Cole is a BIG Boy!

We are coming home from the hospital right now. Cole had a great day. He ate really well at all his feeding with me, between 30-34mil. Tonight he ate 46mil. I was very excited because a full feeding is 50mil, we are getting closer!

  They put Cole in a cute little onesie, it's the closest to real clothes he has worn. They don't let us bring in any of our own clothes. Tonight Cole weighed in at 6lbs 4 oz. He is becoming a tank! We are still working on him waking up for all his feeding. He wakes up for 4 of the 8. Hopefully he will start waking up soon.

     Just a little update on my from Heidi that I met in San Francisco.  She was able to make it to 34 weeks before delivering.  She had a beautiful little girl. Attie weighed about 5 lbs and was doing very well at birth. Not needing much help with breathing and her Spina Bifida concerns, weren't much to worry about. We were so excited to hear that here legs move. Today we got news that they were able to go home. We are so happy that their whole family can be together now. What a blessing.

Cole moving his feet

Someone asked about Cole legs moving the other day. So I thought I would video tape them and share. We are so very excited that they move. We feel very blessed!

CrAzY Week!

  I have been going to the hospital every morning, getting there about a quarter to 8 am. And staying there until about 4-4:30pm. With rush hour traffic takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to get home. So that leaves me about two and a half hours at home with my kids before Mark and I turn around and head back up to the hospital. So my blogging has not been happening. Because there is no service for my cell phone in the hospital I can't update while I'm there and I don't want to update while I'm with my kids. So now you know why I'm behind.

      Cole has been working very hard on nursing.  He has nursed 3 times, where he has eating a full feeding.  Every other time he eats a half of a feeding. He is still on the oxygen box. It seems to be helping his congestion. He is now weighing 5lbs 11oz.
    I have ok them to give him a bottle. The first bottle he took he ate about half of this feeding. The last couple nights when the nurses have offered him a bottle he has pinched his lips tight and refused to eat it. This is creating a problem because I can't be there during the night. So we are hoping that he will start taking a bottle soon.

                                 Here is my fortune from lunch today.

     We were moved to a different room today. And they have a new rule of gloves and gowns. I was excited that we don't have to wear masks. I was told that there is a sick baby and they want to make sure that it's sickness doesn't spread.

       We just got done visiting Cole. We had planned for the OT theraphis to give him a bottle so we came up late.  She was late feeding him, so we got there just in time to watch. She said it was so funny he did the same thing when she started. He put his lips together and did not want anything to do with the bottle. She worked with him for the next little while. He eat just a little bit of the bottle (9mil). Then afterwards I breast fed him which he did pretty well (24mil). A full feeding is 48mil, so he did very well tonight.
 

Saturday, Sunday and Monday in One

 Saturday-  Mark's parents took me to the hospital in the morning.  Cole took some time but ate half a feeding.

   Saturday night Mark and I went and visited Cole. Mark was pretty tired with running the kids around all day. I was grateful that he wasn't too tired to go with me. Cole weighed in at 5 lbs 6 oz. He ate okay, not his best but it's good practice.

Sunday- My Mother in-law gave me a ride to the hospital in the morning. I planned on staying longer to see if I could get Cole to nurse at another care time. 9am he ate well. Then I went to the hospital sacrament meeting.  I really enjoyed the speakers.  Then I checked on Cole but he slept through the 12pm care. I ate lunch and then laid down for a little bit. I then tried to feed Cole again at 3pm. He did well again. My Brother and Sister in-law came for a visit and gave me a ride home.

  Mark took me up Sunday night. Cole didn't wake up for us. The nurse was going to have us give Cole a bath last Sunday but she ended up not being our nurse. So she asked if we would like to do it now since Cole wasn't into eating. It was so fun to get him all clean.

  Monday- Mark's Dad took me this morning. This week I'm trying to stay for three care to see if we can get him to nurse more often. He did well he at the 8:30am and 2:30am cares. Then when Mark and I came up at night he ate again! Slowly but surely we  are making progress. 

Let's play catch up!

   I have fallen behind so I'm going to give you a little spill on each day that I have missed.

Wednesday- Cole is 4 weeks today.  Mark's Dad took me early and I stayed later. Trying to see if I could get Cole to eat at another care time. It didn't work, he was worn out from eating at nine. Weighing 5 bls :-) He ate pretty well again when we came at the 9pm care time.

