February 10-I should be 34 weeks today! JT weighs 5 lbs .014 oz and he is 17 1/2 inches long! I cannot believe how fast he is growing! JT being a preemie is truly a blessing. If he were still in my belly, I would be missing all of this. I think it is kind of cool to talk to pregnant girls in my March Mom group and to share that the baby in their belly is about the size of JT.
February 11-I make Jack bacon pancakes for breakfast because he will not stop singing this stupid song!
Then we go to Goodwill because I need to get my baby clothes fix in.
February 13-I decide today is the day that I go back to wearing my regular jeans! I have lost so much weight that I am below my pre-pregnancy weight! JT is now taking two bottles a day per doctors orders! He is doing so well! The nurses are impressed! I hope they start to add more in! He weighs 5 lbs 4 oz.
February 14-My mama goes and visits JT today. We go a little later. We are going to the Preds game for Valentine's Day.
February 15-I get in trouble for having my cell phone out in the NICU. Whoops. I know the rule is no cellphones, but I have found that most of the nurses don't really say anything because I also wash my hands after I touch it. Someone comes in the room, and the nurse immediately snaps at me for having it out. I think it is kind of weird until she explains to me that the doctor that was just in is a complete and udder germaphobe.
February 16- I, thankfully, am in the room when the hospital calls. My brother and Melinda are there to visit JT. Some how my brother's name is not on the "Ok to visit" list that we created. I had changed it before we moved up to the 8th floor, and it must not have transferred. The nurse is very careful with her choice of words when she tells me they are there to visit. She is terrified that they aren't supposed to be there. She also wants to make sure that they can hold him. I am perfectly ok with that. I start to clean JT's room. I am slowly able to see the floor. It seems like every time I think I am getting somewhere, I have to stop and do something else or go somewhere.
February 18-I talk to the nurse today about Chris and Melinda coming in a couple of days before. She tells me a story about a Code Pink drill. A code pink is when someone is trying to take a baby. She said that during a nurse's break, a hospital executive came into the NICU and moved a baby to a safe place. They replaced the baby with a doll. A guy that no one recognized came into the room and picked up the "baby" right before the nurse came back from lunch. She came in the room, immediately told the man to put the baby down and step away. She put him up against the wall with her body. This is when I realize that the nurses in the NICU really love the babies that they take care of. They would rather put their own lives in danger than see something happen to one of the babies. Just thinking about it makes me tear up. I am so thankful that we have such wonderful nurses.
February 19- JT is on a roll! He hasn't had a spell in 2 days! He has a bottle every other feeding. The nurse he has lets me give him an extra bottle just to see how he will do. Jack and I also get to watch some very unentertaining videos. I did learn a little bit, and I think that is what they are going for.
February 21- JT is up to 6 bottles out of 8! The nurse tells us that they will try to not rush him to go up to 8. A lot of times babies will take a step back if you move to quickly. Patience is very necessary in the NICU.
February 22- Jack and I leave the hospital early. When we get in the car, Jack's dad is calling. He says that he is flying up to Nashville the next day. Note sarcasm here->greeeeeeaaaaat. We only come to the hospital every other day because gas is so expensive, and now we have to add another day into the mix because the only way anyone can see JT is if they are one of the people on the list or if they are with us. Jack is also panicky because he really doesn't care to see his dad.
February 23- We meet Jack's dad, his sister, and my nephew at the hospital. I offer to take Jack's dad in. He says, "No, I don't want to go in. I just want to see him at the window." He doesn't understand that he has no choice but go in. We sit bedside with JT. I take Jack's dad through all of the routine. Sign in at the front desk, show ID, go to scrub sink, scrub for 3 minutes, put on gown, he chooses to put on a mask since he just got off of a plane, and we walk back to see JT. I offer to let him hold him, but he declines. He just wants to see him in person. Then we swap with Jack and Jill (see how I did that....what if my little Jack marries a Jill?). I stay out in the hall with Rio and Jack's dad. I let Rio play with my phone. When everyone is finishes visiting JT, we go over to Cori's Doghouse to eat. Then Jack and I go back to the hospital. JT is finally on all bottles! I hope this goes well because that means he will finally get his tube out if he eats well enough!
February 24-We call to check on JT, and the nurse says that he has his NG tube out!
February 25-I walk into JT's room, and I see his sweet precious face with nothing on it for the first time since the day he was born! He is beautiful! I do my best not to bawl my eyes out. The nurse helps because she starts talking to me. He had a really bad spell earlier that day. She hadn't even touched him yet for the day. He was asleep, and his heartrate dropped down to 52. She says that they start to do compressions when it drops that low, but she wanted to see if he could get it back up by himself. She had to rigorously rub his back to get his heartrate back up. This feels like 2 giant steps back. He went to whole days without a spell, and then he had one big one. I am so thankful that it happened at that hospital. What if we were at home, and we didn't realize? That scares the hell out of me.
