Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I have neglected the blog for the past few days but I want to update.  Teegan is still doing really good.  He is on a nasal cannula for his oxygen.  Yesterday they moved us to a private room so that is nice.  The doctor let him try a bottle yesterday and he took 8 cc's before it just completely pooped him out.  This morning he took 8 cc's from a bottle again.  They say that babies generally learn the whole suck, swallow, breathe process of taking a bottle between 32 and 36 weeks.  Teegan is 6 weeks (34) old today!  He weighs 4 lb. 11 oz. and is 17.5 inches long!

Blessed

All I can think of tonight is how blessed Tim and I are.  The list of things we're thankful for gets longer every day.  I have spent days sitting at Teegan's bedside asking myself why Tim and I have been chosen to fight this battle. . . .not once but twice.  And why is the second time around even tougher than the first?  Why us?  What did we do wrong?  Were we not meant to have children?  What did we do to deserve this?  Is God testing us?  But He never gives you more than you can handle.  Right?  Right????  I have asked myself that a billion times! 

Today Timbree came to spend the afternoon with us.  We had decided before she got here that we wanted her to hold Teegan if she wished.  At first she wasn't very sure.  She seemed somewhat nervous about the whole situation.  She wouldn't even touch him.  But by the time we were finished snapping a few pictures she was crying because she wanted to take Teegan home with her.  It was just like she knew she had to talk softly, be gentle and sit still while she was holding him.  It was so sweet the way she held him and looked at him.  He got several kisses from her too.  Now, I'm sure the talking softly, being gentle and sitting still while holding him won't last long once we get him home but today she was a natural at being a big sister.

Even though we have been given two beautiful soon to be healthy babies, I still can't help but to ask myself why.  But I do know that God is good and I see that every time I look at Timbree and Teegan.  What would we ever do without them?  We wouldn't trade them for the world. 



We Love CPAP!!

Teegan is still loving the CPAP!  They checked his blood gases at 5:00 this evening and they were good enough to be moved to a high flow nasal cannula but the doctor wants to leave him on CPAP through the night.  She said we would be brave tomorrow!  So tomorrow should be another big day for the little man.  He is doing so well he got to wear clothes for the first time today.  They popped the top on his isolette and wrapped him in a blanket this afternoon and he has maintained his body temperature too!  Our prayers are being answered each and every day.  Please keep them coming!

Oh Happy Day!!

They just finished moving Teegan from the ventilator to CPAP!  So far, so good!  It was awesome to hear him CRY!!  And it was so nice to see his face without all the added tubes.  He is so darned handsome!  The nurses got a kick out of his double chin.  He doesn't particularly like his new gear but they gave him a pacifier with some sugar drops on it and he is sucking it like it's a sucker.  His nurse told him that was his treat for being such a good boy and she feels sorry for him because they are holding his feedings to make sure he adjusts okay.  They will check his blood gas in an  hour and see how it looks.  Hopefully he is tube free for good!  :)

Lots of pictures. . . .

God is so good!!!

Patience

I'm trying to be patient this morning.  I've been sitting here since about 6:30 waiting for the big moment and the doctor just checked him over and said his pressures are too high.  She doesn't want to set him up for failure.  His pressure is at 25.  They decreased it to 22 and will check his blood gas at 10:00.  If it is still good they will decrease it to 20 and then check his gas again at 2:00.  At that point they will make the switch as long as his gases are still good.  Ugh!!!  So I guess we'll just hang out for a little while longer.  They just started Teegan's breakfast so I think I'll go find something to eat myself.

Ventilator, Ventilator, Please Go Away!

They will check Teegan's blood gases early tomorrow morning.  If they are still as good as they've been today they will take him off the ventilator and put him on CPAP.  All the head gear he will have to wear won't be fun but it has to be better than the tube he's had down his throat.  He has had a really good day again today!  Please pray that the transition tomorrow morning is smooth and successful.

