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| Callie from the NICU with Jacob |
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| Jenn |
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| Kari from the NICU with WILD man |
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| Jenn and J |
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| All of our NICU friends together |
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| NICU Mommies and J |
Showing posts with label nicu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nicu. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2012
NICU Friends
Today was Jenn's baby shower! It was so great to see her since she has moved to Texas! (The funny thing is she is working at the hospital where Casey delivered the twins-- What a SMALL world!) It was also great to visit with all of our friends from the NICU! They were all so proud of the little man, and Mommy was proud to show him off!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Jacob - Week 2
Thursday
Jacob is already a week old! Mallori is still driving me around, and she has spent soooo much time helping me with everything! Today, Jacob weighed 2 lbs 9 oz...Yay for surpassing his birth weight! Jacob got his UAC line (in his umbilical cord artery) out today, and they put in a PICC line to give his TPN. They also put in an OG tube to feed him my breast milk that I am pumping. They also turned his oxygen down today, and he seems to be tolerating it fine! Tonight I was able to do kangaroo care for the first time! Kangaroo Care is skin-to-skin snuggle time with mom and baby. The science behind this is really amazing! They have found that both mom and baby benefit from the skin-to-skin contact. Here is an article if you're interested. Kangaroo Care Article
Friday
Today Jacob is up to 2lbs 10.8 oz. Jacob's lungs are continuing to improve, and they are weaning his oxygen. Jacob is looking much better and his color is looking much better! Jason decided it was time to get the nursery painted so he stayed up all night hanging crown molding and painting.
Jacob is already a week old! Mallori is still driving me around, and she has spent soooo much time helping me with everything! Today, Jacob weighed 2 lbs 9 oz...Yay for surpassing his birth weight! Jacob got his UAC line (in his umbilical cord artery) out today, and they put in a PICC line to give his TPN. They also put in an OG tube to feed him my breast milk that I am pumping. They also turned his oxygen down today, and he seems to be tolerating it fine! Tonight I was able to do kangaroo care for the first time! Kangaroo Care is skin-to-skin snuggle time with mom and baby. The science behind this is really amazing! They have found that both mom and baby benefit from the skin-to-skin contact. Here is an article if you're interested. Kangaroo Care Article
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| First kangaroo time with my snuggle bug! |
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| The sign at our church! |
Friday
Today Jacob is up to 2lbs 10.8 oz. Jacob's lungs are continuing to improve, and they are weaning his oxygen. Jacob is looking much better and his color is looking much better! Jason decided it was time to get the nursery painted so he stayed up all night hanging crown molding and painting.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Jacob's Birthday!
Thursday morning, June 2nd, I woke up and was able to take a shower, fix my hair, and put on make-up ...I felt like a new woman! Dr. Moore was on call for my OB doctor this morning and she came into to see me along with my new perinatologist (the high risk OB doc). They were both pleased with my blood pressure and stable labs. They both told me that things can change very quickly with pre-eclampsia but they believed we could hold off delivery 3 weeks or so (they goal was 32 weeks).
On the antepartum unit, I was settling into my room and visiting with friends. They assigned a Union Accelerated-BSN nursing students (the program I completed last December) to help with my care for the day. I enjoyed chatting with him about the program and professors. The day was pretty uneventful until about 5 pm... when I noticed some pain on my right side right below my ribcage. The nurse came in to check on me, and I mentioned that my side had begun to hurt. She decided to check my bp ... Things went downhill quickly from here. My blood pressure was very high (180s/100s -- considered stroke level), so my nurse called the doctors. They ordered stat labs and bp checks every 15 minutes. The nurse asked everyone to leave, we put on some classical music and turned off the lights.
My lab results came back very quickly, and they indicated that my liver and kidneys were taking a turn for the worse. The nurse called the doctors who decided that we had to deliver Jacob now. I called Jason who had just pulled into the driveway at the house, and told him to hurry back.
They wheeled me back down to L&D and re-started the magnesium...Yuck. By this point the on-call doctor had changed and Dr. Pilgrim would be delivering Jacob. Jason, D'Andre, Justin, Mallori, and Casey had all arrived at the hospital to meet our little man. Jason forgot our camera and video camera but luckily Mallori had brought theirs! (I am soooo thankful for that!)
