NYE - Babypalooza

Max finally made it home after a week in the NICU at Community North. Chaille and I want to thank everyone there who helped Max get healthy. The Doctors and RN's were great.

Home has been great, but since it's our first baby, we needed to rearrange a few things in the nursery and kitchen because what we thought we needed 2 weeks ago, is very different than what we actually need now. But we're settled in now and Max has been nothing but an angel. He's only cried once when we gave him a bath. He's obviously very comfortable here at home because we've had to wake him to feed him. Like the old adage, 'he's been sleeping like a baby.'

Tonight we're having my brother Lee, sister-in-law Chrissy, and their 3 mo old Arlie over for a rockin' NYE party. We'll be lookin' down some pants, talkin' about nipples, and other general baby debachery.


Just want to say thanks to everyone who called, stopped by, or sent emails. It meant a lot.

Day 9 - Max is coming home!

We should have Max home by noon today. We are so excited!

We'll fill you in once we're there.

1 Week - Afternoon

Not a lot of news today, except Max is eating a lot more than usual, which is good. He's even letting us know "I'm hungry!" Sometimes just 30 minutes after he last ate... :)

So I thought it might be time for some new pics since he's acting really cute right now.


Chillin' like a villain


Oh, I'm a very serious baby.


I think Daddy looks like a camera


I'm trying to take a nap Dad


See... I'm yawning


I passed my ear test. Any one got an iPod?

1 Week - Morning

Max no longer needs his IV to keep his blood sugars up. He's doing fine on mother's milk at this point. He's been a little tough to feed the last 24 hours or so. He doesn't want to eat the full 50 ml every 3 hours, so the doctor has put us on a 'feed as needed' basis. We'll likely try less food more often, like every 2 hours, and see how that goes.

Max also had 'the big snip' today. Doctor called it 'the little snip' but Daddy likes to think of it as 'the big snip.' He did fine, so we were told, Mom and I got the heck out of the NICU and got some breakfast. It would of broke our hearts to hear him cry like that. But he's fine.

So, Mom and I are hopeful he'll be home either tonight or early tomorrow. We'll keep you posted.

Day 7 - Evening

Not a lot has changed, we're still excited about Max's progress. He's in a crib now and sleeping soundly after a nice dinner. Tonight's been the first time he's fed completely from Mom with no fortified formula, which is great.

Chaille and I are moving our things from the floor below up to the NICU in a parents room for the next night or two. Makes for a lot less walking and Mom's closer to baby for feeding. We were also told by the doctor it might be time to get the car seat out of the cold car and moving it up to our room so it can warm up. We're likely just a day or two now!

I'll probably make an update tomorrow once they take out his IV, but other than that, there probably won't be much news to report. Just lots of feeding and diaper changing over the next 24-48 hrs.

Day 7 - Afternoon

Max has made some leaps today. His feeding tube, and jaundice light have been removed, so he's just on a monitor and IV. His IV is down to just 2ml/hr so that will probably come off tomorrow. He should be moving into a crib today as well.

Chaille has also made some progress. After today she is no longer a patient of Community North Hospital. We're hoping to stay here the next couple of nights, but as guests. So that's great as well.

Day 7 - Morning

Things with Max are going really well. His cord fell off overnight and his jaundice is almost gone. We're hoping today that he can even get his IV removed, but we'll see.

Chaille is also doing better. Her b/p levels are continuing to come down, and hopefully, today is the last day she will be a patient in the hospital.

So all things point to us coming home sometime this week.

- Tait

Day 6 - Afternoon

Max is really doing well. They've taken him off the super nutritious IV fluid and back to standard sugar water, as well as brought his rate down to 4 ml/hr. So that's 1/2 of what it was yesterday, and 1/3 it was the day before. So he's making great progress. We're hopeful they could even take him completely off the IV tomorrow if he continues to improve.

Chaille is feeling better, her b/p is down to a more reasonable rate for now. So we're all smiles this Sunday evening.

Thanks everyone for checking in and all the well wishes. We're hoping to have our little Max home soon.

Tait and Chaille

Day 6 - Morning

Max is still doing well. He's held his Dex #'s in the 70's for most of 24 hrs since the doctor made his first step towards waning him off the IV. We're hoping for another step today.

Mom is not doing so good. Chaille's blood pressure has been really high and she's not had a lot of sleep. So pray for her to get well so she can spend more time with Max up in the NICU. Dad is ok. I've got a bit of a sinus cold, probably from living in a hospital for 6 days, but I just picked up some stuff for it and hope to be feeling fine in a few hours.

