Cooper gained weight again today! He is now 4 lbs, 4 oz (1940 grams). Tomorrow he will likely be transferred from the isolette into a regular crib. We can hardly believe it. :) There weren't many other changes from today, and at this point we're just waiting for him to continue to gain weight. All in all, it was a good day for Cooper!
The day has finally come... Cooper weighs 4 pounds! The pic line and TPN did its job today, and Cooper gained 100 grams. He now weighs 1860 grams, or 4 lbs 1 oz. We're so excited about this big milestone! If he gains another pound this week, realistically we could be looking at his take down surgery to repair his ostomy next week. It will be exciting to see how this week goes!
Other than getting the pic line last night, there isn't much to report for today. Cooper's milk feeds were cut in half, and he's now receiving 15 MLs every three hours in addition to the TPN. Also, now that he is nearly 34 weeks gestation (!) they stopped giving him caffeine, which he has been receiving since birth. His body is now big enough that it should not need the additional stimulation from the caffeine to his nervous system as a reminder to breathe.
We're so grateful for the amazing progress Cooper is making. It has been a slow journey, but a remarkable one filled with miracles. Looking at pictures from the first days of his life makes me cry... I really can't believe how tiny he was and how far he has come. We still have a ways to go, but we're continually grateful for the amazing medical team at Primary Children's Hospital and a loving Heavenly Father.
My sweet mother-in-law and sister-in-law threw Cooper and I the cutest family shower today! It was so fun to celebrate Cooper, and we're so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. I included some cute pictures from the shower. :)
Cooper had a good day today. There weren't many changes... We did skin to skin for almost three hours, which was wonderful. Taylor and I also gave Cooper a sponge bath, and he basically slept through the whole thing. I would too, if I was getting a scalp massage. :)
I'm writing this at 11:20 PM and as of now he still hasn't received the pic line, but they were getting ready to place it in about half an hour. Hopefully all goes well, and it will be a great tool to help him gain weight more rapidly. When he was weighed this evening he was the same as last night (1760 grams). Not the best news, but a further cause for the pic line.
I saw this quote earlier and thought it described Cooper so well... "Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny." -CS Lewis. Cooper is our extraordinary boy!
Cooper's rate of growth has drastically slowed down in the past week, but we did gain a little bit of weight today and he is up to 3 pounds 14 ounces; only a couple more ounces until he hits four pounds! He's practically a giant.
In spite of this exciting upcoming milestone, the doctors (and we) want Cooper to grow faster so that he can have his ostomy repair surgery and come home from the hospital sooner. In order to accomplish this, tomorrow morning they will be putting a pic line back in so that they can supplement his feeds with TPN. A little less milk, more intravenous fluids. We don't love the thought of the pic line, but we do love the thought of a big fat baby chilling in the back seat while we drive him home.
He is still completely off of supporting oxygen. When the nurse first took him off they told us to not be surprised if he switches between on and off for the first while, but Cooper seems to prefer off. Every time we go in we expect to see the tubes back on his face, but we are always pleasantly surprised. Other than that there were no big changes made today. He continues to do wonderfully!
-Taylor
It was Cooper's first full day off of oxygen, and he did wonderfully. I am still unable to believe how different he looks when he doesn't have the nasal tubes on his face, but he just keeps looking cuter and cuter. He's breathing well, and even when his oxygen begins to dip he is learning to start breathing faster and deeper to correct the issue on himself. He is, in essence, learning to self-regulate.
Cooper also had another eye exam today. His eyes are doing well and developing just like we would hope. There are several stages of eye development (appropriately titled stage 1, 2, and 3), and Cooper has just moved from stage 2 to stage 3 within the past week. This means that he is starting to develop a 180* range of vision whereas before he could only see what was directly in front of him. It's good news, and they'll continue to keep an eye on it to make sure that things keep moving forward (pun intended).
Because he had too much stool output yesterday the doctors had to decrease the amount of food that Cooper was receiving. So they took it down a bit and switched him to "continuous feeds" which means that he is constantly being fed at a very slow pace as opposed to having "meals" every couple of hours. He has tolerated the change very well and his stool output is now way below what it needs to be; which means that he is getting more nutrition and absorbing more milk. Unfortunately, in spite of this, he did lose 30 grams today which puts his total weight at 1670 grams. Hopefully he'll have gained it back by tomorrow!
