Cinco | 2 Months

My sweet Cinco is officially 2 months old! It's SOOOOO exhausting being SOOOOO adorable!

My apologies for the terrible white balance... I promise he isn't still jaundiced. I accidentally deleted all of my LR presets when trying to clear space on my MBP, and, combined with the forced upgrade to the new version of LR, my editing skills are seriously lacking.

I was glad to finally bust out the Nikon to take some proper photos of my sweet munchkin. Too bad I wasn't able to take his 1 month photos last month. Those first four weeks with this guy were especially difficult!

I mean, look at this face. Totes adorbs! I just *assumed* that as my 5th and final kid, he'd be a walk in the park. Us youngest kiddos are the best! But he apparently had other plans...

I really couldn't complain, though. I just couldn't get enough of him! Those sweet toes... chunky thighs... sweet coos... it was all worth it!

Owl booty, y'all!

We've been working a bit on tummy time. It's not his favorite, but he's doing better each time!

What a wonderful idea to have a photo session literally just a few hours after his 2 month vaccinations! To my surprise, he was simply wonderful. But those poor chunky thighs with their tweety bird bandages!

Please also take note of the gorgeous gray knit blanket... my beloved most favorite aunt on the planet made that for my sweet baby! She's literally the best.

This journey has been quite difficult with the added stresses and unknowns and inconveniences of COVID-19. Our family has been hunkered down for 168 days and counting... and it's not been fun. But we are doing what we need to do to keep our sweet little family safe and healthy. There's nothing more important! 

Oh, and just for fun... here's a 2 month pic of another one of my boys... any guesses?? Lots of similarities in that sweet face!

Squish is Two Months Old!

My not-so-little Squishy is two months old! He's just the sweetest! Now, first of all, please, let's all take a moment to publicly recognize the fact that this boy was technically 2 months old thirteen days ago. I admit. Having four pretty much sucks up every. single. moment. of life. Seriously. While I do have a ridiculously annoying persistent reminder to take his monthly photo on my iPhone on the 13th of every month, I found myself opting to be reminded the next day, then the next day, then the next day... until I find myself here, almost two weeks past him turning 2 months old, and just over two weeks from him turning 3 months old. #momfail #dontcare

While I'm being honest about my (innumerable) shortcomings, let me acknowledge the completely awful lighting on Squish's 2 month pic below. Mama was tired. Mama had (and still has) 1.2 zillion things on my To Do List. Child chaos encircled me. Editing the image was a luxury of time I could not afford. Did I mention I was tired? And 13 days late in taking the pic in the first place. Y'all. It's terrible. I admit it. Please don't shame me. The good news is, that's one heckuvan adorable baby right there!!

Did I mention it was important to me to be sure his THIGHS made it into the pic? Those thighs! Bigger than my wrist! I'm so not used to having a baby with rolls. I can barely handle the squishiness!

Check out his latest stats...

One Month:

• Length - 22.25" (91st %ile)
• Weight - 10 lbs. 15 oz. (65th %ile)

Two Months:

• Length - 24.5" (96th %ile)
• Weight - 13 lbs. 3.5 oz. (72nd %ile)

Overall, he's on par with expectations for two month old babies. He's a super awesome eater (see thighs above), and typically has 3-4 hour stretches between feedings. He's worked his way up to several 5-6 hour stretches both during the day and at night, depending on his mood. ;) And he's an excellent sleeper. Essentially he's only up twice during the night. He typically eats around 10 PM or so, and we usually go to bed around midnight or 1 AM. Then Squish wakes up around 3 or 4 AM, and again around 7 AM. I usually roll out of bed around 9 AM. It's a tough life having an uber helpful hubby who works from home a bunch. ;)

Did I mention we're over 3 weeks into our 2017-2018 homeschool year? That's been going AWESOME, but whew is it ever keeping me busy! I'm rolling into my 4th year of homeschooling, and I feel like I'm just now starting to find my groove. I guess that's equates to a big ol' OOPSIES to the past 3 years? Haha! But I'm so on point with the lesson planning, the classroom instruction, the FUN science experiments (major mom points!), and I'm feeling good about where this year will take us. Our Classical Conversations co-op starts next week, and we couldn't be more excited to see our old friends and make new ones! I'm praying that this will be our best year yet!

Now, it's 12:49 AM (almost bedtime!) and I've got a full day of sewing projects lined up for tomorrow, so I'll leave y'all with these adorb snapshots from the GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE this past Monday, August 21st:

Growth Spurt

Not much to report but thought I'd still post our most recent happenings. Gotta admit I'm liking these weeks without doctor's appointments -- there's so much less to blog about though! I'm gonna go with bullet points for tonight's update 'cause it just seems quicker.