Thursday- My Mom took me in the morning. Cole ate good again. I'm feeling like he is understand what it's all about. He weight is up 5bls 2oz. He is getting a little bum, so excited!  Tay went with us at night. I felt like Cole was excited that Tay was there. He seemed to be not as focused. So I was surprised when the scale said he had almost a half of a feeding. 

Friday- Happy Birthday Taylor!  We missed having Cole help us bring Tay breakfast in bed. Mark and I visited Cole this morning. We were very surprised and excited when we weighed Cole and the scale said he had eaten a whole feeding.  It was like a natural high!  Tonight we took Tay out to dinner for her birthday.  Then we headed to the hospital.  He ate half of a feedIng. They are trying to help him with his congestion so now he is the bubble boy!

( the box has oxygen and moisturein it. His nose is so sore and dry. They are trying to give it a rest from the nasal cannula.)

Terrific Tuesday!

   My Father in-law gave me a ride to the hospital,  on his way to work this morning.  Cole was awesome again this morning. We weighed him before I fed him. He ate okay at first. So when we weighed him he had gain 8 grams.Then while they were heating up his milk for his feeling tube, he nursed very well the whole time.  I asked them if we could check his weight again before they fed him through his feeding tube to see how well he really did. He had gained 12 grams which totalled to 20 grams which is half a feeding.  I was so proud of him.

       Mark and I went up at night. Cole did at great nursing. Half a feeding again. Very exciting!  We are headed in the right direction!

Eating like a Pro!

     My friend took me up to the hospital this morning.  She had some work that she was doing downtown. So I got to stay up at the hospital for two cares instead of one. I was so excited to see my little guy.  He ate like a pro this morning.  The OT that was helping me thought that he ate at least half of his meal from me. This was the best he has ever nursed. It was a great morning.  To celebrate I went down stairs and had a milkshake!

    Mark and I headed up after a yummy dinner that was brought in. Cole was sleepy when we first got there. But we gave a shout out when the nurse undressed him to weigh him. He wasn't a fan. So by the time it was time to start nursing he was sleepy again. So we headed up cludding.
    He is still gaining weight like a champ. Tonight he weighed in at 4lbs 13 oz.  I was thinking about today, today was when I was suppose to have my c-setion.  I would have been 36 weeks today, crazy to think how things work out. So glad he is here and save. It would have been nice to have made it so long.But just glad he is here and as healthy as hevis.

Sad Sunday for this Mom

     I woke up this morning with a sore throat. I called to check on Cole.  He had a good night. I asked his nurse about my throat. It didn't seem like strep to me, just drainage. I've been a little congested my whole pregnacy and after too. But my throat has never been sore from it. He told me to go get it checked out.  My friend was planning on taking me this morning to the hospital.  I asked her to take me to instacare and then maybe to the hospital if I got cleared. Well it's not step but he did said it was red. He said not to go this morning because I could be contagiousSo I went home a drank lots of water and slept as much as I could. Trying to do whatever I could get better.


The younger kids and I went to Mark's parents for Sunday dinner. Mark, Tay and Miles went to a Bishop's firside and then came over to visit. They said the fireside was awesome. I was kind of throwing myself a pitty party. Here I could go see Cole, I can't go to church and I even miss out on the awesome firesides. So I made them tell me all about it. The speaker was a man from our neighborhood. His calling is the Bishop of a all boy ranch for troubled teens. He talked about over coming hard things that happen in our live. He shared so youtube. Here is one of the videos that he showed.
http://m.youtube.com/results?q=richie%20parker&sm=12
It's a awesome uplifting video.

    Mark took me and the kids home then headed up to the hospital to visit Cole. Mark was so wonderful to bring me home pictures. It was a rough day not seeing my baby in person.

Crazy Saturday!

     It was a crazy morning. Trying to help Tay get ready for her dance Comp. and getting mysrlf out to door to see Cole. But it all worked out. I felt before I could help Tay with you fake eyelashes. So Dad came to the rescue.  My Brother in law drove me today. He was able to visit Cole and then go visit his wife's grandpa that is in the hospital too. Cole was kind of sleepy so we cuddled, it seems like he is more awake at night.

    I came home and went to Tay's dance comp. She did a great job. So proud of all her hard work. After the comp the whole family headed up to the hospital.  Tay and I visited Cole while Mark took the boys to get some dinner.  He was more awake and did better with nursing. 

Flash Back Friday!

   Cole was very sleepy this morning.  So we just cuddled.

                               
                              I think I know where Cole gets his sleepiness from.

 

                                                    Mark took me and Gabe to lunch.


