I thought I would contribute today

As you all have probably figured out, Ryan is the Caleb Blog Guru. Well, I thought I would mix things up by putting my own post on here today (if you haven't figured it out, this is Adrienne). I can't guarantee that this will be a regular thing, we will see how it goes.

Well, I have heard that many of you are "keeping Caleb's poo issues in your prayers" and to set your mind at ease he had two huge blow outs last night. yippee!! (I never thought I would be so excited about someone in my household pooing). He hasn't had any today though, and he has been grunting away since I got here.

I also talked to his nurse and she said that his "full feed" is up to 55ccs now. He was at 43ccs before he got sick. He is currently at 27ccs and they are going up 3 every other feed. When he gets up to that 55cc mark then they will be able to take the IV out. So that will take a few days yet.

I think that is all for today! Have a happy new year everyone.

Adrienne

Caleb Update: 12/30/07

You can call Caleb a 5 pounder no more. He has graduated to 6lbs 1oz and isn't looking back. In his graduation speech he mentioned all of the difficult eating and sleeping that it took to get where he is today and all of the "little" people (you know, those less than 6lbs) that helped him along the way. He has also grown a full 2 inches since birth to a skyscraping 18.5 inches.

He is loving life right now because his belly is getting full. He is guzzling every drop he gets. We're now up to 18cc's already. This morning Adrienne fed him at breast and in just 5 minutes he downed 28cc's! The doctor said we probably shouldn't do that on a consistent basis because we don't want to overwhelm his system, but that it is a good indication that he is ready for a bigger increase. Hopefully tomorrow it will be up around 25 or so.

His IV vein closed up again. The nurse lobbied to have it taken out for good, but the doc said that it is just too soon to do that. So they had to restart in another site, but at his rate of feeding it should only be needed for another day or two.

The only thing that Adrienne and I are concerned about is the fact that he hasn't had a poo yet. It's been a day and a half of eating with no poo. He has been working on one all day it seems, but he isn't getting it out. Everyone here said that it will take a bit for his gut to get back up to speed, but we're still a little nervous considering his past infection. The nurse said that if he doesn't have a poo sometime tonight then they will "encourage" his bowel with a suppository. Sorry about the poo talk.

Here's our growing boy (we're awfully proud of his little double chin):
Until next time,
Ryan

Caleb Update: 12/29/07

Sorry its been a couple days since the last update.

As of 10pm last night he weighed 5lb 14oz, just a hair under 6lbs, and had his last dose of antibiotics. Wahoo! I think he has earned a new nickname: Fatboy Slim seems appropriate. They have started feeding him 3oz of milk every 3 hours beginning at 8am this morning. We arrived at around 12:30 and he has had 2 feedings so far. Robin, our nurse, said that he was a little hesitant with the first one, but the second one he guzzled right down. The doctor is starting him off pretty slow as a precaution to make sure that his gut has fully recovered from the infection and it can handle food again. Baby steps, I guess.

They are feeding him with a bottle and haven't put an NG tube back in which is a very good thing. He is 37 weeks gestation, which is considered full-term, so we expect that he should be able to eat as well as a normal newborn and hopefully won't need the tube put back in. I'm sure Caleb is also thankful for that.

I also forgot to mention that they took him out of his incubator on the 27th and he is back in an open air crib. He isn't wearing clothes yet due to his IV, but once that comes out then his clothes will go back on.

Robin bumped his IV down 1cc today, which isn't much, but its progress. Again, baby steps. Hopefully they will reevaluate his feeding amounts every 12 hours instead of 24 so he can get more food quicker and get his IV out sooner.

As I mentioned before, he continues to be awake more and more and for longer. Yesterday after work, I got to have some kangaroo time (skin-to-skin), where he laid on my chest and looked around checking things out until he finally fell asleep. It was pretty fun.

I'll try to be a little quicker with the next post. Thanks for your continued prayers. Hopefully it won't be long now!

Ryan

Caleb Update: 12/25/07

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration, we certainly did. Even though it was hard to leave Caleb, I think it was good for us to get out of the hospital and visit our families this weekend. We had a great time up in Bellingham on Sunday with my family and we were so excited to be able to go to my Grandma and Grandpa Hallberg's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. Congratulations again! We also had a wonderful Christmas Eve night and Morning with the Pottorfs. It was nice to have some semblance of the joy of the Christmas season considering the events in the last month. We are so blessed to have such a loving and supportive family!