• Chase has been going through a growth spurt over the past 48 hours. He'll eat 5 ounces of breastmilk and then an hour later, down anywhere from 2-4 ounces of formula. He's a growing boy! The best part about this is that we found out he will in fact take that nasty formula, Alimentum. It's the milk-free formula that smells like cheez-it spit. Truly.
• I had Chase's stool sample tested today and it came back NEGATIVE for blood!!! Woot! I'm very happy about this, but when I spoke with his doctor to determine our next step, he said we'd wait until he's 6 months old and try the milk protein again. Are you hearing me? Four more months on a milk-free diet for this momma. I'm not thrilled about it but will do whatever it takes to keep my boy healthy and strong.
• I just told hubs earlier tonight that this afternoon I had a very strange thought, one that I promised myself years ago I would never have: What if we buy a minivan? We've been doing some SUV shopping lately (nothing serious, just initial stuff) and for some reason I'm set on having the "captain chairs" behind the front seats so each of the kids can have their own seat and it's easier to get them in and out of their carseats. This could only be accomplished by buying a HUGE bus of an SUV, or buying a minivan. I'm quite certain before we got married, hubs and I made a pact that we would never be the minivan-driving sort. I'm so confused I don't know what I'm feeling right now! Ack!!
• I got out for a bit tonight, thankyouverymuch! I was thrilled to go to choir practice at my church for the first time in probably at least 3 months or so! It was fantastic to be around such wonderful people, singing praise and worship music together. I'm looking forward to getting back into the piano rotation next month. I do miss playing (much more than singing!).
• LO has been hanging in there. This whole scenario just isn't fair to her. I really try to get her out of the house as much as I can, but there's only so much fun in grocery shopping trips. She needs some fun time with both hubs and I doing something that's fun for her. It's difficult to pull it together but I'm trying my best!
• I took BOTH kids on some errands today while hubs was at work. I was so proud of myself! We made three stops, the last of which was at our nearby mall. Imagine my surprise when I got the kids loaded up to head home and our Jeep wouldn't start! I had to call hubs out of a meeting with his boss to come rescue us. Turns out he just jiggled some wires and we were on our way! Ugh. Now he has to teach me how to do it so I can fix it if it happens on me and the kids again. So where are we on that car shopping again?? ;)

That's it. I'm calling it a night. Been a long day!!

Quiet, Sort Of

It's been a relatively quiet day here today. Hubs went back to work this morning so I've been flying solo with my two little ones. LO has behaved well for the most part. If Max & Ruby comes on TV, she zones out for a good 30 minutes. Chase has been good, too. Mostly he's been sleeping, waking up long enough to eat and spit up everywhere. I'm trying to see if he'll take a nap without being swaddled right now, but he's been fussing for a good 10 minutes so I guess I've got my answer. Oh, while I was changing Chase's diaper in the other room, LO was at the table eating lunch and she threw her corn all over the table and floor. I was not very happy about this so there was no dessert for her!

So yes, it's been mostly quiet around here. We're still treating Chase for thrush, and the Nystatin doesn't seem to be working very well. It's been about a week already and the white stuff is still on his tongue, although it doesn't seem to be as thick as before. I called in a refill on the Nystatin so we can try it for another week. Oh, and the best part is I think that what normally happens when a baby has thrush has happened... he shared it with me since I've been nursing him every other feed. Yay.

Sorry I didn't have anything exciting to share today... who really wants to read about corn and infections? Guess I didn't want to let a Monday go by without sharing something with cyberspace, so, there ya go!

Oh, and I'm waaaaay happy to tell you that we have ZERO doctor's appointments this week! I think this is the first week since we've been home (11 weeks) that we haven't had at least one appointment. Woot!

Long Overdue Update

Hey, guys! Sorry it's been several days since my latest update. There's a lot to talk about! I'll apologize in advance since I'm guessing this'll be a lengthy post!

We had a great New Year. Wasn't sure if I'd mentioned that last week or not. It was just the four of us, although the kiddos were obviously in bed before midnight. We welcome 2010 with open arms! The best part of 2009 was my sweet little Chase's arrival (and heart defect butt-kicking), but overall the year held a lot of struggles and problems for our extended family. I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us! And as a side note, I once heard someone refer to this year as "oh-ten" (like '09). I think that's funny.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. Hubs and I have been working through some of our communication issues that (go figure!) seem to appear when a family spends 3+ months stuck in a bubble together 24/7. We've also been trying to make the effort to get LO out of the house more often. She's really been acting out a bit since we got home 5 weeks ago and I don't think it's all just because she's 2-1/2. I know being in the house with us all the time has been difficult for her, and we can't take her outside since it's so stinkin' cold! She's lucky if she gets to go on a Target or grocery store run these days. Poor girl!

