April 7, 2011 - 34 Days Old

It has been a while since I posted, so I'll give a quick update on what has been happening. Sunday was another nice day of General Conference. It was nice to be able to spend time at home with my family and listen to the words of our church leadership. Following the afternoon session, Amaraa and I went to the hospital to visit Aiden. His lungs were still looking good and his tummy was a little better than it was on Saturday. Not much had changed, but positive steps, even small ones, are always welcome.



Happy 1-month birthday, Aiden!

Aiden turned one month old on Monday!  It's exciting that he has a little more time under his belt, but it's still frustrating that we still don't know what is causing his bowel problems. The good news is that they took the Anderson tube (the tube going down into his belly that they used to suction out the gas) out in the morning and put a smaller tube into his stomach that they will use for feedings when he is ready for that. It is encouraging that they removed the Anderson tube because it is an indication that the doctors and nurses feel like he has made a significant improvement. My parents came up to visit and we all spent an hour or so with Aiden.

On Tuesday, I wasn't able to visit Aiden until fairly late in the evening. Not much had changed with him. He had had a pretty quiet day. They did start some small feedings in the afternoon. They were planning on watching him closely to see how his bowel responded.I spent about a half hour with him and then headed home.

Yesterday was Amaraa's birthday. We spent most of the day going to doctor's appointments, but we did manage to go out to dinner as a family to celebrate. We had to go to the hospital so the doctor could test Amaraa's blood thickness. She has to do that weekly while she is taking the coumadin (blood thinner) to treat the blood clot she had in her ovary. Following that appointment, we went to the NICU to visit Aiden. His bowel still looked OK after the first feedings. His lungs were about the same as they have been the past few days -- still a bit cloudy, but no big collapsed areas. We spent a couple of hours with him and then went to our second doctor's appointment of the day -- the follow-up appointment with our OB/GYN. He said she was doing really well and didn't need to come in for another appointment until it's time for her annual exam. We have a follow-up appointment with her surgeon on the 13th and then she will be done. After our appointment, we went shopping for Amaraa's birthday gift. Yes, I know it sounds tacky, but I didn't forget to get her a gift. On the contrary, because I was getting her a new phone, I asked her days earlier if she trusted me or if she wanted to go shopping with me. I'm not a shlub. Well, maybe I am, but not in that way. It took forever, but when we finally got done, we went to pick up the kids and Amaraa's mom, and then went out to eat together. We had a fun time.



On sedation, it's rare to catch him with his eyes open.

Today, I went to see Aiden after my morning class. His lungs were still looking about the same, but his tummy had started to fill up with air again. The doctor was there doing his rounds when I got there, and he talked to me about his plans. They are going to keep looking at the x-rays and watch them closely. If it continues to fill up with air, they are going to stop his feedings and do a contrast enema. When they do a contrast enema, they inject contrast dye into his bowel. This allows them to see the structure of the bowel better and they will be able to see if there are any blockages, twists or other structural problems. We are obviously hoping that he will be able to get rid of the air on his own and they won't have to do the contrast enema, but if that's what it takes to get him better, we're OK with it. He was sleeping on his tummy this morning. The nurse said he is much happier on his tummy. He has fewer swings with his oxygen saturation and pressure levels, and he sleeps very peacefully. He looked so cute sleeping there. I can't wait until they can get these problems sorted out and get him better so we can bring him home. Initially, they tell you to expect that the baby will be in the NICU until his original due date (May 18th), but with all of these problems, he will probably be there longer than that. Getting Aiden healthy is all that matters, but we can't wait to have him home with us. No matter how many hours you are able to spend in the NICU, it never seems like enough.