May 27, 2011 - 83 Days Old

It has been another good week for us this week. Aiden has continued to do well off of the ventilator and they have been weaning his settings on the cannula all week. He is now on a flow rate of 4 liters and around 25% oxygen. Once they can get him down to 2 liters, they will let him start trying to nurse. The doctors had him down to 3 liters once this week, but he was working really hard, so they turned him back up to 4.

Aiden in his blessing outfit

On Sunday, we were able to give Aiden his name and a blessing. We apologize that we couldn't invite more of our close friends and family members, but they only allow us to have a small number of people in the NICU and they stretched the rules for us as it was. Amaraa's mom didn't even go in, so it was basically my parents, my brother and his wife, and our bishop. Anyway, the blessing went well. We dressed Aiden in the outfit Skylar was blessed in that was given to us by Amaraa's American mom and dad, Jani and Oren Randall. It was much to big for Aiden, but we didn't know they would let us dress him in a blessing outfit until Saturday night at about 9:00 PM, so by then it was too late to find one that would fit. Skylar's outfit worked, though. We wrapped Aiden in a beautiful white baby blanket that Amaraa's good friend, Debbie Prichard, knitted for Skylar, and it looked great. He was so cute. He was awake the entire time and was quiet and peaceful as we have him the blessing. Aiden will probably be in the hospital for at least another month, so we were glad Bishop Price gave us special permission to bless him in the hospital. It was a great experience.

Pouring our foundation walls

I went to Price for most of this week. We had a basement finishing job to complete and then we were able to work on our own projects. We got our basement walls poured and we started laying out the footings for another home. We had subcontractors form and pour our basement walls and just as they started pouring the concrete, it started raining really hard. They stuck with it and it turned out fine, but I felt bad for them out there. I tarred the foundation and we worked on getting the window wells in so I can backfill. Anyway, the project's moving along.

I came back from Price yesterday because we had an infant CPR class last night. It was a pretty basic class, and since both Amaraa and I are CPR certified already, it was just a review. It was nice to be able to review, though. The NICU requires that all preemie parents take the class and they recommend it for other family members, too. I was able to hold Aiden for a while. He looked so good and he was wide awake. He was a little bit fussy, but I sang to him a little and he quieted right down. It wasn't long before he fell asleep.

Today, I cut the lawn and did a little bit of yard work. We went to see Aiden in the afternoon and he was still doing well. Amaraa and the kids are sick, so we didn't stay long. Dr. Cheatham called me this afternoon and said that they were going to leave him on 4 liters for the day today, but that they would probably try to wean him to 3 tomorrow.

Skylar and Jasmine's birthday dinner

Tomorrow is the kids' birthdays. Jasmine will turn 2 and Skylar turns 6. Skylar wanted to have a party with his friends, but because he is sick, we didn't want to infect the world. We might do one next week or something. Anyway, they are both really excited. We took them out to dinner tonight and the waiters sang to them and gave them dessert. They thought that was really cool. I still can't believe they were born on the same day, four years apart. Aiden's due date was May 18th, so he would have been close, too.

Well, it's late and I can hardly keep my eyes open, so I had better get to bed. More tomorrow.

May 20, 2011 -76 Days Old

This has been a great week for Aiden. He was able to finally meet his big brother and sister last Saturday and he has been doing well all week off the ventilator. It is so exciting when we call his nurse every morning and hear that he is still off the ventilator and doing great. We always half-expect to hear bad news, but so far he is doing really well on the cannula and tolerating his feedings.

This morning, Sky graduated from Kindergarten. The graduation program was so cute and Sky did a great job with his parts. We were so proud of him. I can't believe he is already finished with Kindergarten.

After the graduation, we dropped off the kids and Amaraa's mom at home and headed to the hospital. Aiden looked so great and was still doing very well -- so well that they had decreased the oxygen flow to his cannula from 8 liters to 7 liters last night. He has to be down at 2 liters before he can try learning how to nurse. They are going to try to wean him every couple of days as he is able to tolerate it.

