Wanting Your Kid to Suck :-)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My mom has been here for several weeks helping out with Sarai so my dad drove up on Tuesday to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Some good friends of ours from the Warren Campus, Matt and Ami Wilbur, had invited us over to join their family for Thanksgiving dinner. And if you know anything about Ami's cooking, you don't pass this offer up! It was a wonderful dinner and so nice to spend the time with friends and family.

Mom and dad headed home on Friday morning and we decided to let Sarai go home with them. She had really become aware that Mike and I were running back and forth to the hospital. She had also started asking a lot why Jadon isn't home yet. We thought a change of scenery would be a good distraction for her. And having talked to her on the phone several times since Friday, she is having a blast! When she comes home, we hope to have Jadon home too :-) This also gives Mike and I the flexibility to be up at the hospital for longer chunks of the day so we can be with Jadon and give him some consistency with mommy and daddy.

So I'm sure you're wondering what the title of this post means. Most parents want their kids to succeed but right now, Mike and I want our kiddo to suck...a bottle that is :-) Jadon has been off all of his breathing support for a week now and started talking breastmilk from a bottle on Tuesday afternoon. One would think this should be an easy task but for a little one who has been fed via a feeding tube for 3+ weeks, he is having to learn how to eat for the first time. And with one smaller lung, breathing, sucking and swallowing can be a bit complicated. But he is a stubborn one and making improvements every day. His goal is 70ml(just over 2 oz) every 3 hours. So far his personal best was 59ml this afternoon at two with me :-) He consistently does well with 4 or so of the feedings but doesn't want to take much at night (maybe 20ml a feeding). Once he repeatedly takes about 70ml each feeding, he will go to "ad lib" feeds meaning they feed him based on his hungry cues rather than every 3 hours. And as long as he continues to gain weight, he will then be able to come home. We talked with his surgeon today and she anticipates discharge sometime in the next 7 days. But to be honest with you, we have stopped thinking too much about time frames. We just have to take one day at a time and know that he WILL be home with us soon. So if there is one thing you can pray about, pray that Jadon sucks from his bottle! Also be praying that we can make the transition from bottle to nursing once he gets home.

Skype Fun!

So Jadon is still making slow and steady progress! They lowered the high pressure nasal canula from 4 liters down to 3 liters of pressure today which is great. They like to see his respirations between 40 and 60 breaths per minute before lowering the pressure. We would love to see them lower the pressure down to 2 liters tomorrow but know that if his little lungs aren't ready, he needs another day or two. Though his respirations looked really good at 3 liters this afternoon while we were there. We will just have to wait and see what tomorrow holds :-) When he gets down to 1-2 liters of pressure they will transition him to a regular nasal canula.

He is also close to full continuous feeds on his feeding tube (should be there by mid-day Friday) and he will hopefully start bolis feeds this weekend. Bolis feeds mean they feed him very 2 hours via his nose tube for a day or two and then every 3 hours for a day or two. This way he learns the feeling of being full and being hungry. The Bolis feeds will also give them a better idea if he will have reflux which is a common problem with DH patients. We are continueing to "practice nursing" and he is doing well with that. He won't be able to actually nurse or take a bottle until after he gets through the bolis feeds.

The fun part of the day was getting to Skype with Sarai! Children's Memorial had to institute a new rule due to the H1N1 mess so no visitors under the age of 18 are allowed up to a patient's room. This means Sarai has yet to meet her baby brother. Breaks my heart! Especially when she tells me she misses him :-) But they do have a computer you can use to Skype with siblings at home! So we had the opportunity today to chat with Sarai via our computers and she was able to "see" Jadon. She only lasted about 10 minutes but it was completely worth it! She sang to him at one point and he immediately started squirming around. He knows that little voice that he has heard for months while in my belly! I can't wait for her to FINALLY meet him!

After talking with his drs the past two days, we are hoping to have him home at some point during the weekend of Thanksgiving if he continues to make good progress. We will hopefully have a better idea of what they are anticipating when we put our heads together again this weekend and see how he is handling the nasal canula and where his respirations are. Lots of little steps to accomplish to get to the big step of coming home. One way I have looked at it is, he is a full term baby with a 34 week lung. The DH caused his lungs to be underdeveloped and we have wait for them to "catch up" with the rest of him. Continue to pray for quick recovery for Jadon and patient for our family. We have a hole at home and are very ready to fill it :-)

Good-Bye Ventilator!