Things moved quickly and I was moved back to the OR. The CRNA gave me a spinal rather than an epidural, and they began the delivery! It was not long before I heard a very soft cry... the sweetest sound I've ever heard! And, just enough to make me cry! It seemed like it took an eternity to sew me up, and before they were finished they wheeled little baby Jacob by for me to see! My initial thoughts were...He looks like mini Jason! When they were finished I was wheeled back to L&D to finish a 24-hour dose of Magnesium and to be monitor for my blood pressure. Jason and the rest of the family was able to go up to the NICU to see Jacob...He brought back videos and pictures for me to see.
On the antepartum unit, I was settling into my room and visiting with friends. They assigned a Union Accelerated-BSN nursing students (the program I completed last December) to help with my care for the day. I enjoyed chatting with him about the program and professors. The day was pretty uneventful until about 5 pm... when I noticed some pain on my right side right below my ribcage. The nurse came in to check on me, and I mentioned that my side had begun to hurt. She decided to check my bp ... Things went downhill quickly from here. My blood pressure was very high (180s/100s -- considered stroke level), so my nurse called the doctors. They ordered stat labs and bp checks every 15 minutes. The nurse asked everyone to leave, we put on some classical music and turned off the lights.
My lab results came back very quickly, and they indicated that my liver and kidneys were taking a turn for the worse. The nurse called the doctors who decided that we had to deliver Jacob now. I called Jason who had just pulled into the driveway at the house, and told him to hurry back.
They wheeled me back down to L&D and re-started the magnesium...Yuck. By this point the on-call doctor had changed and Dr. Pilgrim would be delivering Jacob. Jason, D'Andre, Justin, Mallori, and Casey had all arrived at the hospital to meet our little man. Jason forgot our camera and video camera but luckily Mallori had brought theirs! (I am soooo thankful for that!)
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| Not a great picture of either of us... I'm on the mag and scared to death...We both were! |
Here is the first video of Jacob!
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| I know some of you think this is gross... I guess it's the nurse in me... I think it's AMAZING! |
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| My first and only glimpse of little Jacob for few a few days |
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| Proud Daddy! He came out to show the family his little footprints! |
Pre-eclampsia...
I have really wanted to blog over the last couple of weeks, but things in Memphis got a little crazy the night of May 30th. Here is the story!
I was working that night in the ICU, and was having a very good night! I was assigned to "admit", which means I only had one patient until a new patient arrived. Sometimes, this means you are going to get a very sick patient and will have your hands full the rest of night. Anyway, the night was going slow... until I decided to check my blood pressure.
My blood pressure at my last three prenatal visits (3 consecutive weeks-- they had me come in for some additional tests) had been a little elevated, but the doctors we're watching me very closely. I was at the doctor the previous Wednesday (May 25th), and they did a BPP, some lab work, and they checked my blood pressure. Everything had checked out okay except my blood pressure was beginning to creep back up and my amniotic fluid was a little low. Since all of my lab work checked out okay, the doctor thought this was a complication of my chronic hypertension.
After checking my blood pressure, I was concerned enough to discretely call the emergency number for OB doctor at about 0130. The nurse on call for my OB instructed me to leave work immediately, and for the women's hospital. At this point, I was expecting to get some IV meds for my blood pressure and sent home on bed rest. I called Jason on my way to the hospital but convinced him it was not a big deal and to back to sleep and call when he woke up. However, upon arriving to the women's hospital I quickly realized this was a much bigger deal than I realized!
By about 630 in the morning I was beginning to get the picture... I called Jason back and told him I thought he needed to come to the hospital. The nurses in labor and delivery were great! They really took care of both my physical and emotional needs. The nurses called the on call doctor for my OB, Dr. Lacy, several times for orders for bp meds. After 3 rounds of IV blood pressure meds without relief, I knew things were bad. My head was hurting and I was beginning to get very worried about the situation. Dr. Lacy ordered pre-natal steriods to accelerate fetal lung maturity, magnesium to prevent seizures, and a full lab work. Dr. Lacy came by and talk to Jason and me, and she told us that it was her feeling we would have to deliver in the next 48 hours. She also consulted a perinatologist, who specializes in high risk pregnancies, to follow me and help ultimately make a decision on delivery.
