Recent pictures

Below are some more recent pictures (see my post below for a written update on how Jack is doing!)

Fourth of July with Mommy

All of us in the Fourth of July neighborhood parade in Houston!

Matt won first prize for stoller decoration!

Happy boy :)

Buddies

Jack's down dog pose this AM

and Matt's graduation in May!

Jack's Baptism Pics- April 27th

Jack's Godparents- his uncle Eric and Aunt Erin

July Update

Wow, it has been WAY too long since my last update!  We've been out of town almost every weekend since April, so life has been busy busy to say the least!  We've had weddings, seen family, gone to the lake, had baby showers- it's been a great summer, can't believe we're almost at August.

Jack is doing GREAT!  He got off the apnea monitor in March, right before I went back to work on April 1st.  It was amazing for him to finally be wireless!  We hadn't been able to walk around the house or take him out without some sort of cord attached, so it was definitely freeing to be rid of both the apnea monitor and oxygen.  I started back to work part time (4 days a week now) April 1st and that is also going well.  We were able to hire Greg and Erin's (Matt's sister) nanny (they moved to Oklahoma City for Greg's job in April), so the timing worked out great there (although we were so sad see them move from down the street in Houston!)  Marisol is wonderful- Jack loves her and we feel blessed that Jack is in such great hands when I'm gone during the day.

Jack is up to 16 lbs, 10 ounces- the doctor was very happy with his progress weight wise at our appointment two weeks ago.  It was his 9 month appointment- wow, time flies!!  We've been working on eating solid foods (stage 1) and he's done a great job in the last month.  We have ECI coming to monitor his eating and they are very impressed with how well he is doing.  Think we will be starting stage 2 foods in two weeks, so hoping that goes well also!

All in all, we feel so very lucky- thus far, Jack is perfectly healthy, which is such a miracle considering all that we were faced with in the NICU.  We are on normal pediatrician visits and no specialist visits, just like any other infant now!  Jack has started sitting up and is rocking on his knees- he has some pretty funny positions that look like some hard core yoga planks and down dogs to me!  Matt and I need to start baby proofing the house stat, think he could be crawling any day.

Below are some updated pictures from the last few weeks.  I'm trying to make sure that I start being more regular about posting, so please call me out if I'm not!  :)

Jack's first crawfish boil

With Tucker, Nana Opa and Mimi

Jack with his first Easter egg

Mommy and Jack before Easter service at St Martin's

Daddy and Jack

Our hip little man  :)

Jack and Grandpa Doug

Update

Jack is doing great!  Up to 11 lbs, 12 oz as of this morning. We head to the pulmanologist on Friday AM to get an update to see if Jack is able to come off of his apnea monitor.  We also had a meeting with ECI last week (Early Childhood Intervention).  They were looking at Jack's development and how he was doing compared to his adjusted age.  Jack did well- was on par for every area except one, which we can work on at home.  We will meet with ECI again in a few months to see how he is progressing.

Jack has also been sleeping really well- generally sleeps straight through from 11pm to 7am, so Matt and I feel very blessed about that!  He is still eating 8 times a day, so we are feeding every 2 hours during the day.  I am still pumping 8 times a day as well, so lots of feeding and pumping during the day!  :). Below are some pics from the last few weeks:

Love Jack's little pout :)

We got a smile!!

Mommy and Jack

Jack got a Wubanub!  so cute :)

Some tummy time

Oxygen

Jack is coming off of his oxygen!!!  We found out this morning and are just beyond elated!   I took Jack for testing last Friday at Texas Children's- we had four hours of testing (called an OCRG) and he was hooked up to an oxygen saturation monitor.  He didn't have any desaturations, so they told us today that he no longer needs it... YAY!!!!  He has been on oxygen since he was born, so this is such a huge step for him.  No more tape scrapes on his cheeks and lugging around the can or machine... YAY!!!!!  We can't contain our excitement  :)

Jack will stay on the apnea monitor for at least another month, so that will be another big milestone when we no longer need that... but the apnea monitor is much more portable than the oxygen, so will be much easier to get around now!  I'll post some pictures this week of him without all of the tape and cannula on his sweet cheeks.

Oh, happy day!!

Pictures...

Jack and Uncle Matty

With Nana on Valentine's Day

Jack and his daddy!

Taking a nap with Opa

Tummy time nap

Wide awake!  Ready to get these wires off...

Happy Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's!  (belated). :). Things are going well at the Weigle household!  Jack has been sleeping a little better at night, so Matt and I have been able to get a few 4-5 hour stints of sleep in.
Jack is up to 10 lbs now... Getting chunky!  He got his 4-month vaccines last week and we are headed back tomorrow to get his second round of the RSV vaccine.

We went to the pulmanologist today and it was a good visit.  From the apnea monitor downloads, the doctor was able to tell that Jack is still occasionally having a few apnea spells.  He says that is completely normal for how premature he was.  He does think Jack may be able to come off of the oxygen soon- Jack will do a sleep study at Texas Children's in the next week to confirm if he's ready to be off the oxygen.  I'll go with him and we'll have a 4 hour study at TCH.  He said that even if he does come off oxygen, we'll keep the apnea monitor until Jack can go 5 days without having an apnea, and at least for another month once he is off the oxygen so they get enough time to monitor.  Matt and I are at the point where we do feel comfortable with the monitor, so we are ok with that.  It will be nice when all of the cords are gone though!

My brothers were able to come and meet Jack in the last two weeks, so that was lots of fun. Jack will be able to meet his cousins at Jack's baptism at the end of April, so we can't wait for that!

