probably want to check the download on his monitor from this past week before they make that decision. Either way, we expect that the apnea monitor will be a part of our lives for a while. I have to say that I am very thankful that he is on the monitor. If I can just keep myself from dwelling on what could have happened if he wasn't on the monitor. I guess right now they are still thinking that this is just from being early, but I will be asking the doctor again when he goes for his one month check up on Thursday. Right now Justin is sleeping next to me on the couch while I am typing, not a care in the world. He has no idea the stress he has caused his parents since he has been born! This Sunday he will be 4 wks old!!

Keep Justin in your prayers. I will post some recent pics soon.

Jase's First Day of School!!

Jase started preschool yesterday! He had been on the waiting list at the preschool where his Aunt Krista works and last week they had a spot come open. He will be going on Tues and Thurs from 9 - 1. I was worried how he would do since he has never been away from me and the couple of times we have tried to take him to the nursery at church it has not turned out well! So on Thursday he did cry off and on but over all they said he did good. When I got there to pick him up he just said "Hey Mommy!" and continued to play. Guess he wasn't too traumatized. I think it will be good for him to get out of the house and have some time away from mommy and that new baby that is STILL at his house! What started as excitement over the new baby has now turned into this "look" of "why is that baby still here?" Here are a couple of pictures of him on his first day of school. His expression is the same in ALL the pictures we take of him! He starts saying "cheeeeeeeese" as soon as he sees the camera. Its going to be a nightmare trying to get Christmas pictures this year if he doesn't stop doing this!

A Visit with Grandmother and Bip

On Wednesday Grandmother and Bip came to see Justin for the first time. They seemed to think that their 7th great grandchild was as "cool" as the first. We had a good time talking and catching up on all the happenings in life. Jase enjoyed showing off for them and even sat still long enough to get a picture with Grandmother. Bip got one of his famous pictures with the baby up next to his face posing. It was a good visit. Too bad they don't live closer and we could visit more often! (Thanks for the casserole Grandmother! It was great!)


Grandmother and Jase!



Bip and Justin.







Grandmother and Justin.

On Thursday Justin was visited by his "Aunt" Kim. Kim and I have been friends for over 10 yrs and between us we now have 7 children! Let's just say that if we ever try to meet for lunch with the kids it has to be at McDonald's, and we cause a scene! We have always been there when each other gave birth, but this time Kim and her family had just left for Disney World on the day I went into labor. I somehow just knew I was going to have Justin while she was out of town, but I didn't think it would be fair to ask her to stay home! So normally I have pics of Kim holding my kids when they were just born, but not this time. And believe it or not, I didn't get a pic of her and Justin today! Oh well, I guess you will just have to come back in a few days so I can get a pic of you holding Justin!

Happy 2 week Birthday Justin!!

Justin is two weeks old today. Wow, it seems like the longest two weeks of my life! It is almost just a blur of events. We are now adjusting to life at home with 4 children. So far, adding Justin to the mix has not been too much of an adjustment. The kids are doing great with Justin, even Sadie loves being around Justin.

The first two nights we had Justin home he had alarms. The first night was a low heart rate alarm, which is probably not too big a deal. The second night he had an apnea alarm, which means he did not breathe for 20 secs. As soon as the alarm went off we gently stimulated him and he quickly took a breath. His face was pale, but the color came back quickly. He has not had an alarm since then. We expect to have this monitor for 6 wks - 2 months at least. I am thankful we have it, and try not to dwell on what "could be."

Justin had his first dr. appt on Wed. He weighed 5 lb 11 oz and the doctor said he looked good. We went in Friday for a weight check and he was 5 lb 13 oz, so he gained about an ounce a day which is what they want to see. He will be going in 2 weeks for his one month check up.

Justin is eating well and getting stronger (and more vocal!) everyday. Please continue to pray that Justin will not have anymore apnea spells and that he will continue to gain weight. Thanks for all the prayers, we have definitely felt them at work!

Getting his first bath at home. Big Brother Jonathan watching as Nana bathed him. Justin was not to happy about the bath!