Stylin' Dude

Teegan's respiratory therapist today decided he needed his hair styled.  She started with a mohawk but decided that was a little too much for him.  But his hairdo sure goes well with his personality!  He has had another awesome day.  His vent has been turned down to 15 but they just checked his blood gases again and they are perfect.  We're waiting to see if the doctor wants to turn him down some more for the night or just leave it til morning.  They've started him on caffeine to prepare him for going off the ventilator!  We're getting sooooo close.


UPDATE:  The doctor just turned the ventilator down to 12 breaths per minute!!  Yippee!!!  :)

WooHoo!!!!!

Teegan's vent settings are down to 18 breaths per minute this morning!!!  Hopefully we're getting really close to being rid of that thing!!!

I think this picture says it all.  We've had a good day today!  Teegan is feeling much better so we are too.

Mr. Teegan

Teegan is a different baby this evening.  The doctor said he is back to his usual fiesty self!  That's how we like him best.  The culture they took yesterday from his ventilator tube did start growing bacteria this afternoon.  So they started him on antibiotics and he already feels and acts so much better.  He was actually wide eyed and awake for about 30 minutes this evening.  Tomorrow morning they will replace his ventilator tube so he can start over with a new sterile one.  It has turned out to be an awesome day between Timbree coming down to spend her birthday and Teegan feeling much better!  God is so good!!  :)

Happy Birthday Timbree!!

Today Timbree turned 2 years old!  She came down to spend the day with us.  And she got to see baby Teegan for the first time.  She wanted to get in his "bed" with him and hold him.  The only thing she really said about him was that he was nice and his hair is fuzzy.  I just can't wait. . .she is going to be such a helpful big sister!

Happy birthday sweet girl!  You have brought so much joy to our lives!  We love you!  :)

What a Day

It's been a long day.  Teegan has improved thoughout the day.  They have checked his blood gases every three hours today and have seen improvement each time.  The bloodwork and culture ruled out infection.  His lungs are just still full of fluid.  He is on medicine to help that and so far it is doing the trick.  Tonight they have to redo his PIC line because it has moved from where it was originally located.  Poor guy has had quite a day.  Hopefully tonight will be better and we'll have a good day tomorrow.  We appreciate all of the prayers and concern.  Please keep the prayers coming!

Please Pray!

Teegan had a rough night last night.  They have done a bunch of extra blood work this morning and a culture from his vent tube.  The doctor feels like there is something going on in addition to his lung problems.  They will check his blood gas again any minute now, do another chest x-ray at noon and we're waiting on the results from the culture.  Please pray!!

We've Had a Good Day

Teegan has had a really good day compared to the past few days.  He had started showing signs the PDA may have reopened but they did an echo cardiogram this afternoon and it is still closed.  They have been able to wean him down on the ventilator today to 27 breaths per minute.  Hopefully he will improve more tomorrow and be able to be weaned some more. 

Tonight was the first night I got to see his little face without all the tape on it.  He has the most adorable little face.  Such a sweet boy!  I’m convinced he had a good day today due to the fact that he and I got to snuggle for almost two whole hours yesterday afternoon.  So we did it again today.  They started diuretics yesterday evening to help get rid of the fluid on his lungs.  They will continue that along with his breathing treatments to help develop his lungs.  Tonight he weighed 3 lb. 11.5 oz. 

Thanks once again to everyone for the prayers!

Growing Boy

There are not really any changes with the little guy.  They had to turn the settings back up a little bit on the ventilator.  His breathing treatments have been increased to every three hours instead of every twelve hours.  He is up to 10 cc's on feedings.  Last night he weighed 3 lb. 10 oz. and is 15 1/2" long.  He is a growing boy!  We are just praying that his lungs will start developing so they are able to wean him off the ventilator.  At this rate he's going to be one chunky monkey before he gets off that thing!

Teegan

I have had a helper with me the past few days and she doesn't like it when her momma is on the computer so I have not been good about blogging.  But Teegan is still doing good and improving each day.  He is up to 3 lbs. 6 oz.! Monday evening they started him on breathing treatments to try to speed up weaning him off the vent.  The treatments are given every 12 hours.  He is down to 31 breaths per minute.  His new friend yesterday was his thumb.  The little guy is ready for all his company today.  He had a complete bath last night and feels like a new man! 