-Taylor
Chloe's note:
Another exciting milestone from today was when Cooper was examined by the developmental team, and given the go ahead to begin "non-nutritive" breastfeeding. Typically a baby doesn't master the sucking and swallowing reflex until about 34 -36 weeks, which is when they learn to really take a bottle and breastfeed. However, during his exam Cooper was showing signs of interest and "rooting" (A reflex that is seen in newborn babies, who automatically turn the face toward the stimulus and make sucking (rooting) motions with the mouth when the cheek or lip is touched. The rooting reflex helps to ensure successful breastfeeding). I won't go into a lot of detail, but essentially I pumped before we did skin to skin, and Cooper practiced latching. He did well for his first time, and the lactation consultant was very impressed!
Cooper is 7 weeks old! Today he gained 20 grams, and now weighs 3 lbs 12 oz. Getting closer to 4 pounds! Unfortunately his stool output today was well over the preferred amount, so they will decrease the amount of milk he's receiving and see if he can regulate his stool better tomorrow. Cooper met his Great grandpa White and Uncle Brenton today, which was so sweet. He even showed off a little for them and did some great stretching while they visited. :)
This afternoon Cooper was dropping a little low on his oxygen, and the nurse couldn't figure out what was making him do that. She suctioned his nose, turned up the amount he was receiving, re-positioned him, but he still did it a few more times, however, always coming back up on his own. A few hours later, she traced the tubing and realized that it hadn't been plugged in, and he was on room air! (Just receiving the slightest whiff of air to remind him to breathe.) We were amazed that he was breathing so well. She turned it back on, and for the rest of the afternoon Cooper was high-satting. (At one point he was high-satting, and I checked on him and realized the cannulas were in his mouth :) he was breathing on his own!)
The nurse turned him to the lowest amount of oxygen he could receive, and he continued to high sat. There is a range Cooper's oxygen saturation levels should be in. When it's too low, obviously he's not receiving enough oxygen. When it's too high, it can damage his eyes. When Taylor and I walked back into the room after dinner, we were told that they had completely turned off his oxygen, and Coop was breathing on his own! It made me pretty nervous at first, but we spent another three hours with Cooper and he didn't drop his levels once! They removed the oxygen cannulas from his nose, but left the dots on his face that hold the cannulas in place. It's pretty likely that at some point he'll need oxygen again, but we're amazed that today he decided he was ready to breath on his own.
As I was driving home from the hospital tonight I felt so much gratitude. Seven weeks ago Cooper was so tiny and in critical condition. While the last seven weeks have been far from easy, he has made so much progress and received blessing after blessing from a loving Heavenly Father. Cooper is a testament of God's love and the power of prayer.
Cooper had a good day! His primary concern was the amount of stool he's producing. Now that he is only receiving breast milk and not TPN, they measure his stool output carefully to make sure he's not producing too much. Yesterday he was on the higher end of the acceptable range, but so far so good. If he does start to produce too much, they will decrease the amount of milk he's given. Yesterday he was given just over an ounce of milk every three hours. Everything about the care of preemie babies is such a balancing act... but right now his team seems to have figured out what he's responding to.
After Cooper's adrenal crisis a few weeks ago, he was given steroid shots of hydrocortizone to help his kidneys produce the needed hormones. They slowly weaned him off of the hydrocortizone last week, and so far all of his electrolyte levels seem to be normal, which we're grateful for! Cooper is also still receiving caffeine daily, and will likely continue to receive it for a while.
Last night while doing Cooper's cares (which is when he is normally weighed) his ostomy bag leaked, and it took a while to clean him up and change the bag. After which, I held him for an hour. Therefore, his nurse decided to wait until his next set of cares (at midnight) to weigh him, so we don't know that number yet. We're hoping that Cooper continues to grow without TPN as well as he has been growing last week! He's doing well right now and we're grateful for the many blessings he is receiving. :)
For the first time in Cooper's life, he doesn't have a pic line! When he was first born they put one in his hand, and for the last three + weeks he's had one in his left foot. Last night he was tolerating the full amount of breast milk feeds through his feeding tube (he's currently receiving 29 ml every three hours) so they removed the line this morning! It was so great to see his little foot kicking around this morning without lots of tubes/wires attached to it. Last night and today Cooper's weight has been 1670 grams, still about 3 lbs 11 oz.
