Whitney School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

We're proud to report that Duncan is displaying his wizarding skills early. We knew he was special, now we need him to try an enlargement charm on himself and quit hexing Lincoln! EXPELLERAMUS!

More pictures

Here are more Christmas pictures to accompany the ones below.

Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas, simple and low key, mostly because the many doctor's appts and having an 8 month old new born made it hard to accomplish much. There were also four courses of antibiotics and a week long stomach flu virus all in the last month. We wish we could have done more for our friends and families but we had to take a year off from Christmas cards and thoughtful presents to celebrate the life of our beautiful baby. Next year. We love you all please know we are thinking of you all!

Blood

Blood tests showed Duncan is Anemic and we have already met with the hematologist about it and they think Iron will solve the problem. If not we really have a problem, so we are doing Iron twice a day and hope to see some weight gain and all systems a go! His developmental specialist said he is a poster child for his corrected age (5 months) and suggested he get a new toy, the BUMBO! It is so funny to see this little guy in this chair I just had to post a picture:)

First Bite

Ruth was so kind to help me give Duncan his first try with baby food! Just a little bit of rice cereal went over well. I have some concerns about his growth as does the doctor and will be taking him for a blood test this week to see if he is having problems that are keeping him from growing, cross your fingers:)

Happy Happy Happy

How awesome is this baby! Continuing to do great. He weighs about 11 lbs, he can laugh, roll over, grab and grin. We feel so blessed.

Reading time

I told Lincoln that Duncan's Pediatrician said reading to Duncan is really important. Took this picture 10 minutes later.

Update

It has been a long time since the last post because we have been getting ready for school and taking care of a baby with newborn sleep habits. We are pleased to report that Duncan is a sweet, happy baby. He is healthy so far and weighs 7 lb 9 oz. He sure has come a long way from 1 lb 10 oz at his lowest. He will have his bladder x-rayed on Monday and we will find out later in the week if he needs to continue to see the Urologist. We will bless him in church on Sunday, September 13th in our Ward Building at 10:30 a.m. We would love invite anyone who can come to celebrate his miraculous life! Thank you again for your love and prayers.

Growing

I took Duncan to the Pediatrician's office for a weigh in today and he weighed 6lb 6oz! Wow, we are so pleased. He even looks a little rounder to me. It's funny to see him at the weights our other children were at when they were born, he's almost up to Lincoln's birth weight. He's like a regular little newborn, who just happens to have been born over three months ago. We're still adjusting to our new schedule so be patient if we aren't very social, we love you all and we hope to get into a better routine, especially a longer sleep routine:)

Jane celebrates Duncan's arrival

Jane being 2 years old, we haven't given her a lot of opportunities to hold Duncan. This was one of the first times (photo taken today). As you can see, Jane was delighted. She was so happy, she put her underwear on her head. She may have also been celebrating the fact that she is currently over the hump in her potty-training adventures. Many thanks to Grandma for giving her a great start while we were coming from and going to the hospital. She hasn't forgotten anything since she potty-trained Amy about 15 years ago -- O.K., more like 29. Duncan is doing well. He acts healthy. However, he came home a week and a day ago and on Friday at the pediatrician's office weigh-in he had not gained or lost weight from his hospital discharge 2.5 days earlier. He needs to show some significant weight gain at this coming Friday's weigh-in. We're stuffing him. Since coming home, he has nursed a few times, but is still bottle-feeding.

Tuesday

It finally happened! He is home with us and doing great! There were no bells and whistles, we just put him in his car seat and took him out of the NICU. On my way to the car people kept pointing at him and saying "look how tiny" and I wanted to say, if you only knew how precious this tiny baby is, and how big. He is 5 lb 10 oz (remember when he was 1 lb 10 oz?). He does have a small issue that may have caused his bladder infection that will have to be looked at by a Urologist (probably misspelled that) but it is not because of his prematurity. He will also see the cardiologist, the opthamologist and physical therapist. His first doctor's appointment is on Friday. Other than the doctor he will mostly stay home with us and not have many visitors to protect his weak immune system. We are relieved and feel very blessed by your love and prayers. We feel blessed by the service and love from his nurses especially Judi and Rachel, although so many were great and blessed his life. We will never forget our time in the NICU and hope to continue special friendships we made there, but we hope never to see the inside of it again. His story continues and I will continue to update his progress as he continues his journey through prematurity. We love you all, thank you for your love and service to our family!
P.S. I could have never done any of the things I was able to do this last little six months without the selfless service of my wonderful Mother. A mother like mine is a treasure without value. I love you Mom!

