Well, I had really intended to blog about our NICU journey...But, things got a little crazy. I have kept a little journal to keep track of the different milestones and his growth, and maybe someday I will get around to scrapbooking or blogging about it! :) Three weeks after Jacob was born, I headed back to work in the General ICU in order to save my time off for when he came home. Between working, pumping (breast milk for Jacob to eat-- they were feeding it to him through a tube at first), and making numerous trips per day to the NICU to see Jacob things got CRAZY! It was tough heading back to work so quickly after my csection... Especially with my job which requires me to lift, tug, pull, and turn people! But, we made it work thanks to my great co-workers who gave me lots of extra help! Here are some pics from weeks 2- 8 in the NICU.
We LOVE our church! We were leaving for the hospital one day, and noticed they had added this to the sign!
June 9th - My first time to hold him! One of our favorite nurses, Jen, in the background!
Another picture from my first time to hold him... One happy mommy! (The NICU likes moms to do "kangaroo time" which is skin-to-skin contact rather than just hold the babies... There are all sorts of scientific reasons for this!)
June 21 - Changing his diaper before Mom's first time to give Jacob a bath
Another picture from Jacob's first bath... He didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did!
June 23 - First day to wear clothes... Still too small for anything to fit!
Another picture of Jacob's first day in clothes... :)
June 26 - A preemie outfit from our friends Angie and Rachel... It actually almost fits!
June 27 - No Oxygen!!
June 27 - Our first family photo - Taken by our terrific children's pastor Greg Nash
June 30 - Our little mini photoshoot to get some pictures to take to my baby shower in OKC
So sweet!
June 30 - Starting to look more like a term baby!
His eyes are sensitive to the sunlight like his Dad!
July 3 - Out of the incubator into a BIG BOY crib!
July 9th - Jacob's first time to get a bottle... We came in just as the nurse was starting so I got to feed him!
July 11 - Daddy's first time to feed Jacob a bottle
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
First kangaroo time with my snuggle bug!
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.
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!)
Not a great picture of either of us... I'm on the mag and scared to death...We both were!
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.
Here is the first video of Jacob!
I know some of you think this is gross... I guess it's the nurse in me... I think it's AMAZING!
My first and only glimpse of little Jacob for few a few days
Proud Daddy! He came out to show the family his little footprints!