It is so fun to hear Aiden's little voice again. When he had the breathing tube in, he couldn't make any sounds, so it kind of surprised us the first time we saw him after he got it out. A baby was grunting and crying really close to us. We couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from. Finally, we realized it was Aiden!

Healthwise, things are still a bit crazy at our house. Last week, Jasmine started pulling on her ear and saying it hurt. Amaraa took her to the doctor and she had an ear infection again. And then I got Amaraa a bicycle for Mother's Day. She has been asking for one ever since we first got married. She decided to take it for a test ride and rode out into the street and then back onto the sidewalk in front of our house. Just as she was turning back onto the driveway, she fell and hurt her arm. She thought it was broken at first, but the pain eased a bit and she decided not to go to the doctor. It has been hurting a lot throughout the week this week and I think she regrets not seeing the doctor now. Anyway, Mother's Day fail for me. If I knew she couldn't ride a bike, I wouldn't have bought it for her.

This afternoon, Amaraa got a call from the doctor. She said she had just weaned Aiden's flow rate to 6 liters and that he seemed to be tolerating it well. We feel so blessed that he is progressing so well.

The Big Meeting - 70 Days Old

What a day! I called Aiden's nurse this morning and asked how he was doing. She said that he did well last night without the ventilator. He is still on the nasal cannula and doing very well. I worked for half of the day and then headed back home. I picked Amaraa and the kids up and we went to the hospital for the big meeting. Skylar was so excited. The first thing he said to me when I walked through the door was, "Can we go see Aiden now?"


First Family Photo

We went in to see Aiden and he was still doing really well. Skylar kept saying, "He's so cute" and rubbing his head. I don't think Jasmine really understood what was going on except that we were visiting a baby. She touched him very gently and rubbed his head. Aiden was so excited to see them. He opened his eyes wide and kept looking back and forth from Skylar to Jasmine to Amaraa and I. I said, "Aiden, this is your big brother Skylar and your sister Jasmine." He got a big grin on his face and just kept smiling after that. Amaraa held Aiden and we all took a family picture. I think it turned out really great. Jazzy got a little wild and I had to take her to the lounge a few times, but Skylar stayed right by his mom and little bro. He has been waiting for this for a long time, and now that it's finally here, he wanted to soak it up.

Hopefully, he will just continue getting better and better. We feel like he's finally back on the right track. He has been on the ventilator for about a month and a half, so this is a big deal. Thank you for all of your comments, thoughts, and prayers.

Off the Ventilator - 69 Days Old

Today has been a great day. This morning, I received a call from Aiden's doctor. Over the past three or four days, they gave been slowly weaning his ventilator pressure and oxygen support. The doctor said that he has been tolerating the lower settings really well and that they were going to try to wean him off of the ventilator sometime today. I was so excited. I am out of town, so I have just been getting reports from Amaraa every day about his progress.

Amaraa went in to visit Aiden this morning and was able to hold him. My mom had to go to Provo today, so she stopped in to see him while Amaraa was there. She couldn't believe how big he was. She hasn't seen him for a few weeks, so he had put on more than a pound since she was there last.

We kept checking throughout the day to see if they had taken Aiden's breathing tube out yet. They were really busy in the NICU today, so they weren't able to do it until about 10:00 PM. When the nurse called to let us know tonight, he was doing really well on the CPAP. I can't wait to visit him tomorrow.

They have finally lifted the restrictions on kids, so we are taking Skylar and Jasmine in to visit him for the first time tomorrow after I get home from work. Skylar has been so excited all week.

Well, I'll write again tomorrow after we visit Aiden. Please pray that he does well off the vent.

May 9, 2011 - 65 Days Old

On Wednesday, Aiden turned two months old! The nursing staff made a scrapbook page for him for his 2-month birthday. I can't believe how fast time flies. It seems like he was just born a few weeks ago.

