Ketchup is Funny

Wow...again it has been over 2 weeks since my last post....I've really been slacking at posting lately, sorry, but I have been trying to post, just never got around to it...and whenever I do, my hubby steals the laptop away from me.

So just to let you know, Sammy has been doing much better.  She is back at her full feedings and doing well with them...currently.  She doesn't come to bed upstairs with us anymore, but she is content.  We try to keep the stairs minimal with her, but when she wants to go up the little stairs to go outside she will....otherwise we have a door to go out the side of the house on the main level and so she picks which door she wants to go out of.

Jonathan is on the move like you wouldn't believe.  He has that army crawl down pat and is starting to push himself up with his arms as well...he just hasn't gotten the hang of moving while up...but it'll be coming soon...I can see him working hard at it.  But one thing is for sure.....he doesn't sit still unless he is sleeping!!

I have been doing pretty well with my January goal of taking 30 minutes a day for my me-time.  I usually take it after Jonathan goes to bed, but I do take it!!  So I do have my wind down time.  I will usually sit and do my cross-stitching (I am working on a stocking for Jonathan, for next Christmas).  None the less....I am relaxed before I go to bed.

So there isn't too much going around in my mind tonight, but I did take a video of Jonathan a few weeks (notice the Christmas lights are still up) ago and I did want to share the video.  There is just nothing better than a laughing baby!!!

ENJOY!!

My Sammy Girl

Wow...so it is almost 2 weeks into the new year and I haven't posted an entry yet.  I'm just glad that I didn't say to post more often in my January change.  We've been pretty busy here.  Jonathan is on the move.  Yes I do have a video and here it is...Jonathan is doing the army crawl.  Sorry for the short distance, but he has gotten so much better and I have to upload some more videos that I have gotten of him army crawling.  Once I get them up, I will post in the blog.

So he is on the move now!!  I can't get much done because I am constantly turning him around because he is getting into things he shouldn't.  He goes into the pack n play when it is nap time, because I don't trust him to wake up and not get into things.  Which is fine....he has been pretty content napping in the pack n play.  

I did capture a wonderful moment...Jonathan napping on Daddy!!  Don't tell Daddy, but this is one of my favorite pictures!!  So that is pretty much the new stuff with Jonathan...He's on the move and destruction is quickly following his trail!

Jonathan & Daddy...1/9/12

So the past couple of days has been a rough day on our Sammy girl.  It started a week ago.  We figured Sammy had finally caught up with her age (she's 11 and 1/2 years old), she just wasn't wanting to go upstairs with us.  She like to be around people, more particularly around us.  We just let her be, if she wanted to come up we would walk with her up the stairs, if not, she was perfectly content on her bed in the family room or in the utility room.  We did notice that she had lost a lot of weight.  Just hit us that she was very thin and you can see her ribs.

A couple days ago, Sammy had an accident overnight.  She had diarrhea in the house (like I said middle of the night, so we couldn't hear her if she was by the back door to go outside).  She had gone around our dinning room table and in the kitchen.  So I spent about 2 hours cleaning up the mess.  I did call the vet and set up an appointment for him to come out, as Sammy and Dakota are both due for their vaccines anyway.  So, Sammy had a few additional episodes and thanks to some advice from a family member, I switched her food to the boiled chicken and rice as well as gave her some pedialyte.  She had said to give this to her for the next 5 days and then to provided that she is doing better, she can be slowly weened back onto her normal food.  So she had a small portion at her dinner time feeding.  Sammy ended up have a couple more episodes throughout the night, this time I was close by and was able to let her outside in time...no mess in the house.  When it cam breakfast time for the dogs, Sammy had another small portion of the chicken and rice and I decided it was probably a good idea that I not give her the daily aspirin that I give her to help with her joints.  She did pretty well all day (although we were very nervous because of her age).  She got 3 small meals throughout the day.  I'm mixing the pedialyte with their water (so Dakota is getting it too, but that's what happens when you have 2 dogs), Sammy gets 3 small meals, and no one is getting any treats.  Sammy can't have them because of her diet and well, lets face it, they are really not healthy for them anyway.  

Dakota could stand to loose a little bit a weight....she has trained us that she won't come in from outside unless we have a treat in our hand, if not, she will bark and wake the neighbors up if it is late...she does not do this when it is freezing cold out.  However, since I've been a stay at home mom, I have broken this habit and just shut the door on her , she will want to come in on her own eventually.  Hubby on the other hand, I had to remind him Sammy couldn't have a treat because of her diet, this meant Dakota couldn't have one.  On the upside, Dakota thinks ice cubs are treats and sometimes we can get away with giving her an ice cube.

