almost a week under our belts

well we came home on Sunday, and things have been going great! Of course we are tired but, it is a good tired. Jonah weighed 6 lbs, 13 oz on sunday when we went home & as of yesterday at our first pediatritian's visit he is 7 lbs 6 oz...so obviously eating well! he eats pretty much every 3 hours...give or take an hour. He lets us know when he wants to eat...and he still gets tired about 1/2 way through, but usually makes it to the end. we are loving having him home!!!

cautiously optimistic

yesterday, Jonah's status was changed to recovery care. That means that basically he has no issues except the eating. Dr. Lina called him her "A" student...I hope he keeps up his studies and plans to be an A student for the rest of his life :) Anyways, she said as long as he is gaining weight, she was going to switch him to "ad-lib" feedings. That means the baby sets the schedule...and we don't have to wake him up to eat. He eats on his terms (they do set a minimum so if he doesn't meet it in a 12 hour shift the help him out by putting some down the tube). But this really seemed to help him. He woke up and was hungry and had enough energy to eat all he was needing from the bottle, and skip the tube all together yesterday.

So as long as last night and today goes well...we get to ROOM IN TONIGHT! That also means that if that goes ok, that we might get to take him home tomorrow!!!!!


He had his car seat tolerance test yesterday. It didn't go great, but he did pass. Of course, I try to find the safest (read-most expensive) one, and the dang thing has too big of a pad behind his head, which pushes his little head forward, which in turn closes his little airway. So he did pass, but the lady said that she would not leave him alone in his seat till he gets a little bigger, and he really pooped out by the end of the hour long test, so we are "fargo" bound for at least a month or until he gets a longer body :).

They were going to do his hearing screening last night on the night shift, so we'll get the results of that this morning. Also...today is the big day for the circumcision...poor guy! He has no idea what we have planned for him!

Anyways...there is definately light at the end of this tunnel, and this leg of our parenting journey is almost over. Let's hope that last night was our last night of good sleep for a while! :)

THanks for all the support and prayers!
Love to all
kelly, dean, and jonah

quick update

Jonah ate a full bottle yesterday at 3am, 12pm, and 9pm. The rest of them (that he tried) were over half done when he quit. The plan that we have been trying for the last day or so, is nipple 1 feeding, gavage (down the tube) the next, so he can have a break and regain the energy and strength to nipple the next. Until noon yesterday that was working, for that feeding he was due to gavage the feed...but he decided that he wanted to nipple...and the little guy actually ate the entire thing! Ok...this may not seem like a big deal to most people (especially when you find out that a whole bottle is slightly less than 2 ounces) but for us this is a huge accomplishment. And for those that need a "NICU-ese" to English translation...sorry...I have been a permanent fixture up there these last 2+ weeks and you pick up the lingo.
Anyways...the light is maybe coming on, and I think the end may be in sight...but it is hard to say exactly when. Keep us in your prayers, that we will have the endurance to finish the race marked out for us. And also that Jonah can continue to improve and keep getting better at "nippling" :)
Thanks for checking in with us...and Jonah looks forward to meeting all of you soon (especially after the RSV/FLU season is over! ;)

my world

I think this is my favorite picture so far...the smile on his face, and the sweet light blue...regardless of the tubes, I love it!

Jonah has been off oxygen for more than 48 hours now...although after he eats from the bottle he has a hard time keeping up his sats, just from working so hard to eat. He really needs to conserve his energy so he can work hard on eating and staying off oxygen. I have actually had him in his crib a little more because he seems to oxygenate better when he is in there after a feeding. I think being more upright, and not crumpled in someones arms works better. Yesterday he seemed to be having a bit of a tummy ache...he would get this big frown on his face, and act like he was going to cry but he rarely did...just seemed uncomfortable. They did switch to the gentle "ease" formula to see if that would help his little tummy, and his tendency to "spit". I think it is because he is not very good at burping, so he gets air pockets and then his food just comes up.

Over all...we are getting better at eating. A couple days ago, we had to work hard to get 10-15 cc in him, and now most times he will take 20-30 per feeding. That is still only around 1 ounce...so we have a ways to go. I am thinking we will be in this same boat till the begining of next week, but hoping for sooner!