So last night, hubs, Chase and I left for Charleston while LO stayed home with my mom. Let me tell you that girl was beyond stoked to finally have someone other than Mommy and Daddy to spend time with! It was so great to see her so happy to spend time with her Mona. As a bonus, while we were finishing up packing, my mom happened to ask me about the white film stuff on Chase's tongue and how long it'd been there. I said (since I am in fact the world's worst mom EVER) that I was pretty sure it'd been there for awhile. I had assumed it was just leftover milk residue that remained on his tongue after his feedings. Unfortunately, she looked closer and confirmed my precious boy had thrush! It's a yeast infection in his mouth!!! Oh my goodness, I can't believe I had NO idea. I felt awful! I immediately called his pediatrician, told the nurse and she called in a prescription for us to pick up on our way out of town. I still feel awful. It should clear up in 7-10 days, but still. Ugh.

So we hit the road and made it safely to our hotel, checked in and had a pretty good night. This morning we packed up and headed to MUSC. It was so surreal to be back in that part of town, back in that parking garage, back in that hospital. We headed over for his ENT follow-up first. They did a flex scope bronchoscopy and we all got to see his throat on TV! It was pretty cool (although Chase didn't really care for it)! The doctor was VERY pleased with what she saw. The spot where she had removed some granulation during his bronchoscopy procedures while were at MUSC looked fantastic. The best part was that we got to see his vocal cords moving (since he was totally crying through the whole thing!) and the left one was moving!!! We were told the cord paralysis goes away on it's own in about 40% of patients, and apparently Chase is continuing with his incredible awesomeness! Both cords were moving, but there was still a very small gap between them when they closed. It wasn't anything the doctor was too worried about, and she was fine with following up on him again when we return to MUSC in late March for his heart cath. This was such great news and we are so very thankful!!! Another bonus of his great progress is that we should be albe to discontinue his Reglan in 2 weeks, and probably his Zantac after we see her again in March! So he'll just be left with Lasix in the morning and aspirin at night! Again, thank you Lord for Your incredible work in Chase's life!

We left the ENT appointment and stopped over in the PCICU to say hello and visit for a few minutes with the great staff that took such great care of Chase. Then we went into the PCICU waiting room to feed and change Chase, where I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Anna Grace's mom. Anna Grace had her Norwood surgery yesterday (Monday) and had her chest closed today (Tuesday)! That's simply amazing! I also saw Maia's mom since they were out for a stroll. Maia's still on 7C waiting to go home after her Glenn surgery several weeks ago. Please keep her in your prayers!

After visiting with these sweet heart moms for a bit, hubs, Chase and I headed to Speech Therapy for his 1:30 PM swallow study. Imagine our surprise when we were told our appointment had been canceled! WHAAAA???! Apparently they told us our appointment was actually at 10:00 AM, not 1:30 PM. Hubs was all over it. He told them he called Monday, spoke with (I forgot her name but he knew it) at 3:36 PM and confirmed his 1:30 PM appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Long story short, they tried to shoo us into a general pediatric waiting room (with a single-ventricle baby?? No thank you!!), then told us they'd "fit us in" but it'd probably be about 30 minutes. Keep in mind Chase had to be HUNGRY for his swallow study so he hadn't eaten in almost 3 hours. There was NO WAY he was gonna hold out for another 30+ minutes. Blurg!! Hubs handled the whole situation awesomely while I kept tabs on our little guy and tried to keep the freak-out to a minimum. The staff was nice enough to let us wait in an empty exam room, and luckily it was only about 10-15 minutes before they were ready for us. We got him all situated and the radiologist was ready to start the swallow study. We were using a thin liquid (breastmilk consistency) with a regular flow nipple. The boy went to town on that sucker! He took in 20 of 30 mL's of the barium mixture and the radiologist said he was doing great!! In fact, they didn't even want to try the liquid with a slow-flow nipple since he handled the regular one so well! Woot!!! I was BEYOND excited!!! This meant I could finally start nursing my precious baby boy after 10 weeks of pumping and bottle feeding! Praise the Lord!!! I already nursed him during one of our stops on our way home from Charleston, and again before he went to bed! It was so awesome to finally get to do this after waiting so long, and -- no surprise -- he did fantastic!!!

So basically I'm able to start nursing him every other feed, and in between we'll still bottle feed with thickened milk, but we'll slowly decrease the amount of thickener we use until he's at regular consistency all the time. This process should only take a few days, after which I'll be able to nurse exclusively! I'm so excited, but also a bit nervous because I just don't have the supply to keep up with my little fattie. He's taking about 6 ounces every 3-4 hours, and when I've pumped, I barely get 3. I'm really hopeful that he'll help increase my supply now that he'll be able to nurse and I won't have to use the pump all of the time. If anyone has any suggestions for increasing milk production, I'd love to hear it! I spent the past 4 days pumping every TWO hours, but only saw a minimal increase in my daily totals. I know I can't take any prescription meds to help with this, but I might try some herbs like Fenugreek to see if it does any good.

