Eviction Notice!

Alex had some major milestones today:
- He progressed to "ad lib demand" feeding. This means that he no longer has a feeding schedule. He eats as much as he wants when he wants. So far he usually wants about 60 mL which is just a little more than he used to have.
- He did so well that they removed his feeding tube this afternoon. Alex was really happy, although he will miss trying to rip it out all day.
- If he keeps up the feeding, he will go home on Monday afternoon! Mom and Dad are very excited. Alex is playing it cool.
- Alex had his 2nd bath. Mom had to do it herself without the help of Dad or the nurse, so it was a little traumatic for all involved.
- His weight was 6 lb 10 oz again.
- Tomorrow, Mom and Dad will spend the day and the night in the nursery in the special "room in" room. We'll have to take care of him without the nurse doing everything.

Here's some post-feeding tube pictures and a video of Alex demonstrating his hunger.

June 29, All Bottle Feedings

Today's News:

-- Alex hit a major milestone today of 5 bottle feedings in a day (as of his 8:30 feeding)! He did a great job with the bottles even though he appeared a little tired after his workout of all the bottles yesterday.

-- Surprisingly, his weight remained at 6 lbs., 10 oz. The nurse is speculating that because he is getting so much exercise with the bottle feedings and being awake, he is burning as many calories as he is taking in. I just talked to his nurse (~10p.m. tonight), and she noted that they are going to add some calorie additives to his milk at least for the near future.

-- Dad has some kind of a bad cold or flu, so he did not get to see Alex at night and may not get to see him tomorrow. He is banned from the nursery until he recovers. Mom will have to take over all of the status reporting and picture taking at least for the next day or two.

-- Alex's good friend Marie came by to visit for the first time. He was glad to meet her.

June 28, Better Feedings

Today's News:

-- Alex's weight stayed at 6 lbs., 10 oz. We suspect this is a timing issue.

-- He had full bottle feedings 3 times as of 9pm. One of Alex's doctors told us one of the benchmarks for his going home is 5 full bottle feedings in a day. His other feedings were from the feeding tube.

-- He seems to have suddently found a much fuller voice for crying. While Mom changed his outfit tonight, he screamed bloody murder like never before.

-- Here is a short video of Alex's typical activity today. Light is kept pretty low in the nursery so it is a little dark. This shot could have been repeated many times.

June 27, good feedings, awake

Today's updates:

-- Alex was back up to 6 lbs., 10 oz. after his one-day diet yesterday

-- No blood was found in his stool. He is absolutely fine after Monday's scare.

-- He had two full bottle feedings at 56 ml each. Only two bottle feedings were tried. His energy level was very high in the morning and the evening.

-- The nurse made a comment this morning that we should get ready to bring him home "any day now". I pressed her a little bit on this and she back-tracked to "within two weeks".

-- We think Alex is a very handsome boy. He is starting to show some family characteristics, though. We think we are starting to see the Stewart big-forehead and the Felton overbite. Hopefully he will recover from both.

June 26 -- False Alarm, Everything is Fine

Today's Updates:

-- Full, 56 ml, feedings every 3 hours were resumed at 11:30 today after a few stool samples in a row showed no traces of blood. His iron supplements are still being withheld. These are possibly the cause of the blood found yesterday.









-- Alex was up to 6 lbs., 10 oz. yesterday. His short fast dropped him down to 6 lbs., 9 oz., but I expect he will quickly make up the 1 oz. that he lost.



-- His energy level was very high both in the morning and at night. He took a full 56 ml bottle in the afternoon. He took a full 28 ml bottle in the morning from Joanna. He breastfed a small amount. And, he spent a lot of time looking around and making faces and noises.






-- The nurse says "he seems to have turned a corner" in terms of eating. Possibly a sign that he is close to going home.

June 25, Minor Setback

Today's news:

-- Alex had a hopefully only minor setback today. We arrived early in the morning hoping for good news on scheduling his arrival home in the next few days. Instead, we found out that over the night blood had been found in Alex's stool. This is potentially a very dangerous condition.

