Tuesday November 30th

Jackson's oxygen flow was turned down today to 3liters. This is a step in the right direction. The goal is to get down to 1liter or less. When he was weighed tonight he was 3lb 5oz. Other than that he is doing great. We are just having to be patient to get thru the next 8 weeks until he can hopefully come home.

time to rest mommy, no pictures

Snuggle time with Dad.

sounds asleep after an evening with dad

Monday 11-29

Quick Update- Jackson is doing well. Not too many changes. They went up on his feeds and also added some sodium into his diet. Kinda funny since they are giving him the diuretic. They also stopped the epogen shot because his red blood cell count was great. Overall the kid is doing wonderful, we just need his lungs to get with the program.

Mommy is now able to hold him during her lunch break. She loves it! and so does Jackson.

Sunday - November 28th

Jackson grew some from the last time he was measured.  He is now just over 15 inches long, and his head grew another half inch.  His weight only went up 10 grams from yesterday though. 

He has decided that he needs some entertainment while in his "house".  He was fussy one night and the nurse claimed that the only thing that calmed him down, was some Barry Manilow she had on her Blackberry.  So we decided that he needs some better music, if that's what he wants.  We brought him an iPod with some little speakers that had classical music, nursery rhymes, and lullabies (with some Willie Nelson thrown in).  We'll see how he reacts to it overnight. 

Meanwhile mom and dad have finished painting the nursery. We also put together the crib and unpacked the other furniture. Once we get it all completed, we will post some pictures.

Waiting for bath time

Getting washed behind the ears.

Done with the bath and getting fussy

Mad because they won't style my hair

Thank goodness; the bath is done.

I am showing how big I am compared to a pen again.

Mommy soothing me after the bath.

Looking at mom hoping maybe she will fix my hair.

So fresh and so clean.

Some bonding time with dad, holding "hands"

Looking cute, and starting to like the hair style.

Saturday November 27 - 60 days old!!

Jackson is 60 days old~ AMAZING!! He is doing so well. Today his oxygen need was around 21-24% and they turned down his nasal cannula flow to 4liters from 5liters. He has lost a little weight because of the diuretic, but that was to be expected, and they really aren't worried about it. Since he is now 2 months old, they gave him his 2month shots. He was running a little fever, but they were giving him Tylenol and his temperature was coming down.   He is still tolerating his feedings. We had a nice visit with the Doctor who is the Director of the NICU. Since it was a quiet night, she had extra time to come and discuss Jackson's progress. She was very pleased with his development so far and was able to answer additional questions about what is to come over the next 60 days.

Some of the following pictures are a little grainy because of the low light...that's what we get for trying a different camera. 

about to suck on my pinkie, its soothing. try it you might like it.

SAFE!

calming down and ready for kangaroo time

woah is me! stop taking my picture!

ohh pacifier..gimme!

look how big I am!

Friday - November 26th

So, when we got to the NICU today, we found out Jackson had been on 21% oxygen, which is the percent in regular air.  Even after all of the stimulation of the day he was still only on 22% when we left.

Another recent development is Jackson is smiling.  It's brief, but you can see it.  We have still yet to be able to capture it on a picture.

Mom and Dad spent all day working on the nursery for Jackson.  We finished clearing everything out, and painted the ceiling.  Tomorrow we plan on doing the walls.

We took home one of Jackson's outfits that he had worn to let the dogs smell it.  Duke was extremely interested in sniffing the whole thing top to bottom, inside and out.  Friend gave it a couple of whiffs and moved on.

Jackson loves to grab Mommy necklace.

ready for bed..a Jackson burrito.

Thursday - November 25th

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We are just so thankful for our family, friends, the doctors, nurses, and everyone who has helped us through incredible, scary, and amazing journey.

Jackson's nurse made this for us!

check out the robot pj's Julia found for Jackson

Jackson waiting for kangaroo time

Family Thanksgiving Photo-- Greg bought Jackson the stuffed turkey!

Mommy and her little man

Dad and Jackson taking a nap

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Thanks for visiting my blog!

Wednesday - November 24th

Can you believe it's been 8 weeks! Jackson is doing so well and just changing each day. His eye infection is responding well to the ointment. It still remains to be seen if the diuretics are working for the fluid buildup. He is peeing alot, which is a good sign. The doctors decided to go up on his oxygen flow - which is the rate of flow for the nasal cannula, it can carry 1–6 litres of oxygen per minute. Jackson is now on 5 liters, up from 4. He had a little bit of collapse in his lungs (which is very normal for premature lungs) so they are going to try and puff them back up with a little high flow. They are trying to avoid putting him back on the CPAP machine because he seems so comfortable with the nasal cannula.

He had his base line eye examination. Officially his eyes are premature- this is a good thing. They didn't see any other concerns and will do a follow up visit in 2 weeks. As he develops they will continue to monitor him to make sure his eyes mature along with the rest of his body.

Mommy and Jackson had an extra long session of kangaroo time. He was very comfortable and kept dropping his oxygen needs, so the nurses were willing to let him stay out and play. When Julia placed him on her, she had his head facing to the right. Jackson wasn't happy so he picked his little head up and turned it to the left. The kid is already showing signs of wanting things his way. He also wanted him arms under his head making a pillow. it was so cute to watch him rearrange himself. Once he got into position, he was fast asleep.

Lastly, Jackson is really starting to develop his sucking movements. This is a good sign, as they will try and start the bottle/breastfeeding him and move him off the feeding tube. They will start that once his nasal cannula flow goes down a little more. So hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Good family, friends, our health, jobs, our dogs who haven't revolted from the lack of attention, and most importantly, Jackson. Thank you for sharing this journey with us.

so relaxed after an evening with Mom

Tuesday, November 23rd

Jackson got an infection in his eye today.  It's a form of Staph, but is no where near as bad as the other infection he got.  This one is treated with an ointment applied to the eyes for 5 days.  They tested his blood to make sure it had not spread there, and it hasn't and shouldn't.

