Where Did The Week Go??

Wooo wee! This week has flown by. Our little Sam is 2 weeks old! Can you believe it?!

2 more firsts for the week. Mommy got to change Sam's poopy diaper on Wednesday. Little as he is, Samuel was able to make it a blow out of sorts. Thanks, kid!

To go with along with this, Sam also gave me the finger. I wonder if he didn't like my singing? Where is he learning this naughty stuff? Maybe I need to put one of those stuffed bear nanny cams in his incubator to see what those nurses are up to :-P Actually, our boy has nice long fingers and does funny things with them. The middle one came up and stayed. The others followed a few seconds later. As you can see in the photo above, he's managed to find his mouth and tries to stick his fingers in there often. Serious cuteness. He's also making all the cute faces that babies make. Lots of adorable yawns. Oh, he also likes to scowl alot too. I just want to eat him up! His little face is filling out a bit and he looks more like a baby instead of a wrinkly old man. He still has the old man booty though. Hopefully, he'll get more meat on his bones soon.

On a more serious note, our boy has a condition called patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Before birth, a baby’s blood is oxygenated by the placenta, not the lungs. Because of this, the circulatory system of a fetus is very different from that of a newborn baby. A small amount of blood goes to the lungs to nourish them, but most of a fetus’s blood bypasses the lungs completely. Instead of going to the lungs, blood flows through the ductus arteriosus (a hole between the pulmonary artery and the aorta) and out to the rest of the body.

After birth, the baby begins to breathe and the lungs start to oxygenate the blood. When this happens, the PDA should close, allowing blood to flow freely to the lungs. However, when the ductus arteriosus does not close, deoxygenated blood flows through the PDA, into the aorta, and out to the body instead of going to the lungs to become oxygenated.

Most small PDAs will close on their own, with no treatment. Unless a baby is having a lot of symptoms from a PDA, doctors will simply monitor the baby closely and wait for the ductus arteriosus to close. A baby may be put on fluid restriction while doctors wait for a PDA to close. This helps reduce the symptoms of a PDA because the heart has less blood to pump and doesn’t have to work as hard. Samuel's is on the moderate to large side. Attempts to treat with medication didn't work too well. They could try a different medication, but the restriction of fluids and halting of feedings can cause other issues. There's no guarantee the meds would work anyway, so Sam will be having surgery tomorrow, most likely.

At first thought, surgery seemed really scary on such a tiny guy. We spoke to several doctors and nurses that said this procedure is so common, they do it all the time and it takes longer to set up for it than to actually do it. It's done in the NICU and takes less than 30 minutes, but usually around 15. This is actually the less sucky of the 2 possible diagnoses for his issues. The other was some sort of infection, which could travel throughout his whole body and cause terrible things like meningitis. Fortunately, all his lab work does not indicate infection.

Sam will probably have a couple of crummy post op days, just like anyone who has surgery. Hopefully, the increase in fluids and restarting of feedings will put him on the desired path. PDAs can cause all the issues he's having, so we're hoping to see more of an upward trend. We're hoping to have him off the ventilator next week. We'll let you know how he does.

Okay, started this entry last night, but didn't finish, so here I am. We got the call this morning that Sam's surgery would be at 11am. I was at a doc appointment, so didn't get there in time to see him before he went under. Daddy told him I said hi though :) Sam's PDA was larger than appeared on the echo, so 2 tiny little clamps were required to ligate the vessel instead of one. The procedure was over in less than 30 minutes and the surgeon said everything went well. We went in to see little dude shortly thereafter. He was spread eagle in his bed and completely stoned on morphine. The nurse said he probably wouldn't wake up until tonight. His vitals were rock solid, which is a great sign. Phew! Glad to have that over with and look forward to seeing him rebound from this. Keep up the great work, little guy! Mommy and Daddy love you!

Time for some serious shout outs once again to the Auntie Brigade. Sam enjoyed meeting his Auntie Dayna on Monday! Dayna also brought us a delicious meatloaf, scalloped potatoes and a cherry pie. I'm warming some up as we speak for lunch. Auntie Tammara came by yesterday. Sam was doing some hand holding with both the ladies. 2 weeks old and already a playa! Auntie Maggie kicked my ass for trying to do laundry. She took over, washed 3 loads and folded it all Martha Stewart style. Auntie Kris sent Mom and Dad a gift basket from Cowgirl Creamery. Mmmmm, cheese! We're going to try to find an hour over the weekend to sit on the patio and enjoy. Thanks so much gals! You're the best and we love you!

On a gossipy note, when I left the hospital a bit ago, I saw Alex Smith leaving the hospital with his wife and new baby. And for those of you that know me so well, NO, I did not interrupt their Hallmark moment to give Alex some pointers on his game :-P Congrats to the Smith family! That's all I gotta say.

On a completely unrelated note, I saw a Ford Pinto on the road on my way home. When's the last time you saw one of those rusty buckets???

I can't believe 13 days ago, we weren't sure Samuel would survive. Now, we feel he's going to do just great. He just needs to bake in another oven for awhile. He continues to be quite feisty, which the doctors say is a great sign. Somehow, I think we're already seeing exactly who he's going to be :)

Time to enjoy my meatloaf. I might even manage to get a short nap in. Woo hooo!