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.