     Mark's parents came up and visited Cole with tonight. They were excited ti get to see him up and close since he was born. It was super fun because Cole was wide awake.. He did his best job ever at nursing.  Hopefully he can keep up the good work.

FLASH BACK! 

It's amazing how big Cole has gotten.

This is a picture of him just a couple days old.

No more special gowns, gloves and masks!

     My mom took me today to visit Cole. He was doing well when I got there. I was able to be there for rounds which was nice to chat with Cole's Dr. He said he was looking good. He told me not to stress too much about Cole just practicing nursing. He still is young and will be fine.  Which was nice to hear. He was impressed that Cole can move his toes.

While I was changing Cole I took a picture of his back. It's looking good.  He is really dry right now. They don't use lotion in the NICU. Can't wait to get him home and lather him up.

Mark and I headed up after a yummy dinner  that was brought in. Cole was so awake. He nursed well and stayed awake for the hour we were there. I was surprised how up lifting it was. He seem like a normal baby. Not a sick baby that you are always watching and being careful around. Not that anything has changed, it just was nice to remember that he is our cute little baby. Maybe that doesn't make sense, it's hard to explain. It was very nice.

3 weeks old

      My mother in law took me this morning to visit Cole.  He was doing well. He is still having trouble with congestion, but besides that no real problems.

The Drs are wanting to give him a bottle, we talked about it. We are going to wait a little bit longer to let Cole get better at nursing.  Cole weighed in at 4bls 5oz.

BIG BOY BED!

     My cousin was our day time nurse today.  It was very exciting when she told us that she was going to change his bed for a big boy bed.

                                              .               Goodbye little baby bed!

                                                Hello big boy bed!

     The evening was very busy, meeting for dance tryouts for next year, dance performance at the same time somewhere else and going up to visit Cole. But we did it all. Tay did an amazing job dancing. I was so glad that I made it in time. So happy to say that while visiting Cole he nursed the best he every has. He didn't fall asleep after he's normal 10 minutes of trying. They told me that one day it will just click. I'm not saying that we are going to be nursing every feeding, but we took a step in the right direction. It makes the mommy feel real good!
      I was able to hang up all the pictures that the kids have drawn for Cole.

Good news and bad news!

    We found out that Cole had an A&B grade 3 last night. This is were the baby's heartbeat amd breathing goes way down. When he has had them before he has come out of it himself which is a grade 0. They said they let him try to come out of it himself, then they rubbed his face, head and hands.  Then they flicked his foot and he still wasn't responding. So then they picked him up and he finally came out if it. After they cleaned out his nose and he had a huge booger. They are thinking that may have caused the A&B. Kind of glad I wasn't hear to see it all happen,  it would of freaked me out pretty good. He had his head ultrasound today. His ventrals are growing but as they should be like any other babies would. Which is good news.

                                             Cole getting his head ultrasound.

    Mark and I headed up to see Cole. He had a good day. They cathed him twice today to make sire he is empting his bladder. He had a very small amount left so that is awesome.  They also had done a test to make sure he wasn't sick, it ce back negative.  It was great to hear lots of good news.

A Day of Rest

     The plan today was to have a friend drop me off at the hospital and then have Mark pick me up after church. This meant that I got to have some extra time with Cole. He did a pretty good job at nursing. After hanging out with Cole for a little bit I went to the Sacrament meeting at the hospital. The talks that were given were on prayer. I have to say that I do feel like prayer is a gift from God. We are so blessed to have a way to talk to our Heavenly Father. I know that he has answered many of my prayers. It is a true blessing to be able to talk to him and know that you are not alone in hard times. After the meeting I was able to go back and hold Cole until Mark came and picked me up. It totally made up for missing the night before.

    Mark and I came back up to visit Cole. He seemed to have had a good day. He has been gaining weight and seems nit soooo skinny looking everytime we come up. Cole practiced nursing pretty well. It was a goid visit.

E.R.

    My sister in-law and niece took me to visit Cole. Their Grandpa is in the hospital too. So it was nice that they could help me out and visit him too. Today's surprise when I got to the hospital was Cole now has a belly button! He did well at nursing and we even cuddled for a little bit.

 
     Jenny said there visit went well. It was just hard to see him so unhappy.  He misses her grandma and worries about her. And the pills that he is taking makes food not taste good. So he is having a hard time wanting to eat.

