My Micropreemie Miracle

February Update

2010-02-18T19:19:00.003-05:00

I know it has been forever since I have updated, I don't really have an excuse except that I have been busy. Morgan is doing awesome. He is pulling himself up on everything! He isn't crusing furniture yet, but hopefully soon. He is drinking whole milk from a sippy cup now, no more bottles and no more warming up the milk! He is also doing well eating table food. He loves breads, pastas and will eat eggs, cheese, meatballs, deli meat, fruit and will try just about anything we put in front of him. He is getting to be such a big boy. He loves to explore and get into everything.

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-20T18:27:00.004-05:00

Morgan is doing well. He is getting over some type of nasty virus that caused BAD diarrhea for the past 6 days or so. He is pretty much over that but now has a runny nose and cough. It never ends! I rather deal with a runny nose over diarrhea any day! Through all of this though he has been a happy baby. Morgan has also started to crawl up on his hands and knees, not just army crawl. He will do it for a bit and then drop down to army crawl. He also will go from his belly to sitting. I don't think it will be long before he is pulling himself up. He fifth tooth is now coming in. He has 3 on top and 2 on bottom. He is getting to be such a big boy! The above are some pictures that Jessica his daycare provider took of him. She had a Christmas "photoshoot" with the kids :)

1st Birthday Pictures

2009-11-28T06:36:00.004-05:00

Morgan's "2nd" Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T09:34:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. This is technically Morgan's second Thanksgiving since he was born on Thanksgiving last year at 1:19pm, so he was here in time for a Thanksigiving dinner! I am so thankful that Morgan is healthy and happy and am looking forward to celebrating this holiday season with him and the rest of our family! I am also thankful we don't have to spend the holiday season in the NICU but are thinking of those that do this holiday season. Since Morgan's birthday is tomorrow (it's hard to believe it has been one year) we are having some cake, ice cream and presents at my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house today to celebrate his 1st birthday in addition to Thanksgiving!! I know Morgan is going to destroy his piece of cake, I'll take a bunch of pictures.

Morgan Up on Hands and Knees

2009-11-11T18:53:00.003-05:00

Here are two videos of Morgan. Morgan has started getting up on his hands and knees recently.

Pictures

2009-11-10T05:30:00.007-05:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to post a couple of pictures. Morgan is doing awesome. We go to the doctor this morning for a follow up on his ear infection and to get his Synagis shot to lessen the effects if he contracts RSV. He has to get this shot every month from November to March. Morgan is getting a lot better at sitting up on his own for a longer period of time. I can also tell he is trying to figure out how to crawl. He will shake his legs and bring his knee up sometimes to try to move forward, he will figure it out eventually. I posted one picture from Halloween, that is the only one I got of him in his costume. He hadn't slept much that day and was exhausted by the time 6:30 came around and he wasn't happy that I had put him in his costume.

Getting Bigger and Stronger

2009-10-20T19:52:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone. Morgan is doing awesome. His two bottom teeth are really coming in now. He has had some congestion recently but no fever so I'm really hoping we can avoid any flu activity this winter season. I am going to try to keep him away from really populated places. Morgan is also getting better at sitting and standing. This evening he stood against the couch for quite a while. He isn't crawling yet but will push himself backwards on his belly on the wood floor. So he is getting there. He is eating oatmeal cereal mixed with baby food three times a day while weaning down his formula intake.

10 Months Old

2009-10-04T17:36:00.004-04:00

I really need to get better about posting. Well Morgan turned 10 months old on September 27 and is around 21 pounds something. We are working on sitting by ourselves. He can hold himself up but will fall to one side eventually. He is getting better and stronger though. We have decided that he is going to be a dragon for Halloween. There is a picture of him wearing the head piece to his costume. Morgan continues to be active, he already loves electronics, wanting the remote and camera. He started to say da da da recently which is neat to hear. Big news is that is two bottom teeth have cut through and are really coming in which is very exciting and his formula no longer needs to be thickened at all! This is exciting for mommy and daddy who no longer have to buy the thickener. Morgan is just growing up so fast :)

Quick Update

2009-09-10T19:41:00.003-04:00

Morgan continues to do well. He has been doing very well at the daycare during the day and we really like the lady we found, we are lucky to have found her. Morgan has gotten a lot better with eating off of a spoon and really likes sweet potatoes, applesauce and bananas. We are working with him on sitting up on his own without falling to the side. He continues to sleep through the night which we are very thankful for. I have also noticed lately that when a toy is in front of him that he can't reach he will get frustrated because he doesn't know how to move forward to get it. He loves to "play" (meaning put in his mouth) paper and he likes to reach for the magnets and papers on the refrigerator. It is so amazing how quick they grow and how fast they learn.

9 Months Old Today

2009-08-27T06:31:00.004-04:00

Wow, I really need to blog more. Morgan is 9 months old today! That just seems so crazy to me! He is doing awesome. At his last appointment he was 19 pounds 5 ounces. He rolls over consistently from back to belly and belly to back, grabs his feet all of the time, puts everything into his mouth and drools quite a bit. We are working on sitting up on his own and waiting for that first tooth to come in. Morgan started daycare on Monday. I found a lady who had been a Fairfax NICU nurse for 9 years and is just now starting a home daycare to be able to stay home with her two young children. She is absolutely awesome. She knows exactly what Morgan has been through and is very aware of hand washing. Morgan is her first daycare child but a new child will be starting this Monday. Morgan does very well at her house and always smiles when I drop him off. I have posted a couple of pictures we had taken at Target last weekend.

