More progress

It was another good night and day for Kelson. I got there just in time for the 9 AM feeding, and my Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Steve popped in for a short visit.

Kelson continues to do well breathing, and his lungs have been sounding great, so they are avoiding doing any unnecessary x-rays or blood tests. The doctors are working on aggressively weaning his ventilator. The ventilator is set to take a certain amount of breaths, and let Kelson initiate some of the breaths on his own. They have been reducing the amount the vent takes, and today lowered it from 15/min to 10/min. Kelson didn't even seem to notice the difference. The "plan" is to lower it to 5 tomorrow, and then make an even bigger change on Saturday after an x-ray. Hopefully Kelson follows the "plan"

Kelson also had a routine eye exam today. I had to leave for work, but Krista said he was a pretty good patient, and apparently he passed.

Tomorrow Claire and I are heading to a cattle show in the morning, and to visit Kelson in the afternoon. If everything goes well, we could have some major changes this weekend as things continue to progress!

6 weeks

When I arrived at the NICU this morning, things were kinda crazy, but luckily it was not Kelson creating the excitement. Apparently there had been a set of quads born overnight, so there were 4 new babies helping fill the NICU.

Kelson was wide awake with all the excitement, and ready for breakfast. I held him for his 9 AM feeding. He seems to be tolerating reintroduction of the breast milk, and hopefully it does not irritate the chylothorax.

They lowered the rate on his ventilator today, and are talking about switching Kelson to a CPAP machine. This would give him a constant pressure of oxygen, but he would essentially be breathing on his own.

Kelson is definitely a growing boy. He seems to gain 1-2 oz a day and is up to 5 lb 15 oz. He officially turned 6 weeks old today, and is still 3 weeks away from his original due date.

Claire is back with us tonight, and was excited to go pick blueberries. In just 5 more days she will turn 3. It would be nice to bring Kelson home for a present, but I think we have several weeks before we can make that step.

Just Another Day...

I am tempted to copy and paste yesterday's blog post, because it was a very similar day. However, this morning I took Claire to Gibson City to meet her former babysitter. Claire is having a sleepover at Miss Cierras house tonight, and she was Very excited.

Kelson is continuing to rest and grow. Last night his weight was up to 5 lb 12 oz. He is starting to make a little noise when he cries, but it is still a very faint cry. The big change for the day is that they are going to start re-introducing the breast milk, and see how he tolerates it. He will alternate feeding between the special formula and breast milk.

When I arrived at the hospital, there was a package waiting for us from Grahms Foundation. It was a very nice "NICU survival kit". We are not sure who had it sent to us, but thank you to whomever the mystery person is.

Krista and I both got home around 7:45, and we had our first visitor. Nicki (Reitz) Wiltz came over from Bloomington to help unpack boxes and put things away. It was nice to have company to make the job go by quicker. We almost have all the boxes in the house put away, and then we will have to start tackling the stuff that is in storage.

Tomorrow Kelson will turn 6 weeks old. The past week has been filled with awesome progress. We hope this is a sign of things to come

Routine

The day finally came for Krista and I to find some "normal". Krista got up early to go to work, while I stayed home with Claire and continued to tackle some projects around home. At 8:30, I took Claire to Kristas parents, and headed in for my shift at the hospital. Kelson was resting when I arrived, as he had already had a big morning. He had more bloodwork done, and another chest x-ray. The Surgical NP also stopped by to check on Kelsons hernia. After visiting with the doctor, I was thrilled to learn that the blood tests were normal, and the x-ray looked great. This means that the medicine is still doing it's job, without any significant side effects. They have continued to reduce ventilator settings, and are considering weaning the special formula, and medication.

At about 1 PM, I left to run some errands, and do some work myself. I work a lot in the champaign area, so it was great to not have much of a drive. I was surprised how easy it was to get back in the swing of things, and even signed up a new client today.

Krista got to the hospital about 3 PM, and was able to spend the rest of the afternoon with Kelson, and gave him another bath. Our goal is for Krista to work mornings while I'm at the hospital, hopefully cross paths to eat lunch together, then for me to work while she spends time with Kelson. This routine is far from ideal, but gives us both opportunity to be with Kelson, and get some work done.

When we all got home tonight, we went exploring around the new house. We were able to enjoy the first fresh blueberries, and the raspberries and blackberries will be ripe soon. The peach tree is also loaded with little peaches. It is so exciting to have so many fresh fruit bushes, but I have a feeling Claire will eat them faster than they can grow. We continue to unpack little by little, but unfortunately, we start running low on energy about 9 PM.

Today felt very productive, but I am definitely ready to crawl into bed tonight. Hopefully Kelson continues to stay on track...at this point we certainly dont need any more curveballs!

Sunday

It was a great Sunday morning. I woke up early without the alarm clock, and got ready to start the day. Claire spent the entire night in her own bed in her new room. Kelsons report from the night nurse was positive, as he continues to thrive.

A big thank you goes out to Roger and Carol Read, who came to paint our bedroom in the new house. We stayed long enough to get them started, and then headed to the hospital. Kelson had been very tired today, and enjoyed some nap time in Mommy and Daddy's arms. We had a visit from Melissa and Charlie Brown, along with their 9 month old twins. Claire also got to come back and spend some time with her little brother.

We had a great report from the doctor today. Everyone continues to be amazed at Kelsons progress. They have been weaning the settings on the ventilator, and he appears to be handling it just fine. Tonight Kelsons nurse put up a mobile, and a music box, so he has some entertainment. He seems to really enjoy things to look at.

We picked up some sandwiches from the cafeteria tonight and brought them home to enjoy with Claire on the back patio. The rest of the night was spent unpacking and putting away clothes. It is nice being able to enjoy our new home, along with the amazing weather.

New Home

Kelson had another good night, so Krista and I spent the majority of the day at our new house. We had an excellent crew to help unload furniture, clean, pull weeds, and serve lunch. Everything went pretty smoothly, except for getting a queen sized bed up the staircase. However, after some creative deconstruction/reconstruction we now have two beds upstairs! There are still a LOT of boxes to be unpacked, but the bulk of the physical labor is done.

Kelson had a great day. He took a nice long nap with Krista in the chair. They have decreased the rate on the ventilator from 30 to 26, and increased the feedings to 51 mL per hour 8 times a day. Last night he was just shy of 5 lb 8 oz. Kelson seems to be getting a bit frustrated with the nose cannula, and pulls it out every chance that he gets.

Tonight I have been scraping off wall paper border in our bedroom. It is the only room we are wanting to paint right away, and Kristas Aunt and Uncle are doing that for us as a housewarming gift. They will be here at 9 AM, ready to paint.

FYI, our new address is
23285 E 400 N
Le Roy, IL 61752

We had another pretty quiet day. The doctors have been leaving Kelson alone for some good rest. Since he has been remaining so stable, they are pretty happy with where he is at. I'm sure they will start working with the vent settings soon.

Kelson did have a chest x-ray this morning. So far, it appears that if there is any fluid accumulating, it is very minor. This is a pretty good sign that the octreotide is working. Krista and I both took turns holding him. He is much more fun to hold with less tubes. We can even pick him up and put him back in the crib without a nurse helping us.

We did some cleaning, and moved some stuff into the new house today. We plan to get the majority of things unloaded in the morning. We are looking forward to spending our first night there tomorrow!