   Mark had a couple of meetings Saturday afternoon. I was home with the kids when I started bleeding. It seemed like a lot for what it should be right now. I talked to my Dr. and she said to watch it for one more hour. The next hour was lighter so I took a nap. But when I woke up I was bleeding more, so I thought that I would wait the next hour and see. It was close but not as much, but I had been bleeding a lot aready. So I called the Dr again and she told me to come in to the ER to be checked out. They did a couple different tests and did not find anything that would make them think that the bleeding would not stop soon.  The Dr said that at about two weeks  after giving birth where the placenta was hooked to the uterus there is a scab that comes off and can cause bleeding. We feel like because I'm low in the blood area I most likely didn't clot as fast as normal, and that is why I had so much bleeding.
     Because we went to the ER we were not able to go to the hospital to hold Cole. So I called the hospital and asked the nurse that night to hold him for a little bit for us.

TGIF

    Cole was doing good this morning.  We were late getting up to visit him so they had already done his cares and started feeding him. So practicing nursing wasn't going to happen. So we just cuddled.

     Mark's parents took me up at night to visit Cole. But then again we were late going up because I was finishing my dinner when it was time to leave. I don't mind cuddling,  but we do need to get nursing down so he can come home.

Cole is 2 weeks and 1 day old!

 It's amazing how fast time goes. I can't believe it's already been two weeks. We feel very blessed at how well Cole is doing. Still hoping that he will nurse betterand better everyday. So he can come home soon.

 

   Cole was uneventful today which is good. He slept, ate and pooed. :-)
Hopefully he can keep it up. He sure is a patient baby, we have only heard him cry once when they were changing his stickers on his chest that monitor his heart beat. Tonight he weighed in at 4 lbs.

Are there Aliens at my bed!

These new rules are a pain. Mark and I are the only ones that can come into visit Cole.  My Mom drove me up to the hospital this morning. Cole and I did skin to skin but he didn't seem to interested in nursing.  So we just cuddle. But because of the gown, mask and gloves everything takes longer.

Mark and I headed to the hospitsl after yummy dinner was brought in. Mark was not a fan of the gowns and gloves, and definitely not a fan of the mask. They moved Cole and all his friends to a new room.  Tonight they changed Coles bed. Which took most of our time. We got to hold Cole for a short time. They also told us that we (Cole) will be quarantine for 8 more days.  Which kind of is a huge downer. :-( But I guess it is what it is. You do what you have to, to have a healthly baby.

What a Day!

     Mark and I headed up to visit Cole this morning.  He had a good night.  He did an amazing job at nursing.  He didn't really wake up for it but he nursed for a good 5 minutes total. It's the best he has ever done. it was a great morning visit.

     It was Mark's day to be home, so we did some laundry together and then we took a nap. We were suppose  to meet with one of Miles teachers. But I wrote down the wrong time in my phone so we were a half hour late and she had already left for t the day. I hate having mommy brain. This afternoon I recieved a phone call from the hospital. They wanted to let us know that there was a baby in our area of the NICU that tested positive for RSV. So they were testing all the babies and would be giving Cole a synagis shot, which should help it be a lighter case if, he did get RSV. We are now praying for all the sweet babies that they won't get sick and that the one that is well get better soon. I got surprise package from my friend Heidi that I was out I in San Francisco with.  It made my day! I have had a couple people ask me how she is doing. So here is a little update in her.  She is still pregnant, 32 1/2 weeks! She had her appointments today and they were all very uneventful, which is always good.  She does have a terrible side pain that comes and goes that they are watching to make sure it isn't anything that would cause problems. She is getting uncomfortable with getting bigger from being pregnant. But she is doing an amazing job on bed rest, cooking that baby. Praying and hoping she can keep that baby in there for a while longer.

    Tonight my sister took me to the hospital.  Mark took Luke and Drew to pack meeting.  Drew received his Bobcat award tonight.  :-) When we got to the hospital they said because of the baby that has RSV only Moms and Dads can go into visit. You have to wear a special outfit too. I felt bad, Marcy had to sit out in the waiting room for an hour and a half. :-( Cole didn't wake up to much for me but I was told that he had a rough day, 3 A and B. (this is where his heart beat and oxygen level go down) but they we're long enough that the nurse had to help him by touching him to get him to come out of it.  I don't know if he was in bad positions or what . But I think cuddling was just right for tonight. He did it again, he gained 2 oz today. Weighing in at 3 lbs 14 oz. Did I tell you I make cream not milk. If you saw Gabe when he was a baby you know that it's true. I'm grateful that he is gaining so well. Can't wait to see if Cole will nurse good in the morning.