On another note, you may recall that I eliminated milk protein products from my diet starting last Wednesday. Well, it's supposed to take 10-14 days for the milk protein to leave my system, but we've found no traces of blood in Chase's diapers for the past 2 days! Woot!!! I have no idea if this truly means he has a milk allergy or if something else has improved things, but I'm so grateful! I'll keep up the milk diet in case Chase does have a milk allergy, but we'll find out for sure in a few weeks when we retest his stool for blood.

Another random note... When we got home tonight, I gave Chase a bath (which he loves, by the way). Before I put him in the tub, I checked his weight and would you believe he's up to 11 pounds?! He's 10 weeks old and has put on about 2-1/2 pounds since birth! That's almost 30% of his birth weight! What a little eater! I'm so happy he's doing so well! And I'm so grateful for the prayers and support of our family and friends and blog readers! I know I don't say it here enough, but THANK YOU and keep the prayers coming!!

Whew! So that's it for my long overdue update. But I do want to say a big "PRAISE THE LORD!" for little baby Anna Grace's progress following her Norwood procedure yesterday. God has His hands on this precious girl and has big plans for her life! Please keep her in your prayers as she continues her road to recovery. It's no surprise, but this sweet family is from the Upstate!

Also, I want to ask for your prayers for sweet little Josiah. As you may know, his family FINALLY moved back home to the Upstate after his 7 months at MUSC. After a few short days at home with his family, he ended up at a local hospital for a few days. They were told today the idea of taking him back to the PCICU at MUSC was put on the table. Please, please, please pray for this family! They are so incredibly strong and are relying on their faith in God, but I just know they can only take so much! Their journey has been so hard and they truly need our prayers as they make some big decisions in the next few days.

I just realized I didn't include any pics with this l-o-n-g post! I'll make it up to you later this week... :)

New Game Plan

WARNING:
This is a rather lengthy post and it's content is centered on breastfeeding
(for the most part).
Read at your own risk!

It's been a very interesting 24 hours here in our household. Hubs and I have been thinking VERY hard about this whole milk protein allergy thing with Chase. I've heard from several HLHS heart moms who say their babies had some blood in their stools as well, but that it wasn't a milk allergy and it cleared up on its own. So hubs and I got to thinking: Is it fair to put Chase on a nasty formula for 2 weeks on the off-chance that he might be allergic to milk protein?? Is there a better way to test this allergy theory? We decided it might make sense for me to:

1. Immediately eliminate all milk protein products from my diet, which will take a good 10-14 days to completely leave my system;
2. Continue to provide Chase with my breastmilk, knowing that it will continue to have some form of milk protein in it for the next 2 weeks, although the amount will be decreasing each day;
3. After 2 weeks, once my breastmilk is milk-protein-free, we continue to give him my milk for another 2 weeks, then test his stool for blood again. If it comes back positive, then we know it's not a milk allergy and we didn't have to make him suffer on nasty formula (although we would potentially need a referral to a GI to check for other possible causes). If it's negative, then we know it was a milk allergy and I would need to continue on my milk-free diet throughout the entire time Chase has my breastmilk. The bonus here is that IF (God willing) we're given the go-ahead to start nursing on Tuesday after the swallow study, I can go ahead and start breastfeeding my precious baby immediately! Woot!
   

So here's a summary of what we've been though the past 24 hours:

• Chase had a rough night with the formula last night. He was barely taking 3 ounces of it, compared to the 6-7 ounces he had been taking of breastmilk. In addition, he's been puking a LOT of the stuff. His 3AM feeding resulted in a loss of at least 2 of the 3 ounces he took. We've NEVER had an issue with him spitting up breastmilk.
• Last night I emailed one of the cardiologists in the PCICU at MUSC to ask if it's relatively common to see some blood in stools for HLHS babies.
  
• This morning I called his pediatrician and left a message to find out what his "back up plan" might be since the formula isn't going over very well.
  
• This morning I called his cardiologist and left a message to determine if it's somewhat "normal" for HLHS babies to have blood in their stool, per several of the comments I've received from other heart moms who say this was the case with their babies.
• This morning I called MUSC and left a message for the speech therapist to inquire about the thickener we've been using to thicken my breastmilk and whether or not they've heard of an issue with blood in the stool for other babies using the thickener product.
• This morning I called my mom at work (she's a NICU nurse -- woot!) and left a message for her to ask the Lactation Consultants at her hospital for some kind of a handout or brochure regarding how to eliminate milk protein from a nursing mother's diet.