Caleb is doing so well. He is still gaining weight like crazy. He is 5lb 8oz!! He has averaged 2oz of gain over the past 4 days. He hasn't even resumed eating yet. The doctor said that we are going to finish the 10-day antibiotic treatment on Friday and then begin to introduce food back into his diet that same day. They will start out slow to acclimate his body to food again and then increase the amount as he can handle it. As the food amount increases they will decrease the IV amount until it is no longer needed, just as before. We don't think it will take long for him to get to that point as he seems to still have a strong desire for food and sucking.

Caleb is getting so big and stays awake for longer periods of time, which we hope will help his feedings as well. He always used to fall asleep when we try to bottle or breast feed him. It is so awesome to make eye contact with him and see that he recognizes, to some degree, who we are. It also makes it hard to leave at night because he seems to be wide awake when we try to put him back in his incubator. We hate to leave him when he is awake because we don't want to miss out on that interaction time or have him feel like we're abandoning him.

We hope that he continues to have success gaining weight and picks up feeding again so we can resume talk of taking him home, but I know that we still have some hurdles to overcome before that happens.

Thanks for your continued prayer support.

Ryan

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from Caleb!!

(5lb 3oz!)

Caleb Update: 12/23/07

Merry Christmas to you all!

Our little Caleb is continuing to do really well. His x-rays continue to remain clear of any evidence of infection. He is even gaining weight. Caleb weighs a whopping 5lb 1oz!!! That's right, another weight milestone checked off the list. Woohoo!

A couple of events have occured since my last post. The first, on Friday the 21st, The doctor came and told us that they wanted to put in a PICC line (aka a central line) because his veins kept closing up on the IVs in his hands. This will prevent them from having to constantly poke him to find a new IV site every couple days. Basically a central line is feeding a catheter tube into one of his veins, usually on an arm or leg, and push it so its pretty close to his heart. Its a pretty standard procedure and it went very well for Caleb.

The second was a lumbar puncture (aka spinal tap). This happened on Saturday the 22nd in the morning. The reasoning behind this was to rule out any meningitis infection. The kind of bacteria that caused his bowel infection can also cause meningitis. The doctor assured us that Caleb wasn't exhibiting any symptoms of it and that it was only a precautionary test. He also said that in newborns its not as painful or uncomfortable as it would be on an adult. This also went very smoothly and without incident. Today we got the results of the culture on his spinal fluid and it was all clear. Praise the Lord!

We are just sitting here holding our baby boy and enjoying some time with him until we head up to Bellingham for a Christmas/Grandparent's 50th anniversary celebration. We are so excited that Caleb is doing so well that we can make the trip up to B'ham and celebrate with our family.

On Monday we will also make the trip down to Mom and Dad Pottorf's to celebrate the holidays on Christmas Day. We are also very excited to spend time with them because it's a long time since we actually did the Christmas morning traditions at their house on Christmas morning. Adrienne is getting giddy like I'm sure she was as a little girl.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! Thank you for your prayers and support. As you think of Caleb, please also remember the other special baby whose birthday we celebrate this time of year.

We love you all!

Ryanade

Caleb Update: 12/20/07 9pm

Caleb is still healing remarkably well. The nurse said that he will most likely start eating again within the week. She also said that sometimes when babies go for a while without eating they seem to forget that they need to and lose the desire, which becomes troublesome when you start trying to feed again. All signs seem to contradict this with Caleb. He is constantly rooting for a bottle or breast and he is sucking on his pacifier like there's no tomorrow. His pacifier has quickly become his favorite thing and will make a big fuss if taken away. We hope that he has even more desire to eat when he's allowed to and will just take off from the start.

He has lost a net of only 4 grams at this point since he stopped eating which is pretty amazing considering that he hasn't eaten since early Tuesday morning. Some of that may be due to water weight as he is being pumped full of fluids. We don't know what he weighed tonight because we left before the official weigh in, but we'll let you know tomorrow. He definitely doesn't look like he's lost much.

God has definitely blessed our little boy and has answered our prayers. Thank you all for covering us with a blanket of prayer; we can really see in a tangible way how that has affected Caleb's health and progress.

Caleb is definitely staying true to his namesake from the Bible. He is a strong warrior who doesn't follow the majority or the typical trends. He came out early with virtually no health problems, he beat the odds with the quick recovery from this infection, and he hasn't lost much weight as was expected. That's my boy! We're very proud of him and we hope that he continues this mindset as he grows up.