Justin and Papa's first picture together. This was also Papa's first time holding Justin! He didn't get to hold him before he was sent to the NICU.

Proud Big Brother Jase! He loves Justin and always wants to hold him.

Justin and cousin Malachi. They are almost 5 months apart. I am sure they will be best friends one day!

Justin is Home!!

I've waited nine long days to be able to post this news! Justin came home with Nate and I today. We left the hospital this afternoon around 1:30 and have just been relaxing at home since then. The kids were thrilled to come home from school and find Justin here. Jase loves his new baby and wants to hold him all the time. I will have to keep a close eye on him when he is around Justin! Justin is doing great, he has been sleeping all day and eating well. He has a doctor appt tomorrow with Dr. Gaines. Once I see that he is still gaining weight (he weighed 5 lb 10.5 oz last night) then I will be able to relax a little more. I am hoping that I will finally be able to sleep tonight since he is here with me.

This picture is from Sunday night when he was still under the bili lights. He loved sleeping under those lights!

Today, dressed in his going home outfit.

Our first family picture with Justin! This was at our welcome home party for Justin. A family of six, finally together.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying. Now that I have him home I probably won't be updating the blog as often! I will make sure I at least post an update every few days. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Maybe Tomorrow . . .

I feel like this is what I hear every time I go to see Justin. Hopefully tomorrow, if everything goes well tonight, he can go home tomorrow. I guess eventually they will be right. I am really hoping that tomorrow really will be the day that I get to bring him home. Tomorrow will be day 9 in the NICU.

He seemed well today. His jaundice level was down to 8 this morning so they took him off the lights. He is eating well, and he nursed twice while I was visiting today. He has not had anymore apnea episodes that caused a drop in heart rate. This is the main thing they are watching for now and said as long as he has no episodes between now and tomorrow that he can come home. I am praying that he has a quiet night, and that tonight is the last night he is away from home. Nate and I had our training on the monitor and CPR. I was a little emotional when having the training. It was very overwhelming thinking about having to do CPR on your own baby.

I will update tomorrow. Hopefully I will be posting pics of Justin coming home!

A quick update

I am going to make this short, I am so tired! We visited Justin twice today, as usual. He is doing very well with his eating. His weight was down to 5 lb 9 oz tonight, but with the way he is eating I think it will be back up by tomorrow. He has been under the lights for his jaundice since last night. I expect those to be discontinued by tomorrow morning. Nate and I should be getting our CPR and monitor training sometime tomorrow. He has continued to have episodes of his O2 sats dropping while sleeping, but did not have any episodes of his heart rate dropping today. Every day is different and sometimes he may have days of his heart rate dropping several times and other days it may not happen at all. That is why he will be on the monitor and it will help decrease our anxiety somewhat, knowing that if his heart rate drops we will be alerted.

I am really hoping that we may get to bring him home tomorrow night, but we will have to wait until he is evaluated in the morning by the doctor. Please keep our whole family in your prayers. Jonathan and Jessi seem stressed and emotional right now. I think they are ready for things to get back to normal. Jase is a little confused but over all he is doing fine. The last 7 days have been very stressful, and we are all ready to have our family at home together! I'll let you know how things are looking tomorrow.

It's a Minor Problem. . .

They promise it's just the way things go in the NICU. Justin was doing great. Feeding tube gone, IV tube gone, latched on and nursing. Up to 30 cc's at a feeding (1 ounce). Oxygen, respirations, and heart rate all looking good. We had almost forgotten that one brief incident of apnea he had a couple of days ago.

When I arrived at the NICU today his nurse relayed how he had not been as eager to eat, was very sleepy, and his jaundice reading had increased to 12. Well, I thought, jaundice does tend to make babies more lethargic--should begin to improve by tomorrow. As Justin fell asleep in my lap the the nurse begins watching the screen more intently as the beeping and screen activity increases--especially Justin's heart rate dropping into the 70's and once into the 50's while sleeping. The heart rate should be at least 100 at rest, and I would prefer closer to 120. While smiling and talking to me she snatched Justin from my lap and began a gentle rock and shake motion, and, of course, his heart rate returned to normal.

