Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Gabriel is 30 weeks today. That means that it's been 10 weeks since the surgery.  10 weeks ago we went to the hospital knowing that we were most likely going to having a baby that day and that he wouldn't survive. Instead, God did a miracle and now here we are. 10 weeks later and only 10 weeks left until his due date.

We had lots of company today. Samantha and Nathaniel were up today for an appointment for their baby, so they got to meet Gabe. Dr David, from church, also came to visit, but he didn't come in. He'll come back later when his wife is feeling better. Better safe than sorry as far as germs are concerned. But it was good to see familiar faces from home. Gabriel contines to do well. He even showed off today opening his eyes for Nathaniel and Samantha.

Gabe is up to 1050 grams, which is 2lbs 5oz, a whole pound over his birthweight! We're still having feeding tube drama. He really doesn't like that thing. Today he was snuggling with me and pulled it out a long ways with his tongue. Then when I wasn't paying attention, he grabbed it with his little fist and pulled it out the rest of the way. His wet feeding tube was laying on my chest. Luckily that didn't bother me. That's a mom thing, right? 

It looks like Gabriel is right on track. The doctor showed us the the graph of his weight and he's following the curve that he's supposed to be. His head circumference is following the curve as well. He's doing really well. He's up another 10 grams too. Pat had to fly home today. He and Gabe got some snuggling in this afternoon before he left. After a busy weekend with Pat and my parents here, now it's just me for a bit.

First of all, Gabriel is up to a kilo! 1000 grams exactly! Secondly, he has a new talent: pulling out his feeding tube with his tongue. He practices all day, which means that the nurses spend all day putting it back. He's even mastered spitting it back out while they try and put it back in. I'm not sure that they like his new talent... That orange tube is his feeding tube. The entire thing is supposed to be in his mouth. It's usually taped to his chin, but they were hoping that taping it to his prongs would keep it in better. It did not. Pat and I decided to take a drive down to Seward today to get out of the hospital a bit. Seward was a cute little town, but it was pouring rain and reminded me of home! The drive down there was gorgeous!

Someone is getting really big! He's up to 970, which is only 30 grams off of 1 kilo. My baby is growing up! I don't know if it will be quite so obvious in this picture, but I can assure you that in real life he looks a lot bigger.

Last night Gabe got to experience another first, his first earthquake.  I'm sure that he slept through the entire thing, even though it was a 7.1.  Pat and I, on the other hand, woke up with a start... This morning we picked up Grandma and Grandpa (my parents).  They hadn't seen Gabriel in a couple of weeks and were shocked at how big he was.  He definitely is growing and changing, even though it doesn't always seem like it.  He snuggled on my chest for a couple of hours this afternoon while we got to facetime with Auntie Katilyn and Uncle Seth as well as Uncle Nathan and Auntie Cassie.  We were just missing Uncle Matt and Auntie Rachael and it would have been the whole family together!

Grammy and Grandpa Jim (Pat's parents) came to visit today!  Nancy (Grammy) had come to visit Gabe before, but this was the first time that Jim had been able to see him.  It was fun to have them around for the afternoon. The nurse said that Gabriel was being rather cantankerous today.  He kept pulling out how feeding tube, no matter how many times she put it back in.  He was snuggled up on my chest when it was time to start his feeding and she was having a terrible time with the tube.  It looked to me like it was in, but it turns out that he'd coiled it around in his mouth, rather than letting it go down to his stomach.  Silly kid.  She'd also left him curled up in the middle of his Z-Flo, the mattress that he sleeps on that can be molded to any position to support his little body.  When she came back in, he'd pushed himself around so that he was almost falling off of it.  I'm not sure what his plan was with that one, since he sleeps in an isolette with walls.  Ev

Pat came to visit today! He and Gabe got to have some quality snuggle time. Gabe continues to forget to breath, but he usually has a good reason for it, like his prongs are a bit off or he finished eating and his belly is full or the nurse hasn't come in to do his cares yet because she's taking care of the kid across the hall. But so far he's still able to recover himself most of the time, so he is making progress. His little body just wasn't planning on having to breath quite this soon... Speaking of which, this is how Gabriel feels about his prongs. He's determined to escape from them!

