Tuesday, November 30, 2010
One exciting day
We started Colt on a schedule last week and he is starting to get the hang of it. We play for about an hour or hour and a half after he eats and then he gets to nap for an hour and a half. To try to wake him up, I change his diaper- which definitely works! I usually change him wherever I can since his bedroom is upstairs. So today, I laid him on the couch and thought to myself how lucky I was that he hasn't peed/pooped on me while I am changing him. I considered myself especially lucky because his bowel movements are very explosive. I pulled out his dirty diaper and just as I was getting ready to put the clean one under him, he EXPLODED! Not only did he explode about a foot and a half on the couch, but my leg and pants were covered too. I have to put a picture, because there is no other way to describe it so close your eyes if you have a weak stomach...
so.. as I started to try to clean this up, he proceeded to pee everywhere! All over my phone, the remote control, the couch... you get the idea. I got him to the bathroom and gave him a bath, only to have him finish peeing all over once his bath was over. He always has hated baths. So, the screaming in the bathtub wore him out and he took a nap. While he was napping, I decided to give Winston a bath. He was SMELLY! Winston is very funny and likes to be blow dried after his baths- so I was drying him when I noticed... FLEAS!!! Are you kidding me?!?!? So we went to the pet store and bought all kinds of flea stuff. Only in my house would all of this happen in a 4 hour time frame! But you can't help but just laugh at all that craziness. Happy Tuesday :)
A day late and a dollar short...
Colt is 1 month old!!! I cannot believe how fast time goes by. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and at the same time it seems like an eternity ago. Colt has been very busy since we got home from the hospital. We managed to survive Thanksgiving. We had 6 Thanksgivings to go to and we made it to all of them- we just couldn't stay very long at any of them. I think next year we will do it differently so we can spend more time with everyone.
On Sunday we celebrated Colt's one month birthday! I cannot believe how fast he is growing. We had our last Thanskgiving at Mommy Ri and Poopaw's house and then celebrated Colt's birthday by going to the Colts game. Colt wore his Manning jersey and watched the game in style in the suite. :) Unfortunately, the Colts lost- hopefully our Colt isn't bad luck.
On Sunday we celebrated Colt's one month birthday! I cannot believe how fast he is growing. We had our last Thanskgiving at Mommy Ri and Poopaw's house and then celebrated Colt's birthday by going to the Colts game. Colt wore his Manning jersey and watched the game in style in the suite. :) Unfortunately, the Colts lost- hopefully our Colt isn't bad luck.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Life at home
We are slowly getting used to life at home. Today we started a schedule! I am nervous about how it will go, but my friend Lainey gave me a great book on putting a baby on a schedule and how it helps them adjust and it worked well for her- so we are gonna do it too! Today was just day one, so I am trying not to have too high of expectations. We are also getting ready to gear up for Thanskgiving and Christmas. Wish us luck as we have 6 Thanksgivings already lined up! We will let you know how it goes.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Check up
Colt went for a check up today to see how he was progressing after his surgery. He weighed 7 lbs 3.5 oz. The pediatrician said she hopes that patients have gotten back to their birth weight by their 2 week appointment and Colt had gained 5.5 oz since then- and he hadn't eaten for a week! Praise the Lord! She said he looked great and she was very happy with his progress.
After our appointment, we went and surprised papaw and nana for lunch and then took Colt to meet his Great Great Grandma Helen! She was so happy to see him. She had been too ill to come see him at the hospital. She held him for over an hour! Next time we will take the video camera :)
We had to hurry home to see Daddy- he was wondering where we were. But instead we met him at Home Depot because he wanted to talk about painting the kitchen cabinets! Daddy always has something up his sleeve! Overall- a very fun day. We are sooo glad to be home and healthy.
After our appointment, we went and surprised papaw and nana for lunch and then took Colt to meet his Great Great Grandma Helen! She was so happy to see him. She had been too ill to come see him at the hospital. She held him for over an hour! Next time we will take the video camera :)
We had to hurry home to see Daddy- he was wondering where we were. But instead we met him at Home Depot because he wanted to talk about painting the kitchen cabinets! Daddy always has something up his sleeve! Overall- a very fun day. We are sooo glad to be home and healthy.
It's gonna be a long one...
We haven't updated in a while because our life was turned upside down on November 2, 2010. Colt stopped eating Monday night around 10pm and began spitting up what looked like green/yellow bile. I called the pediatrician as soon as they opened and tried to set up an appointment with the lactation consultant. The pediatirician got us in that afternoon and checked Colt's bilirubin level. By that point, he hadn't eaten in 16 hours. She was concerned about how long it had been and called the lactation consultant and asked them to fit us in right away.
So off we went to Clarian North. We tried to feed him for almost an hour, with no success. Finally he started throwing up the bile everywhere. She told us we were going to need to stay the night. At 4:30 am they put an NG tube down his nose and hooked it up to suction. It immediately filled up the cannister with bile.
At shift change, the doctor came in and told us they would like to do a study on his intestines. They suspected he had a twist in his intestines and that it could require surgery. Justin went home to get us some clothes to stay another night and Colt and I went to the upper GI study. There-we were told something was wrong with his intestine and the doctor would explain it more. He told me Colt would need surgery and they were trying to find a space in the surgery schedule for him. It was 8:30 and he wanted us to get in surgery that morning- we just needed to hear from the surgeon. At 9:00am, the nurse came and told me they were just waiting for a wheelchair for me- they had found a space in the schedule and they wanted to take Colt to surgery right away. I called Justin to let him know to hurry back and he walked down the hallway just as they were wheeling us out.
