Month in Review: September 2008

Welcome to Month in Review: September 2008, documenting events for our family history. In some ways it's been a difficult month, but things are going as smoothly as we could hope for...

• Michael (4) started preschool. I really procrastinated getting this set up, so I was quite worried that we wouldn't find a place for him. As it turned out, we found a great class with wonderful teachers (Miss Jacqueline and Miss Natalie). He goes Mon-Thu from 8-11. He and Tommy are at different schools, but they have the same schedule, days off, etc.
• About a month ago we found a terrific new pediatrician (Dr. Rigby) for our boys. Our main reason for this was that our former one was too far away. The timing has turned out to be fantastic. We got all up to date on immunizations, and now we're all set for when Robbie gets out of the hospital.
  
• Instead of Stake Conference, we attended a rather large regional conference at the conference center. It was a bit hard to keep all 3 boys reverent for the full two hours, but we were fortunate to hear President Monson speak.
  
• One day I came downstairs in the middle of the afternoon to find our front window was broken. After grilling my kids intensely for a few minutes--including a lecture on honesty--I finally realized that it was only the outside pane that had been shattered, so it definitely was not my kids that did it, but we have no clue who the real culprit was.
  
• The next day our car wouldn't start, and we had find a time to take it in to the shop, where it was determined that it needed a new starter. These kinds of things seem to always happen all at once, don't they?
• I was released from my church calling as a counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency. The presidency was dissolved due to the President's husband being called into a Bishopric. It's been an enjoyable couple years getting to know and love the young women and their leaders, but the timing of the release was quite convenient with all we have going on.
  
• Tommy and I spent a Saturday morning at a local game store Kid's Club activity, where we gather to learn and play some of the new and popular games. We enjoyed Gulo Gulo and Ticket to Ride.
  
• We attended Tommy's (7) parent/teacher conference. His teacher told us that he is great at math, which makes sense, since he has always been obsessed with numbers. She also said that he is a very good listener and remembers and follows directions the first time he hears them.
  
• We are thrilled that David (2) is now talking in full sentences. His cheeks are still so chubby that they seem to be dripping off of his face; it's quite adorable, really.
• My sister-in-law Stacy arrived (Sept 30) for a second visit, to help out so I could visit Robbie more often and for longer periods of time. We're excited to have her here.
  

Robbie has had some ups and downs. The best news is that he is growing very well. The hardest news was the finding that he had bleeding in his brain shortly after birth (I wrote about it here). Since I was too busy to post much, here's an overview of what happened with Robbie in September:

(click on photos to enlarge)

• By September 20, he had gained enough to be out of the isolette (covered crib). The main function of the isolette was to keep Robbie warm, until he weighed enough to maintain his own temperature without burning too many calories. His current weight (Sept 30) is 4 lbs 12 oz (a 2 lb weight gain since birth!)

The old isolette:The new, open crib:The upgraded new crib, much better for fitting all the wires and tubes:

• We started non-nutritive breastfeeding. In this stage he is offerred breastfeeding after I have already pumped my milk--this way he gets familiar with it, but isn't actually getting the milk yet (he is being fed my milk through an NG tube).
• Speaking of my milk, there is lots of it. We have filled up our allotted freezer space at the hospital, our own freezer at home is overflowing, and we have now begun begging friends to lend us some of their freezer space. I shouldn't really complain, because often mothers have a hard time keeping up their milk suppy through pumping alone. I pump every 3-4 hours, with a 5-hour stretch at night. It's quite a time commitment, but we are trying to give Robbie every little advantage we can.
  
• Robbie's main struggle seems to be breathing. He breathes on his own, with a nasal cannula providing extra oxygen, but his respiratory rate is very high. He consistently has fast, labored breathing, which doesn't seem to be affected by any attempted treatments. Hopefully it is something that will improve more as he and his little lungs mature. Unfortunately, until his respiratory rate slows down, he will not be able to learn to eat, because breast- or bottle-feeding require a suck-swallow-breathe pattern that is too difficult with a high respiratory rate. There would also be a risk of aspiration if he were try to eat while breathing so fast.
• We gave him his first bath. We learned to do swaddle bathing, which is a way to keep the baby wrapped up, warm and cozy in a fleece blanket while he is bathing, which makes for a very comforting experience, instead of a shocking, disturbing event.
• Robbie "passed" his first eye test. Premature infants are at risk for ROP--which could lead to blindness, because of damage to their retinas due to the high amounts of extra oxygen the babies usually require. So far, Robbie's eyes have matured almost completely without any signs of problems. He'll need to be checked once more in a couple weeks, but it is good new so far. Chris wrote about the eye test on his blog, here. (Warning: he included photos of Robbie's eye being held open with a tool, which some might find disturbing.)
  
• We have had so much help from our friends and local church members. Each week they sign up to help watch the 3 older boys so we can spend time at the hospital.
• Here's a typical day in our life: I wake up between 4-6 am to pump; sometimes I stay up, sometimes I get to sneak in another hour of sleep. Chris and I get the kids ready and each leave around 7:45. Between the two of us we drop off David (with a babysitter), Michael (we walk in and sign him in to preschool), and Tommy (at the bus stop if we're early, or at school if we're late). Chris goes to work, and I go to the hospital from 8:30-10:30. I then rush to pick up Michael from preschool and David from the babysitter. We have a normal day at home, including lunch, naps, playing, picking Tommy up, homework time, dinner, etc.; during all this time I have to make sure I don't forget to pump. At 7:30 pm, a babysitter comes to the house and puts the kids to bed so Chris and I can go visit Robbie from 8:00-10:00. The hospital is about a 15-minute drive from our house. By the time we get home I have to wait an hour or so to pump one more time, then collapse into bed, exhausted. On the weekends, we take the kids along for one of the visits.
• When we visit Robbie, we help care for him, change him, dress him, and hold him. We used to be limited to holding him a couple times a week, but now we get to hold him whenever we're there. He responds very well to being held, and his vital stats (O2 saturation, respiratiory rate) usually get better when we are with him.
  
• Once a week we attend a parents' class, where we meet other parents who have babies in the NICU, plus a few parent volunteers who have already been through it. We learn about topics like development, feeding, baby massage, coping, etc.
  
• It took a while, but this month we finally got primary nurses assigned to Robbie. Every 12 hours Robbie has a different nurse, so were able to choose 4 nurses who will always be assigned to him when they are working. It will be very helpful to have some consistency, and have people working with him that are familiar with how he is doing and can help us advocate for him.
• Who could help but love this little angel?