Thursday?

Today my primary nurse told me that she asked the doctor when I could take my baby home and she said THIS WEEK! I can't even begin to describe the feelings I have as I approach this long awaited day. This is all hinging on having a perfect week with no Bradys and no setbacks. This week he will have a car seat test (to make sure he can still breath in the sitting up position of a carseat), a circumcision, a hearing screening test, a renal ultrasound (to check to see if he has kidney problems causing the bladder infection), I think that's it. More updates to follow:)
P.S. the I.V. went bad which is fine he just has to take his antibiotics by mouth, no more head gear, this picture shows the sore spot where the I.V. was taken off!
P.P.S. He weighs 5 lb 8 oz!!

What's this thing on my head?

It's a good thing they did all the tests they did. Most of the test results -- the ones that came back first-- were normal. Then the urine test results came back. They showed he had a urinary tract infection. So, today one of the nurses put an I.V. in his head. Yes, his HEAD. They tried to get a vein in his hand, but it wasn't working, so they tried putting it in his head because there was a good vein there. He's less likely to pull it out of his head than his hand. It's fortunate they didn't put it in his hand because he is always putting his hands to his face and sucking his thumb. They'll give him antibiotics until the I.V. either gets pulled out or goes bad. He gets the antibiotics once per day. The doctor says the infection may have been causing his bradycardias. It's not common for a premature baby boy to have a urinary tract infection, so the'll have to do other tests, including of his kidneys.

Thanks!

Thank you for your prayers. And a special thank you to all of you who fasted on Sunday for our little sweetie. He needs all the help he can get! The doctor ordered a group of labs that should be back in the morning. He had a rough night last night and a rough morning. Right after the labs were taken, he turned into a new person. He ate his bottle in 30 minutes with no problems. He stayed awake and looked around, wrinkled his forehead, slept and woke up again hungry and back to his old self. So let's hope yesterday was a fluke, since today was better than ever. We will get the lab results sometime tomorrow. Got these great pictures today thanks to a sweet nurse. He looked like he was clasping his hands together while he ate and the nurse said he was saying a prayer for his meal. He's wearing a onesie that says "Property of Mom . . . Forever". Just perfect as far as I'm concerned!

Say a little prayer!

Duncan had a rough day yesterday with breathing fast and eating poorly. It continued overnight so they sent a lab of his blood and did and x-ray. This could be that horrible setback you fear from the day you come into the NICU, an infection. Say a little prayer for him!

Brothers

Before swimming and fireworks, we all went to see Duncan. I left Christian and Lincoln to bottle-feed him because the girls were climbing in and out of closets and other disturbing activities. When I came back, Lincoln was holding him. He had waited so long to hold the baby by himself. I found out that Lincoln had helped feed him to. He's such a sweet older brother and really is tender with babies. He is such a special little boy. He loves children and is really good at taking care of them. He is going to be a big help when Duncan finally comes home.

New Look

This beautiful baby has no more feeding tube and I think it is permanent. He will be off oxygen for good as long as he stays healthy. I am blessed to have my Mom here taking care of the kids so I can be there for more bottle feedings. He is beautiful without all of those things on his face but I'm not sure I've gotten just the right picture yet that shows how he really looks. I'll just have to take more:) He will be home around his due-date July 22. We will be relieved to have him in our home and permanently in our arms. Just try to make me put him down! He is staying at the hospital because although he can breath, he doesn't necessarily think he has to all of the time, like when he is eating or sleeping. Plus his body tells him not to when the food is on it's way back up. He should grow out of these issues. He was supposed to be in the womb for another three weeks, not 11 weeks old. He made it to 4 lb 12 oz. He has to have consistent weight gain to go home as well:)

NO MAS!