8 Months Old

2009-07-26T12:49:00.003-04:00

Morgan is doing awesome and getting so big. He will be 8 months old tomorrow, hard to believe. He is weighing in at 17 pound 9 ounces! He is talking more now, likes to scream to hear his own voice. He is starting to hold his bottle a little bit and tries to put everything in his mouth and drools. He is rolling over consistently from belly to back but can't quite get from back to belly yet. He likes to play in his exersaucer but only for a little bit. GO HOKIES!

Right on Schedule

2009-07-07T20:48:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. Just a quick post. Morgan continues to do well. He is sleeping much better at night with the oxygen. He is sleeping more hours at a time at night usually only waking up once. Morgan was evaluated by Early Intervention last week which is an organization to help children that are behind and may need speech or physical therapy. Both therapists were very happy with how Morgan was developing and didn't see any need for intervention at this time. They said he was right on track for a 3 month old and was doing 4 and some 5 month old activities! I included a picture of the diaper cake I made for my sister-in-laws baby shower and a picture of Morgan with his maternal great grandmother.

7 Months Old

2009-06-27T14:09:00.003-04:00

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We have had to start putting Morgan back on oxygen at night and he doesn't sleep nearly as well with the oxygen, he gets up 3 or more times a night as opposed to once a night so we haven't been getting as good of sleep. For a while there Morgan was doing well at night but over the past week he has started to drop down to the low 90's and the doctor wants him over 95%. Morgan was 15 pounds 6 ounces at the pumonologist on Thursday, so they dropped him down to 22 calorie formula!! So we'll have to make sure he can keep gaining weight on lower calories. Morgan is 7 months old today. It's hard to believe it has been months. Morgan is getting much better at grabbing and kicking toys on his play mat. He has also started rolling over from back to belly and belly to back. I have only seen him roll from back to belly but Brad said he had laid him on his belly on the floor one morning left the room and when he came back Morgan was on his back. So that is exciting to see him keep developing on schedule. I included a picture of Morgan with his cousins (my sisters boys).

Scrap Blogging

2009-06-18T21:04:00.002-04:00

I have been playing with scrap blogs lately...

Morgan slept through the night

2009-06-10T06:15:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to post a quick note to let everyone know that last night Morgan slept IN HIS CRIB from 9pm, woke up at 1am, ate 6 ounces and then went back to sleep until 6am. I know it isn't exactly sleeping through the night but it is the closest we have come so I am saying he did sleep through the night and he was satting in the high 90's the entire night without oxygen! It was very nice for mommy and daddy to be able to sleep at the same time in the same bed! Morgan also weighed in at 13 pounds 11 ounces at the doctor on Monday! He went and saw the developmental doctor and the doctor said he looked good for a baby born as early as he was so that was encouraging. Ok I have to go get ready for work!

2009-06-01T20:13:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. Just wanted to post a couple of pictures and a video I took of Morgan today in his crib. He finally noticed the crib toy and really liked it. That and his mobile kept him entertained for a good 20 minutes or more! When he started to fuss I took him out got him to sleep and laid him back in his crib and that is where he is now sleeping...we'll see how long it lasts. Brad and I are going to put him in his crib at least once a day to get him more used to it. Well Morgan just keeps getting bigger and bigger. He weighed in at 12 pounds 9 ounces at the pediatrician today! I am a little nervous he is gaining weight too fast...if so we can decrease the number of calories in his formula. Right now he is on 27 calorie but I'm not sure if he needs to be at this rate. Last Wednesday at the pulmonologist he was 12 pounds and the doctor said that was the 50th percentile for a 2 and a half month old. Morgan got his 6 month shots and check up today. The doctor is pleased with how he is doing. Allison...I thought you would like the picture of the dogs...two peas in a pod!

Morgan Smiling

2009-05-22T20:33:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of Morgan smiling. He has been laughing and smiling quite a bit lately but it seems like every time I get my camera ready he has stopped. Morgan seems to laugh and smile quite a bit when Brad talks to him and tickles him. I finally got a good one of him smiling today. Morgan is still doing well. We went to the ophthalmologist and the ROP continues to regress nicely so we don't have to go back until November! I have been scheduling appointments for Morgan with the physical therapist and the developmental doctor to make sure he is developing on pace. My only concern right now is that he really really favors turning his head to the right side which is causing the right side to be flat so we are trying to only hold him in our right arm so he has to turn his head to the left to look at us. It is hard to keep his head to the left when he is strong enough to move it. Other than that he is doing well and getting big! He is also starting to "talk" more which is quite cute!

"2 Months Old"

2009-05-15T20:18:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give a quick update to let everyone know that Morgan is still doing well. It's hard to believe he has been home for 6 weeks now and that it has been 2 months since his due date! He is up to 10 pounds 6 ounces and we have been giving him breaks from his oxygen recently to see how he does and he has been doing pretty well. He is usually around 97-98% while awake and around 94-96% while sleeping so hopefully he can come off of oxygen for good soon. He will come off of the apnea monitor when the oxygen is gone. It will be so nice to be able to carry him around without any cords or tubing! He has his swallow study this Wednesday so hopefully he can start eating formula without thickener, the thickener starts to get expensive. Morgan still only likes to sleep either in his bouncy seat or while we are holding him. Sometimes he will sleep in his car seat for a while if he falls asleep in the car. I am going to try to transistion him to his crib for naps, at least start putting him in his crib to get him used to it.