He weighs 6 lbs and 8 oz. He has almost put on 3 lbs since being born. They stopped putting fortifier in breast milk, so now he has to drink Neosure twice a day to help him keep gaining weight. He is free feeding, since the feeding tube is gone. He drinks 3 oz in one sitting. My heart skips a beat. Will I be able to keep up with him with my pumping? We try breastfeeding for the first time. He really wants it, but he doesn't understand how my nipples work. After about 30 minutes of trying, we swap to a bottle.
February 26-JT's super awesome cloth diapers came today! I am so excited! I cannot wait to see his cute little tushie in these and the other ones that I bought!
We call the nurse! No spells today!
February 27-When we get to the NICU, I try breastfeeding again. I tell the nurse that I will take any and all help. She tries to help him latch, but it just isn't working. Jack asks about a nipple shield (good hubby), and she goes and finds me one. I put it on, and he immediately latches on! SUCCESS! WHOOT!
Jack and I go see my Papa that is in the hospital. He looks terrible. He looks like he has given up. This may be the last time I see him.
I am talking with JT's nurse a little later, and she gives me the honest answer that babies in the NICU will typically go home between 36 and 37 weeks. I have been waiting for this statistic the ENTIRE time we are at the hospital in the NICU.
We call the nurse later that night. No spells today either!
February 28-We call the nurse to check on JT. He is 6 lbs 9 oz! She asks us if we want him to have a circumcision. She also suggests that we bring in the carseat, so he can have his carseat test. I proceed to spend the next hour and half learning everything I can about his carseat.
No spells today!
March 1-We make sure that the carseat definitely fits in the car before heading to the hospital. It does! Score! Normal people do this before buying the carseat. I couldn't pass up the deal when I originally saw it. I got it half off.
We make it to the hospital. The nurse asks me if I know how it works. Oh yeah. I even swapped out the chest clip, so the one that fits him was on it. She tells us that we can go ahead and put him in it, so we can start! What?! Already? I thought it would be a day or two.
While he is having his carseat test, my heart skips a beat every time I hear a monitor. I am deathly afraid it is his heartrate or O2 dropping. It is not. It is one of the other babies in the room. The little girl next to him is eating, and she cannot finish the bottle. It has to be fed through the tube. I remember this heartache. JT did this too. You want so badly for them to finish it, but they are just too tired. It has to be put through the tube. It feels like a side step. Life in the NICU is all about patience. JT passes his carseat test with flying colors! The only time his monitor goes off is when he gets irritated. His heartrate goes up to 215.
We call the nurse later that night. No spells! She mentions rooming in. I am elated! I go into a cleaning frenzy!
March 2-I call the nurse first thing in the morning! The doctor put into JT's orders that Jack and I are to room in tonight! YES! This is so exciting! I get a few things together, so we can take them with us. I cry! I am so excited!
Jack calls Katie on the way to the hospital and asks her to check on the dogs for us because we are rooming in tonight! This means that Jess knows now too. :) I was hoping for her to find out via blog, but you know hey!
We get to the hospital and just wait because we have to wait for our room to be vacated by the previous night's tenants. While I am pumping, we get our room for the night. I go back to JT's bedside and feed him the milk that I just pumped and hum to him to get him to sleep.
Jack comes to get me to show me our room, we go grab something to eat in the tower because the little mini sandwiches they gave us for dinner was not enough.
At 8, I go up to feed JT. It is Neosure time. He has a faster nipple. He drinks too fast. He isn't pacing himself. He starts to choke which in turn makes his heartrate go down. The machine beeps. A spell...ugh! The nurse comes over and tells me that she isn't sure they will let him room in tonight because of it. I tell her to give me a slower flow nipple because that is what he has been using. Then she says that usually if it is while they are eating they just let it slide and not count it on the 5 days.
I stay with JT. The NP comes to get him for his circumcision. She talks to me about his spell. She tells me to make sure either Jack or myself feed JT because we know what to look for when he is eating. She says if I am comfortable with knowing how to pace him that she won't let this affect his going home.
They take him for his circumcision. I talk to the other mom in the room to keep my mind off of someone cutting my baby.
When they bring him back, they tell me that he didn't cry until it was totally over. He was brave. The nurse told me that she made sure the warmer was on for him before they did it, so he didn't get cold.
I mention to her about the onesie that went missing. She tells me that she will look for it for me. Baby clothes get accidentally put with the hospital stuff, but they always make it back to the NICU. I tell her if she can't find it that it is ok because I just thought it would be my donation to the NICU if it was lost forever. She goes digging through the preemie clothes, and she finds it! I cannot wait to put it in JT's box!
After a couple of checks of JT's circumcision, she takes off all of his monitors. He isn't hooked up to anything. The only thing on him is the hospital bracelet and the sensor that sets off the alarm if you try to take him out of the NICU unauthorized. We proceed down the hallway, and I grab a breast pump out of the Lactation Room. When we get to the elevator, the nurse has to type in her code to get the elevator to move because of the bracelet. The elevator is also making a high pitch sound.
We get to the room. She tells a few basics about what we need to keep up with, and then she leaves. This is the first time Jack and I have been in the room with JT by ourselves. We have always had someone staring over our shoulder making sure we aren't doing anything wrong. Now it is just us. The next step is making it through the night, having JT's hemocrit tested, and if that is alright. He is ours to take home. Holy crap!
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