They say he is retaining fluid and is bloated.  He also has a little fluid on his lungs.  They are giving him a diuretic to help him get all the fluid out.  He must be retaining some since he gained 4 ounces overnight.  They are weighing him in at 3lbs 5oz.

Otherwise, he is loving the Kangaroo time, and is still growing well. 

Mummy Jackson

Wearing yet another outfit, looking cute

Monday November 22nd

Jackson finally broke the 3lb mark. When they weighed him on Monday morning he was 3lbs 1oz. He is such a little cutie, and is stealing all of the nurses hearts. We were told there was a UT nursing student who was assisting with his bath, and it was her first day in the NICU. When they were changing all of his bedding she got to hold him. She said it was the tiniest baby she had ever held, and after holding him, she proclaimed I definitely want to be a NICU nurse. 

His nurse Heidi was showing us his little workout routine. It was too cute, next time we will get a video. They are working on him sitting up with assistance. Since he has been laying down so long they are starting to have him sit up to work on his inner ear balance. They are also doing little stretches with his arms and legs to make sure they dont get too stiff. Jackson seems to like all of it. When she had him sitting up, he took the opportunity to look around and see what was going on. He is really starting to be more and more alert.

This week he will be 2 months old. Hard to believe that much time has gone by. We had to sign the consent form for his vaccines. They want to start prepping him for going out in the real world. At this point, we are now half way done with our NICU stay -hopefully. As long as Jackson continues to do as well as he is doing, he will be able to come home in late January, just in time for Mommy's birthday! We would not have been able to survive the last 2 months had it not been for our friends, family and strangers who have been praying for us, feeding us and generally making sure we stayed sane. We are forever grateful for you all.

and now on to the pictures....Since Jackson is wearing clothes now, Mommy had to buy him a couple outfits. The NICU has a bunch, but she couldn't resist. And he had been sent a couple by our friends the Hammers. So last night we dressed him in one of the new outfits picked out by Vanessa.

Jackson was a little mad that we made him put on clothes. He had just finished kangaroo time and wanted to stay naked!

He started to fall back asleep, but it was so cute that he was sucking on his pinkie.

Sunday November 21st

Today was Daddy Dad. Greg held Jackson for the first time. Up until now, Greg was really worried he would break Jackson since he was so tiny. But now that he is just under 3lbs, he was ready to hold Jackson. It was a great day for Mommy to see her boys bonding.

When we went to visit Jackson in the evening he was wide awake so we were able to get lots of cute pics and video. Also the nurse told us when they measured him last night, he had grown alot. He is now 14.5inches long, his head is 10.5inches and his weight is 2lbs 14.5oz.

Mommy had undressed Jackson and he was waiting for his kangaroo time

Saturday November 20

Jackson is doing great!  His chest X-rays taken are still showing he is doing great, his oxygen levels are still in the low 20's.  Now he's no longer having his temperature regulated inside his box.  That means wearing clothes now.  He has some really cute stuff that is provided by the NICU.  Check out some of the pix we got of him styling his clothes.

Friday - November 19th

Jackson had a big change today....he is now on the nasal cannula and tolerating it well. They will take a lung xray in the morning to make sure his lungs are not under or over inflated, but looking at his oxygen saturation numbers they are expecting him to continue on the nasal cannula. Jackson seemed very happy with this new set up. In other news he weighed 2lbs 14oz--but we were also told that later that evening he had a massive blowout diaper. So when they weigh him tonight we will see how much his weight fluctuates. Outside of that, no other changes. Jackson is doing so well and we have to believe its because of all the love, support and prayers you all are sending our family--so thank you!!

Jackson this afternoon, before they changed the breathing machines

Jackson after the change.

Mommy and Jackson during kangaroo time, so much easier with the new tubes.

Jackson was pulling his tubes out. again.

Jackson says Hi to all his blog fans!!

Thursday - November 18th

Last night when they weighed Jackson he was 2lbs 12oz. Totally crazy. He has gone up about 30% since November 5th. He is starting to really look like a preemie instead of a micro preemie. They increased his feeds again to 29ml/3hours and they are adding in calcium supplements. The next major change will come when they decide to switch his breathing machine. If they switch it he will have a nasal cannula, which is the breathing tubes most people are familiar with. This will give him oxygen support, but no pressure or breathing support. So it will be up to Jackson to breath and keep his lungs inflated. One of his doctors was pondering the change, but it could still be a few more days. Until then Jackson seems to really enjoy his kangaroo time and more importantly is tolerating it. There is always the possibility that the kangaroo care would cause him stress which would cause weight loss. Obviously we aren't seeing those issues, so they are willing to let us hold Jackson. Lastly Jackson is starting to move around a little bit, he can push himself up a bit with his arms and will scoot over. Julia has seen him do it a couple of times, but his nurse found him in his bed moved outside of the area she laid him. Its a good thing he has 4 walls around him!!!

Jackson with his fanny in the air!

sleeping well after kangaroo time.

Wednesday - November 17th- 7 weeks

Jackson is 7 weeks old and just doing so well. They didn't make any changes today. He is just the cutest little baby. Here are pics from today....

YEAAA Mommy's here!!

behaving himself during assessment time

Jackson holding his favorite nurses' hand-- Nurse Jackie

Checking to see if Mommy is still there

Picture from this evening:

resting after kangaroo time with Mom and a bed time story from Dad