Jadon is vent-free! The Drs removed his ventilator on Saturday afternoon just before we arrived. Though we thought the fishy face was cute, we are glad to see his face ventless :-) They do have him on some O2 via nose tubes (cannula) but that is protocol when removing a ventilator. They have already backed him down on that and will continue to do that over the next few days. We also got to "practice nursing" the other day. Basically means I pump and then let him nuzzle skin to skin against me to get used to the idea of being near me. Hopefully we will be able to really work on nursing in the next few days. They want his pressure to be backed down a bit on the O2 before we full on try. There are four levels of pressure on the nasal cannula. He was backed down from four to three yesterday and they would like him down at one or two before we nurse. Mainly because at level three and four, he gets a little extra air in his tummy and we don't want him to suck down a couple of ounces of milk and then spit it all back up. But all of these steps are in the right direction! No specific date has been set but we anticipate to have him home in the next 7ish days. Pray now that he takes to nursing really well! That is the last step he has to master :-)

The First 10 Days

Here is a post that Mike put on his blog. I don't think I could say it any better so I will just let his words say it all.

They say that rarely are two kids ever exactly alike. So far our two precious babies have been about as different as could be.

Sarai was born a little early, lost about a pound and has hardly had a scratch since her birth. Jadon, well he, has been a slightly different matter.

Jadon came on time, gained weight slowly and had to have a hole in his diaphragm fixed. He is going to be such an adorable little boy, and I can’t wait to bring him home from the hospital. Since surgery, Jadon has made steady progress. He took a little while to give back his anesthesia, which caused his CO2 levels to go up a little bit, but once they figured out the delicate balance between sedation and pain meds (to keep him comfortable and resting in recovery) he has started to make progress.

Once this balance was achieved his blood gas levels have looked great and they have started to slowly wean him off the ventilator. During this process they have also slowly weaned him off of the “heavier” meds and are now only using Tylenol for pain. On Thursday they started him on a slow drip of breast milk (1 ounce every 3o hours) and have since doubled that.

The current plan has the ventilator to be removed today (Saturday, November 14) and for Jadon to begin nursing sometime early next week. This will be the last of the hurdles to clear before he can come home. His lungs sound good, his bowels are moving properly (I am sure that you all wanted to know that) and he is showing that he can gain weight.

As far as Sarai, she has enjoyed her time with her Grandma, Grandpa, Nana and Papa (I am sure that we will have to break her of all the spoiling when they go home, but we DO APPRECIATE all the help they have given). She has picked out a book a day for us to take to the hospital to read to Jadon. She even prayed last night for Jadon to come home because, “I miss him,” she said.

We are doing far better than we think we should be for all that has gone on in our world in the past month. It can be so hard to allow people to serve you when you have been so wired to serve others. God has shown us His love for us through the selfless acts of others. From Andy and Misty coming over to watch Sarai for us to go to the hospital and deliver Sarai (even taking time off to make sure she had someone to watch her all day, what great friends), to Tim and Mary Beth Babcock who have watch Sarai and helped orchestrate meals from friends and to all of those who have prayed (we’ve felt them), called, texted, emailed and asked.

We have felt the love of others and can hardly express in words what it has meant to us over the past 1o days. Our little boy is getting better and should be coming home soon. Thank you so much for how you have served us.

Friday Update!

Woohoo! Drs did rounds this morning and they are talking about taking Jadon off the ventilator today or tomorrow! Praise God! I'm soooooooooooo excited! We will be able to hear my little peanut cry :-) Let's hope I will still enjoy those cries in a few weeks!

They did start breastmilk yesterday and so far so good! He is getting it on a contious feed through a feeding tube in his nose and he is only getting 1 oz every 30 hours. They are doing it so slow because some kids with DHs have trouble with reflux and they want to go slow and catch it early if he does. We are praying he doesn't! But if that's the only thing I have to deal with, I will take it!

Quick Update

Jadon looked adorable today! We have new pics but probably won't get them loaded onto the computer until tomorrow so you will all have to be patient :-) They hope to start him on breastmilk tomorrow through a feeding tube in his nose and the Drs are hopeful to have him off the ventilator sometime this weekend. All progress and closer to getting him home! Thanks for all the prayers! Love you all!