We went to the hospital this afternoon and as we were entering the NICU, we ran into Aiden's doctor. She told us that she had increased his feedings and that she would continue to increase them by 3 mL every feeding until they were back up to the amounts they were giving him before his belly blew up. She said his x-rays looked much better today. She also told us that the subsequent blood cultures they had done had come back negative for bacteria, so the initial blood test must have just been contaminated with bacteria from the skin. What great news!

We had Skylar and Jasmine with us, so we had to take turns going in to see Aiden. I went in first. He looked great. They had weaned his ventilator pressure down to 8 yesterday, and he was still holding strong there today. His oxygen was at 30%. Amaraa went in after me and was able to hold him. I sat and played with the kids and watched Karate Kid 3. We are so happy that he is getting better. It is such a relief that he doesn't have a bacterial infection. It's a good day today.

May 8, 2011 - 64 Days Old

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I am out of town so much that it is hard for me to find the time to post. A lot of people have told me that they miss reading new posts, and it has been nice to hear how many people actually follow this blog.

Aiden has been doing really well. He had been improving every day and we were really encouraged by the progress he had been making...until Saturday. The doctors had increased his feedings to 49 mL per 3 hours. They had stopped giving him IV nutrition, which had been hurting his liver, because he was getting enough nutrition through his regular feedings. They had started giving him steroids to help his lungs and they were able to wean him down on his ventilator settings. They had taken the "pick" line out of his head, his liver function was improving, and he was doing great. He seemed to be tolerating the feedings really well. And then, Saturday, his bowel blew up with air again. It was so big that they were afraid it would perforate, so they stopped his feedings and put another IV line in to give him nutrition and medication. I worried about him all day and headed back to Utah Valley as soon as I could. On my way back through, I stopped at the hospital. They had taken him out of the open warmer bed and put him in what they call a "monkey bar" crib. Aiden's nurse, Chris, updated me on everything that had gone on. She said that they could start feedings again as early as the next day (today) as long as his tummy started looking better. That encouraged me and made me feel better about things.

Saturday night, though, the nurse called and told us that the blood culture they sent to the lab the night before had come back positive for bacteria. They didn't know the exact bacteria he had, but they started giving him some antibiotics to get rid of it. We were really bummed to hear that he had an infection. We thought he was doing so well and now this. This NICU roller coaster never seems to hit any flat spots.

When we went to the hospital to visit him today, he looked good. His belly looked better on the x-ray today, so they restarted the feedings at half of what they had been giving him before. The steroids made him really jittery and he was squirming around like crazy, so they had him wrapped up pretty tightly so he wouldn't pull his breathing tube out again. Amaraa let me hold him since I am out of town so much. I love holding my little guy. I would have held him all day if they would have let me. He's getting to be a little chunk. He now weighs more than six and a half pounds. He's such a little cutie and he had his eyes open most of the time I was holding him.

So, we're taking things day by day. Hopefully this will just be a small hiccup in his progress and he will bounce back quickly and get back on the right track.

May 1, 2011 - 57 Days Old

I haven't posted for a while. I was out of town for most of the week and we were finishing up a house, so there wasn't much time to post. Aiden has been doing quite well, though. They have continued to increase his feedings (he's at 33 mL every 3 hrs. today) and he is still tolerating it well. He's now over six pounds and us growing like crazy. His lungs remain the biggest cause for concern. He is still on the regular ventilator and his settings are still too high to try to wean him. He extubated himself twice this week and they tried him on the CPAP, but he didn't tolerate it well, so they intubated him again. He's getting so big now that it doesn't take much for him to pull that tube out. One time, he just turned his head and that did it. The doctor decided to give him sedation every eight hours to try to prevent any more extubations. Every time he takes the tube out and they put it back in, it irritates his airway, so they're doing everything ttery can to try to minimize the risk if that happening more than it has to.