Grower and Feeder

Ethan is doing so well! He is considered a grower and feeder now...he is doing well with the weight and is in the process of learning to eat from the bottle. He is up to 3 (out of 8) feedings a day trying from the bottle. He has taken his full feed from the bottle a couple times but usually its about 35cc's out of 51. In a previous post I mentioned that a baby has to learn how to suck, swallow and breathe while feeding and he has the concept down okay...he just needs to pace himself better so he doesn't get to tired. Its all a learning process for him and were hoping he just continues to do better...FAST :) Its actually a learning process for Jon and I too. Feeding Ethan with a bottle is no where near the same like it was feeding Brayden. We are learning the best way to hold a preemie during a feed (especially since he has acid reflux) and how to help pace him better. Once he can take all 8 feeds from the bottle he can come home. He makes progress every single day...they are thinking right after his due date which was Sept 2nd but in the end its all up to the little one. All babies are different when it comes to learning this skill and we just have to wait till he tells us he is ready. His occupational therapist said that when it finally clicks in their little brain they become little pros fast.

He is now at 6lbs 2oz! He has come a long way from 3 1/2lbs. He is wearing NB size clothes and diapers. Ethan has the cutest cheeks ever and has big eyes just like his big bro. His eye brows are blonde...like you cant even see them. I think he is going to be a Blondie YAY!!!!   He is not fussy at all and all the nurses rave about how happy of a baby he is and he loves his pacifier.

His neurosurgeon came in to see him two days ago and told the nurse that Ethan is doing so well and he is extremely happy with his progress and has signed off that he is good to go home on his end! Since this surgery he has been so alert and stays up alot longer during the day. There is no doubt that it was the best thing for him.

I think that is all the updates for right now. I know I have mentioned it before but we are so blessed that Ethan is doing well! He was born at 28 weeks 5 days (he practically missed a whole trimester) and has faced more in his two months then people do in a lifetime but he fought so hard and he has so many people who love him and praying for him that he was able to overcome so much! We are SO in LOVE with this little man!

2 Months!

Happy 2 Month Birthday to our little monkey! You are an amazing little boy and we fall more in love with you every single day! We can't wait till we can take you home and have our whole family together under one roof.

We love you SO MUCH...continue doing what your doing baby!

XO

Dada, Mama and Brayden

Birthday Wishes!

And so my birthday wish has came true...Ethan is off the oxygen! He is breathing completely on his own. The only thing on his face now is his feeding tube...now we need to focus on feedings so we can bring our little man home. Here are a couple pictures of him and us :)

Only one person missing...brayden! You can kind of see where the incision from his surgery is

So comfy!

Sleepy Baby

All I want...

For my birthday is to have both my sons home with me...but I will settle with Ethan being off oxygen :) (they are going to try to take him off tonight or tomorrow so cross your fingers please)

Tomorrow I turn 28 and I am so happy with where I am at in my life. I have an amazing husband, two little boys who are my everything, a house I call my own, a family who has been so supportive and friends who have dropped everything to help me out recently. I am blessed. I have to admit I was pretty sad earlier when I was thinking about not having Ethan home to celebrate my birthday with me...How can I be happy when he is at the hospital and not home with me? But as I was sitting there holding him today I realized that I am the luckiest mom in the world. I am holding my STABLE, THRIVING little fighter in my arms. Whether he is at home with me or not...I have him! I can't be selfish! He is getting stronger as the days go by and he will be coming home soon...I can't ask for more right now.

We have been working on feedings with him. He still gets most of his feedings through his feeding tube but he is learning with the bottle. We work with him everyday and he has the "suck, swallow and breathe" part of it down pretty good. We are working on building up his endurance right now. After about 5-10 min of sucking he gets tired...actually he falls asleep :) He stays up a little longer as the days go by so the occupational therapist is confident that he will build his endurance up quickly (praying this is true). Once he starts taking all his feedings by the bottle he will be ready to come home. The nurses told me that this can take a week to a couple weeks...but I am happy that this is his last step!!!!!!

I have been slacking, I do not have any new pictures of him. I will try to get some tomorrow :)

Ethan's new bed

This morning my brother came over early to spend some time with Brayden so Jon and I went to see Ethan. It was an amazing morning! It turns out early this morning they took Ethan out of his isolate and moved him into a little crib. There is no need for the isolate anymore since he maintains his body temperature on his own now. :) They removed his IV...so his arms are free! They have also moved up his feedings to 42ml's and he now weighs 5lbs 10oz's.