Cooper is doing well and we're feeling very blessed! There are so many wonderful people in our life giving us support through this trying time, and we're so grateful for the love and generosity we've received. Thank you for loving and praying for Cooper :)
Cooper is continuing to do extremely well. In fact, he's been doing so well for so long that Chloe remarked that it feels like "we are holding our breath waiting for something to go wrong," but in the meantime we are more than happy to coast along with continuous good news.
The big news of today is that Cooper has been taken entirely off of TPN (his supplementary intravenous nutrition) and is now being fed entirely breast milk and a little IV fluids. So far he is tolerating the switch quite well, and they will continue to increase his feeds throughout the night as long as he allows it. If he continues to do well then they will remove the pic-line that he was receiving the TPN through and he'll have one less thing attached to his body! It may sound minor, but we are both pretty jazzed about it.
We got to hold Cooper again this afternoon, but rather than doing skin-to-skin we just swaddled him up and held him like a regular baby. I actually much prefer this method as I feel like I can see and bond with him better, but Chloe (and probably Cooper) prefer skin-to-skin. Regardless, I'm counting it as a victory for dad because I was loving it. Most importantly, we got to break out his little hat again. I love that little hat.
We didn't get to weigh Cooper before we took off tonight, so we unfortunately do not have any updates on just how chubby he's getting. He does look bigger every single day, and his little neck rolls have got us in the palm of his tiny hand. He's getting bigger, stronger, and we couldn't be happier with the progress that he is making.
Cooper is up to 3 lbs, 11 oz! We're so proud of our growing boy. Every time a nurse or doctor stops by his bedside they remark on how cute Cooper is. :) He is getting stronger each day! When Coop was first born he hated any kind of touch (which is normal for a preemie) and would get pretty upset when his diaper was being changed, getting his temperature taken, having a bath, etc. Now he is usually calm and happy during these procedures. Taylor and I were both able to do skin to skin with him, which was definitely the highlight of the day.
We're so grateful that Cooper is continuing to grow and get stronger... each day that passes is another day closer to bringing him home! God is good, and He is answering our prayers.
Today was a good day! Cooper's milk feedings increased to 20 ml every three hours. He continues to do well on one liter of oxygen. When he was weighed tonight, he dropped from 1610 grams to 1600, but with how much he has been gaining this last week, we're not concerned.
Last week I noticed that Cooper's fingernails were getting a little long. I asked our nurse if they would take care of it, but interestingly, they are not allowed to cut the babies fingernails! In the words of our nurse, "We can do everything under the sun, except cut fingernails." However, we are allowed to cut his nails, so tonight we gave it a go! Cooper slept through the entire thing, and now his nails are nice and short. It felt good to be able to do something for him that none of the nurses or doctors could. :)
There were no major changes today, but Cooper did great! The doctors increased his feedings by one milliliter, and he tolerated the extra feed well. They also weaned his oxygen a bit down to one liter, and he is still doing wonderfully and exceeding expectations when it comes to his breathing.
Chloe got to hold Cooper again today, and he seems to be getting continually stronger. When we first started holding him we would be lucky if he made it an hour before he had to be put back into his isolette. Today she held him for almost two and a half hours, and for the first two hours he didn't even get fussy. He just likes to relax in his mom's arms and appreciates the opportunity to escape his dome for a few hours each day. As much as it benefits him and he seems to enjoy it, getting to hold him each day means the world to Chloe.
As of late, Cooper has been growing like crazy. Each night when they weigh him he will make huge gains in weight and the nurse will look at us and say something like, "Wow that's a big jump! He'll probably lose a little weight tomorrow or stay about the same." Well if there is one thing that Cooper likes to do it is stick it to the man, so he keeps on deciding to grow! He is now almost 3 lbs. 9 oz. Which is huge compared to where he was even a week ago. And it shows; just look at those cheeks!
Tonight, after we had just finished his evening cares, Cooper started feeling pretty tired. A wonderful thing about babies getting tired is they often start to grin big foolish smiles just before they doze off. It was the cutest thing that has happened, ever. His little smirk was killing us, and fortunately we were able to snap a few pictures. Hopefully you enjoy them as much as we do!
-Taylor
Cooper is 6 weeks old! (32 weeks gestation) Our cutie is up to 1510 grams, or 3 lbs 5 oz! All of the prayers for him are really providing miraculous growth this week. Another exciting moment for Cooper today was when he was switched from the high flow continuous oxygen to a regular nasal cannula. This is the type of oxygen he will come home on (if he comes home on oxygen, which is likely). He did great with this change and is breathing well! Cooper was also measured a few days ago, and he has grown 2 cm! He's now 14.96 inches.
