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+ 14 - 15 | § ¶We're in Charge Now
By the time we got to the hospital this morning, they had already moved Douglas out of the ICU to our new home on the floor. It's a major transition, but it's great. We're feeding Douglas, we're getting him to sleep, we're bathing him, and we're changing his diapers. However, we're still not quite making all the calls, because the doctor has decided that Douglas isn't quite taking enough milk from the bottles, so they need to put a feeding tube back into tonight to make sure he gets enough fluids.Now that the day is done, Jenny and I are apart. She's sleeping at the hospital in the shared room with Douglas, and I'm getting a full night's sleep at home. So, she's there all night to make sure Douglas is doing well and to learn more about Douglas and who he is. It's the start of a long, beautiful road.
+ 10 - 15 | § ¶Ready to Move
I just talked to the nurse, and Douglas Finney has his moving orders. He'll be out of the ICU onto the main floor today, with timing depending only on when a room is ready for him. He's healthy enough to be out of the ICU! Also, they finally got a peripheral IV in him last night. I think it was something like the 15th try. Ouch!While the move from the ICU means that he's doing great, Mommy and Daddy are a bit nervous about it. We're going from a place where Douglas has one or two nurses devoted to him to a place where he might share a room with another kid and the nurses are shared over the floor. In short, the primary responsibility for his feeding, cleaning, and health is moving from the medical staff to us. We're really happy that he's healthy enough for this change, but we're nervous in the way all new parents are.
Also, Jenny is having a lot of fun picking out clothes for him, as we finally get to start dressing him. He'll be so cute.
+ 7 - 17 | § ¶Next Stop: Feeding
After the extubation, the next goal is to teach Douglas how to eat. Jenny's very eager to start feeding him directly, but we instead have to take baby steps.He's been getting Jenny's milk through a feeding tube for a few days, but nothing by mouth until today. First, I fed him a bit of Pedialyte from a bottle, but it took a while. A few hours later, Jenny fed him some fresh breast milk from a bottle, but it took a while again. When we left him this evening, he was just sucking away on a pacifier, so we are hoping that he'll be feeding from a bottle easily by the time he gets moved out of the ICU tomorrow.
Then, it won't be long before Jenny will be able to feed him well any time he needs it.
+ 11 - 12 | § ¶We Get to Hold Him!
The extubation happened this morning at about 9, and it seems to have gone off without a hitch. We've been in, and we've both been able to hold him! It feels so great to have him in our arms.He's still getting a little supplemental oxygen through the nose, but that's totally normal. It's just a normal way of helping him make the transition.
+ 9 - 17 | § ¶Extubation
It's interesting all the new words you learn after hanging around a hospital a while. The big word of the day is extubation.Extubation: The process of removing a tube from a hollow organ or passageway, often from the airway. The opposite of extubation is intubation.The reason it's the word of the day is that's what they plan to do to Douglas very soon! For the first time since he was about five minutes old, he will be breathing completely on his own. (more)
+ 13 - 13 | § ¶More Pictures
I've added a bunch of picture to Douglas's Shutterfly page. Some pictures were taken by Douglas's Uncle Casey and Aunt Emily before birth, after birth, and in the NICU before the atrial switch. Some were taken since his chest was closed. And there are just a couple there in which the then-open chest isn't visible.
I've included a few of the pictures here, but all of these and more are on the other page.
(more)+ 11 - 14 | § ¶We are Very Lucky
Douglas had another great night. They removed his second chest tube (I forgot yesterday to mention that they had removed the other one) that helped drain blood and fluids from his internal wounds, and they removed the pacing wires from his heart. Now, the only way that he is being stuck through the skin is his IV line. This is great news.Since Douglas is doing so well and is stable, I want to reflect a bit on our situation; we are really lucky. (more)
+ 12 - 12 | § ¶The Chest has been Closed! But, it's Never that Easy
As I mentioned briefly before, Douglas's closure procedure went well this morning. We heard from both doctors and nurses that he did great during the procedure, and we all saw that he did well afterwards. He looks much better, so I'll share some more pictures soon (I'm just too tired right now to go through them and upload them). It's just wonderful to look at his chest and see a bandage instead of a window. (more)+ 9 - 14 | § ¶Closure Went Well
The procedure to close Douglas's heart finished around noon, and it went very well. He's been mostly groggy all day as the paralytics and sedatives have worn off, but he's looking good and all his signs are good.
More later.
+ 15 - 8 | § ¶Waiting on the Closure
Dr. Huddleston decided to go ahead with closing Douglas's chest this morning. We weren't there in time to see the examination, but we did get a chance to talk to him. He didn't know exactly when the procedure would happen (his partner was doing another procedure first, and they use the same nurses), so we don't know if the procedure is underway yet or not. We're just waiting. (more)+ 11 - 14 | § ¶One More Operation Tomorrow (we hope)
If all goes to plan, little Douglas Finney will have another surgery tomorrow (Monday) morning. It'll be good, though, because this would be the operation that would close up his chest. Of course, there are always risks with any surgery, but a successful procedure tomorrow would take Douglas much closer to being able to leave the ICU and eventually come home. We hope that Douglas has healed enough for the procedure; he looked very good today, and kept his vital stats in a good range all day and even woke up for a little while to look at his parents and grandparents! (more)+ 18 - 5 | § ¶Continued Improvement
We just got home after spending another full day at the hospital - we'll probably be doing this for another week or so. It looks as though none of the days coming will be as hard as yesterday was. Douglas is continuing to improve and impress us all with his strength. There don't seem to be any new complications, so we think that they might be able to close up his chest as early as Monday morning, but nothing's certain.If they can close the chest that soon, it will mean one of the biggest remaining concerns will be gone. As one of the PICU nurses said tonight, "His chest is open - he's one of the sickest kids here." Although that statement sounds bad, Jenny pointed out something really good; even though Douglas is really sick now, we know that he's on his way to a full recovery soon. (more)
+ 11 - 13 | § ¶Looking Better
We've been in to see Douglas today, and he looks a lot better than he did last night. His color is good, he's moving a little bit, and he just looks like he's on track to full recovery.
Such a relief.
+ 12 - 15 | § ¶Jenny's Pregnancy Page
Jenny has kept a blog of her own during the pregnancy. At some point, she hopes to journal about the labor and birth, but for now you can see ultrasound pictures and stories from the whole pregnancy.The page no longer needs a password.
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/jrf/
+ 12 - 13 | § ¶Rough Day
When I last updated, I said that there was a minor complication. Unfortunately, we found out after the post that the complication wasn't so minor, but fortunately it's all been fixed now. (more)+ 11 - 14 | § ¶Good News
The day has gone very well. Douglas's atrial switch procedure started around 8 am and finished around 3 pm. The doctor said that everything went very well - his heart is pumping on his own again, and all of his vitals are great. We are waiting to get a chance to see him in the Pediatric ICU. There was a bit of a complication with fluid around the heart, so we have to wait a bit longer. We're not worried about the fluid at all, though.
Also, Jenny has been discharged, and we're going to get to go home tonight for the first time since Tuesday.
It's been a very good day.
+ 8 - 21 | § ¶Pictures!
I have uploaded pictures from Douglas's first day to Shutterfly.
Please let me know if you have any trouble with the page.+ 14 - 13 | § ¶It's a Boy!
Douglas Edwin Finney was born at 8:24 pm on August 23, 2006. He weighed 9 lb even and was 20 1/8" long at birth. Jenny did very well with the labor, and she is doing very well now. However, the baby's diagnosis of dextro-Transposition of the Great Vessels was confirmed. Because of this, Douglas's first couple days have been difficult.