Will post some pics tomorrow!

Home Update

Sweet Jack is doing well!  We've been busy with feedings, Dr's appointments and trying to sleep, but it is so very wonderful having Jack home.  We are going to weekly pediatrician visits to monitor Jack's health and weight gain and all looks good there.  He is up to 9 lbs, 1 oz- he has been a great eater for us.  We've been on a schedule to feed him every 3 hours (and to keep waking him up through the night) but we got the go ahead this morning that we can have one four hour stretch at night.... wahoo!!  :)  He seems to be a pretty good sleeper, so hopefully he'll do well with the 4 hour stretch and mommy and daddy will get some more zzz's. 

Jack is still on the oxygen and the monitor- we are headed to the pulmanologist in 2 weeks to get a timeline for how long he'll have to stay on the oxygen.  We have a big machine for home and then tanks for when we take him to doctor's appointments.  I've also been able to start taking him on walks with the tank when it is warm enough- so that has been wonderful... love my walks  :) 

We had Jack's follow up for his ROP the week after he got out of the hospital.  They had seen mild to moderate ROP (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002585/) in his last eye exam in the hospital, so we had to follow up at Texas Children's in the med center.  The appointment went well and it looks like the ROP has resolved itself and no further visits are necessary!  Also looks like he won't need glasses anytime soon, so all great news from that appointment. 

Jack has been able to have healthy, adult visitors- so that has been fun.  He'll be able to meet his cousins and other children in a few months hopefully.  My parents have been in town (they left today) and have been a huge help.  Nana (Matt's mom) wasn't feeling well when Jack first left the hospital, but now she's feeling better and has been so helpful with feedings and letting Matt and I out of the house every once in a while.  We're hoping that my brother's, Eric and Matty, will be able to come to Houston this coming weekend so that they can meet Jack for the first time. 

Jack was able to be off of his oxygen for an hour or so and we were able to get some wonderful family and newborn pictures from Christi Cosper at Candid Chic Photography.  She posted a sneak peak on Facebook, but we'll post more when we get the rest.... she was just amazing and we are so very thankful to have these great photographs!

Some of our pics from the two weeks at home:

Jack's first bath (he only had sponge baths in the NICU)

Jack's first bath!  He'd only had sponge baths in the NICU.  He was very content!

Jack rolled over!

Strong little man!  Pushing up on Boppy

Sleeping peacefully :)

HOME!!

Our sweet baby boy is home!!!  It's been a roller coaster of a week, but Jack was finally discharged from the hospital on Friday night, January 18th, at 6:45 pm.  He was discharged weighing 7 lbs, 13.2 oz- pretty amazing how much he's gained since birth... we are fortunate that he loves to eat thus far!  94 days total in the NICU- thank goodness we are out of there and ready to start raising our beautiful boy!

We did have to bring Jack home on 1/8 of a liter of oxygen and an apnea monitor, so we are getting use to the cords and machines at home.  The monitor goes off if his heart rate goes out of a certain range (>220 or <90) or if he stops breathing.  The alarm has already gone off a few times, as he gets VERY feisty when he's ready to eat and his heart rate soars!  We are learning that we have to start getting him ready 30 minutes before his scheduled feeding time so we minimize him getting upset and setting off the alarm. We will see a pulmonologist in 3-4 weeks, who will decide how much longer Jack will need to stay on the oxygen.  We are seeing his pediatrician for the first time on Tuesday AM and then headed to the ophthalmologist on Tuesday afternoon so that we can monitor Jack's ROP.

Leading up to his discharge, Jack had a good week and was passing all his tests, so we knew he'd be home soon.  Matt and I were supposed to "room in" at the hospital on Tuesday night and potentially take Jack home on Wednesday.  "Rooming in" is where we stay in a room with no nurse help and see how we do with the oxygen and monitor.  Unfortunately, Matt wasn't feeling well Tuesday, so he went to the doctor before we went up to the hospital and he tested positive for the flu.  We'd both had our flu shots and Matt thought he just had a sinus infection, so it was pretty frustrating... such terrible timing!  We had to cancel the "rooming in" and start talking to an Infectious Disease pediatrician on how to proceed.  Matt was quarantined for a few days and started taking Tamiflu.  They also put me on a preventative dose of Tamiflu so that I could avoid catching it.  Matt went back to the doctor on Thursday morning and tested negative, but the doctors wanted him to have a few symptom free days before being in the same room with Jack.

We were hoping to wait a few days so that Matt could bring Jack home with me (fortunately there were a few delays on test results, so that got us a few extra days), but Jack was ready to be discharged on Friday.  They didn't want to keep Jack in the NICU any longer due to various reasons.   I "roomed in" with Jack on Friday morning by myself and my parents drove in from Arlington to help me Friday afternoon.  All went well and Jack was discharged Friday night!  Matt watched from afar with a mask as we loaded Jack into the car and brought him home.  My parents helped me drive him home.  Matt hasn't been able to help or be close to him yet, which I know has been so tough for him, but we're trying to be extra cautious and have 3-5 symptom free days for Matt. Hopefully tomorrow Matt will be in the clear and no more masks or gloves and lots of Jack snuggle time!

Some pictures from Friday:

Getting Jack's footprints

Jack's homecoming outfit

Matt watching from afar  :)

Loaded up and ready to go home!

Home at last!!  (Matt is holding his breath :) )

Tucker and Jack- BFF

Comfy at home!