Jackson's Journey during December

Hello Everyone,

I would like to take the chance to update you on the sequence of events that has taken place up until he came home. We are very thankful for the St. David's medical teams which include respiratory therapists, nurses, doctors and the cleaning staff. We know that they do their best everyday to keep all NICU babies safe and help them get better. We are glad that God has blessed them with the knowledge and courage to be apart of the NICU environment.


We last left off around November 17th...

On November 17th:
Jackson's feeds were stopped then restarted due to residuals. He was started on Prilosec for reflux and he continues to poop on his own!

On November 18th:
Jackson was 3 lbs and 13 ozs. He went to feeds over 1 hour vs the continuous feeds. They increases his thetholen and he hangs out on 25 O's and sometimes room air!

On November 19th:
Jackson is 3lbs 15 oz!

On November 20th:
Jackson makes it to 4lbs! He starts on eye drops today due to goobers in his eyes they think it is a clogged duct not an infection- phew
Temp is 99.1 and he sats around 24 to 26 O's.
Speech Therapist came in and gave Jackson a plan! Yeah! Elizabeth is his Speech Therapist and she is helping Jackson with his breath, suck, swallow techniques to learn to eat off the feeding tube. We use the pacifier alot too, which Jackson likes!

On November 21st:
We hang out at 4 lbs and our on our nasal canula we went down on liters to 2.5 which is great.
He sats around 25 to 28 O's

On November 22nd:
We go down again on our nasal canula to 2.0 liters and our feeds are up to 42 cc's per feed and we now take out the feeding tube vs leaving it in all the time.
We had our eye exam and it indicates a stage 1 which the doctors says not to worry about, but we still worry. We will get a second exam in 2 weeks.

On November 23rd:
Happy Happy Thanksgiving. We get another visit with Beth our Occupational Therapist who helps ensure our body is developing okay and lets us know if we are stiff anywhere and need to be moved around in a different way. The nurses also pay real close attention to this as they go by the plan Beth give to also ensure our little ones develop properly.
We go off Prilosec today!
We are 4lbs and 3 oz

On November 24th:
We are at 1 Liter on the nasal Canula - Big NEWS
We weigh in 4lbs 2 oz- so we lost 1 oz we will work on that no worries!
We continue to poop on our own

On November 25th:
We hang out at 1 liter on the canula and we are 4lbs 4 ozs
We go to a nipple feed which is at bottle feed for the 1st time today! BIG NEWS BIG
And Mom was allowed to feed him with the help of Melanie! He took 5 cc's of food then we tube fed the rest- don't worry we won't starve our little man.

On November 26th:
We hang at 1 liter and 4.4 lbs- We nipple feed for the 2nd time. This time we only took 2 cc's of food but we will get there...we will. Poop is greenish but everyone tells mom not to worry it isn't an infection.

On November 27th:
We up our Iron to .3 cc and we started on Sodium Chloride 2x per day along with theophlene. We are in an OPEN CRIB look at me grow! and my temp is hanging out at 98.5!
I am 4lbs 8 oz ....getting bigger and 15 ccs of food by bottle

November 28th
Open Crib and in a REAL CRIB the big one not the wash tub type.
We gained an ounce! 4lbs 9 oz and we go up to 20 cc of food on the bottle!

November 29th:
We get another visit from Elizabeth who is very pleased with our feeds! Way to go Jackson. We took 30 cc's of food. Our little man loves to eat like a big boy!

November 3oth:
4lbs 11 oz and we get to nipple feed which is bottle feed 2x per day vs 1 time!
at 10:30 a.m. we took 40 CC and at 4:30 p.m. we took 48 cc's through the bottle

December 1st:
We now are feeding 3 x per day and our feeds went 17cc's / 52 cc's / 17 cc's. Which is okay remember we are just getting the hang of it.

We are now 5lbs and we are on 1/2 liter on the nasal canula!

December 2nd:
We fed at 17 cc's, 30 cc's and then we had to tube the other feed but that is okay.

December 3rd:
We are told we are going to wean off the canula. We took 34 CC's from the bottle.
We are excited to go off the canula and hope we can stay off it.

December 4th:
Well, we went back on the canula but that is okay we will get there. Our feeds went 37 cc's then 47 cc's and 55 cc's all in one day which means we are getting better at the bottle.

December 5th:
We weigh in at 5lbs 1 oz We do okay on our feeds today ...Still learning and need a little break

December 6th:
5lbs 1 oz
We had a meeting with Speech therapist today Maiya we didn't do so hot on our feed but we will get it.

December 7th:
We take all of our bottle today in 10 minutes with the help of Ali- Mom did okay but Ali had the magic touch- Thank you Ali
We went off our theophlene today and mom and Jackson meet with lactation. We have our bath time with Bethel tonight too.

December 8th:
Occupational Therapist (Beth) visits us and tells us our pelvic bone is losening up and that we look good!
Dr. Lockhart visited and tells us great news that our eyes are regressing - GREAT NEWS
Speech visits today and very very happy with our feeds!
Dr. Unite's - pediatrician that was recommended to us will accept Jackson- Phew!
We got a little cold today as our temp was 97.6 but we put a heater in our new "private room" to warm us up. I think it is definitely the room not Jackson

We had a brady on mom and scared her! We recovered with mom's help. Surgeon came and visited and can't find the HERNIA- We pray that this has closed on its own and we won't need surgery.

December 9th:
Weight is 5lbs 3 oz and we are at 1/4 Liter on our canula today!
Sats are okay.
We brady 2x's on mom today during feeds but we must just be tired.

December 10th:
We weight 5lbs 4 oz
Dr.Dekowski couldn't feel Hernia anymore either- oh we hope this continues!
Grandpa holds you!

December 11th:
Feeds went well- you get to see Elizabeth again and Beth! They are very pleased with your progress. We all are!

December 12th:
You feeds are going wells. We pray this continues- you even took up to 70 cc's by the bottle today which is excellent.

December 13th:
We can feed you by the bottle anytime we want. No More tubes
You also can breast feed when you want.

December 14th:
Doctors are saying you may be home by the end of the weekend or early next week- Mom still doesn't know to get excited or not. But this time she is super excited. Dad can't believe it and is in shock. All mom thinks about is sterilizing the house. Mom asks Dr. Dekowski if he is serious about coming home and he smiles and says yes it looks that way. If Dr. Dekowski admits to that then we know it is going to happen as he seems to be more conversative so mom is very very very excited she gets teary eyed.

Jackson gets an MRI today which Emma who helped bring you down from North Austin.

Jacksons Immunizations are scheduled - 5 shots! Ugh! Mom won't be there for that.


December 15th:
MRI comes back okay!
Hearing test occurs and you pass!
Cheryl had to give you the shots in the morning- poor baby but you know Cheryl didn't want to she just had to.
Sleep study occurs tonight and we get to see if we will room in or not.


Dec. 16th:

Big day! Mom and Dad Room in with Jackson...we received the news and we do get to room in! You did have some Apnea espisodes over the night but you are coming home on a monitor- which is good as mom and dad want to ensure you are okay!