Whew! So it was a busy morning! And luckily, I received all of the information I needed to discuss this further with hubs. Here's what I found out:

• Per the PCICU cardiologist at MUSC, it is not uncommon to see blood in the stool during the stay in the ICU and even once the baby is home. He suggested it could be due to things such as their immature body undergoing major stresses with surgery and getting used to a new physiology as well as being on a blood thinner like aspirin. He said continuing on breastmilk and giving the situation time should take care of it. Woot!
• Chase's pediatrician didn't have any issues with our chosen plan of action (no formula, just breastfeeding with me eliminating milk protein from my diet). Woot!
• His cardiologist wasn't in the office today but another one from his practice called me back. He's my new best friend! He said he's not a fan of any doctor telling a mom to stop breastfeeding. He didn't think it was overly usual for an HLHS baby to have blood in their stool, but he completely agreed with our plan since it involved keeping Chase on breastmilk. Woot!
  
• The speech therapist said she wasn't aware of any issues with the thickener causing blood in stools, so I could cross that one off my list. But the good news is that she told me that there's definitely a good chance he'll be ready to take straight breastmilk after she does his swallow study on Tuesday. Woot!
• My mom came through for me and brought me a sheet of information on the "Do's" and "Don'ts" of a milk-protein-free diet. Woot!

So earlier today we went ahead and started Chase back on my breastmilk, although it still has milk proteins in it. He's taken it as wonderfully as we expected and hasn't been spitting up at all! Way to go, Rock Star! Also, I started my first day of this new diet and overall it hasn't been too bad! I've made some minor adjustments, but nothing too over the top just yet. Although I have been amazed at how many products have some form of milk in them that you honestly wouldn't expect! Sheesh.

If any of my readers have any experience with milk allergies and breastfeeding on a milk-protein-free diet, I welcome your comments/thoughts/experiences, etc.!

Unbelievably Frustrated

I have to reprise this photo of Chase because it fully expresses my current feelings regarding the world as I know it:


As I mentioned earlier today, I got some frustrating news at Chase's pediatrician appointment earlier today. I know I've mentioned out here that he's occasionally had some blood in his stools, but we determined he had a small fissure (ouch!) that was probably the cause of it. We've been testing his stools weekly just to be sure. Today I took him in for some vaccines (3 shots and 1 oral, a total of SIX vaccines -- sheesh!) and also spoke with his doctor. Apparently since his stool is still testing positive for blood, it's time to try something else. The doctor is taking him off breastmilk and putting him on a special formula, Similac Alimentum Hypoallergenic formula. He's thinking Chase has an allergy to milk protein.

This is so not cool.

If you've been keeping up with us, you'll know we're heading back to MUSC next Tuesday for another swallow study to determine if Chase is able to handle regular consistency milk (we've been having to thicken his breastmilk to keep him from aspirating on it). My hope and prayer for the past 4 weeks has been that we'll get down there and they'll say YIPPEE! he can have regular consistency milk, meaning... I can FINALLY start breastfeeding my baby!!!

Now that we've had this milk allergy thrown at us, the only way I can breastfeed, assuming we get the go-ahead next week, is if I eliminate ALL milk protein, whey, caesin, etc. from my diet. It's insane the amount of foods that contain these ingredients and the huge lifestyle adjustment this would require. Of course I'm willing to do this and more if it means giving my son the very best. I just can't truly wrap my head around all of this right now. I guess we'll know in two weeks if it truly is a milk allergy, and we'll address how we'll handle the situation then. It's one of two options: I change to a milk-protein-free diet, or I give up on my dream of breastfeeding my precious son and give him formula instead.

Although I can't stand the idea of Chase having a milk allergy, I'm more worried that it's not a milk allergy. If it's not, we'll be referred to a GI doctor who will run a bunch of tests to determine what, if anything, is wrong with his digestive system, intestines, etc. I guess the milk allergy would be the lesser of two evils. I just know we've been through so much already and we still have another major surgery in just a few short months... I was hoping for some taste of "normalcy" at least for a little while. I know things could be much worse for us (he IS a hypoplastic heart baby after all), and I feel so horrible for getting so heartbroken and disappointed over all of this. I just want my baby to be healthy, no matter what it means I have to do to make it happen!

Please pray for me as I deal with my worries and disappointments and for Chase as he deals with a potential milk allergy and/or GI problem.

A Special Message from Chase

I couldn't help but share this little clip of Chase from earlier today. He's so cute!! And he had a special message at the end! LOL! Oh, and you can see that LO doesn't like to be too far from the spotlight... that girl loves attention!

On another note, I took Chase to an appointment with his pediatrician today and got some frustrating news that I'll share later. Ugh.