-- In reaction to finding the blood in his stool, Alex's feedings were cut off and numerous tests were run. He was very hungry this morning and both tired and agitated. He has an IV connected providing him fluids and sugar.

-- There are a number of indications that this is not a major infection. It is possibly a minor abrasion towards the end of his digestive tract:
-->A couple of x-rays did not indicate a serious infection
-->A couple blood tests did not indicate a serious infection
-->His behavior was normal except for the hunger and he does not appear sick

-- If some indication is found that he has an intestinal infection, he will immediately be put on antibiotics and his feedings will be cut off for 5 days while he is fed through an IV. We very much hope this does not happen.

-- At 2:30 today, his feedings were resumed to our relief. But, he is only on one-half feedings until he can be diagnosed further.

-- A couple more tests tonight have indicated trace amounts of blood in his stool so he is still under close observation and half feedings.

-- The nurses complimented Alex on being such a tough little guy. He is holding up great through numerous painful tests and some serious hunger. He only fusses for a couple seconds on the most painful tests. Tonight, he gave Dad a couple of his quick grins while being held and looking around. He does not seem sick from what I can tell.

June 24, Sunday -- Big Bath

Today's News:

-- Alex's weight is up to 6 lbs., 8 oz.

-- He 'nippled' one full bottle today, but that was all that was tried (at least so far). We held him for a long time today and we were concerned he had already used up all his energy looking around and having a bath.

-- He had his first bath beyond a sponge bath. Pictures on the right. He did not like the bath at first, but he seemed to like it a lot after a little bit. He really liked being wrapped in a warmed towel after his bath was over.

-- Alex pooped on Mom for the first time during a disasterous diaper change. We are assuming it was an accident. But, his timing was very good.

Saturday, June 23

Today's news:

-- Alex's weight was up to 6 lbs., 7 oz.


-- He had a great session breastfeeding. His energy level was high and he seemed hungry. No respiration problems, he remembered to stop and breathe when he needed to.

-- He hung out with Mom and Dad much of the afternoon and evening. He was quite sleepy after his first feeding.



-- We decided to postpone the bath until tomorrow.

Friday, June 22 -- ~3 bottles

Today's updates:

-- Alex 'nippled' one full bottle and 2 more bottles to about 80% completion. This is a new record for him. He definitely seemed tired out after all the work and after his high energy yesterday. But, he still advanced on the suckling front.



-- He definitely gets to a point where he has a look on his face that says "Thanks for the enormous amount of milk, but I am really full." He gets the milk anyway. The doctors keep him on a 57 ml of milk every 3 hours cycle one way or another. So, if he does not finish a bottle, the rest goes into his feeding tube.

-- He slept much of the day. He hung out with Mom and Dad in the morning and evening. Lara from Starbucks also visited him.

-- Tomorrow is another big day, he is going to get a full bath.



-- Here is a video of Joanna and Alex from yesterday. This is a longer video. We keep the lights pretty dim in the nursery so the video is a little dark.




-- More video, Alex having a meal through the feeding tube:

June 21 -- First Pants, Awake

Today's news:

-- Alex was up to 6 lbs., 6 oz. All the eating and sleeping of the last few days led to a good weight gain.

-- He was awake quite a bit tonight. And, he wore pants for the first time. You can see how much he liked that in the lower picture on the right.

-- He 'nippled' two half bottles. We probably could have tried more given his high energy level tonight. He did a lot of good work with the pacifier.

-- He was extremely alert and curious tonight for probably 90 minutes. That is very long for him. He did a lot of looking around the room and staring at Mom and various noises in the room.

Wednesday, June 20 -- Lots of sleep

Today's news:

-- The doctors removed one of Alex's main monitors, his blood-oxygen saturation monitor. This is good news, but not really because his condition has changed. They removed it because he has been in a normal range for weeks without any additional monitoring or support.

-- He 'nippled' a full bottle in the morning and about 2/3 of a bottle later in the day.

-- His weight was up to 6 lbs., 4 oz. He gained 2 oz. since yesterday. It must be all the good sleep he is getting.