Overall, a nice quiet day for Coop. He is doing as well as we could hope for right now, and we're so thankful. Bring on the next 6 weeks... :)
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| While they switched his oxygen Taylor snapped this picture of Cooper without anything on his face! |
Cooper had a good day! They turned down his oxygen to 2 liters on high flow and he did very well. Cooper had another eye exam this morning, and there was no change from last week. Hopefully by next week his eyes will have developed a bit more!
He is still on TPN (supplemental nutrition) but being on the TPN can cause liver damage, so they're hoping to get him off as quickly as possible. This afternoon his feedings were fortified to 24 calories (breast milk has 20) and if he tolerates this change it will be the last step to getting him off TPN. If he doesn't tolerate the change, it means he will not grow without the TPN and they'll have to wait or try some other options.
This evening the scale in Cooper's bed was being funny again (saying he gained over 100 grams) but the nurse changed out his bed for a new bed while I was holding him. She plans to weigh him during his 2 am cares, so we'll know his weight from today in the morning.
I can hardly believe Coop will be six weeks old tomorrow! What a ride it has been. I'm so grateful to be Cooper's mom, and never know my heart could be filled with so much love for another person. I'm thankful for the many refining lessons he has already taught me during these six weeks and I'm sure he will continue to be my teacher throughout his life. Heavenly Father has given Taylor and I the greatest blessing and privilege to be Cooper's parents, and every day I thank Him for sustaining Cooper through another day with us.
Thank you for your continued prayers and love!
Cooper. Is. The. Man.
The day has finally come... Cooper weighs 3 pounds!!! We're so happy he has reached this big milestone and are grateful that he is continuing to grow (slowly, but surely). Cooper had a good day today. He is still on 2.5 liters of high flow oxygen, and they increased the amount of milk he receives every three hours.
Unfortunately for the last day or so I have been dealing with some pain related to pumping, and I wasn't feeling well. We were only at the NICU for six hours so that I could rest this evening and hopefully heal quickly! It is always so hard to leave Cooper when we go home, but luckily tonight one of his amazing primary nurses is with him. Trusting that he is in good hands makes the separation each evening a little easier.
Thank you for following Cooper's journey! The prayers on his behalf are powerful, and we know that God hears them. Each day my heart is so full of gratitude for the tremendous support we are receiving, and we will never be able to adequately express our thanks to so many people.
This quote spoke to my heart today: "No matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf
I forgot to take a picture of Coop tonight, but here is one from a few days ago.
Each night we wait with nervous anticipation for Cooper's weigh in. Weighing him is a three part process that begins with calibrating the bed, lifting him, and replacing him on the bed so that it can calculate his weight. Normally each of these steps takes about thirty seconds, but today the machine was cruising through each in about a second apiece. Unfortunately this means that we weren't able to actually weight him, but we like to think he would have hit that three pound milestone tonight had the scale been working properly. (This is, of course, the same scale that put him at four and a half pounds the other night). Cooper's nurse was going to work on fixing the bed, and then weigh him later this evening.
The big change of the day is that his feeding tube got taken out of Cooper's mouth and now runs through his nose instead. While this seems like a pretty inconsequential thing, it is significant for the following reasons:
1. It means he is actually big enough to have the feeding tube fit into his nostril in addition to his breathing prongs. We love our big boy!
2. It will reduce the amount of irritation that the feeding tube causes him. It should reduce reflux and he will no longer be able to use his tongue to pull it out (a trick he learned today).
3. For the first time ever, Cooper does not have a tube in his mouth and tape on his lip or chin. We can almost see his whole face, and we like what we see! We apologize that no pictures were taken after that point today.
In all, it was a good day for Cooper. He did have some coughing that seemed like reflux, but they are going to watch him this evening and see if the symptoms persist. Now, enjoy a few pictures of our cute little man!
Good morning! I apologize for not posting last night. We didn't get home from the hospital until midnight and we were pretty exhausted. Cooper had a good day yesterday! They weaned his oxygen to 2.5 liters (it had been turned up to 3 on Wednesday after his eye exam) and he did very well all day. When Cooper was weighed last night, he was up to 1350 grams! (2 lbs, 15.61 oz) He is sooo close to 3 lbs, hopefully today will be the day. :)
Today Cooper had his first eye exam. Micro preemie babies are at a very high risk of developing ROP, but with these eye exams measures can be taken to prevent blindness. After the exam, they grade Cooper's eyes as either a stage 1, 2, or 3, with 3 being the best (his eyes are fully developing the way they should). His results showed that he is currently at a stage 2, but hopefully as he continues to grow and develop he will move to a stage 3. If you want to pray specifically for his eyes, we would be grateful:) Cooper will have weekly exams for the foreseeable future. The eye exam is a little traumatic for babies (and for parents, I didn't watch) and Cooper spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping peacefully after his exam.