Posted from my iPhone

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Love,

Baby Chase
a.k.a. "Rock Star"
a.k.a. "Fatty"


Posted from my iPhone

Update

Just a quick FYI... Chase's cardiology appointment went really well on Friday. They didn't do an echo or EKG -- apparently they'll do those every other visit (basically once a month). They took his blood pressures, weight, and O2 sat (85 -- Woot!!). Dr. Horne took a look at my boy and was very pleased with him! He said his blood pressures were "fantastic" and his O2 sat was "perfect!" He also reduced his Lasix from 2x per day to just 1x! Woot!

On a related note... So apparently we're supposed to arrive to ALL of our appointments 30 minutes early. Yes, ALL of them. Okay... I wasn't aware of this so I showed up 10 minutes late and the receptionist had to get up and go ask Dr. Horne if he'd still see us.

Wow.

Obviously, he said yes (whew!). So we get back there, do all the weight, BPs, etc. in about 10 minutes or less. The nurse left and said the doc would be in shortly.

Seriously, it was 50 minutes later before Dr. Horne made his appearance. Yes, FIFTY minutes. Now, I wouldn't care as much if it were an appointment for myself, but seriously? Here I am, supposedly arriving 30 minutes before my appointment, then waiting 50 MORE minutes to see the doctor. I have an infant with a feeding schedule, a pumping schedule for myself, a 2-1/2 year old requiring care to be coordinated, etc. etc. etc. Why is it that my time is much less valuable? I'm not at all angry or irritated by all of this. Ultimately I'm aware that we will be seeing Dr. Horne for the rest of our lives, and I'm okay with that! He's really great and I really like him a lot! It just takes so much to get my little guy out, coordinate his feeding schedule, my pumping schedule and care for LO. And it'd be a bit easier if I had any say in his appointment dates or times. It's one of those things where they tell you "here is the next appointment" and you just take it and make it work. WHEW!

Enough complaining.

Let me share some EXCITING news! My sweet boy slept for 7 hours straight last night! That's right! He slept for 8 hours Thursday night, then 7 hours last night. I'm hoping and praying he's finally settling into a routine and I'm SO okay with only one middle-of-the-night feeding/pumping. Way to go, sweet Chase!!! He's my little Rock Star!

Q&A

Q: Who slept 8 hours straight last night??

A: My sweet baby boy, Chase! Woot! This meant 5 straight hours of sleep for Mommy & Daddy! I couldn't be more thrilled!! I sure hope it wasn't a fluke and that he keeps this up!

Yippee!!!!!


Posted from my iPhone

Pediatrician Appointment Update

So yesterday I took Chase to his first appointment with his pediatrician. He did great! I was very impressed with how well he handled the visit, although he didn't get any shots so I'm sure that had something to do with it! Our PC (pediatric cardiologist) told us not to give him any vaccinations until after he's 2 months old, so we got to hold off on that yesterday.

They took all of his stats and I was very surprised with his weight! We had taken him in last Tuesday to been seen for his bottom issues (rash, etc.), and when they weighed him he was 8 lbs. 13 ounces. At his appointment yesterday, he was up to 9 lbs. 8.8 ounces! That was fantastic for just being a week apart! He still is only in the 15th percentile for weight, but I expect this to improve nicely over time. As for height, he was 22.5 inches long and in the 48th percentile. Woot!

Overall he had a great visit and is doing great. We decided to continue giving him straight (thickened) breastmilk and not fortify it with NeoSure, and we will start giving him some multivitamin drops (Polyvisol with Iron). Next week I'll need to take him in for a quick visit to get four vaccines, 3 of which are shots and 1 that is oral. I'm pretty sure he won't enjoy that appointment... ;)

So tomorrow it's off to Dr. Horne for a cardiology appointment. I'll post an update on that one as well.

Sorry this post wasn't overly exciting... Would it make up for it if I post a cute pic of Chase? Well then, here ya go!

Birth Announcement

I've been trying to get a good picture of Chase to use for his birth announcement...

I don't think this is "the one."

Would you agree??

I think he was all smiled out and ready for me to put the durn camera away already!!

I've Been Keeping a Little Secret...

...We're Home!!!