When Adrienne and I got home tonight we were looking through her baby book and found a picture of her when she was right around Caleb's age. There was a remarkable similarity between them. Their noses, mouth, and eyes seemed almost identical, even the facial expressions were the same. I think that he has my hair, but he definitely has a lot of Adrienne in him too (I suppose that's a good thing, right?).

Ryan

Caleb Update: 12/20/07

I talked to Adrienne and things are looking much better for Caleb today. The doctor said that he can barely make out the pneumatosis, which is a gaseous lining of the colon caused by the infection, in the x-ray. This is a great sign that the infection is really starting to break. Praise God!

His red blood cell levels continue to remain stable thanks to the blood transfusion. They ended up taking out the transfusion IV line so that is one less thing sticking Caleb. They also moved the other IV to his foot because the vein closed up, but I think that will be more comfortable for him as he will have his hands free.

I don't know much else except that he is doing remarkably well considering the last few days. I'm heading over there after I leave work, so I may have an update later tonight.

Ryan

Yeah for Ryan!

I finally got my score back from my latest CPA test and I passed!!!!! This was the Auditing test and I passed it on my first try which is exciting as well. I scored a 76 (75 needed to pass) which was close, but in a pass/fail scenario, who cares what your score is.

I just have one more to go, the Financial test. The review book for this test is at least twice as big as any of the other ones, but I've got a good jump on it already and just need to get back in the groove of studying again. I'll probably try to take the test in early February.

Hooray! What a relief it is to have passed this one. I finally see the light at the end of this very long tunnel. Adrienne is also excited to not have to share her husband with a textbook anymore. Yeah for both of us. Let's just pray that I can knock this one out in one shot too.

Caleb Update: 12/19/07 6pm

The 6pm x-rays showed even more improvement than the 12:00 films. Nothing drastic, but still improvement nonetheless. He still has a ways to go, but he's headed in the right direction, let's just hope that there aren't anymore detours on the road to home.

He is finally sleeping which is nice for everyone. We feel like we can go home and get some sleep ourselves since he isn't up and screaming all the time (at least right now).

Like I said before, we're going to continue the prescribed treatment plan because that seems to be working. We don't have a timeline as far as when he'll start eating again or begin to shed some of his IVs, all we get is "It depends." So, again, we wait.

We also took a Baby CPR class tonight, so if any of you have babies that need CPR or the Heimleich just bring them to our house. The doll we practiced on did survive, so we have one notch in our belt. (NOTE: you may want to call 911 before you come over).

I'm going to work tomorrow so I won't have immediate information available, but I'll keep in contact with Adrienne and then report back here with the updates.

We would appreciate your continued prayers. Thank you all so much for your love and support as we go through this challenging time.

Ryan

Caleb Update: 12/19/07

We talked to the doctor this afternoon after he got the 12:00 x-rays back and he said that there was definite improvement and the antibiotics and everything we're doing seems to be working. The most important thing is that there isn't any perforation in the intestinal wall. Praise God! However, we're not entirely out of the woods yet, we're still going to keep doing what we're doing and finish the dosage of antibiotics because we don't want to risk infection again.

We're still in somewhat of a standby mode to make sure the infection is really subsiding, which isn't very fun as a parent because we want to know everything immediately and know that he is doing alright. We will just have to trust God that He's got our little Caleb in His hands.

I appreciate all of your calls and emails and, most of all, your prayers. Caleb has so many people praying for him across the country. I think God has heard and responded. Please keep praying for continued success in beating the infection. Also, pray that Caleb has relief from hunger pangs. He isn't allowed to eat anything while we're treating the infection and his empty belly is what is making him uncomfortable, fussy and unable to sleep very well.

Our next x-ray is at 6pm tonight so I'll try to post another update after we get the results of that back.

Ryan

Please pray for Caleb!

Caleb has taken a turn for the worse. This is what we know at this point:

He has a bowel infection, which is the reason why he wasn't eating much the past couple days. It could be pretty serious if the infection doesn't subside. He has been moved back into one of the NICU rooms like he was in before and is in an incubator again. He won't be allowed to eat again for at least 10-14 days to make sure his bowels heal properly. To compensate they put him back on an IV which will give him the nutrients he needs. He is also being given some high power anitbiotics which will hopefully knock out the infection before it gets worse.