Last night, we left the hospital, and I was just feeling very depleted. I know it is normal for new moms to be very tired, and I am thankful for the full nights of sleep (one of the only good things about all this), but there is a hole in my heart and an empty bed in my home. It is getting hard to be patient for this little guy to mature enough to eat on his own. His neighbor that weighs just under 5 pounds gets to go home tomorrow. I am very happy for them, but can't help but to feel a little jealous. I just wish it was our turn soon. I can't wait to start our new life (outside of the hospital) as a family.

one quick photo

Jonah update

Well...this is been a big week for our little family. Jonah was a week old yesterday. He is doing really great! He has been moved out of the isolette and into a crib the other day, which ment that we were able to hold our little guy for the very first time. It was the MOST AMAZING thing in my world. I would say that that was the best day of my life. I have never really understood unconditional love before that. Physically he is doing well...he got his IV out the other day because it "infiltrated" and they weren't able to use it anymore, so rather than start a new one they took the chance that he would tolerate going up on his feedings, and he has done pretty well with that. Being premature, he isn't able to eat it all through a bottle, he is too tired for that, so they have a NG tube (goes from his nose down into his tummy) and they give him whatever he doesn't eat through that so he gets all the nutrition he needs. He is still on some oxygen, but not nearly as much as he was before. So things are good, and we are on the mend. He might be able to go home next week hopefully. Sorry no pictures, but I am updating from the hospital...so when we get home from the hospital and are able to do more than just sleep there, we will get the pictures uploaded.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, and Jonah is looking forward to meeting you all!
Lots of Love,
Kelly, Dean, & Jonah

Jonah Oliver Edward Meyer

well...to make a long story short, (ok it might be kind of long :)
Vital stats:
6 pounds 2 ounces
20 inches long
1/7/09 11:11 am

the story:On Tuesday, I went to Dr. Jordan and my eye was bleeding alot...much worse than it had been. So, after taking photos and talking about things...risks etc, we decided that it was very important to get my eye treated, therefore have the baby asap.

He called Dr. Mickelson while we were in the room and they decided with our input that we would have the baby on Wednesday. So I went home and cleaned and got everything ready...thank goodness I had all of that nesting done the week before!

So we got to the hospital at 8:30 (my c section was scheduled at 10:30). Got all set for stuff (IV, etc). Went down to the OR, had my spinal block, and Dean came in after I was draped and prepped. Dr. Mickelson came in and started in right away. It took a little bit and pretty soon Jonah was born. His actual time of birth was 11:11 on 1/7. Because he was only 36 weeks the NICU team was there. His apgar scores were 5 and 8. He had some respiratory distress right away, and they brought him to the NICU. He was on Nasal CPAP for about 30 hours, but looking tough for a good chunk of that time. The doctors were really hoping that he would turn around. His chest x-ray was looking better and his blood gas was also hanging in there, but the little guy just had been working too hard for too long.

He was very "touchy"...when he gets mad, he is really mad and then gets himself so worked up that he drops his sats. After working that hard for so long he just wasn't recovering from these little spells as well. Last night he had a spell in front of the nurse practitioner and she decided to intubate him so that he could rest. They also gave him 2 doses of surfactant into his lungs to help keep them opened up. (surfactant is a substance that babies have in their lungs to help reduce the surface tension of the "air sacs" to help keep them open...to help reduce his work of breathing). It seemed to really help him. He still has those spells, and really doesn't like it when people are touching/rubbing him. But he seems to be hanging in there.

The doctors and staff in the NICU have been AMAZING! They are really great at giving us information, and actually treat Jonah like he was their own. It will be sad to leave him tomorrow when I get discharged from the hospital, but I know that he is in the very best place that he could be. Hopefully they will be able to get the tube out tomorrow too! I do appreciate that we can see his little face now that he got the mask/straps off and just has a little tape on there. Most people that see him say he looks like me, but he has some of Dean's traits too.

He for sure has Dean's toes, and big hands! :) But maybe my feisty attitude. :)
I never knew I could love someone so much! I will try to keep everyone updated, but imagine it will be tough as I want to be with him as much as I can! :)

We picked his name together. I liked Jonah the best, Dean liked Oliver, and we had agreed that Edward would be the middle name because it is Dean's middle name and a family name on his side. So, rather than duke it out, we used Jonah as the 1st name and Oliver as a second middle name. (our first parenting compromise!)

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers...it means alot to us!

36.5 weeks

here are a couple of pictures of how I look this last week of being prego...of course the "bump" picture, but also a "belly-2-belly" shot with Dean and one with Jon...sorry Jon!

well...

good news/bad news
usually I go with bad news first so that the good news helps to cheer me up.

bad news: my eye is worse...hard to say how much worse...but for sure worse. new bleeding all the way around the area that was the "bad membrane" before. which leads my doc to think it is expanding. vision is down, etc.

good news: we are having our baby tomorrow! my eye doc said that this is in the best interest of my eye/vision/potential future vision or lack thereof. So I will be 36.5 weeks gestation, so our little guy will be just that...little. Just under a month early. But not to worry...we got steroid shots to help with lung development and have taken all the precautions that we could to make sure this little one is as healthy as he can be. I am a little apprehensive about the whole thing...not worried, but sort of in a little bit of shock. I knew it could be a possibility, but didn't really think it could happen this quickly.

So today I am cleaning my house, and getting ready...bags are for the most part packed thanks to "grandma" alison urging me to "be prepared". Just loose ends to tie up for the most part.

I will try to post one more photo tonight of the belly (pre-delivery)...once the baby is out, no more belly pix though! :) Sorry to disappoint you! ;)

Wish us luck!