Growing up a storm!

I really have to do a better job of updating the blog. I update Facebook pretty regularly, but it is so easy to do on my phone. Ok, so here is a quick synopsis of the past few weeks.

Jan 17th- 2 month check up with Pediatrician. He weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces and was 20.75 inches long. He had actually made it onto the growth curve!! He was in the 5th percentile for weight and height, haha. Obviously low because he is still trying to catch up to where he should be if he were born on time. He said most of the time it takes preemies about a year to catch up to where they should be. But the doctor was very impressed with his weight gain. He also received 4 vaccines, 3 shots and one orally. They forgot to mention to me he may have a low grade fever. So, later that night after he wouldn't eat for the second time and hadn't been acting right, I took his temp and it was 100.4. Of course I was scared, so I called the after hours line and pretty much got laughed at. Hopefully next time they will tell me what the potential side effects are so that I don't freak out and waste $15 for calling. Oh, I forgot to mention I also had a fever of 102 thanks to my dear friend mastitis. You can google it if you don't know what it is. It's not fun. Have I mentioned before how much fun it is pumping still?Needless to say I was barely making it by the time Drew got home from work that day.

Jan 19th- Cardiologist check up at Duke. He was also very happy with his weight gain. He said they like for heart babies to gain about 25 grams a day, and Colt is gaining about 40 per day. They did an ECHO on his heart, and everything looked great. Back again on Feb 8th.

Jan 20th-Hip ultrasound. Apparently most babies born breech have hip ultrasounds to make sure they straighten out correctly. Thankfully his did, so that is one thing we don't have to worry about.

Jan 24- Back to Pediatrician because Colt had started to spit up with his feedings, and seemed to be in pain while eating. Up to 9 pounds 5 ounces. Apparently he has reflux like every other baby I know. So, now he has to take yet another medicine, Zantac, and we add cereal to his milk to help. Seems to be helping some. But, now poor thing can't poop. He went from pooping 4-5 times a day to once a day or not even that. So now bring on the prune juice. Today is the first time we have introduced it, so i'm hoping for a big blowout sometime soon. He sure acts miserable, and I know that would make him feel better.

Jan 30th-Back to pediatrician yet again. This time for his synagis shot. This is a shot that helps prevent him from getting RSV. RSV is pretty much a cold that babies get, and could land him back in the hospital. Our insurance has to pre-approve it because it is very costly. We still have a $60 co-pay if that tells you anything. Oh, yea- up to 9 pounds 9 ounces now!!

So, here we are. Everything is really going pretty great. We are blessed with a very happy baby considering everything he has been through. I'm also not looking forward to going back to work, but I don't have a choice. Karen is all moved in to her townhouse and we are so blessed that she will be taking care of Colt. That is going to make going back to work a little easier, knowing he is being well taken care of. Andrew's birthday is coming up on Monday, so we are looking forward to celebrating that. I won't say how old he will be. But, he better enjoy his last year as a twenty-something ;)

Thankfully my good friend and neighbor, Lauren has a baby that is only a week younger than Colt. So we are able to compare notes on a lot of things. It's really nice to have someone so close going through a lot of the same things as you.

If any of you are still reading this rather long post, I wanted to take a minute to thank John McGuinness at Adam's Auto Wash here in Greenville. Andrew and I both worked there in college, and he was gracious enough to take up a collection for us there. Also Johnnie Haithcock at Northside Electronics in Henderson for donating a Holland Grill, Lou Gray (Drew's boss) for donating a $100 gift card and Cathy Short at the Peanut Roaster for helping donate a gift basket for a raffle to help us with expenses. Also, Johnny Bobbitt at Print Enterprise for donating the tickets. We are selling tickets now, and the drawing will be March 15. If any of you are available to help us sell them, we would really appreciate it. And a huge thank you to many of our co-workers at OneMain Financial who took up a collection to help us. We don't know where we would be without all of your help and generosity. If you haven't received a thank you note yet, you will. I just can't promise how soon it will be :)We love and appreciate all of you out there that have helped us, supported us and loved us. Please keep the prayers coming.

First Check-Up

As you know, Colt's first post-op check-up was Wednesday. We could not have been more happier with the results. Doctor says he looks fantastic! He was very impressed with his weight gain, up to 7 pounds 5 ounces! At this rate he will be ten pounds before we know it :) They did an EKG and results were normal. He also said he could come off the oxygen, but for us to keep it just in case. We still have to check his levels four times a day. He says he would estimate that his next surgery will be around spring or early summer. We talked some about long term and were so excited with the news we got. Of course nothing is promised, but we left being very optimistic and encouraged. He says Colt can play sports, he just can't scuba dive. Drew was a little bummed about this, since he is an avid diver. I, however am not. So, needless to say I'm glad I will have a tanning buddy :) He also said he may not need to have a heart transplant when he is older. Of course he is at a much higher risk than the average person, but it is not 100%. He also said he will be able to "grow up, get married and have kids". This was the best news I may have ever heard. When we first found out about his condition when I was pregnant, we were told his life span would probably be somewhere in the 20's. There is nothing like holding your child and staring at him knowing your time with him is limited, even this early. Of course no one knows how this story will end, and we may still outlive him. But, we have FAITH and HOPE. God has blessed us with this perfect angel and he has touched so many lives already. Because of him, I feel I have become a stronger Christian, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, etc. There have been and will continue to be times that are hard and I may struggle, but I will not give up. God has given us so many miracles, one at a time, and I don't believe he is finished yet.