Gabriel is now 910 grams, which means that he's now 2 pounds!!! He's getting so big! Gabe had a big day today. He got a bath and a new bed! That doesn't sound like much but somehow it took us well over an hour. Let me explain. We did the bath at the same time that we did cares. That means that he got a new diaper, new feeding tubes, new cannulade (the plastic on his nose under his prongs), new leads, new prongs, a new hat and a new bed. I also gave him a cotton ball bath while we changed all of that. It wouldn't be nearly as hard if someone would let us change all of those   things. Instead he kept pulling out his prongs and turning his head so that they can't be put back in. He even pulled out his feeding tubes at one point, which is impressive since they'd already been taped to his chin... I picked him up to hold him while the bed was getting switched out and he popped out his prongs again, which meant that the respirory therapist had to try and get them back

Gabe hit 900 grams today! That means less than 10 grams until he hits 2lbs! My little baby is growing up... In other news, he had a rough night with that while remembering-to-breath thing. They ended up putting bigger prongs in his nose, which seemed to help. He did pretty well while I was there too. I think he just missed his mama! :)

I don't have anything exciting to report. Gabe is doing well on the CPAP machine. He does forget to breathe sometimes, but he's pulling himself out of it. He stayed even at 880 grams and they're going to up his feedings again. That's really all that I've got today. Here's the wipeboard picture from that I should have included yesterday.

On the wipeboard in Gabe's room it lists his goals for the week. His says Grow and Wean to CPAP. I was going to take a picture, but I forgot... Anyway, as of today, Gabe has done both of those things! Today they took him off of the Nava machine and put him back on the Bubble CPAP. When he forgot to breath, the Nava machine would breath for him. The CPAP does not. When he forgets to breath, he now has to remember on his own. That's not stressful for his mom at all... The good news is that he remembered to breath most of the day! The bad news is that I jumped any time one of the machines beeped, even the temperature sensor on his bed. He also spent some quality time snuggling with me today. :)

You know how we were all praying that Gabe would start gaining weight? I think God has answered that one. It took Gabe 3 1/2 weeks to gain 70 grams. Then in the last week he's gained 150 grams. That puts him up to 1lb 12 oz! He looks like he's getting bigger too.

Happy One Month Birthday to Gabriel! I can't believe that it's been an entire month since he's been born.  In one sense, this has been the longest, craziest month of my life.  But it's also flown by and I can't believe that he's been here that long.  Today Gabe is also 28 weeks old, which should have marked the beginning of my third trimester.  But instead of starting my third trimester, I got to go visit my son today.  :) When I went in to see him, he was watching the Packers/Cardinals game with the nurse.  I'm not sure who he was rooting for...

Gabriel hit 800 grams today! We spent 3 1/2 weeks trying to get him from 630 to 700, and now he got from 700 to 800 in 6 days. That's just crazy! He's growing up so fast! :)

All that praying about weight gain is working! Gabriel is up 50 grams today, to get him to 790! That puts him up to 1lb 10 1/3 oz, which is crazy!!! In other news, I have a sore throat and am not allowed in the NICU. :( Also, Pat was supposed to be here this weekend, but he's sick too, so he stayed home. So please pray that we feel better so that we can all be together again.

Gabriel is 4 weeks old today. For his birthday present, he got a cotton ball bath. Apparently that wore him out pretty badly, because he hardly moved the entire time I was there! He also held his weight steady at 740! I went on a walk with a friend and made a new friend. He didn't talk much though...

I don't have too much to report today.  Gabriel is up to 740 grams.  They've increased his feeds again today so hopefully he'll keep gaining!  Also, the respiratory therapist said that the hole in his nose is looking really good.  I was able to see it for the first time today, so I don't have anything to compare it to.  I'll take her word that it's looking better. I did listen to the respiratory therapist and the nurse discussing how much they loved little Gabriel, so that was fun.  :)

Gabriel lost a few grams today, but he's still at 700 grams, so overall he is getting bigger!  It's normal for him to go up and down a bit, but he needs to be gaining overall.  They're going to up his feeds again, so hopefully that'll help too. We had a visit from Doug, our pastor in Juneau.  I'm not sure why he was in town, but it was good to see him.  Plus, it's fun to introduce Gabe to new people!  He decided to show off by wiggling and even opened one eye a slit.  :)

Gabriel got a new room today! It's still in the same hallway, so it's really not a change at all, they just wanted to open up his old room, which was right next to labor and delivery, for new babies. Gabe slept through the whole move, so clearly he thought it was a big deal... The big news for the day is that he crossed the 700 line! He's actually up 40 grams today to 730! That's 1lb 8 1/3oz! Doesn't he look huge??? Actually, I think that it's the diaper that somehow makes him look huge... They had to go up a diaper size because someone was leaking through his little ones. Also, I think I miscounted my days when I started this. Today is day 26, not 25... Oops...