OhMyGoodness! I'm just full of little surprises these days, huh?! It's been killing me to not share what we've been up to over the past 48 hours or so! See, Chase was discharged from MUSC on Monday, which still completely amazes me (my boy is such a miracle!!!). We didn't tell anybody we'd left the hospital because my mom was coming to Charleston that night and I wanted to surprise her by having her grandson with me when I greeted her at the door (she was quite shocked and excited, by the way). Hubs and I pretty much decided we didn't have any real reason to stay in Charleston any longer than absolutely necessary, so imagine our surprise when found out Chase's ENT follow-up and swallow study aren't actually until the first week of January! Ack! I know, I know... I lied. I told y'all it was next week so that everyone would believe we would be staying in Charleston for another week. I did that because I wanted to surprise the rest of my family and our friends back home by coming home early! So we decided to head home yesterday (Wednesday) with the intent of surprising everybody at our church choir's Christmas musical Saturday night. Only, I decided it would really suck to be home for 3 whole days without telling anybody. So I ended up going to their dress rehearsal tonight and surprising some of my most favorite people on this planet! It was so awesome to see their shock n' awe since nobody was expecting to see me. It was great!! So yes, we're finally back in our home sweet home, and we're not due back at MUSC until the first week of January, which we're planning to be a quick day trip. I'm so very glad to be hoe, but I know it'll be tough because from this point forward, we're on lock-down. We're in a bubble. I can't take my boy anywhere (except Dr. appointments), so my family can't go out to eat, go to church, go visit with friends/family... ugh. I'll probably be really sick of being home soon enough, but for now, boy am I ever enjoying it!!

So yesterday was a L-O-N-G day!! We started packing Tuesday evening and it went on all day Wednesday. We didn't hit the road until 4PM for our 3-1/2 hour trip home. Chase was such a trooper! He did such a great job and literally slept the whole way home! LO did great, too, apparently, but she rode with Gramma so I can't say for sure. You should've seen LO when we got to our wonderful home last night. She was in awe! This morning she woke up, came running out into the living room, and thanked us for bringing her home, thanked us for her kitchen center, thanked us for her toys, etc... It was adorable!!

Chase has been settling in nicely. He's been much more tired and much less hungry the past 2 days, but I'm hopeful he's just getting used to his family home. We have an appointment in the morning with his pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Horne, and I'm hopeful we'll have a great check-up and we'll get lots of information from him about the nuances of caring for a sweet little heart baby.

Whew! It feels so good to get all of this out in the open. I'm horrible at keeping secrets, so I'm sure I'll sleep much better tonight knowing that everybody now knows that my sweet family and I are all finally home where we belong!

Just Checking In...

It's been another quiet day here. Chase is still doing fantastic. Not eating as much as I'd like (as much as he had been the past few days), but I'm hopeful he's just having an "off" day and will be back on track tomorrow. So like I said, it's been pretty quiet and there's not much new to report. We're just loving having our family all together finally! We've been waiting for this for so very long... it's amazing! We really do have an amazing and wonderful little baby boy. We're so blessed!

Such Joy!!!

It has been absolutely fabulous having Chase here with us and all of my family under one roof. Gramma and Pa Pa have been with us to help with LO, and she's been having such a wonderful time. We brought Chase home yesterday while LO was still napping. When she woke up, he was still in his car seat. She walked into the living room and shouted, "Mommy!" as soon as she saw me. Then she saw Chase... I'm pretty sure for the first time in her almost 2-1/2 years, the child was speechless! It was hilarious! I asked her who that was and she said, "Baby Chase" with confusion written all over her face. We didn't tell her we were bringing him home so she didn't expect to see him here at the house and not at the hospital. It was too cute! She's been really good around him so far, minus the fact that she's so stinkin' loud all of the time! :)

So we have a list of upcoming appointments that need to take place: another hearing screening, a follow-up with ENT, another swallow study, a high risk clinic appointment, the cardiologist in Greenville, a pediatrician appointment and his heart cath procedure in March. Whew!! This boy's gonna keep his mommy busy!

This pic was taken before we left MUSC yesterday -- his first time in a car seat!


Overall things are going just fantastic now that we're all together. Hubs has been simply amazing through all of this. He was so great with Chase last night, getting up for feedings and getting him back to sleep. I am so blessed with such an incredible husband and two of the world's most awesome children! Thank you, God!

Surprise!!!

I've been keeping a little secret...

Chase was discharged from the hospital yesterday!!!

We are so excited!!! He had such a wonderful long weekend and was eating so well that they decided there was no reason to keep him there any longer! So around 3:00 PM yesterday, we left MUSC and brought our sweet boy home! What an answer to prayer! God is so good! We are so very blessed and grateful that Chase did so well and was able to come home exactly 5 weeks after birth -- exactly 4 weeks after his Norwood surgery!

My mom was driving down to see us yesterday and we wanted to surprise her by having Chase here at the house when she got here, so I didn't update the blog, Facebook or Twitter until now so that we could keep our little surprise a secret. But I'm ready to shout it from the rooftops now!!!

We have some follow-up appointments next week with ENT and speech therapy (swallow study), but we will finally be able to head home afterward! This means we'll be home for Christmas! Praise the Lord! I can't wait to get home, decorate for Christmas, and enjoy our new family of four!