The nurse said Justin had tried that same trick with her a couple of time that morning, She began to paint the picture for me. . .a change from what we had thought. A septic workup will be done to check for any underlying infection that could be causing the problem. If he doesn't resume eating, the feeding tube will have to be reinserted. He will be put on an apnea/heart monitor which will come home with us. Nate and I will be trained on the monitor and in infant CPR. (It's been six years since my last CPR training.)

Needless to say, our Sunday discharge has been delayed. We are going back tonight and taking Jonathan and Jessi to see their baby brother. Jase is staying home with Papa.

Maybe by the middle of next week our whole family can be at home--apnea monitor and all.

My first pictures with no tubes!

Proud Nana!

I got moved to a big boy bed!!

Justin is Eating!!

I got to breastfeed Justin for the first time today! He latched on and nursed for about 8 minutes the first time and then after a short nap he nursed for about 6-7 minutes. He stayed nice and calm the whole time, respiratory rate stayed in the 40's and O2 sats stayed above 95 %. His IV fluids are being decreased and should be off by tomorrow morning. Our plan right now is for me to go for the regular 2 visits tomorrow and then go up Sunday morning and stay until he leaves. If I go on Sunday and he feeds well all day then he should be discharged about 4 or 5 that afternoon. I am very excited but trying not to get my hopes up too much. Any little setback could another day or two to his stay. Right now we are just being hopeful for Sunday. Thanks for the prayers! I'll keep you updated.

Looking Good!!

Sorry this took so long to post! So, last Justin was having some issues with digesting his feedings. When I was there at 9 pm he had 9 cc of residual in his stomach from his 6 pm feeding, which was 8 cc. He also had a lot of air in his stomach. During the night his feeding were decreased to only 5 cc and he had an x-ray ordered for this morning of his stomach. I talked with the nurse this morning and his x-ray was normal and he tolerated his decreased feedings during the night. This was all good news. Sometimes the digestive system is just a little slow in getting started.

When I visited today they were going to up his feedings to 10 cc and increase by 2 cc every other feeding. At the same time they will decrease his IV rate by 2 cc every other feeding. If everything goes well he should be off IV fluids by tomorrow afternoon. When I last spoke with the nurse he had not had any residual from his last two feedings. Currently all of his feedings are being done through the tube, but hopefully we will be able to start with oral feedings tomorrow. He also had the cannula taken off, so we can finally see that cute face!! They took the feeding tube out of his mouth and put it in his nose since the cannula is now gone. He also had the IV taken out of his head and put into his arm. He looked so good when we saw him this morning. I put in some pics of him with his eyes open. If everything continues to improve he may get to come home this weekend. He is a touch jaundice, so pray that that will resolve quickly and not worsen. We are all very hopeful that by Sunday our little Justin will be home with his family. We appreciate all the prayers, keep them coming!!

Listening to my Daddy talk.

I look like my big brother Jonathan!

I look good without all those tubes!!

Justin is Chillin'

We think Justin is a little more relaxed--what do you think?



We visited him this afternoon and found out that the high-flow oxygen had been turned off since 10:00 a.m. this morning. His oxygen saturation's were 95-98%--the highest since birth (good). His respiration rate was consistently in the 40's--the lowest since birth (also good). The combination of these two stats leads everyone (all the nurses) to believe he has "turned the corner." Nate and I are even beginning to allow ourselves to believe the same. There is an obvious difference in his appearance, behavior, and his emotional state from 24 hours ago. He just seems to feel so much better.

After the trauma of being wheeled out of the hospital and spending a lonely night in my own emotional distress it was a happy relief, indeed, to see him doing so much better today. Because of his progress we were able to attempt his first oral feeding which he promptly refused. Since normal techniques to encourage feeding can't be used on him (unwrapping, sitting him up) he just had another tube feeding and was quite satisfied. If he continues on this path we may be looking at a weekend discharge.



My mom and I are going back tonight to be present for the 9:00 p.m. ordeal (diaper change, repositioning, and feeding). Check on us tomorrow!

Thanks for reading (and praying)!