Wednesday 12/24/08

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 10:17 AM, CST
John is doing ok - he is still spitting up but he is eating well and enjoying being spoiled. We want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year. We love you all and appreciate your support so very much.

Sunday 12/21/08

Sunday, December 21, 2008 11:56 AM, CST

John is spitting up quite a bit, has diarrhea and is fussy, but he is enjoying having Daddy home full-time for a couple of weeks and spent yesterday getting spoiled by his Aunt Pau and Uncle Jeff. The house is full of Christmas lights he finds fascinating. Merry Christmas to all.

Thursday 12/18/08

Thursday, December 18, 2008 11:31 AM, CST
John's pediatrician says this was just a bad reflux incident and that John will be fine. He is still a preemie, which is hard to remember, but his due date was Christmas Eve. He is confident John will be ok.

Wednesday 12/17/08

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:53 PM, CST

John abruptly stopped breathing tonight and turned blue. Ruth began performing mouth-to-mouth and Pauline called 911. John regained his respiration after about 2 minutes and his color after about 6 minutes. The paramedics cleared him and the doctor wants to check him out in the morning.

Monday 12/15/08

Monday, December 15, 2008 3:05 PM, CST

John is continuing his difficult-night adventures, as evidenced by the new picture of Mommy keeping him upright at night on the Welcome Page. Tonight we are going to try giving him Axid to reduce his reflux. We're down to Mom, Dad and 1/2-time Aunt Pau (who is mostly moved out but still helping out) at home to keep John company. He misses his NICU girls very much.

Saturday 12/13/08

Saturday, December 13, 2008 7:30 PM, CST

John had a rough night last night with reflux and kept his parents up all night. We kept him elevated today and it seemed to help. He is busy stealing Sarah, his Uncle Ivan's girlfriend, now. Thanks to the FW Haltoms for bringing a pot roast over for dinner.

Friday 12/12/08

Friday, December 12, 2008 11:27 AM, CST

After a rocky couple of nights, John had a good night Thursday night. He had multiple vaccinations and a clean bill of health from his pediatrician on Thursday. Dr. Wheeler is giving him Axid for reflux but otherwise he is a healthy boy. New pics being posted.

Wednesday 12/10/08

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 3:56 PM, CST

John is home! Mom and Dad spent Monday at 5pm through Tuesday at 2pm at the hospital with him in a closet-sized room without windows before obtaining their freedom. John has been a little fussy after vaccinations and the drastic change in scenery but is adjusting to his new dogs and environment well. Mom and Dad are exhausted but thrilled. Aunt Pau has fallen in love with her nephew.

Monday 12/08/08

Monday, December 8, 2008 4:56 PM, CST
John is now at 6 lbs 9 oz.


He passed his car seat test, although, it was close towards the end. He does not tolerate delays in his meal times (just like his Grandpa John) not even for a car seat test. A little "sweeties" (sugar water) on his Paci helped pass the last 20 minutes.

Dad and Mom are off to the hospital for their first full night with John. =)

Sunday 12/07/08

Sunday, December 7, 2008 10:22 PM, CST

Holy atomic news, Batman!

We are rooming in tomorrow night! During rooming in Mom and Dad stay in a hospital room with John and are completely in charge of his care with the NICU nurses as backup. Once that's completed John would be discharged. That means that John could be home by Tuesday evening!!!

Tomorrow he will have his car seat test (making sure he maintains his heart rate in a seating position) and probably his Synagis RSV vaccine. He had the second Hep B vaccine today. So John was a little fussy and uncomfortable.

He is 5 lbs 7 oz today.

Our little boy is coming home!

Saturday 12/06/08

Saturday, December 6, 2008 11:18 PM, CST

John enjoyed a quiet Saturday. He continues to gain weight, now up to 6 lbs 5 oz! No episodes last night nor today. =)

Mommy and Daddy spent the day reorganizing the house (furniture/rooms/etc) in preparation for John coming home soon.

Friday 12/05/08

Friday, December 5, 2008 11:59 PM, CST

7 WEEKS!!!

WOW! John is 7 weeks old today!

Our little bundle of joy now weighs 6 lbs 5 oz. Yes, he is heavier than some term newborns. John has officially outgrown his preemie clothes.

He did not have any incidents last night or today. He still has some drops during feedings because he gets impatient. However, those are not the ones that concern (scare the living daylights out of) us.

The nurses are starting to mention possible discharge dates. And though delighted, Mommy is panicking (FREAKING OUT). But John appears to be ready to come home.

Thursday 12.04.08

Thursday, December 4, 2008 10:27 PM, CST

John continues to improve, grow and get cuter!


He gained 19g from yesterday. He has outgrown several other preemie outfits and is now wearing a few newborn onesies. He did not have any episodes last night and today. He is also spending a little more time awake and alert.


Daddy did an excellent job bathing John today!

We are hopeful that he will continue to improve and come home soon.

Wednesday 12/03/08

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 7:07 AM, CST
Tuesday was a good day for John. He weighed in at 6 lbs 1 oz! Mommy was able to assist RN Susan with bathing him. He really is enjoying baths now.


