Happy Bday Dad - Love Bubble Boy

A big event passed this last Saturday - Jeff's 30th Birthday!  We celebrated by having pizza and ice cream cake at the hospital.  Even Devin came out of his room (for a total of one minute) for the occasion.  I'm not sure who is bigger the ice cream cake or Devin.  It is a toss up although Devin weighed in at 5 lbs 7 oz yesterday.  He is turning into a beef cake.

We get a cool view of Boulder creek out of our window.  We have had loads of fun watching the wild life of prey birds and coyotes.  They hang out right outside and pounce on something in the fields.  They seem to have no fear of people but don't approach them either.  Now I just need to find binoculars the next time I'm home to determine what they are pouncing on.

The NNP decided that Devin has way too many boogers.  And yes all of the medical staff call them boogers too.  This is partially due to the reflux that he has and that most preemies seem to get.  To loosen them up they decided to have a cool mist hood ordered.  I think it looks like a bubble - so I've been calling him Bubble Boy.  He is a pretty cute bubble boy though.  Every once in a while he'll get an arm stuck up in the hood.  Am I a bad mom that before I help him out that I take pictures?  Nah...

One Month Old

Status:

28 Days Old

33 Weeks and 5 days 

Looking Great!

This last week has been exciting for the Rueckert-Downey clan; if you haven't heard Devin was transferred back to the NICU in Foothills Hospital in Boulder.  Jeff and I couldn't be happier!  They decided that Devin was holding his temperature enough for an open crib and events started snowballing from there.  Flight for Life, the same transport company that took him to UCH, transferred him to Foothills on Friday afternoon after many hours of deliberation with the insurance company.  He handled the transfer very well and only needed a little more oxygen.  After all Boulder is a whole 100 feet higher.  :)  We are exited since Foothills is way closer to home, Jeff and I know Boulder a lot better and more friends are near by.  If you are one of those friends and want to stop by give me an email we would love to see you and for you to meet Devin.  The nurses, NNPs and doctors that first treated him are amazed with his improvement in the last month.  It is fun to get to see and work with them again.  We'll miss the team at UCH they did an amazing job and everyone at Foothills keeps saying that Jeff and I are well trained NICU parents.  We can be taught!  

Devin had his first bath and his second bath also in the last week.  After the first initial shock of being submerged in water he rather liked it.  Although you might not be able to tell by the pictures.  For his second bath Jeff got to carry him down to another room with a warmer.  This was Devin's first ride in one of our arms.  All of his moving has been a short lift or rolling in an isolette.  He seemed to love it.  

Progress on going home.  

Devin is now classified as a grower/feeder.  This is the last step before going home from the NICU - so good news.  This just means that he needs to grow and learn how to feed.  He still has some oxygen but is a very low flow rate and will probably be weaned off that in the next week.  The growing and learning to feed stage is a slow one as the skills to suck, swallow and breath just take time.  Since he no longer has IVs, PICC lines or anything attached to a vein it is much easier to hold him.  The routine is that the nurses wake him up every three hours for Cares.  Cares involve taking his temperature, changing his diaper, changing any clothes or blankets that are dirty, the nurse checking him over in general and then breast milk is feed to him through his gavage tube.  We are invited to do as much as they feel comfortable.  Jeff and I try to do anything that doesn't require a nursing degree.  Also durning his feeding, which takes an hour we can hold him.  In the morning I do skin to skin holding called Kangaroo Care with Devin which is supposed to help him relax and therefore get a more restful sleep.  Then Jeff and I hold him as much as we can for each feeding.  This is a huge improvement and a large boost for our morale.  It makes us feel more like parents.  :) 

NOTE:  I think that I fixed the not being able to view the pictures.  Let me know if you still can't see them.  

Devin Downey

Status:

21 Days Old

32 Weeks and 5 days

Devin is doing very well.  The doctors and staff tell us that most preemies go home around their due date; so we are counting down till April 28th.  Preemies can go home when they can hold their own temperature in an open crib, take all food from the breast or bottle and gaining weight, and have no Apnea (stop breathing) or Bradys (heart beat slows) for 5 days.  How does Devin stack up?

The first criteria for an open crib is greater than 1800 grams.  He weighs in at a whopping 2020 grams (~4.7 lbs) at last count.  No worry about the car seat now he'll be 5 pound easily by the time he goes home.  His primary nurse, Kelsey, raised the roof on his isolette and he is now living in open air and doing well.  If he continues to keep his temperature up and gain weight he'll be in a crib soon.

Currently he is taking his food (pumped breast milk) through a tube into his stomach.  Preemies don't really develop the suck, swallow, breath reflex until 34 weeks.  If you give Devin a pacifier you can see that he as the suck reflex but then forgets to breath.  The coordination isn't there yet.  The lactation nurse and I will start working on dry feeding with him to get him ready to breast feed and bottle feed in the next couple of weeks.  To make sure that he gets plump fast they put formula into the milk to up the calorie content, plus they add vitamins and iron.  He should be gaining baby fat quickly.

A's and B's are harder.  All preemies have them and they are thought to be the cause of most SID occurrences.  His brain stem and brain function just have to mature.  Most A's and B's they just come out of themselves but every once and a while the nurse will have to rub his back to remind him to breath.  The research shows that 5 days without any A's and B's that they will be good to go.  This is just a waiting game.

Interestingly enough breathing is a side note to when they get to go home.  Devin was taking off of his breathing mask, CPAP, and put on a high flow nose tube thing (yes it has a better name I just forget it).  You can see from the pictures that he is much more handsome and happier on the high flow.  He had tried this before but had issues when his PICC line that was giving him intravenous food was in the wrong place and caused a fluid build up.  This set him back a couple of days.  But we hope that this time with no PIC and no IV that he'll do OK on the high flow.

All in all Devin is being a brave little man and improving and growing better than we could have hoped. We get to hold him once or twice a day depending on his mood.  We jump at any chance to hold him - we miss being able to do "normal" parent stuff and the small moments we have with him are cherished.  

The Rueckert Grandparents were out last week and helped a lot with getting the nursery jump started with a crib and mattress, glider, and numerous chores.  The Downey Grandparents are coming next week.  Devin was so excited to meet his grandparents!