UPDATE: AUGUST 20, 2009...A PLAN!!!

Sorry for the long delay between posts. It's been a week since Carter was moved to the Pediatric Unit and things have gone very well. We made a big decision this past week that Carter will be getting a G-Tube. This is a feeding tube that is put in through his abdominal wall and into his stomach. It is "permanent", in other words it is there until the doctors decide to remove it. It will be used to supplement feeds. We will continue to feed him with a bottle, but if he cannot get enough nourishment that way, we will have to give the rest via the G-Tube. We are still working on getting him to feed from a bottle and we have seen some great improvement in Carter's ability. Last week he was barely taking 3 mls. Alicia, our speech therapist decided to thicken his feeds with a gel like substance that makes it easier for Carter to coordinate the sucking, swallowing and breathing. This has helped, A LOT!!! Last night our nurse called us about 6:30 and told us that Carter had taken 66 mls by bottle and today when we arrived we found out that he took an additional 50 mls at his 10pm feed and 65 mls during his morning feed. This was a joyous time for Tracy and me. Tonight he is having an acid reflux test done and it will take about 15 hours. They have a tube down in his esophagus measuring for reflux. If it is found out that he does have reflux, they will tighten the connection between his stomach and his esophagus during the G-Tube procedure. The surgery is being scheduled for Monday, but our nurses tell us to not count on it. If any emergencies come up, then he will get bumped. He will then need about 5 days of recovery, then he will be coming home!!!! We are very excited that we now see Carter at home in a short amount of time.

Carter is Graduating!!!

Today we had good news from the NICU staff. We had a family meeting today and they told us that Carter is ready to be moved from the NICU to the Pediatric Unit upstairs. He had another EEG today to make sure that there has been no more seizure activity since they have been lowering his dose of phenobarbital. They would like to wean him off this medicine completely before coming home if possible. The EEG results were good...but we have to wait for the neurologist to read them to let us know what they are going to do about the medication.

He will most likely be moved by Friday this week upstairs. This means that we will be able to stay with him 24 hours! Only one parent can stay overnight but that is okay since Jacob needs us too! The big plus to him being upstairs means that he can now visit with his brother! We are really excited to see them together for the first time!

While he is there we will be taught how to care for his NG tube and also work with the therapists. We are not sure if he will be coming home on a feeding tube or not but it is likely. He is sucking more but not enough to take his entire feed. Right now it is a very small amount...but hopefully he will improve with more stimulation from us!

We are expecting that it will be a several more weeks in the pediatric unit but this is a huge step and we are really proud of him for accomplishing everything that he has so far!!!

Jacob is still doing well. He is starting to get pudgy like his brother! He seems to eat all the time and for the most part he is a good sleeper. His reflux issues make him uncomfortable but the medicine he is on seems to be helping. Surprisingly for all the growing he is doing he still doesn't really fit into his preemie clothes all that well! But I am sure he won't be in them for much longer.

Johnny will post new pictures soon. We keep taking them but we have been so busy traveling back and forth that we haven't been able to get them downloaded. Stay tuned!

Happy Three Week Birthday!

Just wishing the babies a Happy Three Week Birthday today!

Jacob is growing and growing. We took him to the doctor yesterday and he weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces!!! That is what Carter weighed when he was born! So he is catching up to big brother! We think he has some reflux issues. We now have some medication and hopefully it will help him.

Carter has also gained some weight. He is now 6 pounds 9 ounces. He needs to eat more if he wants to stay bigger than his little brother!! He is doing well. They are reducing his amount of phenobarbitol and so far everything is going well. He still isn't swallowing so there really is no way to feed him a bottle which is his next big goal. He has started to show a sucking reflex but it is weak. He had speech therapy every day this week and I think he has improved.

He unfortunately didn't pass his hearing test so he will need to be re-tested at some point. The nurses tried to assure us that it might be nothing and not to worry too much right now.

He is still doing lots of occupational therapy and we have met with the therapist to show us what we can be doing while we visit. The therapy sessions are fun because it gets him out of the crib and usually he is wide awake!

In general the boys are doing great and we are just hoping for the whole family to be together soon!!!

UPDATE- AUG. 3, 2009

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.....

Jake is doing really well. Had another doctors appointment today and he has gained 1/2 a pound. He is now 5 pounds 14.5 ounces. He is catching up to his brother who is now 6 pounds 7 ounces. Doctor said he looks really healthy. The only problem is that he is having some pains and we are not sure if it is gas or reflux. We are keeping an eye on it.

Carter is doing well also. He has started work with both a speech and occupational therapist. The Occupational Therapist has shown us different massages we can do to help stimulate him and strengthen his muscles and he seems to be responding very well to this. The Speech Therapist is showing us how to get him to start sucking. This is needed so that he can start to feed by bottle. He is only being fed by a feeding tube. Alicia said that he showed some signs of sucking this morning and both Tracy and I saw some this evening when we went in for a visit. Carter had some other visitors today; Jason and Nicole came to meet him. He was WIDE awake and was happy to see some new faces. He is always looking around the NICU at what is going on around him. We brought him his mobile and his loves it!!!