Here's a little bonus picture!

Baby Teegan Update

Not a lot of changes with our little man the last couple of days.  He was a twerp last night and pulled his vent tube out AGAIN.  His vent is set at 37 breaths per minute.  He weighed 3 lbs. 1 oz. tonight.  They have increased his feedings to 4 cc’s every 3 hours.  Praying for the lungs to keep developing so we can continue to go down on the vent and get rid of that silly thing.

Special Visitor

Tim and I had a special visitor yesterday. . . . . .

Timbree came to spend the afternoon with us!!  It was so much fun hanging out in the hotel room, just the three of us.  We watched Curious George, read some books, colored some papers, painted her fingernails, and even took a snooze. 

We can’t believe how much her vocabulary has grown in the past four weeks we’ve been away from her.  She’s talked for a long time but now it seems like everything that comes out of her mouth, we can understand so clearly.  We were afraid she would throw a fit when it was time to leave.  Instead, I cried like a baby and, of course, Timbree didn’t shed a tear.  She just seems like she’s such a big girl and I don’t want her to grow up!

God is So Good!!

They just finished doing the echo cardiogram on Teegan.  The PDA is CLOSED!!!!!  That is awesome news!  His feedings have been increased to 3 cc's every three hours.  The vent has been turned down to 38 breaths per minute.  Other than the fact that he thinks he can do push-ups when he's on his tummy it's been a good day.  He was on his tummy, turned his head and pulled his vent tube out.  It was not fun getting the new one put in.  Now he's all settled down and snoozing away.

The power of prayer is amazing.  God is so good!!

Smells So Good

Tim always gives me a hard time about being a “smeller”.  There is nothing quite like the first time you smell your newborn baby.  Sunday night I got to hold Teegan for the first time.  For a whole HOUR!!  He’s kind of hard to cuddle being so tiny and having so many tubes and cords on his little body.  But the feeling and the smell of him were simply indescribable.  He really is a tiny little miracle.  As long as he stays stable and continues progressing in the right direction they said me holding him for an hour every evening is some of the best medicine for him right now.  He smells soooo good!

Yesterday they started him on small feedings.  He was getting one cc over a two hour period just to see how his little body would tolerate it.  Since he digested each feeding entirely they increased it to two cc’s given over a two hour period today.  Although he got royally ticked off when they put his feeding tube in, I think food has made him feel like a new little person.  He should really start growing now.  He weighed 3 lbs. 2 oz. last night.  They also decreased his pain medicine today and he’s done okay with that.  His ventilator has gone from 45 breaths per minute yesterday to 42 last night and now it’s at 40 breaths per minute. 

Tomorrow he is scheduled for another echo cardiogram to see if that darned PDA is closed all the way yet.  The neonatologist told me yesterday that she really feels like it will be closed.  Please PRAY!!!

This afternoon he has become best friends with his pacifier.  It takes some talent to be able to suck on that thing with a silly ventilator tube in your mouth.  Teegan is a pro!

Santa Baby

I had to share this picture with everyone.  This little girl is ready for Christmas!  And all she wants for Christmas is for her baby Teeg to be home!

Slowly but Surely. . .

Things seem to get better each day for our sweet boy.  The echo cardiogram that was scheduled for yesterday was delayed until this morning.  But that’s okay because it brought awesome news!  The PDA is CLOSED for the most part!!!  That is exciting!  The neonatologist wants to hold off on another dose of the medicine to close it to see if it will hopefully close 100% on its own and stay that way.  It’s also exciting today because when he was weighed last night he weighed a big whopping 3 pounds!!  BIG BOY BABY TEEGAN!!  He had to have a unit of blood this morning since his labs showed his red blood cells were low.   That is just due to the fact that they have had to draw so much blood from him.  His white count is still up so that is good. The blood gases were better this morning so his ventilator has been turned down twice today and he seems to be tolerating it okay.  They will slowly continue to wean him off of the vent. 