We were surrounded by family while we waited to hear what Dr. Billmire had to say. After a little over an hour, she came and met Justin and I in a conference room. She said Colt had a LADS band around his intestine(the largest LADS band she had ever seen on an infant) and malrotation of the intestine. She was able to repair both, but left him intubated due to how mellow he was. They moved him to the NICU.
The next morning at 3:30, Colt managed to get ahold of his ET tube and pulled it out. He continued to breathe fine on his own, so they left it out and let me hold him. It was the first time we had been able to hold him due to him needing to be under the bilirubin lights 24/7. The doctors told us Colt would not be able to eat for 3-5 days as his intestines healed. It was so difficult to watch him get frustrated at not being able to eat. I had seen patients at the hospital go through the same thing, but I had no idea how hard it would be to watch our son lay there hungry.
On day 6 (Tuesday am) they let us start to feed him. We had let him have a pacifier while we couldn't feed him hoping he wouldn't lose the ability to suck. He did wonderfully on his first feeding! Everyday he got a little better and on day 9 we were able to go home.
It was by far the most difficult thing we have endured. Justin and I both can see flashbacks when we close our eyes of what Colt looked like before we were able to get to the hospital and get help. Watching him suffer at home was difficult, but staying on the NICU was not easy either. We spent the nights at his bedside hoping that each morning would bring the opportunity for him to eat. On one particularly tough morning, I stood in morning rounds and cried with the doctors as we tried to figure out where we were going. I was at my breaking point when the doctor looked at me and said- you know that you saved his life.
We both cried more than we thought possible and could not believe the outpouring of love and prayers. We feel incredibly blessed to have such great family and friends. Our faith brought us through such a difficult time, and we thank God for giving us our son.
So off we went to Clarian North. We tried to feed him for almost an hour, with no success. Finally he started throwing up the bile everywhere. She told us we were going to need to stay the night. At 4:30 am they put an NG tube down his nose and hooked it up to suction. It immediately filled up the cannister with bile.
At shift change, the doctor came in and told us they would like to do a study on his intestines. They suspected he had a twist in his intestines and that it could require surgery. Justin went home to get us some clothes to stay another night and Colt and I went to the upper GI study. There-we were told something was wrong with his intestine and the doctor would explain it more. He told me Colt would need surgery and they were trying to find a space in the surgery schedule for him. It was 8:30 and he wanted us to get in surgery that morning- we just needed to hear from the surgeon. At 9:00am, the nurse came and told me they were just waiting for a wheelchair for me- they had found a space in the schedule and they wanted to take Colt to surgery right away. I called Justin to let him know to hurry back and he walked down the hallway just as they were wheeling us out.
We were surrounded by family while we waited to hear what Dr. Billmire had to say. After a little over an hour, she came and met Justin and I in a conference room. She said Colt had a LADS band around his intestine(the largest LADS band she had ever seen on an infant) and malrotation of the intestine. She was able to repair both, but left him intubated due to how mellow he was. They moved him to the NICU.
The next morning at 3:30, Colt managed to get ahold of his ET tube and pulled it out. He continued to breathe fine on his own, so they left it out and let me hold him. It was the first time we had been able to hold him due to him needing to be under the bilirubin lights 24/7. The doctors told us Colt would not be able to eat for 3-5 days as his intestines healed. It was so difficult to watch him get frustrated at not being able to eat. I had seen patients at the hospital go through the same thing, but I had no idea how hard it would be to watch our son lay there hungry.
On day 6 (Tuesday am) they let us start to feed him. We had let him have a pacifier while we couldn't feed him hoping he wouldn't lose the ability to suck. He did wonderfully on his first feeding! Everyday he got a little better and on day 9 we were able to go home.
It was by far the most difficult thing we have endured. Justin and I both can see flashbacks when we close our eyes of what Colt looked like before we were able to get to the hospital and get help. Watching him suffer at home was difficult, but staying on the NICU was not easy either. We spent the nights at his bedside hoping that each morning would bring the opportunity for him to eat. On one particularly tough morning, I stood in morning rounds and cried with the doctors as we tried to figure out where we were going. I was at my breaking point when the doctor looked at me and said- you know that you saved his life.
We both cried more than we thought possible and could not believe the outpouring of love and prayers. We feel incredibly blessed to have such great family and friends. Our faith brought us through such a difficult time, and we thank God for giving us our son.
Monday, November 1, 2010
And baby makes 3...
Colt William Strange was born October 28, 2010 at 2:55 pm. He weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. The nurse said he will shrink once his conehead goes down ;) We brought him home Saturday just in time for Justin to leave to go be the best man in his best friend's wedding. We have had lots of visitors and family come by and meet Colt. I will post pictures once I figure out this blogging thing.
Welcome
Welcome to our blog! I will not pretend to be an expert at this, but hopefully I will get better. We wanted to be able to keep everyone up to date on our life- especially considering how quickly things are changing now. Enjoy!
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