Morgan is getting huge

2009-05-01T14:09:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I am lucky if I get a shower everyday let alone post on the blog. Morgan is doing awesome. He is up to 9 pounds 11 ounces!! He is huge and eating very well. It took a while once he got home to get him eating like he should but now he is on his way. We went to the lung doctor today and he was very pleased with his weight gain and said we could start weaning his oxygen at home to see how he does. We have a machine at the house that will tell us his oxygenation levels like the one at the hospital. Every time I check his O2 he is sating at 100 so I know he can be bumped down. I am really hoping we can come off of the oxygen and apnea monitor in the next couple of weeks. The monitor hasn't gone off in over a week since Morgan has started eating better. Morgan's eyes are also doing very well. The right eye has completely corrected itself and the left eye is getting better. We go back to the ophthalmologist in 3 weeks and hopefully after that we won't have to go back again for 6 months. I love how he gets older our appointments get fewer and farther between!

"One month old today"

2009-04-15T16:13:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. It has been a month since Morgan's due date so he is really one month old. Sorry it has been so long since my last post. These last two weeks with Morgan home has been very challenging. I thought the transition would go a little easier. He won't sleep in his bassinet so Brad and I take turns sleeping with him in the recliner in the living room. Over the past couple of days I have put him in the bassinet and he will take maybe a 20 minute nap in it and then wake up crying. I thought for sure he would be better at sleeping in his own bed because he did it in the NICU. We saw the pulmonologist (lung doctor) yesterday and based on the apnea monitor he things maybe Morgan is getting reflux and that is why he is very fussy at times and likes to sleep on our chest at night. He prescribed some medicine so I am hoping that will make a difference. The doctor didn't change any of his oxygen settings but I am hoping he will when we go back in 2 weeks. Another concern is that Morgan isn't gaining as much weight as we would like to see. I think he is burning more calories at home because he is more active and probably crying more than in the NICU. The thickened formula isn't helping him either because the thickener has no nutritional value and takes up a lot of volume so Morgan has to eat more to get the amount of calories he needs. Hopefully his next swallow study will show he can go down to less thickened formula. Overall things are going well and we are very glad to have Morgan home.

Morgan is home!!

2009-04-04T18:44:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to give a quick update to let you know that Morgan came home yesterday. His discharge had been talked about for the past week but I could never get a final word from the doctors. I called Friday morning to see about him going home and the nurse talked to the doctor and called back and said he would be discharged when ever we came to get him. Well of course Brad and I left work early to go get him. He enjoyed the car ride home but last night he didn't sleep very much. He just needs to get used to the new surroundings so hopefully tonight will go better. I will post more later.

Quick Update on going home status

2009-04-01T06:41:00.000-04:00

I spoke with the doctor yesterday about when Morgan will be going home. She is pleased with everything except maybe how much volume he is taking at each feeding. He was taking around 55-60 ml (2 ounces) but she would like to see him taking 65-70 ml because of his size. He weighed in yesterday at 7 pounds 10 ounces! Unfortunately the swallow study on Monday showed that he still needs the honey thickened feeds with a cross cut nipple which is the hardest combination to drink. Morgan did very well yesterday when I fed him, he sucked down 75 ml in no time so I am hoping he continues to do that. As long as he continues to eat well he should be going home tomorrow or Friday possibly Saturday or Sunday, but either way he will be going home soon!!!

Car seat challenge and going home this week

2009-03-29T20:47:00.001-04:00

Morgan is getting so close to going home. It looks like it will be sometime this week. He passed his car seat challenge today. He had to sit in his car seat for an hour and a half without dropping his sats and he did well. He was getting a little fussy with 15 minutes to go but luckily I was able to be on pacifier duty and that calmed him. Morgan will be going home on oxygen (they did a room air challenge last week and he did alright but he definitely does better with the oxygen). It's funny because he is on so little...only 21% which is room air so he isn't actually getting any extra oxygen at .05 liters which is nothing really but it seems to make a difference with him. So he'll have the oxygen and an apnea monitor. He doesn't have apnea episodes but I guess at that hospital if you go home on oxygen you automatically go home on a monitor. The monitor will be a pain but it will give me reassurance when he first comes home. I will also have a spot check monitor to check his oxygenation settings. I will probably have to do this a couple of times a day. He will be on two medications (which isn't much for a 24 weeker), flovent which is an inhaled steroid for his lungs and a diuretic to rid extra fluid in his lungs. Both will be given twice a day. Right now he is on thickened feeds so he can coordinate the suck/swallow/breathe combination which he is doing much better with. Tomorrow they are going to do another swallow study to see if he can be reduced down from the honey thick which is the thickest they can make the formula to nectar thick which is in between honey and regular. I really hope the study shows he isn't aspirating the nectar thick anymore because he gets so worn out trying to suck the honey thick through the nipple. Last week they also did an ultrasound of his scrotum and didn't see any intestine so they think it is just a hydroseal (trapped extra fluid) for now, it will have to be monitored to make sure the hernia doesn't reopen. Overall Morgan is doing awesome and I am so excited for him to come home. It has been a very long journey!

Quick Update

2009-03-21T20:11:00.000-04:00

Morgan is doing very well. His feedings are going much better. They are feeding him 30 ml by bottle every feeding out of 50 ml total that he is eating. In the next couple of days they will probably increase the amount he is eating by bottle so hopefully we can get the feeding tube out soon!! This really is the last hurdle keeping us in the NICU. I also spoke to one of the doctors this afternoon and she mentioned that there might be something going on with his groin region where he had the hernias. The area is still very swollen, even 5 weeks after surgery and she thought she might have felt some intestine like the hernia has reappeared. The doctor said it could just be extra fluid. She looked at him again this afternoon and didn't feel any intestine so I am really really hoping the hernia isn't back! I really don't want him to have to go through another surgery, the first time was bad enough! But other than that he is doing very well and I am really hoping coming home in the next week or two!