He was pretty anemic before, but now with all of the blood tests he is even more so he will need to have a blood transfusion. They will give him one within the next 12 hours. Pray that it goes well and there aren't any complications.

The doctor is great and answers our questions, explained the whole process and showed us the x-rays how they know its an infection. Basically, the bacteria, that is inside everyone's bowels to help digest, has become irritated and infectious. The real problem is that the infection can eat through the wall of the intestine causing all of that potent bacteria out into his body cavity. If it gets to that point he will require surgery and will be transferred to Children's Hospital in Seattle where they have pediatric surgeons. We hope and pray that it doesn't get that far and that the antibiotics will knock it out.

We'll keep you posted when we find out anything new. Please be praying for little Caleb!

Thanks.

Ryanade

Caleb Update: 12/18/07

Sorry, it's been a little while since the last post.

The last few days have been a little up and down as far as Caleb's progress is concerned. On Saturday, we talked to the doctor and he said that given his current state it might be a week to 10 days before being discharged. This was exciting news and gave us a real boost of hope. However, later that day and now these last couple days Caleb seems to have hit a wall. He has had trouble pooing and seems to be struggling with that all the time. On Saturday, he didn't have one the entire time we were there. He seemed to be uncomfortable all the time and wasn't interested in eating at all. Finally on Sunday, he had a real good BM and seemed to be a bit more comfortable, but he slept literally all day because he was so exhausted from struggling so much the day before. Again, he didn't eat much orally. Yesterday (Monday), he looked fine and was awake during his feeding times, but he just didn't want to eat. He would sit there with the bottle or breast in his mouth, but wouldn't suck. Needless to say we're both a little frustrated and a bit worried. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing. The nurse said that it may be the iron supplement that they mix with his food that may be making him a bit constipated. She also said that he may just want to take a breather because the last few weeks have been pretty overwhelming. We hope this is the case and that he'll pick back up soon.

At this point, having him home for Christmas is extremely unlikely to happen. Oh well, we'll have him home soon enough I suppose. Right now we just want him to start eating again. He didn't gain any weight yesterday due to spending so much energy trying to make a BM. However, he is currently at 4lb 14oz, very close to the 5lb mark.

He is just over 35 weeks gestational age. The doctor said that usually around 35-37 weeks something clicks with babies and they just seem to "get it." Once this happens they start taking most of their feeds orally and progress is usually very speedy at this point. Let's pray that he clicks in the next week or so.

This weekend we were visited by Katie and Pat, as well, as Scott and Lois. It was fun to visit with them and catch up on what's going on in the "real world." It seems we're a bit in a parallel universe as our life has been put on hold since Caleb was born, so it was nice to see friendly faces to remind us that there is life outside the hospital.

Did I tell you that we moved rooms? We were transferred out of the "sickly" portion of the NICU, where the beds are needed by more critical babies, into the pediatric side. The room is twice as big and with a real bed. It is a lot like the birthing suite that we were in when Adrienne was admitted. It's very nice and much quieter than the other room. So if you come by to visit you don't need to walk all the way down to the end of the hall, it is actually much closer to the front door which is nice. Thanks again to Scott and Lois for helping us pack up and move to the new room, it was a big help.

Here are a few more Caleb pictures:

Contemplating on whether his hat is a Christmas hat or Jamaican.

This is HALF of a cinnamon roll that Katie and Pat brought us!

I'll continue to keep you posted.

Ryan

Caleb Update: 12/12/07

Caleb gained another ounce today; he's at 4lb 10oz and still doing great. He seems to be awake quite a bit more than he used to. I suppose that's probably normal for most newborns. I think that he's getting more comfortable opening his eyes and checking things out and not quite so overwhelmed by the sight of his surroundings.

He's definitely getting more vocal as time goes on. He makes cute little purring-type noises when he's feeding, he cries a bit more, especially when he's getting changed. He also fusses a bit when he's uncomfortable or he's got gas. We were hoping that he would be as quiet as he has been when he gets home, but I don't think we'll be so lucky.