He is tiny but he is mighty! Just a little wisdom I picked up watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua with my kids. He came off oxygen yesterday afternoon and was still off it when we left tonight! He has just held onto oxygen for so long. I am so happy to see more of his beautiful face. Hope he can keep up his awesomeness and not go back on oxygen. He is doing okay with his bottle feeds but still having a lot of trouble with what seems to be reflux. He doesn't spit up though, just had dips in his heart rate. We hope he will grow out of this. He weighs a whopping 4 lb 10 oz! He's like the Chihuahua of the baby world:)

Roller-Coaster

We've had a few more rough days. However, one of my primary nurses thought of some things to try that seem so far to have been very helpful -- gaining weight and eating better with less bradycardia. He was taken off of the feeding tube on Sunday and had a terrible two days with lots of breathing and heart rate issues. He also came off caffeine which was supposed to help with that. He was taking all of his feeds (from a bottle) but only because he had to. He was groggy and exhausted and he didn't gain any weight. So this morning she put the feeding tube back in and he gained 35 grams tonight. He was also breathing better and they decided to take him off his oxygen for a try tonight. I didn't take a picture of him without the feeding tube up his nose and that is fine because it's back. I was going to wait and get a picture of the oxygen off but I decided to wait and make sure it is permanent. I'm relieved they are slowing feeding down a little because he wasn't enjoying eating. Who knew eating took so much energy. Maybe Christian should eat that huge bowl of ice cream he just scooped himself with more intensity and he can burn a few calories while he is shoveling it down:)

Hold on

Well, it's been a long week and there will probably be quite a few more. They only took Duncan off oxygen supplement for a short time and it didn't work. He is still on oxygen and his need doesn't seem to be lessening. He is getting exhausted from his feeds and lost 10 grams last night and gained 10 tonight. He is in the less than 10th percentile (for weight) and I am realizing that he will have to grow and improve a lot before he can graduate. I am back to feeling completely useless at his bedside and feeling guilty I can't be there more. What a roller coaster. I miss my Primary nurses they haven't been able to be there in the CCN (most likely because they are awesome and are needed for sicker babies). It was great to have primary nurses when Duncan was sick but not that I've been there for 9 weeks I'm totally over new nurses that don't know anything about your baby. You start to feel lonely. P.S. I am probably just tired and tomorrow I will have a new outlook. Sure love that baby.

Get Ready!

We've been going back and forth to and from the NICU for 9 weeks now and today we got one step closer to the end of that part of Duncan's life. They took him completely off oxygen and moved him to the CCN. The CCN is the continuing care nursery where babies get ready to go home. I'm not ready. Isn't that funny, after 9 weeks you would think I would be ready. It is scary because we've had the security of monitors and nurses and soon we will get to bring that fragile little baby home. He is 4 lb 2 oz and still a little unsure about his bottle feeding. He will still be at the hospital until he can get the bottle thing down (and hopefully the nursing thing as well). I don't know how long that will all take but he has been progressing faster than I expected after his first attempts with the bottle. There are always setbacks as well. Maybe I am just afraid that he really won't come home soon and that's what I'm not ready for. He sure is a precious beautiful baby. The pictures are a bath he had today and his move to his new home. It's been a long 9 weeks and the journey has still just begun!

Cutie Pie

I just had to add these pictures from last week that I didn't get a chance to put on the blog.

Big changes

I thought moving to the Intermediate care area would be exciting, but the big changes came later as Duncan has really progressed. He has been growing like a weed and had surpassed 4 lbs. That means he has doubled his birth weight! He had a second eye exam and the Opthamologist said his eyes are perfect and he will not need to be checked again in the hospital. He also has moved from a bed into what they call a crib (it looks more like a cart to me). This means he is old enough and big enough to maintain his temperature without working to hard. He has moved way down on his breathing settings and may be coming to the end of needing supplimental oxygen! The biggest and best change is that he can take a whole feed through his bottle! Once a day or more he can take a bottle. He started slow but has taken his whole feed two days in a row. He also nursed last night for 15 minutes like an old pro. Things have really just clicked with him and he had the added bonus of a nurse who really knows what he needs and how to care for him. He is on the road to coming home. I can almost taste it! I sure love that beautiful baby!