Morgan could be going home sooner

2009-03-14T20:18:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. My mom and I spent a lot of the day with Morgan today. We had a really good visit. He is up to 6 pounds 13 ounces! His nurse today was talking to us a lot about what we will need to do when he goes home. She seemed to think it would be sooner than 44 weeks if we can get his feeding going well. He did well today with the thickened formula and making sure we paced him. Part of the problem is if he gets too hungry he sucks and sucks and forgets to breathe. So in the beginning the nurse showed me how to lower the bottle in order to pace him but after he got some of the formula in his belly he started to pace himself. He only took 20 ml from the bottle from a total of 50 ml but they are going to gradually increase it. So hopefully he can get the feeding down soon and we can go home. It sounds like he will probably go home on oxygen which is fine with me. At this point I am just ready for him to come home.

I also got to give Morgan a real bath today. I'm not sure if he has ever had one. I think at UVA they just wiped him down with disposable wash cloths. My mom and I were concerned that he might not like the bath because he hates to have his diaper changed but he absolutely loved it!!! It was so cute to see. When I was washing his hair he started to fall asleep. It's also funny that at Fairfax they use a plastic storage bin with a mesh incline as a bathtub. I posted some pictures below of Morgan with his new frog blanket -- thank you grandma Bosarge :) and of this bath today. The bath pictures look red because he was under a heat lamp. The heat lamp was pretty nice, I might have to have Brad put one in at our house!

Another 4 weeks :(

2009-03-10T17:35:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I spoke with the doctor at Fairfax to get an overall update and he thinks Morgan will probably be in the NICU until he is around 44 weeks which takes us to April 12th. The two major things are his feedings which aren't going so well lately...he tends to drop his heart rate and oxygen saturation and his eyes. They are going to do a swallow study on him sometime this week to look at what the formula is doing while it goes down this throat. They somehow dye the formula so it can be seen on an xray to see if he is either refluxing or aspirating (inhaling some of the formula). I am really hoping the study will show what is going on so his feedings can improve. He had another eye exam today and I guess the ROP hasn't gotten better and it hasn't gotten worse although the ophthalmologist sounded optimistic that his eyes will correct themselves but he will continue to have weekly eye exams. So...other than that Morgan is doing well...what is another 4 weeks when you have already gone through 15 weeks already?

Keeping a micro-preemie healthy

2009-03-09T22:11:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone. Morgan is doing well. I saw him this afternoon and they had put him back on just a flow of oxygen. He is still on 21%, so he isn't requiring more oxygen just a flow of it. He has been having desat episodes. He is still trying to figure out eating. I tried to feed him this afternoon and he would Brady (drop his heart rate) which I haven't seen him do before but the night nurse said she didn't have that problem last night when she fed him. She said he did pretty well except he dropped his sats twice but took most of the bottle. So we'll see, we haven't quite figured out what is going on...it may simply be that he needs more time. Morgan will have another eye exam tomorrow to see if the ROP is improving...hopefully it is!

I thought I would post this list of things to do to keep preemies, especially micro-preemies healthy. When Morgan comes home the most important thing for anyone to do before they touch him is to wash their hands. Here are some ways to keep him healthy:

1) Hand washing. Hand washing, Hand washing! Hand washing cannot be emphasized enough. It is the single best way to avoid the spread of disease. Every single person who touches a preemie (or any baby) should first wash their hands. This includes friends, family, siblings, healthcare workers, and even parents.

2) Stay away from sick people. This may seem obvious, but do not let sick people visit and do not visit them with your preemie.

3) Avoid crowds. The grocery store and malls are full of people and germs. Even churches can be a hazard, especially because everyone will want to admire your preemie up close. If you have to go out with your preemie pick a time of day when there will be minimal exposure to crowds and do not be afraid to ask people to step back.

4) Hand Sanitizer. Recent studies have shown that the proper use of hand sanitizer can decrease the transmission of disease in the home. It is a great option when there is no sink available or when you have the baby on the changing table.

5) Smart scheduling. When making doctors appointments ask for the first appointment of the day or the first appointment after lunch. This decreases the risk of exposure to other children in the office.

6) RSV and Flu preventatives. RSV is a virus that presents as nothing more than a cold in most children, but it can be a very serious for children at risk including many preemies. Ninety percent of the population is exposed to RSV before they reach two years old, which means it is very likely that your preemie will be exposed to RSV at some point. The drug Synagis is given as a monthly injection to protect against RSV. Synagis decreases the severity of RSV but it does not totally prevent children from contracting RSV. The flu is also a very serious illness in young children. All adults around your preemie should get a flu shot every year.

7) Be the gatekeeper for your child. One of the most important responsibilities any parent has is to be the gatekeeper for their child. This is especially true for preemies. Do not feel bad telling well meaning strangers that they cannot touch your child. Let family and friends know that they cannot come into your home with so much as a sniffle.

8) No smoking. Smoking has been shown to increase the risk of RSV and other respiratory illness in preemies. Yet another good reason to quit and to ban smoking in your home. If you have been smoking change clothes before touching baby.

9) Limit Exposure from older siblings. If there are older siblings in school it is important to teach them how to prevent the spread of infection. Emphasizing hand washing and limiting close contact as much as possible, especially if the sibling is sick, are the best ways to keep older siblings form spreading illness to your preemie.