We gave him his first bath today, which was pretty fun and exciting. He was looking a little shiny. I suppose we all would if we went 2 weeks without bathing. He cried at first, but then we put a warm wash cloth over his body and he seemed to enjoy that and was less fussy. The nurse did most of the washing just to show us how its done so hopefully we can do it on our own in the future. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get any pictures, but we decided to do it at the last minute and it was done pretty quickly. The nurse was on a pretty tight schedule with her other babies so we didn't have much time to revel in the experience. I guess the important thing was that he got clean. You thought his hair was soft before, well it is even more soft now. It's hard to stop petting him like a little doggie. I promise I'll take pictures when we get to wash him by ourselves next time and we'll pretend that it's his first bath. Ok?

We're hoping that the nurses will start pushing him a little more with the bottle and breast feeding. That's the biggest hurdle to overcome before they send him home. We feel like they give up on it too quickly and don't give him a chance to eat more this way. He has to get at least 80% of his food from the bottle or breast before they will release him, but I don't think they're giving him enough of a chance to reach that mark. They say he gets too tired when being fed orally so they stop it when he slows down and give him the rest of his food through the tube. Don't most babies take rests when they're feeding?

We'll try to press the nurses to feed him orally more often. It seems that because they're always on such a tight feeding schedule with all of the other babies in their charge that they don't have enough time to sit with him and bottle feed him. It is easier for them to set up the pump and feed him through the tube. I guess we're a bit frustrated by this. It seems like they're going to unnecessarily prolong his stay there because they're too busy. On the other hand, they know more than we do, so I guess we should cut them a little slack. But we'll still keep bugging them about it.

Until next time,
Ryan

Caleb Update: 12/11/07

Happy two week birthday, Caleb! Wow, two weeks has just flown by. A lot of exciting stuff has happened in the last couple days. Let me fill you in.

First, Caleb is gaining weight like there's no tomorrow. The last post I told you that he has surpassed the 4lb milestone to 4lb 1 oz, well as of yesterday 12/10 he is 4lb 8oz! He gained almost a half pound in the last 4 days! He continues to eat and is now getting 40cc's (1.3 oz) at every feeding. On Sunday morning the nurse told us that he took his whole feeding with a bottle which is a great sign. As I said before, one of the check-offs to go home is for Caleb to be able to feed orally, whether by breast or bottle, and gain weight. He seems to be making great progress with both methods, and it appears that he has the gaining weight thing down too.

Our good friends Ken, Carol, Dana and Jon came to visit on Saturday. It was great to see them and catch up. Because Dana was still recovering from a cold and Carol is perpetually exposed to a variety of domestic and exotic bugs being librarian at a school, they weren't allowed to see Caleb in person. So the masked men, Ken and Jon, were the only ones that got to see the live version of Caleb. Through the wonderful advances in technology, Carol and Dana were able to see Caleb via a multi-media presentation complete with pictures and video. It's not quite as good as the real thing, but it sufficed in a pinch.

We were nervous when we walked in his room on Sunday because it looked like he wasn't there. We were scared at first because we thought that something had happend to him and they had to rush him off somewhere. We were pleasantly surprised to see that his incubator was replaced with an open-air bassinet, that is much smaller than his incubator, which was the reason we didn't see it at first. This means that we can pick him up and hold him pretty much anytime that we want. Yeah for Mom and Dad! This is yet another major milestone that he's making great progress on! He is now wearing some PJ's that he seems to get lost in, but at his rate of growth he'll fit into them quickly.

We had a wonderful visit with my mom and Grandma Hallberg on Sunday. It was so good to see them and have them get some face time with Caleb. I hope soon that we will be allowed to have others hold him as I'm sure that the grandparents are chomping at the bit. As the nurse pointed out we had 4 generations of my family in that room, which was really cool to be able to do. Caleb really put on a show for Mom and Grandma because he was awake and wide-eyed, looking all around, so they got to have some fun interaction time with him.
Mom had brought some of my baby pictures down to compare to Caleb. It was a little eerie to see how much we looked a like, even at 2 weeks. I remember when I was a kid and comparing my pictures to my dad's and seeing how much we looked alike; it's a little strange to now be on the dad side of that equation.

As you can tell our little boy is growing fast and we have guarded optimism that he will continue to do so and we can have him home by Christmas, but we also don't want to get our hopes up either. That is something you all can help us pray for.

Ryan

Caleb Update: 12/6/07

Congratulations to Caleb! With his hard work of eating and sleeping (my kind of work) he has surpassed the 4lb milestone. He is now at 4lb 1oz.

