8 days and no IV

Taft is now 8 days old and now is without his IV. They removed the IV since he has completed his antibiotics. It was so nice to see him with one less wire and no armboard taped nice and snug. He actually wiggled off his 1st armboard so they had to wrap the next one pretty snug. He is a very squirmy baby. He is so fun to watch. He is a serious stretcher and he stretches out pretty long. Today he kept his eyes open for almost the full hour we were there to visit him. The Dr. showed us his x-rays and he is definitely improving, but still has some fluid/secretions on his lungs. They are continuing his physical therapy every three hours before his feedings and he is definitely eating well without any mention of reflux.:) They are also continuing Lasix. The next hope is that he is off Oxygen when we go see him. Eric gave him another blessing today so we are hopeful that he will be off of it soon. Well, hope that all is well with those who are reading and thanks for following our progress and praying for our little man.

Taft Progress...

Well, on our way to see Taft and Running errands, we called the NICU to see if Dr. Raval would be in for some questions we had. He was in early today so we just talked on the phone, because he was leaving before we would be there. Anyways, Here is the latest....
Taft finishes his antibiotics today:), but the latest chest x-ray still shows some problems on his right lung lower lobe. It is still not functioning to what it needs to, so they started him on chest physical therapy (done by a machine and much like a massage). The nurse said that he loved it...slept right through it!:) That is no surprise. They are also giving him lasix (a medication that helps secretes excess fluids) to help get rid of the secretions that are blocking the parts of his lung that are not functioning at 100%. He is still having some episodes where his oxygen saturation is dropping below 93%-98%, which is where they want it to be before they take him off the oxygen. He will have to be off the oxygen for 3 days before they will send him home, too, so needless to say we are at a loss for as to when he will come home. We are going to keep praying and see how our Heavenly Father chooses to bless us. We hope you will join us in praying for him. In the meantime....he is eating well. WE have fed him one time a piece. He is eating every 3 hours and they are continuing to increase his feedings. Today his burped really good for me after I fed him. It was funny. He gets cuter and cuter to us each day. We feel lonely without him and hope he gets home to us sooner than later. We will just have to wait and see waht is to be learned from this trial.....until the next update.....keep Praying for him!

On the Road to Recovery

Well, Taft is now 6 days old. He is eating more and we are very glad to report that he is progressing daily. We should get to feed him today when we go see him. I am really excited for that. Pumping is getting easier in some ways and harder in others....I am sure I don't have to explain. Eric went back to work this morning reluctantly. He is still not quite up to par, and sure ready for Taft to be wireless and home. Hopefully, Taft will give us some action today with open eyes, feeding and snugglin'. We will keep you all posted....Thanks for the prayers...we know they are helpful!

Strept Throat, an Induction, a Baby, and the aftermath!

What a week....! We have had a strange one, a blessed one, a busy one and an exhausting one. Sunday night Eric spiked a fever up to 105. After a blessing, and alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen every other 2 hours via an alarm clock we finally got it done to normal. I called his Dr. the next morning and got him in. The Verdict...Strept Throat! I called into work Mon. a.m. and so I didn't go to work due to exhaustion. I called my Dr. and asked if I could move my appt. up a day for him to check me. They consented and I went in. Dr. Long said I could either induce on Tues. or Wed. (due date was Thurs.) because he was going off call on Thursday night and neither one of us wanted to have someone else delivering Taft. So, off course being miserable with Heartburn and not knowing the actual cause of Eric's fever I naturally chose Tues. I mean who wants to be pregnant any longer than they need to be. So, I was to be at the hospital at 5:30 am on Tues. so my mom came with me and Eric came with his mom at about 8:00. My wonderful sister-in-law came to. Just wanted to have someone in the room who had actually been in labor within the last 5 years. However she almost missed it, because her crown came off while I was working on dilating. So, my mom and mother-in-law (both great) held me up while I pushed so that Eric could stay in the room without TOO much trauma. Dr. Long knew Eric had strept so he put me on an antibiotic while I was in labor (started Pitossin @ 7:00 Taft came out @ 6:44). We didn't get to hold Taft very long because he ended up needing to go to the NICU. HE aspirated some meconium and so he was having trouble breathing as well as running the risk of infection (pneumonia). He arrived weighing in @ 7 lbs. 8 oz. & 21 in. long. He full name is Taft Cannon Hartman and he is sure a special little guy to his mom and dad. Eric & I were talking and neither one of us feels as though we are parents yet, because we haven't had him at home. Matter of fact I haven't even been home since I went to the hospital. I came to my parents house for the days and thought I would go to my house for the night, but due to some serious bowel issues couldn't manage to be out from under my mother's wing. Today that issue is resolved (atleast I think it is) after some serious discomfort, several stool softeners, prunes, other fruit, apple juice, water and a glycerine suppository. I have never wanted to have relief so bad.....Enough of that though....we are glad to report that Taft is progressing daily and is off the 0xygen hood and to a nasal canula. While we were visiting today and holding him for the first time longer than 2 minutes he pulled his nasal canula off. His fingers found the plastic and he got to yanking with his really long fingers. His fingers are the length of 2 knuckles of my pinky and his big toes are the length of one of my knuckles on my pinky. Those are definitely Eric's. Well, I will try to get some good pictures of him tomorrow while we are visiting of all three of us and post them. Until then....I will keep updating with journal type entries....

Any time now......

WOW! We are only days away from becoming parents, and increasing our family size by 1. Most of you who will read this are probably thinking who cares....millions have done it before you and many will do it after you. I keep going back and forth on whether or not I am ready yet. My body says yes, but my emotions and mind say I am not quite so sure. Just when I think I am ready Eric is not. When Eric thinks he is ready then I am not. So are we haven't been forced to be ready...but the Dr. has said that if he is not here by Tuesday then we can go ahead and induce, so that MY Dr. can actually deliver for me. I am still working and despite being really slow, I think it has done me good. Please be patient with me as I work on getting this blog up and running. I am married to a man who hates to take pictures and since we will probably be busy for a few weeks trying to get ourselves comfortable enough with parenting that we don't need everyone's help it may be a while before this is a "cute blog that is updated regularly." I will do my best though....Until next time....