Our New Addition: Jadon Michael Foster

As most of you know, Jadon was born November 3rd at 4:37 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs 15 ozs and was 20 inches long. My water broke at 1 a.m. and we were at the hospital by 3ish. They hooked me up to monitors and checked me. I was 3 cm and about 50% effaced. I decided to wait on the epidural and breathed through the contractions till about 7:30 a.m. I decided I didn’t need to be Wonder Woman anymore and asked for my epidural :-) At this point I was 4 cm and 60-70% effaced. For some reason I have a high tolerance for anesthesia so after the regular epidural and two hits of the “happy” button, the dr had to give me a super dose of something and boy did it work! I was able to sleep from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. which was wonderful given I had very little sleep before we headed into the hospital. When I woke up, I was 6 cm and my contractions were getting stronger. They did have to use a little Pitocin to augment my contractions because they started to peter out when they started the epidural. But I was only getting 6 cc at most and when they induce someone, they start you at 20 cc and eventually give you 40 cc. So I was getting almost nil. Anyway, they checked me at 3:30 p.m. and I was already at a 9-9 1/2! Crazy! My nurse contacted Dr. Holden and started prepping me for pushing. My epidural had begun to wear off but that was ok. I wasn’t in pain and could feel the contractions coming which was what we wanted for pushing. We practiced pushed around 4 p.m. and the dr arrived shortly after. I think I pushed through about 8 contractions and he was out! It was truly amazing :-) And I was in shock we had a boy! I really was convinced we were having a girl but I guess I was wrong! And so was Sarai :-) But he was beautiful and I was soooooo proud!

So now is when the excitement really began. Jadon cried some when he was born but didn't wail and they were concerned because his lower extremities weren't "pinking up" as quickly was they wanted. They called in their specialty pediatrician and she said she wanted to do a quick X-ray to see what was going on. She had listened to his lungs and heard some discrepancy between the two. She really didn't think it was a big deal. Maybe fluid or something simple. Needless to say, we were all surprised, including her, when we discovered the Diaphragmatic Hernia (DH for short). Within 4 hours of being born, Jadon was diagnosed and whisked off to Children's Memorial Hospital. It was crazy fast and really emotional but in hindsight, I'm sooooooooooo thankful they found the DH that fast and that he was taken to a great hospital with AMAZING staff! For those of you who don't know what a DH is, a diaphragmatic hernia is a hole, big or small, in the diaphragm, where bowels and sometimes organs can get up in to. The hole really isn't the issue in these situations but the extra pressure it places on the heart and the possibility that the lungs haven't developed normally. In Jadon's case, they think he has a very small hole where only his bowels have snuck up in to. This is why it wasn't found on my 20 week ultrasound. His heart is being strained a bit but that is completely expected and should quickly return to normal after surgery. They also anticipate little damage to the lungs. Basically, he won't be climbing Mt. Everest any time soon :-) They will do the surgery thorascopicly and are hoping to only have to suture up the hole without a patch. In larger holes they have to use a medical grade Gortex patch. Yes, the same thing in your boots and coats J But Dr. Kathy (his surgeon) does not think she will have to do this.

Since I was able to VBAC, Dr. Heiberger discharged me the next day and we headed down to Children's by 3 p.m. to spend some time with him before heading home to see Sarai. He was soooooooo beautiful! We asked to hold him that evening but his neonatologist asked if we could wait one more day just to make sure he was good and stable. I told him I would stand on my head if he said that would help :-) He said they would take pictures of me if I did :-) And every day since then, I have gotten to hold him! It is soooo wonderful! They even let me do skin to skin with him the first day and that was so emotionally good for me and great for him too. His "numbers" (heartrate, breathes per minute and oxygenation) were almost perfect :-) They do have him on oxygen and a ventilator but they are really there just as back up. He is getting 21% oxygen which is what we breath (so nothing more than we breath regularly) and he is doing what they call "breathing over the ventilator" which means he isn't really using it. Just there in case he needs it. All these things are amazing and I can't tell you how many times I have had a doctor or nurse tell me he is NOT the typical DH patient. They told us to stay away from the internet because nothing about DH patients apply to him. His neonatologist said on a scale from 0-10, Jadon is a 9! We are still looking at surgery on Monday. Not sure what time but should know this afternoon for sure and I will try to get on and let you all know when that is. After surgery, he has to breath on his own, eat on his own and make sure his bowels are working properly before they will release him. We are anticipating most of this will happen quickly given he is breathing on his own for the most part already and pooping even though his some of his bowels are in the wrong place. The big thing will be getting him to suckle and nurse after having the ventilator on him.

I honestly don’t know where to begin to say thank you to all of you. Your support and prayers have meant so so much to Mike, Sarai and I. It is hard to explain but we feel them! Every day since Tuesday, Jadon has been great. We like to hear that he has had ‘boring days” because it means he is stable and will be able to handle surgery well. We have a direct line to the NICU at Children’s and I can get updates anytime day or night. I often call right before bed and when we wake up in the morning. Right now he isn’t eating anything from me. They have him on electrolytes through his IV and a fatty substance as well. So I was able to rent a hospital grade pump and have been pumping since he was born. My milk has finally come in and we have begun storing milk for him at the hospital so they have it to give to him when he does begin eating after surgery. I know there is so much more I could tell you all but my mind is always swimming with facts and info :-)

If you guys have any questions, feel free to post them and I will answer them the best I can J Please continue to pray for a quick recovery (at best he will come home a week after surgery but it could be longer) and for peace for our family. Thank you all again and know that I love you all!

