Happy 3 Month Birthday

Jaxson turned 3 months old yesterday! He weighed 8 lb 1 oz. He is getting so big! We were looking at some pictures from when he was first born, and it's amazing how much he's changed! We took him a balloon and a little poster to decorate his "room" for his party, and I made some yummy cupcakes for the nurses. He's such a party pooper! Literally, he slept and pooped through his whole party! Little stinker!

He passed his hearing test and finished getting his vaccines yesterday. They also swapped him back to Alimentum. We didn't want him to go home on the EleCare, since it was going to cost us so much. They're planning to keep him on the Alimentum for a couple more days and try him on NeoSure. Then, (fingers crossed) they'll try him on breastmilk. Dr. Bruce told me today that if they put him on breastmilk, we'll have to add breastmilk fortifier to it which costs $1 per ounce! We will pay for it up front, and insurance will reimburse us at 80%. It's a lot better than the EleCare!

His head ultrasound came back clear today, so that's definitely positive. He is not showing any signs of cerebral palsy! Other big news this week is his platelets. They are 138k! That's so awesome! His c. diff is also back to normal. Dr. Brasfield, his pulmonologist, saw him today and doesn't want to make any changes to his oxygen.

He is on track to go home this weekend. Eric and I have to spend the night at the hospital Friday and Saturday night, and Jaxson gets to come home Sunday!!! He will be on oxygen for at least a few weeks, as well as Actigall (for his liver and to help lower his biliruben), Reglan (for gastroesophogeal reflux), and Poly-Vi-Sol (iron drops).

He loves swingin' in the little swing in the NICU. It's so funny to walk in and see him sitting there in his little swing in the floor!

We are so excited for him to finally be coming home! Once he comes home, I will be off work for several weeks and won't be able to post as often because we don't have internet at home. I'm going to try to go somewhere and post updates with pictures of him at home! YAY!!! I know he's going to miss all of his fellow podmates at the NICU, and we will continue to pray for them once he comes home! Jaxson asked me to give a special shout out to Annaleece and Baxter!

Thanks for continuing to pray for us!!!

The Best News!!!

This weekend Jaxson made some huge improvements! He hit the 8lb mark on Saturday, got his PICC line removed Sunday, and moved to a crib! He is eating 3 oz per feeding from a bottle! We are so proud of him for doing so good with everything! Dr. Bierd said the goal is for him to come home next Friday!!! We're a little nervous because she wants to send him home on oxygen. He hasn't had any A's or B's in a long time, but she wants to be sure. He's also going home on Albuterol, EleCare, Vitamin D, an oral version of Sincalide, and Reglan. I'm going to have to come up with some kind of system to help me keep up with it all! Hopefully, he'll be able to come off the EleCare soon and swap to breastmilk. We have around 900 bags stored, and I've been dumping it out for the last 3 weeks since we are out of storage space!!!

We are so excited that our little buddy gets to come home soon! He is getting to wear clothes now, so I've posted some pictures of him. He is such a big boy! It's not only been an exciting time for us, but many of our family and friends! Everyone is excited to finally be able to hold that little cutie!

We also celebrated Eric's first Father's Day this weekend. We went out to eat after church Sunday. Jaxson and I got Eric an Auburn diaper bag, a sweet picture of the two of them together, Rick and Bubba's new book, and a huge tub of bubble gum. It was a wonderful weekend.

Thanks to all of you who are continuing to pray for us! We are so pumped up! It's starting to feel like we're really parents now! Especially, with all the clothes we've been washing lately!

Love,
The soon-to-be-sleeping-under-the-same-roof Grays!

A whole ounce!

Jaxson is still eating! He is up to 1 oz every 3 hours! YAY! That's the most he's ever been up to. He is still eating from a bottle when his breathing is slow enough. His nurses say he loves his bottle. He sucks his food down so fast! His platelets are still in the 70's. They are supposed to be between 100-130, but we are happy they're up to the 70's. They were in the 30's for almost 2 months! They also decreased the amount of IV fluid he gets, since he's eating more. He gets his last dose of antibiotics at 2:00 in the morning.

It really seems like he should be getting closer to coming home soon... The doctors say it will still be 6 weeks or so. It's hard to see him doing so good, and think he's still going to be there for that much longer! We were hoping he would be home for Easter, then Mother's Day, then Memorial Day, then Father's Day, then his due date, then 4th of July, then Eric's birthday... Now we're just hoping he'll be home for our anniversary the first week in August. He already weighs 7 lb 12 oz! He is going to be so big when he finally comes home! My stepdad said we should tell his nurses to call us when they get him potty-trained and we'll come pick him up!
We treasure the things many people take for granted, like hearing him cry. It's so sweet! We are sad that we haven't gotten to do the things most parents get to do, like giving their baby his first bath, taking him on outings, and rocking him to sleep at night. We know 6 weeks isn't that long, but it feels like forever! We try so hard to be strong, but it's so tough sometimes! Thank you all for continuing to pray for the 3 of us. I don't know what we'd do without you!