So back to Sammy....the vet came out today and I gave him a little background on Sammy and what has been going on the past week (much like I just did for you).  He did an exam and he said well, here's what I can tell you.  The exam for a dog her age was remarkable!!!  He said everything sounded normal, her teeth look great, gums are in great condition.  After hearing all of this, I guess we were getting worried for nothing.  I did let him know that her eating habits did not change, she was still scarfing down her food just like any normal dog would.  Neither of our dogs get table scraps.  I must admit, I do sneak her some people food once in a great while....nothing recent so it wouldn't have caused the diarrhea...it's usually when I'm cutting up veggies for Jonathan's puree or a salad for me, or dinner...but it is always veggies.  So with everything looking good, he said it is probably a case of gastroenteritis.  Great news!!  He said since she is in great shape we have a couple options that we could do...

Option 1:  Change her food to something easier to digest (Check...already done), Stop any and all medications that could possibly cause the diarrhea (check, I decided to cut out the aspirin to strip her down to the basics), He said he would be giving her some meds as well as a shot (he did say what it was and it's on the paperwork, I'm just too lazy to go look and I don't remember what it is) to help boast the meds.  He said the meds would be 1 pill 2x's a day.

Option 2:  All of the above with the addition of blood work the full senior workup.  

He said since she's really in good shape he would go either way.  I decided to to option 1 and then if she's still not better after the 5 days of meds, then we could call him back to do the blood work.  Regardless, he will have to come back anyway.  If she's not feeling better, for the blood work, if she is feeling better, for her vaccines.  So she got a shot and really, she seemed to be feeling better within 5 minutes!!  Back to herself and wanting all of the attention.  Of course she was like this when Dakota was getting her turn with the doctor.  I was holding Dakota and Sammy was nudging under my elbow wanting the attention.  She really does love the attention.  She hasn't had any diarrhea episodes the whole day, so I believe she is on her way back up.

As for her weight loss, he said that as long as she still eating we will work with that at a later date.  He would like to get her digestive system back on track first, and maybe this will help her out with the weight as well.

So this is where we stand now, and now it is time for this Mommy to go to bed.  So, I am hoping to get back on track on my blogging and not have such a big gap between this blog and the next one.

2011 in Review and Looking into 2012

So it is New Years Eve and a time to reflect on 2011.


I must admit, I really don't remember too much of 2011.  Jonathan came into our world WAY to early, but through all the tough times, we were all able to make it through and we now have our whole family under the same roof since June 9th.  I couldn't be more proud of him and am soo happy to say that he is my hero for what he has accomplished in his life so far.


We had an appointment on Friday, December 30th with the Neonatal Follow-up clinic.  One of the fellows that was in the NICU with him was in the clinic...he has not seen Jonathan since he was discharged, so he was very happy to see him and even came out into the waiting room to say hi to him before we went back to the room.  His admitting doctor was also in the clinic and she was soo happy to see him as well (again, she has not seen him since he was discharged).  The NICU nurse practitioner was in the clinic (she has seen him a couple times after discharge..and we have also been in contact a few times).  And of course the neonatal follow-up clinic isn't complete with out the therapist on hand to evaluate him.

Jonathan sitting all by himself...12/15/11

So the doctors were very happy with Jonathan's weight.  Just to refresh, in October, we went to the clinic and Jonathan had fallen from the 50th percentile down to the 25th percentile on the weight growth chart.  He is now climbing back up to the 50th percentile...just goes to show that he really was constipated and I was right that he needed something to help out...not just prune juice.  Jonathan is sitting up on his own (with support of his own hands).  He is just about ready to push himself up to get ready to crawl.  The therapist said she was super happy with him and everyone agreed that he is a textbook 6 month old right now...right were he should be (for his adjusted age).  

I even got him to stand long enough
for me to snap this picture...12/15/11

So since his weight was getting back on track, the doctors decided it was time to bring his formula down from Neosure 27 cal to Neosure 24 Cal.  So this will be able to give him more fluids in his diet.  This should help with the constipation and I should be able to cut back the miralax, but we will see how he does and gauge it off of that.  Something else that should help is they actually pulled him off of the lasix.  Since this is supposed to help him get rid of any retaining fluids, now that he doesn't have this medication (as long as he does well), this adds more fluids back into his diet as well.


As the therapist was evaluating Jonathan the doctors were watching and his admitting doctor said she didn't think there was any worry for CP (Cerebral Palsy).  She said that he is moving his arms and legs and kicking and it doesn't appear there will be any issues there.  She then looked at me and said what was his brain bleed and asked if it was a 2 or 3.  I then smiled and said it was a grade 4.  The fellow doctor that was there then said yeah, this is why we do what we do....it's a roll of the dice, but it makes it worth it to see babies like Jonathan...the ones that have everything against them and they pull through.