Lastly, if you do happen to get sick try to stay away from your preemie and let another caregiver take over until you are no longer contagious.

2009-03-08T11:11:00.000-04:00

Morgan continues to do well. He is working on his feeding. He will usually take about half of the bottle and then get tired and they will put the rest in the tube. He is now in a big boy crib at the NICU in Fairfax.

Morgan was transferred to Fairfax Hospital

2009-03-06T21:26:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Well there are two big pieces of news....Morgan has been transferred to Fairfax as of today to be closer to home. We can now visit him more often during the week. I just got back from there and the NICU is a lot different than UVA. I miss UVA but I think it is just going to take some getting used to the new place. Hopefully Morgan won't be there too long anyways. The other big thing and definitely more important is that Morgan has been off of the nasal cannula for a day now. He has no sort of respiratory support, he is just breathing room air and so far so good. The next step is to take him off of the caffeine which helps stimulate babies to breath....so hopefully after they take him off of that he will continue to do well. So things are going well with him and he is becoming much more animated and making faces.

Morgan's Room

2009-03-02T14:45:00.000-05:00

We just got the crib together and I thought I would post some pictures of Morgan's room. All of the frog stuff I bought off of Ebay used for $60!

The weekend with Morgan

2009-03-01T18:53:00.000-05:00

We had a good weekend with Morgan. Brad and I went down Friday night and spent some time with him. This was the first time Brad has seen Morgan with just his nasal cannula. On Saturday my friend from work Kara and her husband and son came down to see Morgan. It was so nice for them to come down...thanks for letting me borrow the vibrating chair Kara! Then Saturday afternoon my mom came down and stayed until Sunday. Morgan is doing very well. He is just working on his feedings. He is bottle feeding every other feed and drinks most of the formula during a feeding. Morgan was very alert this weekend, quite a few times he has his eyes wide open just looking around.

3 Months Old Today!

2009-02-27T16:10:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you know that Morgan is doing very well. He is 3 months old today!! I am glad that these past three months are behind us. Morgan has started to bottle feed again and is doing well with that. They are going to change his formula, they think maybe the bloody stool had to do with not being able to digest the type of formula he was on. The doctors were even discussing moving Morgan to Prince William hospital to be closer to home and because I think they need the bed space. But Morgan might very well be coming home close to his due date so I'm not sure if is worth moving him for only another two weeks.

I also wanted to bring attention to the two links to the right. These are the blogs of two other micro preemies which I follow regularly. The little girl Bella was also born at 24 weeks and is at UVA Medical Center with Morgan.

Ok well that is it for now. We are on our way to Charlottesville!

Morgan is doing better

2009-02-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. I just wanted to give a quick update. I just got back from Charlottesville and Morgan is looking like himself again! He is down to 6 pounds 4 ounces which is good because he was was too puffy before. He is still switching between CPAP and nasal cannula although the nurse and I both thought he was doing better on nasal cannula so hopefully he will switch over to that completely soon. But on CPAP he is only on 21% oxygen which is what room air is, so he isn't requiring an increased amount of oxygen he just likes the flow of it into his nose. On Monday he had blood in his stool so they stopped feeding him again and started him on antibiotics but as of today all of the cultures had come back negative and they are probably going to start his feeds again tomorrow. I am hoping this is the last infection scare and we can just focus on eating and breathing. Because he is doing better with the breathing I am hoping Morgan won't have to come home on oxygen, but wouldn't mind too much if he has to and that is the last thing stopping him from being released. Morgan is also doing very well sucking on the pacifier, it really calms him down if he is upset. I am confident he will do even better with bottle feeding when we start trying again. That is about all for now!

Back on CPAP and doing better

2009-02-22T18:28:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update. Morgan is 37 weeks today and is back on the road to being himself. Today they put him back on CPAP from the ventilator and his blood gas was better after they extubated him which is a sign he was definitely ready to get that tube out! He is back up to full feeds and they are also stopping his antibiotic which was from his belly being large and them thinking it might be an infection but all of the the cultures came back negative. As you can see from the pictures Morgan is quite chunky! He is 18 inches long, 6 pounds 10 ounces and has fat rolls everywhere :) which is a nice change from the 1 pounds 14 ounces that he was. He also has a new hair cut in a couple of the pictures from where they put an IV in his head :( Today he was a little fussy so we gave him a pacifier and he was sucking away on it so that makes me think when we start bottle feeding him again he will do very well. So overall he is doing great and I am hoping it is just another 3 maybe 4 weeks before he comes home! The pictures at the top are older ones before he has the hernia surgery and was just on nasal cannula.

Hit a bit of a rough patch

2009-02-19T20:28:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. Morgan has hit a bit of a rough patch. It's nothing serious. Two weekends ago Morgan got a urinary track infection, he was put on antibiotics for that and has since gotten better. He then had his hernia surgery a week ago and is still on the ventilator. The surgery went well but for the first couple of days after his surgery he just wasn't himself. He put on so much water weight that he didn't even look like the same baby to me. His face was so puffy. For a couple of days they had him on so much pain medicine that he wasn't really moving, opening his eyes or breathing over the ventilator at all. They have since weaned him off of his pain medicine and he is starting to act like himself. They were supposed to take him off of the ventilator today but his belly was distended (meaning he needs to poop) so they didn't want to put him back on cpap and put extra air into his belly. During rounds this morning they said if his belly goes down they would try tomorrow to take him off of the ventilator but I just got a call this evening saying that Morgan's HERO score (which is a study to try to predict infection sooner) has gone up and they are going to stop his feeds again and start him on antibiotics again!! They said he hasn't been acting any differently but they just to be careful because his belly has been distended. So now that he is back on antibiotics I don't think they will take him off of the ventilator tomorrow. I am just bummed that we have to go through another round of antibiotics! I just have to be thankful that in the long run he really is doing well and that so many other things could have gone wrong...this just happens to be a small down hill on this crazy roller coaster!