-- Alex was pretty sleepy when we saw him in the morning and again in the evening. He opened his eyes a few times, but it was not until the nurses had to kick us out for a shift change that he opened his eyes, looked around and looked like he was smiling at everyone.

Tuesday, June 19

Today's updates:



-- Alex's weight is up to 6 lbs., 2 oz., up 1 oz. from yesterday.


-- He "nippled" one full bottle early in the morning and one half-bottle early in the evening.




-- He did a great job sleeping and growing most of the day. On the right, he is holding Grandma Felton's finger while mostly asleep.




-- One notable event: Alex impressed everyone in the nursery with his really loud flatulence this evening. We were really proud of him.

Monday, June 18

Today's News:

-- Alex's weight remained stable for the first time in a while. He remained at 6 lbs., 1 oz. since yesterday. This is maybe because of all of his excitement last night or maybe just due to the timing of his digestion cycles? This is not a concern at all.

-- Alex "nippled" two half bottles during the day and was too tired and maybe too full for breastfeeding this evening. We will practice some more tomorrow.


-- Alex wants to thank everyone for the great clothes he is getting! It is all very cute. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad won't let him wear the cool, new stuff because they are afraid (based on many warnings from the hospital staff) that his clothes will get mixed in and lost with the hospital laundry. He will be wearing it as soon as he can go home.

June 17 -- Big Advance in Feeding

Big news today:



-- On the feeding front, Alex did a complete meal breastfeeding! This was his first time ever. It lasted about 30 minutes plus burping and rest. Also today, Alex did a complete meal from a bottle and another half-meal from a bottle. This is a big step in his being able to go home.



-- Alex is 3 weeks old today. If he was born today, he still would be 4 weeks early.

-- Alex was 6 lbs., 1 oz. prior to his nightly weigh-in



-- Grandpa Felton held Alex for the first time (picture on the right)



-- Alex slept much of the day, but he was wide awake after around 5:30 in the evening

June 16 -- Hanging out at Swedish

Today's news:

-- We spent quite a bit of time at the hospital today (Joanna spent the entire day there). Alex's friend Julie visited for a while and so did Grandpa and Grandma Felton.


-- He slept most of the day, but he woke up early evening after Dad subjected him to a traumatic diaper change.

-- Alex's weight was 5 lbs., 15 oz. He will be weighed tonight, and I expect he will go over 6 lbs.

-- Twice he suckled from a bottle about 20 ml. He is still working on breathing regularly as he suckles and taking brakes. The doctor believes that any day now, it will all suddenly come together for him.

-- Joanna talked to Alex's doctor this morning. His best estimate of Alex going home is 1-2 weeks from now. He reminded us that Alex is still quite young (still less than 36 weeks old). The key focus area for him is suckling and breathing at the same time.

-- Here are some pics of his smiles and frowns from today, plus a pacifier pic:

Another day in the Nursery

Today's news:

-- Alex was awake quite a bit today in the morning and the evening. He is looking around more and more. Initial indications are that Alex is not particuarly fussy. He does not cry much except when he his hungry, but he puts up a fuss during diaper changes or clothing changes.

-- We saw Alex in the morning and the evening. He did great all day, no problems whatsoever. I spoke to the nurse about a possible release date and she said "you are more than halfway there". We will try to talk to the doctor tomorrow.

-- I forgot to get his weight tonight. He must be getting close to 6 lbs.

-- No good pictures today, but here are a couple good videos from yesterday (corporate intranets block these videos). First, Alex drinking from a bottle:




Second, Alex looking adoringly at Mom:

June 14, More Bottle Practice

Today's News

-- Alex took almost a full (54 ml) bottle this evening! He was about 10 ml short of the full thing. We started the feeding almost 30 minutes late (because we were taking a class on child care) so he seemed extra hungry when we got there.

-- Alex's weight is up to 5 lbs., 13 oz.

-- He was very alert in the evening (after 9pm) and did a lot of looking around, making baby noises, and following the sounds in the room.

-- Mom and Dad took a class offered by Swedish on caring for infants. It seemed like we had learned it all already from the nurses. But, the class had some good tips for after Alex is home.