Happy New Year!

Well our laptop did eventually crash so that is one reason for the delay in posts. And we also had some other things going on, like Colt having open heart surgery and finally being able to come home, so I hope you all will forgive me :) I had to go back and read my last post to see where to try and begin.

So, after the last post Colt's health began to deteriorate pretty rapidly. After his bath he had to be put on oxygen due to his oxygen saturation levels dipping lower than they should have. Each day they dipped further and they had to increase his oxygen intake. They also had to give him more medicine for the fluid in his lungs. It was really heartbreaking to watch. Because of this, the doctors decided to move up his surgery to Friday December 16th. We were relieved because we knew he was in need of it, but also extremely worried and anxious. That was probably the longest day of my life. We got to the hospital at 8am and spent the morning holding and talking to him. They came and took him around 1:30 or so. We were told the surgery would last about two hours and someone from the operating room would call a couple times and let us know how things were going. By 4:30 we had not heard from anyone and I was extremely anxious. Finally the nurse practitioner came by the waiting room to let us know they were finishing up and things looked well. She was just at surprised as we were that no one had called us. Oh well. At least everything turned out okay. The surgery involved a band being placed around his pulmonary artery to restrict the flow of blood into the lungs, and a stint in his atrial septum. The surgeon was very happy with the end result. Now, all Colt has to do is eat and grow. The next surgery will be in a few months, just depending on how fast he outgrows the band on his pulmonary artery. The next surgery will be much longer and difficult. They will have to cut out part of his heart completely and re-route some "plumbing" as they call it.

We were originally told we could expect to be in the hospital another 3-4 weeks after the surgery. Boy were we surprised when we were only there 8 days. I tell you Colt is a healing machine! The major thing that enabled us to go home so soon, was how long he was in the hospital before the surgery. This gave him time to learn how to eat, and eat well might I add. I met another Mom in the cardiac unit whose daughter had a very similar condition to Colt. She was born full term and had her surgery within a few days on November 29th. They were still in the ICU when we were able to go home because she was having a hard time being able to feed. So I was worried about how long it was taking for him to have his surgery for nothing. I should have known it was all in God's plan. So, on Christmas Eve we were given the best present ever, going home with Colt. He still has to be on a tiny amount of oxygen due to a partially collapsed lung. The doctor's think he was weaned off it a little too soon after surgery. We go back for his follow up cardiologist check-up Thursday and we are really hoping he will be able to come off of it. We have a huge machine that we have to unplug and move from room to room, and smaller canisters for when we travel. Before leaving the hospital we had to have "Single Ventricle Training" which is pretty self explanatory; for parents with kids with only one ventricle. We had to learn CPR for infants, and we have a machine that we have to hook Colt up to four times a day to check his oxygen levels. We also have to give him medicines three times a day. He takes aspirin once a day, a multivitamin twice a day and a diarrhetic every 8 hours. When we go to our appointment Thursday we will be given a scale and a journal for us to track his weight, how much he eats and his oxygen levels daily.

Last Wednesday was his first pediatrician appointment. We were pretty excited and amazed that he had gained a ton of weight! They last weighed him in the hospital on December 22nd and he was 5 lbs 8 ounces. So, just 5 days later on the 28th he was up to 6 lbs 11 ounces! I'm still pumping and the doctors have me fortifying my milk with formula to give him extra calories. I put 1 teaspoon of formula for every 50 mls of breast milk. I would say it's working. He is eating about 80 mls every 3-4 hours, which is about 2.75 ounces. He does what all babies do, sleeps, eats and poops. Our dogs are adjusting very well. With JJ and Drake being very protective and Macy the curious one. She likes to try to jump in the bouncy seat with him. He seems to like them pretty well too, not minding when they sneak a big lick to the face in. Thankfully I have the best husband and Colt has the best Dad ever. He is so attentive and changes just as many diapers, and feeds him just as much as I do never complaining. When he wakes up at night, Drew feeds him while I pump. We make a pretty good team :)

We are still overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support we have received from our family, friends. co-workers and even strangers. We cannot express in words our gratitude to each and every person that has helped us in one way or another. We have received countless cards, gift cards, checks, gifts, hugs and prayers. We feel so blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives and for making this incredibly difficult time for us more bearable. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, before we know it we will be back again for surgery number two. We can only pray that it goes as well as the first one has.