Hernia Surgery

2009-02-12T20:59:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. Morgan is still doing very well. He is up to 5 pounds 9 ounces!!! He is getting so big! The big news is he had his hernias repaired and was circumcised today. The hernias were getting hard to reduce meaning not as easy to push back up into the abdomen so the doctors thought it was time to repair them. The hernias were getting very swollen and the doctors thought it might be affecting his ability to come down on his oxygen settings. The surgery went very well and it will make him feel a lot better. Morgan also has a umbilical hernia (it looks like his belly button is sticking out) but the surgeon said that they are very common and they usually close on their own and that it is nothing to worry about now.

In other good news, Morgan had another eye exam on Tuesday and it looks like his eyes are getting better from ROP. I don't think I have talked about ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) on the blog yet, but it is a disease that affects the blood vessels on the back of the eye. If left to get worse, ROP can lead to blindness. If needed, ROP can be corrected with laser surgery which would limit peripheral vision but otherwise save the sight of the baby. I am hoping that Morgan's eyes will keep getting better and he won't need the surgery.

Overall Morgan is doing awesome. I have been looking at other blogs about micropreemies and there are a lot of other issues that he could have but luckily we haven't had to deal with many issues so far. I hope everyone is doing well.

Morgan is 5 pounds!

2009-02-05T19:06:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. As of yesterday evening Morgan weighed 5 pounds! Wow how far we have come! He is doing very well on just the nasal cannula, the next step is breathing with nothing which is very exciting. I went down yesterday evening to see him and he wasn't very interested in taking the bottle, he ate a little bit and then we fed the rest through the feeding tube. I took some pictures of him being weighed on the "big boy" scale.

Making a lot of progress

2009-02-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. At lot has happened since my last post. As of this morning Morgan is 4 pounds 12.5 ounces. He is now in just a bassinet and has been moved to the transitional nursery where the focus is on getting bigger and going home. The transitional nursery is still a part of the NICU there is just a larger space for each baby and there are privacy curtains. He has been on just the nasal cannula since noon yesterday. They plan on leaving him on the cannula unless he shows signs of respiratory distress but so far he has done well. Another huge milestone is that he took a bottle last night for the first time and ate all of his formula through it. The nurse noticed that he was sucking on his feeding tube so she took it out and tried giving him a bottle. He ate all of his meals last night and this morning from the bottle. If he shows signs of tiring they will put the tube back in. In the past week Morgan has made huge strides. It is so exciting to feel like he is getting closer and closer to coming home! Brad and I are going down tomorrow afternoon and I will get pictures of him in his bassinet and hopefully eating from a bottle!

Exciting Times

2009-01-25T19:06:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Well Morgan is doing AWESOME! He was extubated again on Wednesday January 21st and has done awesome since then. I was a little nervous because the last time didn't go so well but this time he is doing much better. Yesterday the nurse took off his CPAP helmet so we could see his whole face. He did pretty well with nothing but he was working too hard at breathing. Today while my mom and I were holding Morgan the nurse put him on just the nasal cannula so we could see his face again and he did well on that too. They still put his CPAP back on after we were done holding him because they don't want to push him too fast to prevent a major set back. I am so relieved his breathing is improving because I knew that would be his biggest hurdle. He is still eating well and is up to 4 pounds 2.5 ounces and 15 inches long. He might soon graduate to another NICU pod where the "big boys" are where the main focus is eating and getting bigger to get ready to go home. He still won't come home until March but we are getting there! Other big new is that Brad got to change his first diaper for Morgan.

There was a new born baby next to Morgan when Brad and I went to visit him Friday night that ended up not making it. I am not sure how old the baby was, it looked small but it was a reminder how lucky we are that Morgan is doing well. I added the pictures I took this weekend. There is also a video of Morgan hiccuping, it was hilarious, it was so high pitched. It might be a little hard to hear because the doctors were talking in the background.

2009-01-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Here are some more pictures. The date on some of them is wrong, I forgot to reset the date on my camera. Morgan is up to 3 pounds 14 ounces....almost 4 pounds!!! He is still doing very well. The big news is they tried extubating him on January 14th but they had to reintubate him on the 15th because he required too high of an oxygen level and he was working too hard at breathing. He just needs more time before they try again. That is going to be the biggest hurdle for him....getting off of the ventilator, but he will get there eventually. The top picture is of him with his CPAP mask on when they tried extubating him. Other big new is that he now gets to wear clothes. He is wearing an outfit in a couple of the pictures above. Also, my mom got to hold him yesterday when she came down.