He had another good nursing session today where he was able to get quite a bit of food. The nurse thinks he got about 1/3 of his normal feeding through nursing plus they still gave him his normal portion of 35cc's (up 2cc's from yesterday). He did have some residual left in his stomach, probably because he ate so much it takes longer than 3 hours to digest it so we're not too worried about it.

The whole process of finding the residual food in his stomach is pretty interesting. Because he has an NG tube and they put food directly into his stomach with a syringe, they can also take it back out. So every 3 hours when they come in to feed him again they pull out anything still left in his stomach from the previous feeding to make sure that he's digesting it and his gut is working correctly. If there is any residual they record it and then push it back down and also add the regular feeding. Usually there isn't any residual so we're not too concerned that there was some today. Adrienne, the nurse (Suzanne), and I were talking about how weird it must feel to have a full belly and then have it sucked back out and you suddenly feel hungry and then a few seconds later it is put back and you feel full again.

The temperature in his incubator, actually "isolet" is the proper medical term, remained the same at 29.8 degrees Celsius. He will slowly begin to be introduced to the world of clothing over the next week or so in order for him to acclimate to room temperature and get the feeling of something covering his body. Room temperature is 28 degrees C, so he's almost there (he started at 34C). It is encouraging to see that even though the temperature decreases he can still gain weight. Often preemies burn so many calories keeping their body temperature regulated that they have a hard time gaining weight. Not Caleb. Let's hope that he continues his overachieving ways throughout his whole life.

I got to hold him for an extended period of time today. Here are a couple pictures:


Even though he is doing so well and we love to see him, it is getting a bit fatiguing for us to go to the hospital every day and not be able to take him home. We just want to be home with him and begin a normal life as a family. Please pray for continued energy and a sense of hope and peace about the situation. Also pray that he continues to do well so can take him home as soon as possible.

Until tomorrow.


Ryanade

Caleb Update: 12/5/07

I had some precious alone time with my boy today. He was wide awake and I felt like I had some good interaction with him even as limited a newborn's interaction is. He seems to really respond to my voice which is great for me since I don't get the same bonding experience as Adrienne does when she nurses him. I'm going to start bringing some books to the hospital to read to him. If any of you out there are looking for a gift idea for Caleb, books are a good choice as we don't have many, especially the cardboard books for kids under 1yr so he doesn't rip and tear the paper books.

He gained more weight again today, a whole ounce even. He's now topping the scales at 3lb 15.3oz. We're hoping that he'll have a congratulatory 4lb sign on his door when we arrive.

I'm not sure if I mentioned previously, but Adrienne has been working with a lactation specialist (interesting job, huh?) to begin introducing him to breastfeeding. Adrienne reported that today he made a good latch and was actually sucking and getting some milk. He did this for about a half an hour until his belly was full as he was also getting fed through his tube at the same time. Needless to say he ate a ton yesterday, so we're hoping that it is reflected on the scale tomorrow to bump him over the 4lb mark.

I sent some pictures around work yesterday and there was an overwhelming response of how cute and precious he is. There are a bunch of 40 and 50-something moms whose kids are all grown and they gush over his pictures reminiscing about their experiences with young children. One common thread to all of their stories is to cherish these infant moments as they seem to fly by in an instant. I will do my best to follow their advice.

This is a whole new experience for both Adrienne and I. I never knew my capacity of love until I met Caleb, even from day 1. I thought that had experienced love to the fullest when I married Adrienne, but there's just something about a parent/child connection that fills a void in the heart that I never knew existed until Caleb was born. Even now it makes me tear up with emotion just thinking about him.

Ok, enough of the sappy stuff. I'll try to take some pictures when I see him tomorrow. His face and body seem to be filling out a little bit more as he gains some weight. I'll try to capture that and attach it to the next posting.

Ryan

Caleb update: 12/4/07

It's hard to believe it's been 9 days since our little one joined us. He's made so much progress in such a short amount of time. We're proud of our little warrior.

Yesterday I got to go see Caleb after work, which is always a blessing. It makes the crazy days at work, especially now during month-end close, so much more tolerable knowing that I get to go spend time with my son. I hope it is always like that.

He has gained more weight and is now at 3lb 14oz, almost his original birth weight. The nurses put up fun signs on each baby's door after they reach a weight milestone. We look forward to when we arrive and see his 4lb sign on the door.

His feeding amount has also increased to 33cc's per feeding, up 4 cc's from yesterday. So hopefully that will speed up his weight gain progress.