More milk

Today's updates:

-- Not too much is new today. Alex worked on the bottle this morning and drank about 10 ml. His technique with the bottle/nipple is fine, he just sort of loses interest after a while.

-- My new theory is that Alex is probably very full most of the time and that is why he is not really excited about the bottle. He is now getting over 400 ml of milk per day, mostly through the feeding tube. He gets 52 ml of milk every 3 hours, 24 hours a day. For his size, that is a large amount. The equivalent for a 180 pound person would be drinking around 30 pounds of heavy cream per day (over 4 gallons). Maybe he is just not that hungry at feeding time. If he was actually hungry, he would be more enthusiastic about the bottle. I mentioned this to the nurse and she agrees, but of course we are not about to keep food from him even for a couple hours.

-- Alex is admiring Mom in the picture on the right. He also got some good sleep in today. He met with Grandpa and Grandma in the morning. He hung out with Mom and Dad in the morning and evening.

-- Two of his louder roommates moved out today. Best wishes to those babies and their parents. The nursery was pretty quiet at night.

-- The lower picture is Alex halfheartedly fighting off Dad while Dad washes his face.

Alex has gained 1 pound

Updates:
-- Alex has gained 1 pound since his birth 16 days ago. His weight gain is speeding up and he is now close to 2 oz. per day. You can see his weight at 5 lbs., 11.9 oz. in the photo below.


-- Alex practiced more bottle feeding with Mom and Grandma in the morning and Dad in the evening. He is doing great, but both times he ran out of gas before finishing the "meal", the amount of milk his doctors want him to take every 3 hours. But, he is still doing great with the suckling. Suckling can be a lot of work.


-- His right eyelid is irritated again and it looks like he has been rubbing his eye. We are swaddling him a little more tightly to constrain his arms a little bit until it goes away.

Full meal from a bottle!

Today's Accomplishments:

-- Alex drank a whole bottle of milk (47 cc) from the bottle! This is great news. Maybe he is ready to go home? I would guess the hospital wants him another week or 10 days, but this was great to see.

-- Also today, he had his most successful breast feeding ever. His energy level and focus seem to have gone up quite a bit.

-- Alex's weight was 5 lbs, 10 oz. But, we noticed that some of his weight gain (maybe an ounce) was a new security anklet that the hospital put on him.

-- We were at Swedish late into the evening. We left just before 10pm. Alex was very alert late in the evening. He was looking around, squirming, and making a lot of baby grunts and squeaks, especially after 8pm. He may be a night owl.

June 10 -- Thumbs Up

Today's big news :

-- Alex's increase in weight up to 5 lbs., 5.7 ounces. He gained nearly 3 oz. in one day.



-- More progress on the nursing front, but no big breakthroughs. He is making good progress wiht the bottle and breastfeeding. He is also appreciating the pacifier more and more when he is distressed (e.g., diaper changes).




-- He now has 3 roommates in the new nursery. They are all a little bit loud. We hope Alex does not have trouble sleeping as a result. There are no signs to indicate that Alex is anything other than a professional sleeper, but we will watch for any problems.

June 9 -- Many Visitors

Today's updates:

-- Alex has settled in well to the new nursery. He slept well and had 5 visitors today.

-- His weight is up to 5 lbs., 3 oz.

-- His friend Julie held him for 2 straight hours. He seemed to like her very much.

-- His daily milk feeding volume is now considered 'full' for his size at 376 ml per day. He is taking the food well, but only partially from bottle and breast.

-- Alex is sleeping in full 3 hour increments. He gets a little agitated when we change his diaper, but he is pretty even tempered now that he is getting a lot of food. We have not seen him cry in days.

-- Grandma and Grandpa Felton visited. Here is Grandma Felton on the right giving Alex a bottle.

June 8 -- Graduates from the NICU!

Today's updates:


-- Today Alex graduated from the NICU! He is now in a nursery (still at Swedish) for more mature babies called the "Infant Special Care Unit"


-- He had the IV needle removed from his arm and now it is much easier for him to suck his thumb. He is now only connected to the feeding tube and the monitors.