2009-01-11T21:27:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. Morgan would have been 31 weeks today but he is 6 weeks and 3 days. He was up to 3 pounds 11 ounces, but he is down to 3 pounds 7 ounces because they have stopped his feeds again. Yesterday he was showing signs of an infection so he was started on antibiotics and his feeding was stopped. The doctors said by the time he is full term he will have the immune system just like any other baby born at full term. He will be more susceptible to respiratory bugs and we will need to keep him away from highly populated areas for a while. Hopefully they will start feeding him again tomorrow...it kills me to think he is hungry, but he might not be feeling very hungry if he isn't feeling well. He was very lethargic yesterday but was more himself today by moving around more. They have also started him on another medication to help his lungs and it might be making a difference because for the past two days he has only needed around 22% oxygen which is good, he was up around 35-45%. He is still sensitive to people messing with him but he seems to be getting a little better with that. Hopefully this "attitude" isn't a sign of things to come when he gets older! I really can't wait until he is off of the ventilator. It kills me to see him crying but he can't make any sound. The ventilator blocks the vocal cords. I got to hold him again the other day for 3 hours. That is about all for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Update

2009-01-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. Well lets see....Morgan is up to 3 pounds 8 ounces!!! He is getting huge which I am so excited about. He is tolerating his feeds very well so he should keep putting on more weight. They decreased his ventilator settings again today so he is on the right track. We found out the other day that he has a hernia on one side for now, that they will just keep an eye on and operate on right before he goes home.

Unfortunately I will have to go back to work on January 22nd, my maternity leave is over and I want to save my paid time off for when he comes home. I also get 10 working days of parental leave which I can take when he comes home. So starting the end of January I will go down maybe one weeknight and then on weekends to see him. I know he is in good hands with the doctors and nurses down there and I will be ready here to take care of him when he comes home.

Update and more pictures!

2008-12-31T08:51:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Morgan is still doing well. He has come down on his ventilator settings over the past few days so hopefully that means he is on his way to coming off of it.

In the first two pictures Morgan was using the booties and blanket someone had knitted for him. I'm not sure who made them, the nurse just said they were in his Christmas stocking. In the third picture Morgan is sprawled out, he was stretching his arms and legs out at the same time, it was so funny. In the fifth picture the nurse was changing the stabilizer on his ventilator tube so we were able to see more of his face. The mark on his face is the residue from the glue the use to keep the stabilizer on.

Morgan is one month old today

2008-12-27T16:03:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Brad came down to Charlottesville on Christmas eve to see Morgan and spend time with me. Brad got to hold Morgan for the first time on Christmas eve, he really enjoyed that. I have some pictures that I will upload later. We both went home Christmas afternoon to spend time with family. My sister and mom came down this morning to see Morgan, he has really grown. He is up to 2 pounds 15 ounces...almost 3 pounds! He is really filling out now. They started his feedings again yesterday and so far so good. I really think the next big hurdle is getting him off of the ventilator. His settings aren't as low as they would like but I guess they are slowly lowering them. The doctors seemed to be contemplating giving him a dose of steroids but are hesitant to do that if he is able to lower the settings and come off of the ventilator himself. That is about all that is going on here. I'll try to post pictures soon.

Update

2008-12-23T21:53:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Things have been crazy! We went to closing on our new house in Bristow last Wednesday and have been painting, working on the house and moving since. I came home for a couple of days to help paint but Brad has had to do the moving on his own. He has done a really great job with taking care of everything back home!

Morgan is doing well. Today he was up to 2 pounds 10 ounces! I think he will gain and then lose a little, gain and then lose a little. He is definitely looking bigger though. It was really hard to be away from him for the 4 days I was at home. I called everyday to check on him. The second day I was home I called and the nurse had said that his left lung had collapsed and he was up on his oxygen which is something that happens with babies that have lung disease. One thing I didn't understand and am starting to realize is that most premature baby has lung disease just because their lungs are under developed. The severity of the disease varies with every baby. Morgan's chest xrays are looking better and he is down on his oxygen. I read on Webmd though that some children can out grow their lung disease which is hopeful. He will be on the ventilator for at least a couple of more weeks before they try to extibate him again.

The doctors also thought Morgan had some sort of intestinal infection because he had blood in his stool one day. They stopped his feedings and started him on antibiotics. They will start feeding him slowly again this Friday and see how he does. But other than those things he is doing well. He still looks great and is acting the same. The nurse also said that because he was still acting the same and responding to stimuli and opening his eyes that that was a sign that there are no neurological issues. It has definitely been a roller coaster ride so far but I feel that in the end it will all work out. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Update on Morgan's Progress

2008-12-15T10:37:00.000-05:00

Morgan is still doing well. They are increasing the amount of breast milk he is eating. They feed him every two hours through his feeding tube and I believe are increasing the amount every twelve hours. He is tolerating the feedings very well and is pooping on a regular schedule which is a relief. As of yesterday he was up to 2 pounds 2.5 ounces and he does look like he is filling out and getting bigger. I got to hold him again yesterday for an hour and a half! He did really well when he was laying on my chest. He actually peed through his diaper and onto my shirt which was kinda funny. I felt like a true mom! Ok I'm off to the hospital again to see him.

More Pictures

2008-12-13T17:04:00.000-05:00

Morgan surpassed his birth weight

2008-12-10T17:34:00.000-05:00

Today started with my typical routine. I went to the hospital this morning and sat by Morgan's bedside for a while. I always check his weight on the spreadsheet every morning. This morning he weighed 1 pound 15 ounces...he surpassed his birth weight and is almost at 2 pounds!! My aunt and uncle (Barbara and Dave) and my paternal grandmother came to visit today. The "A" pod of the NICU where Morgan is was very busy today. It is now full with tiny babies. I kept feeling like we were in the way but the nurses and doctors are always happy to see family. After spending time with Morgan we all ate lunch in the cafeteria and then took a tour of the Ronald McDonald house.
We happened to be there when the doctors did rounds and overall Morgan is doing well. The value near his heart that had closed with medicine can reopen. They are going to do an echo to see if it has reopened. His last head scan on Monday looked good. He still isn't pooping like he should be but the nurse said that is also a common problem in premies. They are also going to check his biliruben levels to see if he is jaundice again, he may have to go back under the lights. Everyone warned me that it would be a roller coaster ride. Once one problem is corrected it can reappear later on but the nurses reassure me that this is normal with premature babies.