Grandma and Grandpa Lutes are going to take the dogs, Cash and Ally, to Terre Haute after their visit today. We're so thankful for that since we originally expected to be home by Friday 12/26. Thanks Max and Judy!

- Tait

Day 5 - Evening

Max had a tough early evening. He had to get his IV moved from one arm to another, which took a few sticks and therefore some time he was off the IV. Then a faulty diaper added to the IV issue he didn't actually get to eat until 6:30. Which is a long time to wait (his last meal was at 2pm) for a little fella. By the time he begun eating his Dex was down to 61. So we hope he didn't take a step backward because it took us too long to get him fixed up.

But we'll see how he is tonight. Hopefully he'll be back up where he should be. But we're also reducing his IV a little, so it may have been bad timing. We'll see.

Day 5 - Afternoon

At 2pm today Max will begin his first decrease in IV fluids (from 10ml/hr to 8ml/hr) and increase his formula/milk (from 24 ml/hr to 30 ml/hr). Then they will take a Dex before his next feeding to see how he did. This is the first step towards waning him off the IV completely.

So we'll see how he responds. Go Max!

Day 5 - Morning

Max's Dex #'s were all good last night and this morning at 8am. His bilirubin or 'belly ribbon' as I like to call it reached it's peak yesterday so his jaundice is coming down as well.

So all things point to him having some sort of reduction on the IV and and increase in food. But it will be a slow process, so there's no target date for him to even come home yet. But the good news is he's doing well, and is feeling good. Enough to cry and fuss anyway :)

Tait

Day 4 - Night

Well, it's 9:30 and all is still looking good. Max's last Dex was 66 so we're still where we need to be. Here are a few pictures of Grandpa Sweigart with Max. Mom and I are going to try and get a real night's sleep since he's doing so well. And tomorrow, if he's still holding his own, they may try and start pulling him off the IV just a little bit to see how he does.


Grandpa Sweigart with Max


Max is thinking, 'Hey he looks like my dad!'

Day 4 - Evening

Max is still doing well. His Dex level this afternoon was still up at 73, so they're only checking every 6 hours now. Which is great because poor little Max's feet need a break from the prick.

Max's Grandpa Sweigart was here today after a battle with the ice over the last few days. He had the opportunity to hold Max for about 30 minutes while he fed and Grandpa seemed elated.

So all is good for now. We'll have another Dex around 8 and I'll try and post the results and pics shortly after.

Good boy Max!

Day 4 - Morning

It's the day after Christmas, but Chaille and I didn't think Christmas felt that much like Christmas. But, we can't complain... I met a man yesterday coming into the hospital because his 82 yr old girlfriend was being admitted. He said "Hate to be here on Christmas." I thought, 'Wow, I'm so happy to be here, it's been a great Christmas' and wished him luck.

Anyway, Max went into last night with a decent Dex of 54, then by this morning he surprised us with a 41. But before his feeding at 11am today he gave us a rockin' 83!

So we're trying to practice some patience.


Max without his feeding tube. They have him under a bright light to help with jaundice. So he's wearing some shades.

In the meantime, Chaille and I have really become comfortable caring for him and helping the RNs. Changing diapers, taking him out and holding him, and help to pacify him when they do their little tests. All of which can be a bit challenging with all these cables and sensors. We thought how easy it will be once all these things are gone.

Chaille's still lacking some sleep, so visitors are still quite an effort for us. We're also limited to just a couple people in the room while he's in the NICU so it's easier on baby and us.

I'll try and get another update this afternoon sometime. Hopefully it will be fairly boring with no new surprises, just easy livin', eating, and sleeping. But Max seems to be doing fine.

Tait


This is a pic from Starbucks in the hospital lobby.

Merry Christmas - Not So Silent Sight

Well, Max's 5 o'clock Dex # wasn't so good. Just a 41. But... he only had his new formula at this point because the pharmacy hadn't given us his new super nutritious IV yet. So once we got that hooked up and Max had some time to process it, we took another Dex around 7:45. 54!! So this is good.

Not only did he finally get his Dex # up, he really started fussing around and acting like a grumpy baby. Lot's of squeks and fake crying. I changed his diaper and then the RN weighed him. He's now 5lbs 4.6 oz as well. So he's put on some weight which is good.

As for the high red blood cell count, our actual pediatrician came by and said that it actually may or may not be the reason he's struggled so much with the blood sugar, so don't get to hung up on it being a "condition" or anything. It's fairly typical for a SGA baby. (Small Gestational Age).

So really, Max just needs to put on some fat. Not so complicated, just a patient process. No long term issues at this point, or any size issues later on, just a case of being a little lean and mean when he came out to the world.