By this point, the magnesium had begun to work ... My blood pressure quickly became controllable. However, I felt like I was dying -- sweating uncontrollably, my eyes were so dry, my mouth was dry (but I could not have anything to eat or drink), I was sooooo hot, I was very nauseated, my head was still hurting, and I was vomiting almost continuously. Terrible, very bad, no good day!
The perinatologist came by to talk with me as well. He explained that my extremely high and uncontrollable high blood pressure combined with the low amniotic fluid led him to believe that I had severe pre-eclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension. He explained that many times they are able to hold delivery off until 32 weeks or longer, and he believed we could do that because my lab work was only slightly abnormal. After 24 hours of magnesium the transferred me to an antepartum unit to hang out for 3 weeks... I was very excited to have a shower and to be off the delivery bed!
By now it is Wednesday afternoon and I am beginning to get settled into my room where I am planning on spending the next 3+ weeks. Jason brought up my scrap booking stuff and some friends brought up movies, magazines, and some Bath and Body works stuff (which really made my day).
I was working that night in the ICU, and was having a very good night! I was assigned to "admit", which means I only had one patient until a new patient arrived. Sometimes, this means you are going to get a very sick patient and will have your hands full the rest of night. Anyway, the night was going slow... until I decided to check my blood pressure.
My blood pressure at my last three prenatal visits (3 consecutive weeks-- they had me come in for some additional tests) had been a little elevated, but the doctors we're watching me very closely. I was at the doctor the previous Wednesday (May 25th), and they did a BPP, some lab work, and they checked my blood pressure. Everything had checked out okay except my blood pressure was beginning to creep back up and my amniotic fluid was a little low. Since all of my lab work checked out okay, the doctor thought this was a complication of my chronic hypertension.
After checking my blood pressure, I was concerned enough to discretely call the emergency number for OB doctor at about 0130. The nurse on call for my OB instructed me to leave work immediately, and for the women's hospital. At this point, I was expecting to get some IV meds for my blood pressure and sent home on bed rest. I called Jason on my way to the hospital but convinced him it was not a big deal and to back to sleep and call when he woke up. However, upon arriving to the women's hospital I quickly realized this was a much bigger deal than I realized!
By about 630 in the morning I was beginning to get the picture... I called Jason back and told him I thought he needed to come to the hospital. The nurses in labor and delivery were great! They really took care of both my physical and emotional needs. The nurses called the on call doctor for my OB, Dr. Lacy, several times for orders for bp meds. After 3 rounds of IV blood pressure meds without relief, I knew things were bad. My head was hurting and I was beginning to get very worried about the situation. Dr. Lacy ordered pre-natal steriods to accelerate fetal lung maturity, magnesium to prevent seizures, and a full lab work. Dr. Lacy came by and talk to Jason and me, and she told us that it was her feeling we would have to deliver in the next 48 hours. She also consulted a perinatologist, who specializes in high risk pregnancies, to follow me and help ultimately make a decision on delivery.
By this point, the magnesium had begun to work ... My blood pressure quickly became controllable. However, I felt like I was dying -- sweating uncontrollably, my eyes were so dry, my mouth was dry (but I could not have anything to eat or drink), I was sooooo hot, I was very nauseated, my head was still hurting, and I was vomiting almost continuously. Terrible, very bad, no good day!
The perinatologist came by to talk with me as well. He explained that my extremely high and uncontrollable high blood pressure combined with the low amniotic fluid led him to believe that I had severe pre-eclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension. He explained that many times they are able to hold delivery off until 32 weeks or longer, and he believed we could do that because my lab work was only slightly abnormal. After 24 hours of magnesium the transferred me to an antepartum unit to hang out for 3 weeks... I was very excited to have a shower and to be off the delivery bed!
By now it is Wednesday afternoon and I am beginning to get settled into my room where I am planning on spending the next 3+ weeks. Jason brought up my scrap booking stuff and some friends brought up movies, magazines, and some Bath and Body works stuff (which really made my day).
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