So to help shorten this up so I can move on to other topics, everything went well...we are down 1 more medication, the head tilt had corrected so there was no need for any physical therapy, formula calorie count is down.  Jonathan is even possibly ready for Cheerios!! (or a snack that dissolves in the mouth...apparently plain Cheerios does that).  We go back to the neonatal follow-up clinic in March.


So through everything that we have been through, we have managed to pull through that we ended the year on an extremely high note.


Now looking forward to 2012, I am looking at my 12 in 2012 and am happy with those decisions to make me a better person...So here's my list and I will print this out and hang it on my fridge or by my calendar (not sure which...maybe both)....so here is my 12:

January - 30 Minutes of "Me-Time"

February - Make a Chore List & Stick to it

March - Set a Budget

April - Have a Workout Routine

May - Eat Healthier

June - 1 Hour of Reading Time Daily

July - More Quality Family Time

August - Be more Organized

September - Blog at least twice a week 

October - Learn Something New Everyday 

November - Finish Christmas Shopping by the End of November 

December - Create better sleeping habits

At this time, I do feel these are all realistic, but as life goes on we will see if I need to make any changes or re-arrange some of my months. So, that is where I stand and I feel I have soo much more to say, but I will leave it here tonight....It'll give me something to say tomorrow :)


I hope everyone has (or had) a happy AND safe New Year!!

Memories of the NICU

Some of you may have heard this song.  I heard about this song probably about a month or so ago now.  I must say, I need to learn the lyrics to this song as it is such a catchy tune and oh so true!!  So I'm thinking if I blog it...I may learn it better :)

Here's the song....NICU at Night (The Preemie Song)

The first time I heard this song, it literally brought tears to my eyes.  When I first heard this song, I had to learn more about it...so now I'm sharing with all of you and I hope you find some enjoyment out of it.  For any of you who have never had a preemie, this song describes the NICU...just not the scary stuff.  For any of you that have had a preemie...it'll bring you right back to the NICU.  Because it is so catchy, it doesn't bring me back to the scary times, but really it brings me back to the first time I held Jonathan.

Jonathan 5 Weeks Old..My First Time Holding Him!

I was not emotional when I FINALLY held him (he was 5 weeks old the first time I held him)....I really thought I was going to be emotional though!  Whenever I think about that time though, I do tend to get a little emotional.

So this moment is where I go when I hear this song and yes, I get a little teary eyed.  I do stop and think about our extended family at the hospital.  If you have had a child in the hospital with an extended stay...I know you know what I mean.


So here are the lyrics to The Preemie Song.......

NICU @ NITE (The Preemie Song)

By:  Hugh Blumenfeld

I had a baby son, it was just a week ago
He came a little early, 'bout a month or so
So they put him in the neonatal unit where the premies all sleep
Up in maternity the mamas all coo
watch their babies grow fatter and gurgle but a few
are in the neonatal unit where the babies go beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep beep
Well they count all the fingers and they count all the toes
They count every single milligram he grows
They measure all the poop and they measure all the pee
And the little tiny babies go beep beep beep beep | beep beep beep beep
Little tiny babies with their bears and their dogs
And their wires and their tubes and the nurses in clogs
Make their rounds every hour, it's a very busy schedule to keep
And they rock and feed the babies and they all keep time
to the IV pumps and the monitors chiming
In the neonatal unit where the babies go beep beep beep
beep beep beep beep beep beep
May they all grow happy and healthy and strong
May we never know the difference before too long
Except for the nights when we wake from a dream
of a room full of babies going
beep beep beep beep | beep beep beep beep
aah-ah, ah-ah-ah

So, I just need to add that in looking for the lyrics to the Preemie Song, I came across another blogger on a preemie site (inspire.com) that listed a couple songs that reminded her of her time with her daughter in the NICU.  One of the songs was Through the Glass by Stone Sour.  I have to admit....this song is also quickly becoming one of my favorites.  This song is bringing me back to a much harder difficult time in the NICU and listening to the song (not watching the video), really takes me through our journey and I wish I would have connected this song before...although I probably would have just cried every time I heard it (kind of like I am now....I should really stop hitting repeat).

 So those are songs that I found after the NICU was done.  But while we were going through it, it did find myself crying a lot to Beautiful Boy by John Lennon and (ok I know it's going to sound weird, but here it goes) Friends in Low Places by Garth Brooks.  You know what though...I have some great family and friends that helped pick me up and get me through the day.  That's the thing with the NICU, it's a one day at a time, phones don't leave your side, jump when the phone rings, wide awake if it rings in the middle of the night, kind of thing.