We love you all!
Lisa, Eric, and Jaxson

Day 79

Jaxson is 79 days old today. He weighs 7 lbs 9.2 oz! He is my little porker! He has continued to get good reports the last few days. He is getting a special formula called EleCare. The pharmacy in the hospital makes it for him. It costs $100 a day, which we don't have to pay now since it will be included in his hospital bill. However, we are hoping he doesn't have to come home on this formula. I talked to our insurance company yesterday and we would be responsible for paying for it up front. We have to buy it by the case, which is $600 weekly. They will reimburse us 80%, and I am calling to talk to someone about the possibility of Medicaid covering the remainder. He is getting 15cc (=1/2 oz) every 3 hours. Yesterday, the doctor decided to try giving it to him through a bottle if his breathing was less than 70 breaths per minute. The doctor said he would like to try to have him up to enough food by the end of the week to remove his PICC line (the IV where he gets his supplemental nutrition). We are keeping our fingers crossed and saying extra prayers for that to happen. He is going to continue giving Jaxson antiobiotics until Thursday, but says he shows no real symptoms of infection/sepsis. His platelets are continuing to increase on their own. They were at 77 yesterday. His GI doctor came by today, and said they are starting him on Reglan to help with his reflux. Reglan is the same medication they use with many pregnant women to help with acid reflux. It was the first medication they tried me on when I was having morning sickness. Essentially, it moves food through your body faster, so it doesn't just sit in your tummy and make you feel sick. The thing I'm worried about is it doesn't allow your body to time to absorb all the nutrients it needs. Hmm... maybe the reason I continued to lose weight while pregnant... I don't want Jaxson to miss out on valuable nutrients. I sure the doctors know what they're doing, and lots of babies take Reglan. I guess I'm just worrying about it a little too much. Anyway, I asked his GI doctor about the possibility of him starting on breastmilk, since we have almost 900 bags stored up and counting. Dr. Mestre said they are just going to watch him for the next 3-4 weeks and see how he does on the EleCare, and maybe they'll switch him to breastmilk before he comes home. If I understood everything correctly, he might get to come home by the last week in July or the first week in August! At least we have some sort of goal now! It makes me excited! He will be about 18 weeks old, and if he continues to grow about the same rate he's been growing, he'll be 12 1/2 lbs! It's a good think I left the tags on most of his clothes. Looks like I'll be taking some more stuff back to exchange for big boy stuff!!!

They also turned him down to 1 liter on his oxygen. If he had to come home on oxygen (which we're praying he won't), this is the kind he would come home on. He was completely off oxygen for several days before, so we hope he can prove himself again! He hasn't had any A's and B's for almost 2 weeks now, so he has already completed the 8 day countdown. Preemies have to go at least 8 days without dropping their heartrate and having apnea episodes. He won't have to complete another countdown for that, so now we're just waiting on his feeding to get better!

We bought him some toys this week. That gives him something to do during the day. Many people think babies who are born early are often developmentally delayed, but I think it's because they're not stimulated enough. Even full term babies can be developmentally delayed if they don't have any think to stimulate development. We took him some toys and the nurse said I could bring his bouncy seat and his Bumbo for him to sit in. We don't want to limit his potential because he's in the hospital. Lots of smart people were preemies... Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton are two great examples!

We love you all so much, and thank God for each prayer that is prayed. From young to old, we know He hears them all! We hope our little sweetie continues to touch your lives as much as he's touched ours. He continues to impress us every day! Thank you so much for following Jaxson's story.

Good reports!

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Jaxson is continuing to impress us with his weight gain. He is 7 lbs 2.2 oz! By the way, he's still not eating. After a scary weekend, he has definitely had some big improvements. He was put back on a ventilator Friday because he aspirated. They took him off the vent Saturday afternoon and put him back on his canula. His blood cultures came back positive for infection last week, so they are continuing to treat that with gentamycin and ampicillan. He is also getting lactobacillus to replace the "good bacteria" that is being killed. He also had a positive test result for clostridium difficile. This is because he's on so many antibiotics. But they are treating his c. diff with Flagyl. His CBC showed that his platelets were up to 71 today, which is a huge improvement. That's the highest they've been without him having a transfusion. Hopefully, that's because everything is starting to get better! He also had good reports on his KUB today (tummy x-ray). Dr. Bruce said he was impressed with Jaxson's numbers today.
I just spoke to his nurse a few minutes ago. She said his eye exam came back clear, and he no longer has ROP (retinopathy of prematurity). We are very thankful for that! Now, he won't have to have another eye exam until he's a year old. Dr. Bruce is not planning to feed him today, and Dr. Bierd will be here starting tomorrow. We're not sure when he'll get to eat again, but he doesn't seem too upset or hungry.