Gabriel had the prongs back today. I think they're going to rotate between the mask and the prongs, since neither are a good option for his nose. They also put a bigger diaper on him today because he's leaking through the smaller ones. This one, though, is so big that it takes up half of his body! Gabe's down 5 grams today to 690. He just doesn't want to hit 700.

Gabriel is up to 695 grams! This is more than he's ever weighed in his life! Maybe tomorrow he'll cross the 700 line??? Check out Gabe's new headgear: Poor kid. The mask puts all sorts of pressure in his nose, which makes his whole face look pretty funny. His lips look so awkward! The ear, nose and throat doctor came to look at the hole in his nose. She doesn't think it's going to close up by itself and it looks like eventually he'll need surgery to fix it, but that may not be until he's a teenager. She's not concerned about it now, but she doesn't really want more prongs in his nose. She also doesn't want that mask pushing down on his face like it is, so I'm not sure what they're going to decide to do about his breathing machine. He definitely still needs it, we just have to find a way to protect that little nose.

Well, Gabe is up 30 grams today, to puts him at 680.  We'll see if this continues or not...  The tests all came back good, so right now it looks like he's just little and it's hard to get these little bodies to gain weight sometimes.  Most babies his age are still on TPN, which they give to babies through their pic line, but since Gabe doesn't have a pic line, he's not getting TPN either.  This would probably help him gain weight faster, but they don't want to give him another pic line unless he actually needs it.  So, keep praying.  There's nothing actually wrong at this point, but he still does need to gain weight. However, now poor little Gabriel has a hole in his nose.  It looks like the prongs have been rubbing his septum and actually put a hole in it.  The doctor wants to put in a ring in it, to make him the coolest baby in the NICU, but he's concerned that a nose ring won't be cool when he's a teenager.  :) It's not a huge problem.

Little Gabe needs to gain some weight. He dropped 40 grams yesterday, which means he's only 20 grams above his birthweight. They're going to run some tests tomorrow to see if there's something else going on here, since he really should be gaining weight at this point. Please pray that he starts gaining weight and keeping the weight that he does gain! And please pray for the test results tomorrow.

I got to snuggle with Gabriel today and he was fussy. He just wanted to hold my hand. As soon as I moved it, he got fussy again. It made me feel all wanted! :) He's also up to 690 grams! That's 1lb 7oz.

I don't have anything too exciting to report as far as Gabriel is concerned.  He gained another 10 grams, so he's going the right direction! Today is Pat's and my 2nd anniversary.  Obviously this is not how we planned to celebrate...    Last year I found out that a friend of mine from the orphanage in Nicaragua had died.  This year we're in two different cities with a baby in the NICU.  Maybe next year we can have a normal anniversary???  

Gabriel gained 30 grams yesterday! That's an entire ounce! Thank you for your prayers. Now he just needs to keep it up the weight gain. Other than that, I don't have anything exciting to reports as far as his health. He's doing well. Grandma and Grandpa spent the day at the hospital again. Most of the time was with spent watching him sleep, but I did get to hold him for awhile. That ended up being more traumatic that usual. He's connected to so many tubes and sensors that it takes two people to manage his cords while I pick him up. Then the nurse and the respitory therapist have to readjust everything and tape the respitory tubes to the chair so that the prongs will stay in his nose. It's quite the process, but it's worth it to hold him. Well today, Gabriel decided that he was done with all of those tubes (even though he really isn't...). He pulled out both of his feeding tubes and then refused to keep the prongs in his nose. The RT would get them in and the

Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) came to visit today. Grandma was up two weeks ago, but this was Grandpa's first time meeting Gabriel. He was smitten! :) Gabriel is doing well. He's still 630 grams, so he didn't gain any weight, but he didn't lose any either, which is good. We've just got to get him gaining again... That said, his skin is looking so much better. Rather than being bright red like right after he was born, he looks much more like an actual baby. As the nurse said today, he may not have gained any weight in the last two weeks, but he's definitely been doing a lot of maturing. That said, he does look like a little old man... :)

Little Gabe is still doing pretty well. However, he's dropped back down to 630 grams, which is his birth weight and his blood sugar is a little high. They did a bunch of labs today and everything came back clear, so there's nothing else going on. He's eating well and filling up his diapers, so his digestive system is working well. My guess is that he's just so wiggly that he's burning off the calories rather than gaining weight. :) So please pray that he starts gaining weight.

Nothing exciting to report. Gabe continues to be a rockstar, impressing everyone. He and I got some quality snuggling in today. And that's about it.