Stay tuned for some new pics of our sweet boy soon!

Thank you to all of you for your constant prayers and support for Chase and our family. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family, friends and blog readers! God bless each and every one of you!!!

No News is Good News!

We're in the midst of a rather quiet weekend here in 7C. I "officially" moved into Chase's room on Thursday so I could be here for all of his bottle feedings, which worked out perfectly since he has excelled at the bottle thing and pretty much went straight to full feeds and eliminated tube feeds from the get-go. What an incredible blessing!!!

So I have to tell you something that I've been waiting to say for a L-O-N-G time (33 days, to be exact): During rounds this morning, the "D" word was finally mentioned to us! That's right!

Discharge!!!

There is a REALLY good chance -- assuming Chase has a quiet, boring weekend -- that we will be discharged early next week! Can you believe it!? I feel like I've been waiting forever for that day to arrive! So here's our game plan: Assuming we are discharged next week, we plan to hang out here in Charleston for an extra week or so while we settle our family of FOUR into our rental house -- all together under ONE ROOF for the first time!!! Hubs and I want to have some time to settle into life with a precious newborn while we're still within a 10-minute drive from MUSC, should anything weird happen with Chase (we don't expect this to happen at all... we're just boy scouts!). We won't know until Monday, but there's a chance we'll need to schedule another swallow study (to see if we can try less-thickened milk and eventually regular milk) and perhaps another visit with the ENT folks to do a flexible bronchoscopy here in Chase's room (to see how he's healing and determine whether or not his paralyzed left vocal cord is showing signs of recovery). SO... although we might be discharged next week, it'll still be another week or two after that before we're able to make the trek back to our home sweet home. But can you believe it? There is a light at the end of the tunnel and this leg of our journey may very well be in its final stages!

Of course once we do get home, life will by no means return to the "normal" we once knew. And not just because we're adding a new member to our family. In reality, Chase is still a very fragile little guy (although he looks so incredibly healthy and normal!). We've been advised that it is extremely important that he doesn't get sick between now and his next surgery, the Glenn, which should take place when he's around 6 months old. So basically, once we're home, we're HOME -- meaning no showing off our little rock star, no church, no grocery runs, no shopping trips, etc. Basically, the only time our little one will leave the house is for his doctors appointments. And our sweet LO will have to follow suit. We don't want Chase getting sick because his sister picked up a cold while at Sunday School, so she'll be living in our family's little bubble, too. I know this is going to be so incredibly difficult for me (all of us, really), but I know it's in Chase's best interest and right now that takes precedence over everything else. So let me just say now that while I'm looking forward to being back home and showing off my amazing son, it'll be a long while before he can make public appearances. I, on the other hand, will still be making solo appearances at church, grocery stores, etc. ;) Aren't y'all excited about that!? LOL!

Well this quick little update turned out to be much longer than I expected! Hopefully there won't be much to share tomorrow (Sunday), but maybe, God willing, on Monday, I'll be able to write the happiest post ever, announcing our discharge plans! Woot!!

Thanks to my sister J for sharing these lyrics yesterday. They fully sum up my feelings regarding God's work in my family's lives!

How can I say thanks
For the things You have done for me
Things so undeserved
Yet You give to prove Your love for me
The voices of a million angels
Cannot express my gratitude
All that I am or ever hope to be
I owe it all to Thee!

To GOD be the glory, for the things He has done!!!

Hiccup!

My little monkey has the hiccups!

Posted from my iPhone

Feeding Success!

Chase has had an awesome few days! He took his first bottle feed Wednesday evening and did fantastic! We did more bottle feeds on Thanksgiving at 9am, 3pm and 9pm. Then today we did 3am and 9am. Basically we've been doing every other feed with a bottle and the others through his ng tube. Well, this morning at his 9am feed he kicked butt and downed 105 ccs (just over 3 oz) so we were given the go ahead to give him ALL bottle feeds and NO ng tube feeds!! Woot!!! AND they are basically letting me be in charge of his schedule, feeding him when he's showing signs of hunger rather than adhering to the "every 3 hours" rule around here. So it's like I finally get to care for him as his MOM!! It only took 32 days to get here!

The added bonus of course is that if he keeps up the great work, the ng tube comes out later this afternoon!!! WOOT!!! We are definitely making progress to get ourselves out the door sooner than later!

We are so very thankful for how God has chosen to work in Chase's life! We know His plans are perfect and He has some great things in store for our baby boy. I continue to be humbled that He has brought Chase through this journey so well up to this point. We are forever grateful to our Lord and Savior for seeing us through the hardest time in our lives and for blessing us with our sweet little Rock Star!!


Posted from my iPhone