Teegan is getting better about not getting mad quite so easy.  The last few days when they touch him for any reason he would get mad instantly.  And if the lights are on and he’s trying to sleep, he’s mad.  All of the readings on his monitor would instantly drop.  Some day he will probably be upset because we don’t have tons of pictures of him when he was so tiny.  But every time the camera flashes, he’s mad.  His nurse told him today that she was going to forgive him for his attitude.  She said there is no denying, he is his daddy’s boy.  For those of you who have not seen Mr. Teegan, he is red headed with a cowlick right in the middle of his forehead!  All the nurses think it is adorable and assure me the it just fits his personality.  I have to admit, I might be a little bit partial, but I love it too! J

Tim and I would like to thank everyone for the prayers, calls and texts.  We are so blessed to have such loving, caring family and friends to help us through these times.  I had a cousin remind me the other day this is a “season” that will be over soon.  And thankfully it is a season we won’t have to go through again.  Please keep the prayers coming!  The power of prayer is truly amazing!!

Please keep Mr. Davis’s family in your thoughts and prayers.  He went to be with Jesus yesterday.  Tim and I both loved that man; he had a special place in both of our hearts.  Not only did he teach us the love of football, how to type and accounting, he taught us endless life lessons.  We love him and already miss him!

Our Baby Boy is One Week Old Today!!

Wow!  How time flies when you’re having fun!  It doesn’t seem possible that Teegan is one week old today. 

He has had another pretty good day today.  I think he’s like his momma and likes rainy days.  He has been sleeping the day away.  The neonatologist stopped the medicine he was on to close the PDA because when they suctioned him this morning he had a little bit of blood in his tummy.  He said that is a side effect of the medicine.  They will repeat the echo cardiogram tomorrow afternoon and see if it has closed any more at all and go from there.  He had an ultrasound on his head today to check for bleeding on the brain.  We just got those results a few minutes ago and everything looked good.  Hallelujah!!  They are still watching his white count.  After today he will probably be able to be out of reverse isolation.  He was also switched back to the regular ventilator this afternoon and is tolerating it well.  The nurse practitioner was confident he would because he had started trying to out-breathe the other one.  She said he just gets mad every once in a while and it’s because he thinks he is big enough to get rid of the vent.  He tries to lift his head up so they’ve put a strap on it to hold it in place. 

The picture below is a picture of one of his diapers sitting next to a card that is the size of a credit card.  Teeny Tiny!!!

So we’re asking for specific prayers this evening for the PDA to be closed tomorrow when they do the echo cardiogram.  Once it is closed and they’re able to feed him he is going to feel so much better! J

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PDA--Please Slam Shut and Stay that Way!!

PDA stands for patent ductus arteriosus. It is the vessel that helps get oxygen to the baby while in the womb. It should close after birth.  Teegan's is still open.  Not only is it still open but it measured 4.0 mm which the doctors say is really big for his size.  We finished the first round of medication to close it.  They did an echo cardiogram this afternoon and it is still open but measures 3.4 mm.  So they started another round of the medicine which consists of three doses given 12 hours apart.  He will have another echo on Saturday and hopefully it will be closed by then.  If not he can have one more round of the medicine but they don't give more than three rounds.  Once it is closed they will start him on some small feedings.  He is off of the nitric oxide and his oxygen is set at 23%.  Hopefully in the next few days he will be able to go back to the regular ventilator.  His white count is still really low.  It was 296 this morning and they want it to be 500.  The ones that fight bacteria are the ones that are low.  So they've moved his neighbor out of the room and any time his isolette is open for any reason everyone in the room has to be gowned and masked up.  The neonatologist is confident he will bring his white count up on his own.  But if not, there is medication they can give him.  He is also out from underneath the tanning lights today!

My mom and grandma and grandpa came down to sneak a peek at him today.  It was good to eat lunch and spend some time with them!

Teegan Talk

We decided to create this blog to keep all our friends and family up to date on what's going on with our little man.  Each day we will try to take the time to post the latest on Teegan.