This was the first time that I was able to pick him up from his bed to hold him without a nurse in sight. Usually they needed to be there to make sure all his lines didn't pull and etc. First time that I felt in charge or a mom to him...like this is my baby not the nurses. (if that makes sense) Now that the surgery is done with we can start working on feeding him from the bottle again!

Here are a few pictures from this morning.

the only wires he has now is feeding tube and oxygen

His new crib...and if you look close you can see the picture of his big brother that he looks at :)

Surgery Update

Yesterday was a crazy day so I didn't have time to update the blog but the surgery was successful. We spent the morning with Ethan, holding him and kissing his little cheeks like crazy :). They took him around noon and once again we walked our little man to the big doors of the OR. We went and grabbed a bite to eat at the cafeteria then went and waited and waited some more for the surgeon to hopefully come out with a big smile on his face. Around 3:30, his surgeon came out with that big smile on his face. All the weight on my shoulders just went away. I knew in my heart that this is what he needed and it is going to help him come home sooner.

When we went to see Ethan later that night, he was still sleeping and was on the ventilator (the one machine that make my heart drop every time I see it by my sons bedside). Last time he had to be intubated for a surgery he ended up on it for over 3 weeks...that was my fear. Well this morning I went in around 9:30am and much to my surprise HE WAS OFF THE VENT and back on the nasal cannula like before. His vitals are so much better than before the surgery, tests that were taken this morning came back great. We are so happy and crossing my fingers he continues to keep doing so great! He is so amazing and such a little fighter. He looks so different too (forgot my camera this morning). The top of his head was bigger because of the fluid...it has gone down a lot! I am so in love with my two little boys...they make my life truly amazing.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.

Surgery Tomorrow

We were informed today that Ethan's VP shunt surgery is scheduled for tomorrow around noon. By placing the shunt it will allow the cerebrospinal fluid that isn't absorbing into his brain to drain into his stomach. If to much fluid builds up it can put pressure on the brain. The Shunt will stop the fluid from building up by constantly draining the fluid into his stomach. Now that Ethan is considered "stable" and closer to coming home the Neurosurgeon wants to get it done and out of the way.

So please send lots of thoughts and prayers to little Ethan...Thank you in advance and I'll update as soon as I get a chance. Oh and before I forget, last night when they weighed him he was 5lbs! He is doing such a good job gaining weight. :)

Wearing Clothes!

This morning when we spoke to the NICU they told us that Ethan is maintaining his body temperature well and to bring him some clothes for him to wear. I was so happy, I practically brought his whole wardrobe to the hospital :)  In the pictures below he is wearing a little preemie onesie...in a couple more weeks and we wont be able to button it he is getting so big.

It took about 20 min to put this onesie on him because of all his wires but he was so patient with us and didn't cry once. He is such a good baby.

Our amazing little boy

The little bump you see on his head is from his last surgery.

So precious

Here he is snuggling with his "lovey"...

Brayden is a Big Boy!

A couple of weeks before I had Ethan we started to set up Brayden's new room. We decided to skip the toddler bed and go straight to bunkbeds. We figured once once Ethan was old enough the boys would share a room. Brayden was excited that he had a "big boy bed" but when it came to actually sleeping in it...well that was a different story :) So we figured we had about three months till I would have Ethan so we can take our time. Well plans changed!

We are hoping to get Ethan home at the end of this month ::crossing fingers:: so we decided that we needed to get Brayden used to his new room asap! So last Saturday we decided to start off with nap time...it took about 10 min and he ended up taking his nap in his new room! We were excited! He took all his naps last week in his new bed but we kept him in the crib at night just to help make the transition a little better for him. Friday night came and we decided to give nighttime a try. He woke up once in the middle of the night (might be because he has a cold...thank you preschool) but he was in his new bed all night. Same with last night. My little baby is growing up so fast! Next step...POTTY TRAINING.

We are not done decorating his room, we still have to get a comforter for top bunk and a couple things for the walls. Since his theme is "surfing" his uncle Chad is going to make him something for his wall. I am also going to have a little surfboard made with his name on it that will be placed on another wall. Hopefully, I can finish his room soon.

Here are a few pictures :)