Cooper, our little angel

We received our photo CD from Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep of Cooper. This image was on the cover. Lisa and I are not ready to look at all the photos yet. But we thought we would share this one with you.

Doing well.....things have changed!

Lisa called me near the end of my golf game today to tell me Brinson is off the Nitric and the feeds are up to 10cc of milk over 2 hours. Lisa then said she was going to mow the yard and that make sure you have your phone because she would not be able to hear it while she was mowing.

I thought to myself what for. The hospital will not call because Brinson is doing great.....well enough for me to play golf 2 weekends in a row and for me to relax about the cell phone for a few hours.

I still kept the phone on....but I did not need it.

Things have changed, but Brin still has a long way to go. To give you an idea of what is still needed.

She is on 80CC a day on milk....to go home that she would need to be drinking 120CC * 8 or 8 bottles a day ....bottle feed. She still has a tube that runs into her belly.

For breathing, she needs to go from respirator to CPAP to nose prongs (like in the movies). So still a ways to go there.

And lastly she needs to be able hold her own body temperature. She is still being warmed inside the incubator.

Brinson is making progress now.....that everyone can see. YEAH!!!

Closeups!

Mommy and Daddy got to hold Brinson....and we loved every second of it.




"Daddy....I am trying to open my eyes. "





Hey Punkin!!! Brinson looks like she's trying so hard to communicate....or at least that is what we believe. Ha! Ha! :>

What a Cutie Pie!!!

Take a peek at this cutie pie. She is sleeping. This was taken last night just before I got to hold her.

She is doing so well.

They are lowering some settings on the vent today....in prep for CPAP.

She got blood again today. It seems her hematocrit was 33 yesterday and only 34 today.




They want her amped up (caffeine and blood) before moving her to CPAP.

I think it will be a few days before it happens. Brinson had some visitors today. Nana (who did not get to hold because Brin was getting blood) and Dr G.

More Pictures and Videos...yeehaw!

Tonight Lisa and I got to hold while Nana and Grampa watched. I think Nana is going to hold tomorrow.

She is doing so well. 4 feeds of 7cc with no residuals. 5th feed went around 11pm.

She knows who her Daddy is. Take a closer look at those eyes. Who is she looking at?





One eye or two!!!



By the time Lisa gets to hold her she is quite sleepy.



Here is Grampa, Lisa and Brinson sharing a moment.

Feeding going well

Brinson had a great day. By 530pm she had 3 7cc feeds and no residual for 2 feeds. We will find out right now whether the 3rd is also good.

Here O2 is down to 28%.

They started her on caffeine to get her ready for CPAP (another step to getting her breathing on her own)

Lisa is about to hold her.....so I will blog more later.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.

BTW James is doing better, but keep them coming he is still quite sick. We also had a death on the unit today. Hopefully Peyton's parents get through the hard time.....

Gained 1lb from Birth,,,woowoo!!!

I called this morning to learn Brinson is now 2lbs 2.9oz or exactly 1lb heavier than when she was born.

The nurse also told me she is down on her O2 rate from 25bpm to 20bpm and still saturating in the 90's. They also lowered her nitric again from 3ppm to 2ppm. So almost weened off.

Guess what? Because she has almost no residuals, they are going up to 7cc on her feeds. Cross your fingers.

I will go visit her after work, Lisa will be up there all day as usual.

Daddy feeds Brinson

I got there after work and just in time for feeding. Mommy was kind enough to capture it. Brinson is being feed 4cc with a syringe (gravity, suppose to be) through her OG tube (through her mouth there is a tube that runs into her stomach). They will not go up on her feeding till they are sure she can tolerate the milk. The residuals have to be minimal. If they were to over feed her and not check for residuals there is a chance she could spit up and suck it down her lungs....not good. That is why the check and go up slowly with the milk.


Here she is sleeping in the condo














Last night after the feed Brin was very restless. It could have been the noise or maybe I feed her too fast...not sure. Thank goodness she is in the condo. Quietness has made all the difference. Now she is only awake for a few minutes at a time. Preemies are suppose to sleep about 20 hours a day.

Good Morning!!!