2008-12-08T17:46:00.000-05:00

Well Morgan is 26 and 1/7 weeks today. He is still at 1 pound 11 ounces...hasn't gained any weight in the past two days, but he hasn't lost any either which is good. I spent the morning at the hospital with him. There are no significant changes to report. The doctors said it's good that things are boring. Boring is good in the NICU. They are continuing with feedings every four hours into his feeding tube. An xray of his bowels yesterday looked good. They did another head scan this morning, I should get he results of that tomorrow morning. That's all for now. Thanks again to everyone for the love and support!

2008-12-05T17:28:00.000-05:00

Linda (grandma) came down last night and visited all day with me and Morgan. We hung out at Morgan's bedside for quite a few hours today. He is still doing well however they aren't feeding him large amounts of milk until he has large bowel movements. That is something they are going to keep an eye on over the next few days. I changed his diaper again today, I'm getting pretty good at it. Overall the doctors say he is doing well except for the pooping issue. Mom and I walked to and from the hospital a couple of times today, it is only a 5 minute walk which is really nice.

The Ronald McDonald house is really nice, it has all of the amenities of home including a washer, dryer, computer and a fully equipped kitchen. They also decorated the house for Christmas. Almost every night a different group makes dinner for us. Last night the local girl scouts brought dinner....ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, biscuits, jello salad and brownies...yum yum!!

That is all for now, tomorrow Daddy and Marcus come down to visit.

I got to hold Morgan today

2008-12-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day. When I got to the hospital this morning they had just switched Morgan over to a regular ventilator instead of a oscillating ventilator which had been putting faster breaths into his lungs. He responded well to the new ventilator. The tubes for a regular ventilator are more flexible which meant I could hold him. I got to hold him on my chest for half an hour today and it was awesome. He was just relaxing and sleeping. I also got to change two of his diapers today which I hadn't gotten to do yet. When I left the nurses were trying to put a pick line into either his hand, foot or head (I know that sounds scary but they assured me that it can go there too). The pick line will replace the lines he has going into his belly button for his nutritional supplements. After a week of the lines going into his belly button the chance of infection increases because his belly button is supposed to be healing. I don't have any pictures of me holding Morgan right now, the nurse took some with the disposible cameras we had but I will have my camera the next time and post them on the blog.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the love and support you have been showing me, Brad, Marcus and especially Morgan...we all appreciate it very much!!

2008-12-03T12:50:00.001-05:00

He may be little, but he is just like you and me. While visiting on Tuesday, we saw him hiccupping, sneezing, yawning, and exercising. He completely ignored me but became very active at the sound of Amanda's voice. The doctors said he was acting like he was enjoying a day at the beach. Here is my favorite picture of him yawning.

Amanda and Morgan on Tuesday, Dec.2

2008-12-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

Morgan's Progress

2008-12-03T12:16:00.000-05:00

From the beginning, Morgan has exceeded the doctors' expectations. For the last 5 days he was breathing well with the help of a ventilator, which was now on the lowest setting. Because of his progress, at 3 pm on Tuesday, Dec. 2, the doctors decided to remove his breathing tube as a trial run. They warned that he might have to be reintibated but said that any break from the ventilator will help his lung development greatly.

It was exciting for us because as they were removing the tube and fitting his oxygen mask, Amanda and I got to see his whole face for the first time. I think he looks like Brad, but I guess only time will tell:).

Morgan did very well breathing with only the oxygen mask for the afternoon and all the tests of his respiratory system came back perfectly. They expected that after resting for the evening and overnight that Amanda would be able to hold him for the first time in the morning on Wednesday. However, because his little body doesn't have the stamina to continue breathing on his own, he was reintibated early this morning. While a little disappointing, it is not considered a setback because he is still doing extremely well for his age.

There is also other good news! Morgan had a brain scan done at one day old, last Friday, and the results indicated that he had bleeding on one side of his brain. We were all worried but found out on Sunday that the bleeding had resolved itself. However, yesterday the doctors reviewed the inital scan results again and determined that they were misread and that there had been little to no bleeding in his brain at all. Because the long term effects of any bleeding is not known, we were glad to hear that news.

Also, as most babies lose weight after birth, Morgan dropped down to 1 lb 8 oz. But as of Tuesday, he started gaining weight again and was at 1lb 10.5 oz. We can't wait for him to continue bulking up:).

Morgan's First Baby Picture 11/27/08

2008-12-03T12:13:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Baby Morgan's Blog

2008-12-03T11:54:00.000-05:00

Morgan Evan Bosarge was welcomed into this world by Amanda and Brad on November 27, 2008 at 1:19 p.m. He weighed 1 lb 14 oz and was 12.5 inches long and was born at the UVa Medical Center in Charlottesville, VA. Although he was born almost 16 weeks early, he is a little fighter and is doing very well.

Morgan will be staying in the NICU at UVa until his original due date of March 15. We will be updating his blog with his progress as he continues to get bigger and stronger over the next few months. Feel free to leave comments of love and encouragement to Amanda, Brad, Marcus and Morgan's extended family as he is loved by many!

Also, Amanda will be staying in Charlottesville with Morgan throughout his stay with Brad and Marcus visiting on the weekends. You can send any mail to Ronald McDonald House, c/o Amanda Bosarge, 300 9th Street SW Charlottesville, VA 22903.