Cubs Win!

Sarai's first official Cubs game outside of my belly! I was six months pregnant with her back in 2006 when we came up to Chicago for Mike's early birthday trip. And now that we live in Chicago, we finally we made the trek down to Wrigleyville last Friday to see the Cubs play the Reds. We couldn't have picked a more beautiful day. Game time was 1 p.m. so we left the house around 9, drove to Skokie, caught the "L" down to Wrigley, got some lunch at a great little diner on Clark Street called the Salt and Pepper Diner and then headed to the game. Sarai loved it! She is definitely a Cubs fan :-)

After having been to a Brewers game and several Rangers games, nothing compares to a Cubs game at Wrigley. You have to experience it to understand it.

Sporting her Cubs gear before heading to the game

Having lunch at the Salt and Pepper Diner. Wonderful food, fun atmosphere and a pretty good peanut butter milkshake :-)

Waiting for the game to start!

National Anthem

I thought this was precious :-)

We made a sign for Sarai hoping she might get on WGN but alas, she did not. Have to make a more catchy sign next time!

On Addison Street. You can barely read the sign behind Mike and Sarai. For those of you who aren't aware, Wrigley field is located at the corner of Clark and Addison Streets and Sarai's middle name is Addison. We chose it while pregnant with her, riding the "L", headed to a Cubs game back in 2006 :-) Good thing she likes the Cubs!

On the "L" headed home. Tired but excited because the Cubbies won!

Crazy Summer Update

How did I get so far behind? I guess chasing a 2 1/2 year old, almost 3 year old, and being in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy did it! But I'm back and going to do my best to catch everyone up on our busy summer.

Middle of May, we were able to travel back to Charlotte for my brother John's wedding. Sarah was such a beautiful bride and the day couldn't have been more fun. And Sarai was a great flowergirl. We love you guys and pray many blessings on this new chapter of your life :-)

Uncle John and Sarai

Nana and Sarai

This was the sweetest thing to watch. Daddy and Sarai dancing at the reception :-)

Since we made the 16 hour drive to Charlotte, we decided to vacation a few days after the wedding festivities and spend time with some of our friends there. One of those

days we went with my best friend Andrea to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden just west of Charlotte and she took some really sweet pictures of Sarai.

Papa and Sarai looking at the flowers

And of course, summer wouldn't be complete without some fun in the sprinkler! Sarai's best friend, Hannah, came over one hot day and they girls enjoyed some "cooling activities."

Early July, Grandma and Grandpa were able to visit for a few days and celebrate our nation's independence day with us. And since we had so much fun at the Fourth of July parade last year, we decided to brave the drizzle and go again this year. The parade was a little shorter this year than last but we all still enjoyed it!

Late July, Uncle Scott and our soon to be Aunt Addrienne came by for a quick visit while they were in town for the Cubs/Cardinals game. We enjoyed having the around for a few hours, treating them to Chicago pizze and showing them around our home.

Sporting the new Cubs gear Uncle Scott gave them for their birthdays. I can't say they are from Aunt Adrienne as she is a Cardinal's fan but we still love her despite her faults :-)

And last but not least, August 5th we celebrated Sarai's third birthday! It is so hard for me to believe she is really 3 now. For some reason, this birthday has been more monumental for me. She is potty training (doing a great job too), becoming a big sister soon, riding a bike, having full conversations with people, calling our worship leader at church her boyfriend (Jarrett gets a kick out of that one) and I realized she will be going to Kindergarten in just 2 years (which seems too soon!). I'm sure my pregnancy hormones are influencing the emotions some too :-)

Sarai was so embarrased when her friends sang Happy Birthday to her, she covered up her eyes. Silly girl!

Birthday friends decorating cupcakes

Posing with her gifts at our family birthday dinner

Golf set from daddy

New helmet from Grandma and Grandpa to go with our new bike from Mommy and Daddy!

We have braking down really good. Need to work on the forward motion a bit :-) Doesn't she look to darn grown up but oh so cute!

Uncle John and Aunt Sarah bought Sarai a highchair and a bath tub for her dolls so she can take care of her babies while mommy takes care of the new baby coming in November.

So there you have some of the highlights from our summer! My pregnancy is still going well and I'm just now getting to the more uncomfortable weeks. But I can't complain. I'm still sleeping well for the most part and have had great reports from the doctor. So now we just wait! Ten more weeks though if he or she decided to come a week or two sooner, I wouldn't complain.

Oh, and did I mention we decided to remodel the kitchen this summer to? Because what's more fun than being pregnant, potty training a toddler and remodeling a room in your home at the same time! Countertop should be installed in a few weeks and we are hoping to paint Labor Day weekend. I will post pics of before and after when the project is complete!