The echocardiogram results came back. His heart looks good except for the cause of the murmur. He has Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) which means his heart has a little hole (3mm) between the left and right atrium. The neonatologist mentioned this is not unusual in preemies; however, it's usually closed by John's age. It may still close on its own. We'll see a cardiologist in 2 months to make sure it did close.

In the mean time, John continues to improve. He was taken off the pulse oxygen monitor yesterday. It's one step closer to going home. The doctor also decided against thickening the breastmilk because he is overall doing much better with reflux. She stated the reflux issue appears to be more due to immaturity and is improving.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 11:19 PM, CST

Our little chunky monkey is now up to 2810g (6 lbs 3 oz)! He had one incident earlier today, but otherwise has done well without the pulse oxygen monitor.


We did have our first experience with projectile vomit today. Thankfully, it appears to be a one time incident. (Daddy was relieved that it was not pea green and that his head did not rotate 360.)


We are hopeful to have him home by early next week.

Monday 12/01/08

Monday, December 1, 2008 11:02 PM, CST
John was a little fussy this morning (very unlike him). He wouldn't settle down and was pretty restless thru the feedings. He mainly wanted to be bundled and held. Thankfully he was much better by the evening.

He continues to have little drops in heart rate and O2 levels. He mainly resolves them on his own and some of them are so quick the monitor alarms don't go off.


The doctor ordered an echocardiogram today to double check on John's murmur. Murmurs are quite common in premature babies; she just wants to make sure it is just due to prematurity. We receive the official results tomorrow.

Since John is continuing to have reflux, the doctor is considering adding something to the breatmilk to thicken it up. From what the nurses tell us, these "additives" are not readily available and are expensive. Ironically, this would be less of an issue if he was on formula. Go figure!


Thankfully, John continues to grow and get more beautiful. And he is getting the cutest cheeks!

Sunday 11/30/08

Sunday, November 30, 2008 2:59 PM, CST

The bad news: John had a bad episode last night. His heart rate dropped, he turned blue and he needed both stimulation and oxygen to bring him back to normal. He continued this morning having heart rate drops but brought himself out of them. This will likely keep him in the NICU this week.

The good news: John is doing better this afternoon and is up to 5 pounds 15 ounces. He has had no feeding tube for a week and is still gaining weight. He just needs more time before coming home. Tammie bought him a build-a-bear with her voice message on it so he will not miss her as much when he comes home.

11/28/08

Friday, November 28, 2008 8:32 PM, CST

6 WEEKS....

Today John is 6 weeks old. We are still amazed at how fast (and slow) time has passed.

John now weighs 5 lbs 12 oz, almost 2 pounds from his birth weight and is almost an inch longer. And he almost made Mommy cried tonight; he has outgrown the very first outfit he wore!

Daddy and Mommy bathed John together for the first time tonight. And since his circumcision and umbilical cord have healed, it was a true bath. =) John really enjoyed it. Afterwards, he was off the monitor during feeding, burping and cuddling time to help us get comfortable with reading him rather than relying on the monitors/alarms. RN Tammie was right next to us supervising, but John (and parents) did a great job.

He has done such an amazing job these past weeks. It's incredible to think he is still a month premature now. WOW!

We are hopeful that, if he continues to do well with no new episodes, he will be home very soon.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

P.S. Please keep John's little roommate Aiden and his family in your prayers. He had a REALLY, REALLY BAD episode today. He doesn't look well....

Thursday 11/27/08

Thursday, November 27, 2008 7:51 PM, CST

John had a great Thanksgiving Day.

He only gained 5 grams from yesterday, but the doctor is not concerned considering how much he's been consistently gaining. He had only two incidents where he dropped his heart rate, but he immediately brought it up on his own.

In the spirit of the holiday, he wore his Gobble 'til you Wobble onesie. And he looked adorable! And true to his word, he stuffed himself today having between 60-70 cc at almost every meal.


John also enjoyed some cuddling time with grandma Haltom. He behaved himself the whole time. Is he too young to know Christmas is around the corner?

He wasn't able to meet his great aunts Delores & AA and great uncle Gary as we had originally hoped. However, we shared the hundreds of pictures and videos of John. We were reminded how far he has come in just a few weeks.

We are thankful for how wonderful he is doing and for all your prayers on his behalf. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day.

Wednesday 11/26/08

Wednesday, November 26, 2008 11:01 PM, CST

John continues to gain weight. He is up to 5 lbs 9.7 oz. He is also doing a great job breast feeding. He's had a couple of heartrate and O2 drops today but has pulled out on his own.

For now, he continues to grow and get stronger. And of course, he continues to be the cutest baby in the NICU.

We hope you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. =)

P.S. Thanks for all your prayers for John and for his little roommate Aiden. He is also doing much better. Both boys now have a competition as to who "christens" the most nurses. They are getting quite good at it.

Tuesday 11/25/08

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 10:45 PM, CST

John's weight today is 2529g or 5 pounds 9.2 ounces. He had an ultrasound on his head today (standard) and it was normal. He had two episodes yeserday, one of which needed stimulation

, so John will be spending the holiday weekend in the NICU. But he looks good and is eating well, and we hope to have him home next week.