January 31, 2009

Vann had a wonderful day with his other favorite nurse Ruth! She informed us today that we were able to give him a bath in a little tub, which was absolutely adorable. She then told us the great news that after we did skin to skin today that we would be able to dress him in his first pair of pajamas that she had picked out for him!!! 

I know it is a little thing, but Jeff and I were so so excited. Our little man is now 3lbs. 8 oz.

January 30, 2009

We thought you would enjoy watching Vann get his head massage from his favorite nurse Carol. He loves his head massages!

January 29, 2009

Almost another week down. Vann had another head scan yesterday, there was a slight increase in ventricle size, the blood clot is still there, but there is no new bleeding and the PVL looks normal. So all in all not too bad. The doctor said he would classify everything as stable since the increase in the ventricle size was SLIGHT. Since there was an increase, they will do another scan in two weeks, so they can keep a close eye on what is going on up there. 

He also had his first eye exam. It is normal for preemies like Vann to have immaturity of the eyes, which they classify in different stages. 1 being mild and 4 being the worst. He currently has stage 1, so he will receive another eye exam next week. They will continue to monitor his eyes.

We know there is going to be some bumps in the road for our precious little guy, but we truly hope some of these bumps will resolve on their own. Please keep the prayers coming for Vann! As of today, he is 3 lbs. 4 oz.!

January 25, 2009

Vann is now 3 lbs.!!!! 

We are so excited to see our little guy hit this huge goal. He is starting to put a little chub on his body, which is so cute.

 

All in all he is doing really well. They are leaving him on the canula today to see how he does with it. Wednesday is his next head scan, if this one looks good, then they will wait until right before he goes home to do another. 

Vann was really excited because he got to meet his Uncle Brandon and Aunt Jessica this weekend. We are so glad they were able to make it over and see the little guy!

January 22, 2009

It's official...little Vann has gained 1 lb. since his birth. He weighs 2 lb. 13 oz. Jeff and I couldn't be happier to see our little guy get bigger. He is continuing to do very well. Jeff held him this morning and Vann did amazing (he loves his daddy). We had to take a picture of Vann sleeping like this because that is exactly how Jeff sleeps.

Vann is so excited to meet his Uncle Brandon and Auntie Jess tomorrow!!!

January 19, 2009

Today was a big day for Vann, he was able to see what it feels like to get that CPAP mask off of his face. Since he has done so well with it, the nurse and respiratory therapist wanted to put the nasal canula on him while I held him tonight to see how he handled it. Let's just say...HE LOVED IT! Vann did extremely well, Jeff and I were hoping they would just leave it on, but they weren't able to as he has a little more to prove on the CPAP!

January 18, 2009

Vann has really had a great week. He continues to do well on the CPAP...he is at 5 and they would like him to get to 4 before the try the canula (which is the next step). They are supplementing my breastmilk with some formula to add calories to his feedings, so we can get the little guy to put on some more weight. He is at 2 lb. 9 oz. as of yesterday. The big news from yesterday was that they removed his PICC line, which was an IV in his leg. That is how he received all of his medications etc. He will now be receiving them orally. Jeff and I were so excited because that means one less wire hooked up to our little guy.

Thanks again for the prayers, they are working for us every single day and we can't tell you enough how much they mean to us and little Vann!

January 16, 2009

Vann is officially 1 month 3 days old. We are hoping he has turned a good corner and heading in the right direction. He has been on CPAP for 5 days now and really doing well. We are holding him once a day, which is amazing for us. He started physical therapy this week and all of his reflexes are great. Because he is a preemie and had some brain bleeds, he is at higher risk, so he will be doing physical therapy for at least the next 3 years. They have a great program and will be sending someone to our house to work with him and help him with development. 

We were able to snap a shot of the little guy while they took his CPAP off and were massaging his face...he is so darn cute!!!

January 13, 2008

Today was a great day for our little guy! He has been on the CPAP for over 24 hours and is really doing good with it. I finally got to hold him for the 2nd time tonight, I just love it! They did a head ultrasound today...the ventricle size has decreased, the bleeding is breaking down and the PVL is normal (this is all great great news).

We got to give him a bath for the first time today!!!

January 12, 2009

This adventure is really testing Jeff and my strength. We meet with the doctor all the rest of the NICU team today to go over Vann's progress, setbacks and anything else that they felt was important. Overall, we are all hoping that Vann is starting down a good road of just growing, learning to breath on his own and eating more! The good news for today was that he was taken off the ventilator and put on the CPAP (you can see it below).

We learned today that even though his head scans have been stable, we still aren't out of the woods yet. Since he is a preemie and has some brain bleeds he has a higher risk if having PVL, which can cause some variation of cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, mental/motor disabilities. They begin looking for this when he is 4 weeks old and throughout the first few years as this is something that does not show up all the way. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything to do with his head will remain stable, but no matter what we will love him just the way he is!!!

If he continues to do well on the CPAP, we will be able to hold him more often and we will inch closer to being able to feed him ourselves....wow, I can't wait!

Weight Update:  Vann now weighs 2 lbs. 5 oz.

January 9, 2009

They warned us it would be a rocky road and that is exactly what it is like. Vann will have a great day and then the next won't be so good. They have been wanting to get him off of the ventilator and on to the CPAP this week, but he just isn't cooperating as far as his stats go. He is having issues urinating again, and his sodium levels are quite low, so they are trying to get that back to normal. The good news is they have increased his feedings every 12 hours. He isn't digesting all of his feedings, but doing a lot better, so they are pushing him a little. 

We told him about all the wonderful friends and family that were praying for him to get better, so he wanted to open his eyes for everyone to say a big THANKS!!!

Daddy holding me for first time! January 5, 2009

After being extremely patient, Jeff finally got to hold his son for the first time tonight. It was absolutely precious. Vann slept the entire time (2 whole hours). We can't wait to hold him again!

Mommy holding me!

Sorry this is so late, I just finally downloaded the video of when I got to hold Vann for the first time. Keep your fingers crossed that Jeff will finally be able to hold his son tomorrow!

January 4, 2009

Well, it has been a long week for little Vann. After 5 good days, we knew that a bad one was coming. They began treating Vann for a couple of different infections as they could tell he wasn't feeling good. His blood pressure was really low, which wasn't allowing his kidneys to work efficiently and causing him to hold on to a lot of fluid. As you can see in the picture below, the little guy is quite puffy.

After some antibiotics and some rest, Vann began to turn the corner yesterday and had a really good day. He is urinating extremely well, and all of his numbers are getting back where they need to be. He is back on the conventional ventilator and the doctors are hoping by the end of the week he will be on the C-PAP (allows him to breath on his own). They are also hoping to start his feedings again in the next few days!

The big news of this week, besides the fact Vann is feeling much better, is he has moved into bigger diapers, YEAH!!!

January 1, 2009

Happy New Years from The Edwards family!

The good news is they did another head scan on Vann's brain yesterday and everything looks stable, which means the bleeding in his brain has not gotten worse and they are hoping it will start to break down and go away. This can take a while, so they will continue to monitor it.

Tuesday of this week was a little bit of a set back. We knew it was coming after 5 good days. Vann had some blood in his diaper, which they are almost sure it was a small infection. They have begun antibiotics, which seem to help some, but still some blood. They are going to keep an eye on this and make sure it isn't something to do with the kidneys. 

The last few days he has been a little unstable do to all the poking and prodding the doctors and nurses have had to do, so we are praying that the little guy with be able to rest peacefully within the next few days.

They have also had to stop his feedings since he hasn't felt good, so let's hope they can continue those soon.