Here's a few happy pics :)

Merry Christmas - Evening

Max is still about the same. He's had his first batch of new formula and is waiting on a new IV with some 'baby gatorade', so we're hoping after his 5pm feeding he'll have his blood sugar, or 'Dex', numbers up a little higher.

We'll keep you posted...

Merry Christmas - Morning

Max's doctor has told us some good news, he knows why Max's blood sugar levels are low! Max has more red blood cells than average, and therefore his body is eating up all that sugar. So they're going to let him take in more sugar in his food to compensate. They were cautious of this before because they didn't want to overcorrect either. But with this finding, it's not as much as a mystery as it has been, so now we can correct the problem. Like my science teacher told us in school, defining the problem can sometimes give you the answer.

So let's all hope this works, and cross our fingers he can get himself leveled out sometime today or tomorrow. We still then have the process of getting him waned back off the IV and on normal food, but at least for now, Mom and Dad are happy.

:)

Merry Christmas Max! - Day 3

First of all, I want to say how great Chaille is doing. She's been a very good Mommy and she has such a hard time being away from Max even if to rest a little bit. But last night both Chaille and I got the best sleep we've had in days. She was very excited it was Christmas and we exchanged gifts in the hospital.

In the spirit of Christmas, Max has thrown a few surprises our way too. Last night just before midnight his blood sugar was up to a 56, which is great. Chaille got to hold him while he took his food (right now coming though a tube) and give him some love. He did well, and we left him in the NICU for some rest. This morning we found out at 3am he was back down to 39, and after a bump in sugar in his IV this morning around 6am, he was still only back up to 44. Remember, we're looking for him to sustain something above 45 for a full day. So he's inching ever so closer, but he's also more dependent on the IV than he was yesterday. So we're hopeful he'll have a better day today.

We do want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and to say help us pray for Max. God bless.

Christmas Eve Pics

Mom, Grandma Julie and Max


Lee, Chrissy, Dad and Max


Lee, Chrissy and Max

Wild man hair after a bath

Flowers from RW Armstrong
and our Charlie Brown tree.

Christmas Eve - Eve

Well, it's officially Christmas Eve at 10:30 pm. Max has had a busy day, but Mom and I may have had a busier one. Lots of family and friends dropped by. Grandma and Grandpa Lutes were here and Grandma Julie for most of the day. Then we had a great surprise when Cathy Ryan dropped by to see the little guy. Everyone was able to hold him in the afternoon.

Chaille and I took a much needed break and spent time in our room enjoying some downtime. We've had a lot of really good RNs both up in the NICU and down in the maternity ward. Community north is really nice, and the rooms feel more like a new hotel than a hospital. We also received some beutiful flowers from our work, RW Armstrong.

Early evening Max's Aunt Micky and cousin Michael dropped by. They brought Pizza King from New Castle, a Sweigart favorite, and that was our Christmas dinner! Lee and Chrissy brought Max's little cousin Arlie over as well and we all ate and opened presents. Lee even obtained some 'additional presents' that he and Chrissy needed from the hospital. Did I mention how great the nurses are here?

So now on to Max...

His blood sugar has been up and down all day. Up after he eats of course, and down a few hours later just before he eats again. But his downs have been steadily, but slowly, increasing. From 32 to 36, then 37 and 38, and a 44 popped up about 5pm. But he was back to 39 at 8pm. Anything above 45 is good, so he's getting there. For now he's still on an IV and happy that way. We're still just waiting for him to figure out all this blood sugar stuff for himself.

So all things considered, things are good. And everyone's optimistic he'll be just fine. So we'll sleep much better tonight.

I'll try and post a few more pictures later. We're going back up at 11:00pm for another feeding and to say good night. He's in good hands.

Love, Tait

Christmas Eve - Morning

It's early Christmas Eve, and Chaille just laid down for a much needed nap. Max is doing well. His last blood sugar level was 81, and anything above 40 or so is good. They're hoping to start waning him off his IV over the next 24 hours. Hopefully he'll cooperate.

We're in good spirits and look forward to having him plump up a little. He's still a little fella at just 5 lbs. No word on why he was SGA (small gestational age), but there's a lot of factors than can cause it. Good news is he's 38.5 weeks old and all his parts are working well.

Take Care,

Tait and Chaille

Early Next Day

Max was admitted to the NICU at Community North in Indianapolis because his blood sugar was a little low. But now that he's on an IV he's doing fine. We're hoping he'll be able to keep his blood sugar levels up and come back to the room with Mom and Dad in the next day or so.

Love,

Tait and Chaille

Max's Birthday!

Max in the NICU

Max in the NICU

Max having his blood sugar checked.

Don't cry... It'll be over soon.

Kinda grumpy