Our Year Together

I can't believe it has been an entire year since Tim and I got married! Crazy! It has been a pretty eventful year. We had lots of fun!

Anxious

Just counting down the days till he's home......

5 Weeks Old

TJ is 5 weeks old today and he is doing so great! He has graduated to a crib. He no longer needs a heater on him to help him maintain his own body temp. He can pretty much do it on his own. And he took all of his feedings today from a bottle! He is up to almost 2 ounces a feed which is great! They haven't drawn any fluid the last two days because his soft spot looked a little sunken in, which is a good sign that his body is absorbing the fluid. Also his head has maintained the same size for the last few days which means that it has stopped swelling. Things are looking up! Here are some pics from tonight....

Mr. Milo

Our Puppy is so sweet :D All streched out on the couch lol

All Is Well

Not much to update on. TJ is doing really great. They have drawn fluid from the resevoir twice. The first time they drew out 26 mL, but I'm not really sure how much they drew the second. Last I heard he was 5 lbs 9 oz so he just keeps on growing :D He had an eye exam on Wednesday. The doctor asked me when he was born because he was very suprised at how well his eyes were matured. He said they looked great! Better than he was expecting. He just keeps pluggin along. It seems like he is comfortable and just kinda hanging out. He is up to almost 2 oz of milk for his feedings which is really good. Tim and I are doing great. I have started working again just to take my mind off everything and give me something to do. Once TJ comes home hopefully I can stay home for good. That would be ideal! Tim is still going to school and working about 50 hours a week. It wears him out, but he's a hard worker and just wishes he could see TJ more often. Its hard for him to get up to Salt Lake except for on his two days a week off. Hopefully TJ will be home in the next month. We are keeping our fingers crossed. They can't really give us a time frame for when he'll be ready. They just kinda have to watch him and see how he's doing. But so far so good. He gets stronger everyday. We are very thankful for that :D

Surgery :S

Um how they even place tubes and things into peoples brains is beyond me....how they do it in a tiny little baby is nothing short of a miracle. TJ had to get a resevoir placed in his brain yesterday so they can draw some fluid out of his ventricles. CRAZY...but he looks fine. The reservoir is just a little bubble on the top of his head. You wouldn't even notice it if there weren't stitches surrounding it. They are doing a CT scan today to check the placement and to see if they can see any damage from the bleed. So far they say that they stopped the pressure being placed on his brain in time before there was any extensive damage done, but they don't really know for sure. Last night I went to the hospital to see how he was doing. When I first got there he was pretty out of it still from the anesthesia. But by the end of the night he was slowly waking up and even opened his eyes a few times to look at me. All seems well (pretty much) and hopefully with the pressure off his brain his body can do a better job of absorbing the clot.

4 Weeks :D

I can't believe it has already been four weeks since all this drama started! Time sure does fly by. TJ progesses more and more everyday. He still has excess fluid in his brain. He had a small bleed which is pretty common in premies, but it caused a clot and now the CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) is building up in the ventricles in his brain. They have been monitoring it by taking ultrasounds once a week. They noticed that the clot is getting smaller but they are concerned that its not shrinking at a fast enough rate. They measure his head every day, and each time they have measured it his head has gotten a little bit bigger. Some of that is due to him growing, but it also is because of the pressure the fluid is starting to put on his brain. They are starting to become concerned that his body isn't absorbing the clot fast enough. If they decide that there is too much pressure they will have to place a tube down into his ventricles to relieve the pressure. It could resolve the problem, or the fluid could just continue to build up and they will have to continually drain it a few times a year. They aren't really sure if there will be any damaging effects from the pressure that is on his brain right now. He seems like he has normal brain function as of right now. They had an occupational therapist come chek him out and she said his reaction to light and sound was great and that his reflexes and muscle tone were all very good as well. He has just started sucking from a bottle which is a huge step! I have been able to feed him three times from a bottle and he always does extremely well with it. We tried breast feeding on friday and as soon as he had it in his mouth he just fell right asleep lol. He hasn't connected that he can get food out of there too :D.

Beautiful Baby Boy :D

I think these pictures explain it all! These all were taken over this weekend. Its amazing because the pictures of just TJ look like a normal sized baby, but the pictures where he is being held he looks sooo small! He is doing so great. He has been taken off the ventilator and is now breathing on his own with just a little bit of oxygen to help. As you can tell by some of the pictures TJ has learned to smile!! He is very very happy to have the tube out of his lungs and off of his face. He has been smiling so much these last few days. Its hard not to think that he is feeling so much better and is so very very happy :D He is gaining weight and is now 4lbs 8 1/2oz. By the time he comes home he won't fit in any of the premie clothes we've been given..but we're ok with that! Thank you so much for all your prayers. They have been heard!