So I'm sure I brought some tears to your eyes (sorry), but hopefully, I finished this blog with a smile on your face.

By the way...shot out to my Mom-in-Law....today is her birthday!!  We Love you Mom-in-Law aka Mom aka Grandma :)

A Developing Story

Before I start this post, I want to give a shout-out to my sister.  Today is her birthday...So Happy birthday to my favorite sister (ok so she's my only sister...but still my favorite!!)....We Love you and hope you have a wonderful day.

Onto today's post.  As promised, I will update you on Jonathan's development.

When Jonathan was discharged on June 9, 2011, he was diagnosed with Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP).  Once he was discharged, we had weekly opthamology appointments for a few weeks, which then turned into every 2 weeks, then a month, and now we are on our 6 month stretch.  He goes back to his opthamologist in February 2012 (Jonathan will be a week shy of a year old at that time).  So the last time we saw the opthamologist was the beginning of August, 2011.  At that time, the doctor said that it appears Jonathan's ROP was correcting itself...so he was growing out of it.  His diagnosis was downgraded from stage 2 ROP to immature.

Jonathan has had some visits with his Early Intervention (EI) Team.  His team is put together with 4 therapists; Speech, Occupational, Physical and Developmental.  When this was set up they put this group together who are more sensitive to the micro preemies and their behavior.  They first saw him in August.  They said that he was doing really good at that time.  His adjusted age when they saw him was just over 2 months old.  They did say his reach and grab skills were 50% delayed, but they didn't feel that he needed to have any treatment at that time.  They did say part of the delay was most likely due to the ROP.  But over all, they felt that we could just do some exercises and "play time" at home to keep him developing in the right direction.  So no treatment was recommended then.

In October, 2011, we went back up to the Neonatal followup clinic.  There were a couple concerns there.  The first concern was that Jonathan had fallen off of his weight curve.  So the nutritionist was in the room and it was suggested that we keep him on the high calorie formula (he is on Neosure 27 Cal.).  They wanted to keep him on this for about another month and then we can start the rice cereal when he was 5 months adjusted.  After talking with the Nurse Practitioner, we decided to start him on the cereal 3 weeks after his appointment and she also said she didn't feel he had fallen off of his curve was as big of a deal as they were making it out to be.  She said he was in the 50th percentile because they had gotten him there and maybe he just wasn't comfortable there.  He is now in the 25th percentile.  After talking with our county health nurse that follows him as well, she said she had him in the 25th percentile when she was here in September.  Our Nurse Practitioner said that if he is still on the 25th percentile curve in our December visit, then that will be his curve, he may just be more comfortable there.

There was also a concern that he had a slight head tilt to his right.  He has actually had this problem since before he was discharged.  It was just more prominent at discharge then it is now.  However, the neonatal doctor did say that she would like to see this corrected and if it doesn't get corrected by December, then she will be ordering some physical therapy....so we were given some stretches to do and orders to do them as often as possible.

Jonathan...Our "textbook" 5 month old
during one of his first feedings

In November, 2011, Jonathan's EI team came back to do another evaluation on Jonathan.  Jonathan was days shy of 9 months old, however, his adjusted again was almost 5 months old.  They said that they were once again happy with his development and he was a "textbook" 5 month old.  I did bring up the concern of Jonathan's head tilt, and they said that it appears to be correcting (at least in their eyes).  They said it was only a very slight tilt, but it could be more prominent when he's tired or upset.  So we will see what our December visit at the clinic says...until then, we will keep doing our stretches.

Jonathan's EI team is planning on coming out for another evaluation in February 2012 when Jonathan is about a year old.  They said to not be surprised if they recommend treatment at that time, the goal in the 1 to 2 year old range is to close the gap between his chronological and adjusted ages.  

February already appears to be a busy month for us.  Already scheduled in February are the EI team, 1 year Pediatrician appointment, Ophamology, The County Health Nurse, and something tells me the Neonatal clinic will want to see him then too (however, that is not scheduled yet).  So that is pretty much where we are at with the development side of things.  Jonathan seems to be doing everything that he needs to be doing at this time.  He is cooing and laughing and playing....and so much fun to have around!!  

So don't forget to laugh today, and if you need some help, here is some encouragement....

And now a word from our sponsors..... (sorry, didn't get a lot of pictures in on this post, but at least you've got 2 videos to see)...

So it appears that Jonathan's story is all caught up at the moment.  So I'm not really sure what the next entry will be about...we will see what idea pops into my head.

Until next time, smile, laugh and enjoy life!!!