Brinson had a good evening and started the day with good blood gas, no residuals on milk, lower vent settings (25bpm and 30% oxygen) and good BP (32 mean). They are also weening her off the morphine and nitric. The morphine was used to help her deal with all the outside noise and stimulation....to keep her calm. And the nitric is used in a lung damage preventative from being on the vent/respirator for long periods of time.

So overall things are going quite well.

Here she is just sleeping away. She always has something moving...legs, arms...etc. We left a bit early last night....to let her sleep.


Here is another look at Brinson's Incubator (Condo). If you look closely you can see Mommy watching over her baby.



As a side note: Last night was another tough one for James (Brinson's podmate) and his parents. Keep praying for him to do better.

Pooping just fine!

Brinson is now pooping fine. They even put a bag on her.

They also increased her milk from 2cc every 3 hours to 4cc every 3 hours. She has had some residual....about 1.5cc of 8cc over 6 hours. Really not too shabby.

She is doing so great in her new condo....Saturating her oxygen....she is much less of a touch me not. The condo really shields the outside world really well (sound and light). It is really amazing how well she is doing. It makes Lisa and I so happy...


As a side note:
Please pray for James (Brinson's podmate), he has had 2 bad days in a row.....he is really really sick.

Condo!

Here is Brinson giving us the hand or waving to the camera which ever you like. Her new home is quite large but gives her the much needed peace and quiet that a baby needs. Just like being in Mommy's tummy.....DON'T TAP the Plastic!!!



With the isolette, you have 2 port holes to reach in and say hi to Brin. The entire front can also lie down if needed like to weigh her or something.


Here is she all snuggled into her new bedding. The envy of all her pod mates....well at least their mothers.





The cover on the top is used to shield light. Preemies like it dark. Remember she is still supposed to be a bun in an oven.....for at least 11-12 weeks.

Mommy and Daddy holding Brin again!!!!

I arrived around 515 pm tonight with Lisa holding Brin and Auntie Tiffani preparing her Condo.

























As we were waiting for the condo to be ready Lisa held her for about 20mins and I held her for a whopping 45 mins.

Another Family Photo....

Thanks Tiffani for capturing the moment.

Brinson gets a bath (sort of)

Today Tiffani cleaned up our little princess.....and boy did she hate it. We call that "THE LOOK" Her brow turns completely white. It is too funny.







And afterwards she is pooped.....well she did poop now she just sleeps. :>

Stable enough for a Baby Condo

Lisa told me that after she gets to hold Brinson today that she will get moved into a Baby Condo.

Usually they like the preemies to be on CPAP before moving them in the closed enclosure. But she is stable and at 25-29% oxygen saturation (21% is room air).

So probably this evening she will be in a Baby Condo.

Brinson breaks the scale

We have new facts and figures about our little princess.

For reference her original birth facts are:
Length: 11 1/2 inches
Weight: 1lb 2.9oz

She now weighs 2lbs 1.5oz or 2.1oz more from Thursday.
Her length is ~14 inches

New bedding for Brin

Lisa did some shopping for Brinson. And Chris surprised us after dinner by putting on the new bedding.

All the moms and nurses were jealous of Brin's new digs. :P

Daddy is sleepy

These photos were taken a few days ago. I was very sleepy.

Big Thanks to Mrs. Neisner's class and Mrs. Bergfeld's class

Brinson has a lot of folks praying for her safe return home. And here are some 2nd graders from Columbus elementary that are sending their prayers and thoughts to her.

Thanks guys and gals....we really appreciate it.

Here Brin is in her new headband made by one of her fans. Thanks.

Extreme cuteness!!!




Here are the 2 posters made by each class.

Grandfather holding

Well as I said earlier, Lisa gave up her daily hold spot for Grandfather.

So here he is holding Brin......he was wondering what it was like....now he knows.

Another Good Day!

Brinson is having another good day. We learned today that we should get to hold her everyday as long as she remains stable. It will of course depend on how comfortable the nurse is with it.

So today Lisa passed up holding Brinson so Grandfather could. He leaves for Trinidad tomorrow and probably will not be back until Brinson is at home.

I will post videos and phots later tonite.