When he was weighed this evening it showed that he had gained another 10 grams! Still about 2 lbs 14 oz. When the nurse weighs Cooper each evening, the process actually happens in his isolette. There is a scale built into his bed. However, tonight the calibration in the bed was off. Cooper was weighed four times in his isolette, and each time the bed said that he weighed over 2000 grams (more than 4 pounds)! Taylor and I were dying. Although we want him to get up to that weight quickly, more than doubling in size overnight is definitely not a good thing. The nurse finally weighed him on a pediatric scale (like the ones full term babies are placed on right after they're born) and it said that he weighed 1310 grams. Hopefully we'll be at 2000 grams soon, but not too soon :) We ended the evening with Taylor doing skin to skin with Cooper for two hours.
Thank you for supporting us in our long NICU journey... I can hardly remember what life was like before Cooper was born. Now I spend an average of 12 hours at Primary's each day, and it really is our new home. We have formed relationships with nurses, doctors, social workers, respiratory therapists, phlebotomists, security guards and other people who are now part of our daily routine. Before Cooper's birth, I was pretty unfamiliar with the medical world. I have been extremely blessed with great health throughout my life. Prior to my pregnancy, the last time I had been to the doctor was when I was 14, to get a physical exam so I could go on pioneer trek. Before my delivery, the last time I had been a patient at a hospital was when I was 6 and had stitches. Good health is definitely something I had taken for granted. I have learned so much medical information in the last five weeks, and for at least the first few years of Cooper's life we will be very familiar with doctors, hospitals and specialists. I'm so grateful for modern medicine and will never take the blessing of good health for granted.
"Challenges will come to you but as you trust in God they will strengthen your faith." -Neil A. Andersen. Thank you for praying for us, we love you all!
Today Cooper had a few great milestones! First, he has moved up to the next size in diapers. This new diaper size is pretty big on him, but he has outgrown his tiny "wee pees" diapers. The nurse also moved him up to a bigger pacifier -- one that is the same size as the nipple on the bottle they will hopefully introduce soon! Cooper was weaned down to 2.5 liters of high flow oxygen today. Once he is down to 1 liter of oxygen, they start trying to feed him with a bottle instead of through his feeding tube.
Cooper gained weight today! He is up to 1300 grams, or about 2 lbs 14 oz. Only two more ounces until the big 3 pound mark! (Still weird to have sentences like that come out of my mouth) Thank you for your continued prayers for our sweet boy. We know God hears them and they strengthen us each day.
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| Cooper's nurse drew this cute Stitch :) |
Today is Taylor's birthday! Cooper had a great day, just for his dad. For his birthday, Taylor wanted to spend most of the day at the hospital, and eat sushi and go to a movie this evening. So that's exactly what we did. :) The best gift Taylor received today was about Cooper's head ultrasound. During rounds we were told that the swelling and bleeding in Cooper's brain has decreased! We heard the news from the resident doctor, and hopefully we'll be able to meet with the neurology team later this week and receive more details. So many prayers are being answered, and we know that God is real and his love is infinite. He is working miracles for Cooper!
Cooper has also gained weight, and now weighs 1235 grams (2 lbs 11.5 oz). Today they weaned his high flow oxygen liters to 3, and Cooper didn't seem to notice the change -- he did very well with his breathing today. I was able to hold him this afternoon (while Taylor was finishing a paper for a class, good job Taylor!) and do skin to skin.
This evening as we were changing Cooper's diaper I noticed that his ostomy bag was leaking. (This is normal, and the bag has to be changed every three days anyway.) The nurse began to change the bag, and asked Taylor to hold Cooper's legs down while she worked on changing it. Cooper had a diaper on, but the tabs on it were not secured so that the nurse had full access to Cooper's abdomen. When Taylor held Cooper's legs down, the diaper flipped up just as Cooper started to pee. Taylor did not escape the situation with a clean hand :) It made us laugh so hard!