-- He did some more breast feeding and bottle feeding today. I think the feeding time was down from yesterday because he had a lot of other excitement during the day and seemed a little more tired and distracted. This will be a big focus for the next couple of weeks.


-- He still has many of the same monitors in his new nursery that he had in the NICU and we are glad to see that. He also has some new baby neighbors who are much better at crying than his old roommates.


-- The pictures are a little blurry today. I was going without the flash so I didn't irritate Alex. We have many unconfirmed smiles from Alex recently. The nurse thinks they may be just gas pains. Joanna and I like to think he is smiling at us.

June 7 -- Feeding Progress

Today's updates:

-- Yesterday Alex breast-fed for about 20 seconds. Today he went about 10 really good minutes!

-- He was the most alert and awake we have ever seen him tonight. He was really curious and looking around at the world.

-- His weight is 5 lbs., 2 oz.

-- His IV line is not yet removed from his arm, but the IV is plugged. He is no longer connected to anything but his monitors. His feeding tube was switched to his left nostril to his right -- not much fun for him.

Here is a video of Alex looking around and squirming. Double-click to play. Some intranets block video feeds from YouTube.

June 6 -- Bottle Feed, Breast Feed, Thumb Suck

A number of exciting new developments today:

-- Alex did his first breast feeding this morning. He nodded off pretty quickly, but he was off to a great start. This is an important milestone in his journey home.

-- He also did his first bottle feeding this evening. Also a success, but he was conflicted between the bottle and more sleep. He got at least a few good sucks in.

-- He worked hard to suck his right thumb. This is his first thumb suck that we know of. The challenge was that the IV on his right arm has a splint that goes to his elbow. He had to work around the large splint to get the thumb to his mouth. After some work, he got there.

-- His friends Barb and Peter visited him in the evening. He was glad to meet them.

-- Another nurse warned us that Alex is probably on the top of the list to leave the NICU as soon as another baby needs the spot. He may be moving to the 'step up' nursery soon -- but I seem to say this every day.

-- His weight was up to 5.0 lbs.

June 5 -- Getting Huge!

Updates:


-- Alex had a pretty quiet day. He slept quite a bit, ate quite a bit, and worked on a large number of small "projects" related to eating so much. The nurses' theory is that because he is now drinking so much milk, it is making him tired until he can catch up with digesting that volume. He is also growing pretty quickly as a result
-- Alex is now drinking over 240 ml of milk per day and the volume is still increasing
-- His weight this morning was 4 lbs., 15.2 oz. We expect that he passed 5 lbs. at some point today. He will be weighed again tonight.
-- We had a new nurse tonight. She was quite surprised that Alex was still in the NICU given that he has been doing so well since late last week -- really no problems at all. But, Joanna and I have come to appreciate the level of care he gets there and, especially now that we can read all of the monitors, we are starting to like the NICU. There is a good chance that he will be moved to another nursery in Swedish any day now.
-- Another picture. Alex is wearing a security bracelet (anklet?) to keep him from leaving the NICU to go out partying or for any other reason. The red light next to the security bracelet is his blood oxygen sensor that continuously ensures that he is getting enough oxygen in a non-intrusive way.

June 4, Some Weight Gain

Updates:

-- Alex is above his birth weight for the first time! He was 4 lbs., 12 oz. this morning. His recent growth rate is 2-3 oz. per day.

-- In the picture on the right, Alex is showing off his new 'jammies' (day 2 in clothing for him). Volunteers at the NICU knitted his stylish hat. You can also see the new IV in his right arm.

-- Alex was awake with Mom for a couple hours in the morning and he then tried to persevere to stay awake again with everyone in the evening. He is awake longer each day -- but we like to see him sleep, too.

-- He smiled while Mom showed him off to a photographer from Swedish Hospital. Hopefully we will get those pictures soon.

-- His milk volumes continue to increase each day. In a 3 days, he will be at the NICU's highest milk volumes for a baby of his size. He suckled 1 cc (cubic centimeter) of milk from a bottle. This is his first milk from a bottle.

-- His IV was moved from the umbilical cord to his arm. He will hopefully only have this new IV for a couple of days

-- Grandma Felton held him for the first time. Picture on the right.