Gavin's Home!!!!!!

Gavin came home tonight!!!! Its sooooo great having him home! The doctor talked to us and said that he needs to keep taking his diuretic, have to put an eye ointment on both eyes for his clogged tear ducks, and give him a daily vitamin. He said that his hole in his heart is still there and he thinks he will have to have surgery on it when he is a year old. We have to make a doctor appt. with Gavin's pediatrician tomorrow. He has to go to his eye doctor appt tomorrow at 1pm. He also has a cardiologist appt. soon. The ride home was tough cause he is still tiny so I had to hold his head the whole ride home. I forgot to get one of those little head buffer things for the car seat. He has been doing great at home. I fed him and he stayed awake for a while afterwards. Its almost feeding time again! Busy busy busy! Here are the last pics of him in the NICU and leaving the hospital for the first time! They are in order....from the time we came to get him, to changing him in his going home outfit, to putting him in his carseat.....

Gavin Update

Well today Ben went to do the car seat challenge with Gavin. He said Gavin passed with flying colors. We don't know the results of the other tests just yet but I'm sure we will know later today. I had an appointment to get my hair done today at 2pm and thought I would be done in time to go visit Gavin and feed him....Boy was I wrong! My usual hair stylist was out sick with the flu so they asked if I wanted to get it done by another stylist at 1pm and of course I said yes because I knew we were going to take pics with Gavin when he comes home and didn't want roots down to my ears. Everything seemed to go normal until she washed out my hair and looked at me shocked. She turned my hair ORANGE! Then to fix the mistake she bleaches my hair white. My head looks like a cream sickle.....a swirly mess of orange and white. When she was done she just started crying so hard that she had to leave the room. I felt bad and it wasn't even my fault. She didn't charge me and told me to go have it fixed. And if all that isn't crazy enough my scalp was red and burned and now has a blister on it. I was in there for 5 1/2 hours so I missed my visiting time with Gavin. :-( Since I went through all that stress my dysautonomia kicked in and I was feeling all my symptoms. I went to bed right when I came home and just woke up. Thats why I wasn't able to post an update earlier.....sorry guys! I'll let ya'll know if he comes home or not tomorrow.

Good News!

Gavin might be coming home Monday!!!!!! The cardiologist has to see him again and he has to have some tests done and his car seat challenge is tomorrow....if all that comes out good then he comes home Monday!!! So excited! Getting everything ready at home for his big arrival. Here are the pics from today.....

Today's Update

Today I didn't see Gavin's doctor because he was running late but the nurse said that they are decreasing his calories in his fortifyer to 22 cals. They will watch his weight and see if he keeps gaining. If so they will decrease it to 20 cals. She said that that they will have a plan for him in the next few days. Here are the pics from today!

Our Thanksgiving Turkey

Gavin is doing good! Guess who weighs 5lbs? Yep our little turkey! The doctor will be back from vacation tomorrow around 6pm so we will be able to ask him about discharge plans. The doctor covering for him looked over his echo results and said that there has been improvement but its not fully closed yet. He is doing great on his feedings...the nurse said earlier today he ate 1-2 oz so they are doing that every 4 hours or until he is hungry again. After I breast fed him today I was burping him and Ben says...here let me show ya how to do it. Hahahahaha!!!! So got some pics of him burping Gavin. Here are the pics of the day. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Busy Christmas For Gavin

Here are some pics Katie made for Gavin....too cute!

Gavin Dancing with His Cousins

Here is something Katie put together for Gavin....Its Gavin and his cousins (Katie, Jake, and Bailey) dancing as elves. Too funny Katie!

Disco Elves
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/LnvnCFntzazBIxvn?cmpid=ey_fb_self


Singing Elves
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/Fuz2Cu9WYSDG2hel?cmpid=ey_fb_self


Country Elves
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/kC3zDhBZuYKXiZ6q?cmpid=ey_fb_self

GAVIPANTS!

Gavin had his echo done on his heart today. I think we will know something tomorrow from the doctor. The nurse said basically what we already know....that he has a PDA (hole in his heart) and its loud. He is doing great otherwise. His oxygen sat. has been staying in the 90s-100 which is where it should be and he is a good eater. He is now 4lbs 9oz. The breast feeding is going good. I'm now taking reglan to increase my milk supply since I get dehydrated. I go for my IVs tomorrow morning so that will help also. Here are pics of Gavin....I dressed him up today! Can you tell which pictures were taken before feeding time? lol His tongue just a goes when he's hungry. He also recognizes my voice....everytime I came into the room today and talked to the nurse he woke right up....she said wow he knows you're here and its feeding time.

This is Gavin sayin nah nah I'm makin a poopie and you have to change it!

Breast Fed Gavin for the First Time Today

This morning I met with the lactation specialist (Debbie) so she could help me with my first breast feeding experience. Its not as hard or horrible as some people make it out to be. I felt it was more relaxing and soothing for Gavin and me. Since Gavin is a preemie Debbie gave me a nipple shield so he doesn't have to work so hard to keep the nipple in the back of his mouth and so he gets use to the transition from the bottle to the breast. For the first feeding he wasn't sucking as well because he isn't use to sucking so hard to get milk. The next feeding he sucked much better. I have to weigh him with his clothes and a new diaper on before he eats and after to see how many mils he is getting. The rest of his feeding is taken by bottle if he didn't get up to 35 mils during breast feeding. He did really good today for his first time.

I talked to the doctor taking over for Gavin's NICU pediatrician who is on vacation and she said that he is doing great and she is ordering an ultrasound for his heart. She said if that comes back ok and if he gains weight with the breast feeding then he can come home. He also has to pass the standard car seat challenge before he comes home. The challenge is he has to sit in his car seat for 90 mins and his O2 sat. can't fall below 90. I really hope that his ultrasound comes back ok so he can come home soon. Here are the pics for today....

He was so ready for his feeding he was about to eat his hand.

Cutie Patootie

Today I talked to the lactating specialist and she was surprised that they haven't started me breast feeding yet. She went and talked to one of the doctors and they said we could start. I told her that I haven't been producing as much milk as I was before and she said that around this time the milk does slow down but mine is way low so she told me to ask my doctor to put me on a medicine to help with it. She also wants me to get my IVs because I am dehydrated again. Gavin is doing great....the nurse hadn't see him in a long time and was surprised at how much he has changed.