The nurses have nicknamed Caleb the "perfect premie." He is doing so well that they hardly ever have to do anything with him except change his diaper and feed him. And when we're there they don't even have to change him or take his temp because they let us do that. So they just sit back and watch, which I'm sure they are fine with.

We have had such great nurses so far. They are so willing to let us do those things I mentioned previously and hold him whenever we want. They are so great about telling us all of the goings on during the day and the details of his care. They answer all of our questions and more. We are so thankful for them and the loving care they provide for Caleb. They have made this whole ordeal much less stressful than it could have been. Praise God for the nurses in the Evergreen NICU!

Our day nurse, Shelli, said that hopefully by Sunday Caleb would be in an open crib instead of the incubator because he is able to regulate his body temp much better. That means that we can pick him up and hold him more regularly without the help of the nurse. Its also another milestone that brings him one step closer to home.

That's all for now. See you tomorrow
Ryan

Caleb update 12/3/07

Caleb continues to do well. He has gained an ounce of weight, now up to 3lb 12oz.; it's not much, but the small victories are encouraging.

His IV was removed because he's getting enough nutrients from Adrienne's milk (plus they are fortifying the milk with the equivalent of a multivitamin). Praise God! Now he is only wired with the vital sensors (heart rate, respitory, and oxygen saturation). We can't wait for the wireless version of Caleb, hopefully due out in time for Christmas.

The UV lights were also removed because his billirubin levels have dropped to a safe level and isn't at risk for jaundice. Praise God again!

Adrienne was able to have him out of his incubator for a couple of hours today (I'm jealous) which is a good sign that he is getting stronger and able to regulate his body temperature more and more. They are also lowering his incubator temperature daily to slowly acclimate him to room temperature; at that point he will be placed in an open air crib.

I have started back to work today, which is a little depressing because I won't be able to see my boy as much. I'm going to try to stop in on my way home as much as I can. We spent most of the day with him on Sunday and I got to watch the Seahawks game with my son for the first time. It was cute because when the Hawks scored there first TD, Caleb got excited and pumped his arm in the air. Seahawks fan from day 1, how 'bout that!

No new pictures, he looks about the same as last time.

Love, Ryanadeleb

Caleb David Howell: Born 11/27/07

Well, after much anticipation and a couple scary days shrowded with questions and the unknown, our son, Caleb David Howell, was born on November 27 at 2:37pm. He was 7.5 weeks premature (his orginal due date was Jan 19). He weighed in at 3lbs 15 oz and 16.5 inches long. He's actually a rather large baby for 32 weeks.

Caleb at minute 1

To avoid any further suspense, he was born in perfect health and continues to do great. His birth story was quite an adventure. I'll give you a play-by-play in the next posting in case you want the details.

In his 6th day of life, according to his nurses, he couldn't be doing any better. He's making so much progress. We're hoping and praying that we'll have him home by Christmas or at least before year-end.

His lungs were the biggest concern, but he was born wailing away like a normal baby, which was music to our ears. He hasn't had any trouble breathing and fortunately hasn't needed any mechanical ventilation. Praise God!!

As with all babies he lost some weight after birth, down to 3lb 8oz. His feedings started at 2cc's (30cc's = 1oz.), so not very much. This was just to see how well he could digest the milk. At two days of life he was bumped up to 9cc's, he was digesting the food well and 24hrs later he was up to 16cc's. Today he is now getting 22cc's every 3 hours. He has gained weight and is up to 3lbs 11 oz and is expected to keep gaining weight from here on out. This was very good news!

His billirubin levels (measured to detect jaundice) were borderline, so the doctors decided to go ahead with phototherapy. He is currently under UV lights to keep his levels low and prevent jaundice from setting in. He has a cute little blindfold on to shield his eyes from the light; they have little sunglasses drawn on them.

Catching some rays in the NICU

The nurses call him the "easy baby" as he doesn't need much medical attention, just the feedings and diaper changes every 3 hours. Let's hope that he continues to be the "easy kid" during his time in our household (knock on wood).

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I have no doubt that his excellent health, as well as Adrienne's, was due to the many prayers of our friends and family. Again, praise God!!

Adrienne and I will try to post an update on a daily basis with at least his current stats as far as weight, feedings, etc. I know the grandparents won't be able to go very long without a Caleb update.

Ryanadeleb