Going going gone....

Since my last post, a few things have happened....

It's official.....the oxygen tanks have been removed from our house. Jensen absolutely no longer requires any respiratory assistance. Yeehah!! Since this point we have been trying to ween ourselves off the Graseby monitor. First, I stopped taking it in the pram, then the car, then tried daytime sleeps without it (unless Jensen was sleeping on his tummy, which he loves so very much). Last night, after removing the lead for its weekly change, I posed the question..."what do you think about sleeping without Graseby tonight?", thinking if Phil was unsure we would strike that idea, but he seemed confident and keen, so sleep without the comfort of the Graseby we did. I thought we would be in for a night of no sleep, but it had been a little while since I had woken up to check the light was flashing anyhow, and surprisingly I slept ok, only waking once or twice wondering why I hadn't heard from our little bundle in a while. Since we have gone to demand feeding it can be 6 hours in between sqwarks. Last night he went to bed at 8pm, and didn't wake until 230am. We still have a while left on our hire of the monitor, so won't be returning it just yet, but last night we made a major progressive step into normalising our little boy.

Speaking of normalising, a quick visit to Dr Sinn yesterday, saw him announce that Jensen was almost a 'normal' little boy. Blood test results showed his Thyroxin levels to be perfect (probably due to his meds), his Calcium and Phosphate levels almost perfect. His weight gain of 240grams this week, has put him at 4.54kgs, we have ceased Poly-Joule, Daktarin, and Flixatide....and therefore his thrush has gone (thankfully, as he vomited every time I put the gel on his tongue). So that leaves us with Vitamin D, Iron, and Pentavite, all of which he will stay on until we start solids (which is only weeks away), a probiotic, and Thyroxin, which I believe he will be taking until he is 3 years old.

This massive weight gain can be attributed to a change in teat. We have moved on from the 0-3 months to 4-6 months teat. We tried this a month or so ago, but were met with chugs, splutters and mess. Now however, this has solved all our previous feeding problems. Jensen was rejecting his bottle after exactly 50 of his 100 mls. Out of pure exhaustion we now suppose, from having to suck so hard to get a drop of milk from a tiny hole. Feeding had become my worst nightmare, and most stressful part of my day, it was such a fight and would take so long. Now it's a favourite time, takes half the time and Jensen is feeding so much better, even trying to feed himself by holding the bottle. We just have to teach him to hold the actual bottle, not the teat!!

Aunty Mel are you sure I can't have a piece of your birthday cake?

This week we caught up with a couple of nurses, which was lovely. It's been a long while between visits, and it was nice to have a catch up outside of the NICU. Everyone can really tell the difference with him now, being so big, a crop of hair (just on the top of his head), and a face free of tubes.

In news that makes me nervous and unsettled, we have booked Jensen's hernia repair surgery. Dr Holland (the surgeon) had been waiting for the all clear from Dr Sinn, in regard to coming off oxygen etc. So I popped into his clinic to make an appointment with him, and instead he booked us in for surgery.....very soon! I asked for a date after the 12th which is the date of Jensen's welcome home party, so the 14th is what we got. It's just a day surgery, and hopefully won't require an overnight stay in hospital. The surgery will be done at Westmead children's hospital..... I never wanted to go back to that place.

We also have had to make another appointment to see Dr Smith, the ophthalmologist. The baby health nurse commented on Jensen's eye, so we are off to get it checked out again. One of his eyes is slightly turned and his eyes float around a lot before focussing. Hopefully with a few easy exercises this can be rectified, and hopefully no more surgery is required.

Over the last few weeks we have also had some nice little get to know you sessions with family overseas. We regularly video chat with grandma and grandad Jackson, my uncle Geoff and Bernice, and recently have chatted with great grandma Jackson, and cousin Tegan, for the first time. Jensen is also getting to know cousin Daisy, and I'm sure will soon be babbling away at her. Phil's brother and girlfriend, Matthew and Emma and sisters Sally and Gemma, gather round for a chat when visiting the folks, and we even had the whole Jackson family a couple of weeks ago. It's nice that even though we are so far apart, our lives don't have to be.

In the world of learning and development, little man is learning how to kiss. He goes in for the big open mouth pash with a bit of a lick too. Very, very cute, and very very sloppy. We are learning about our nose, how to clap and to reach out and grab things. Jensen is very good at grabbing mummy's hair, but we are aiming for more tangible objects such as rattles and the like. This week's aim is to familiarise ourselves with our knees, in order to help us to roll. Stay tuned folks....

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The day we've been waiting for.....

Today is day 3 of no oxygen.....yep, that's right, little man is in air with no respiratory assistance for the first time ever!! The download on Friday night was just perfect, so Jensen has had his prongs and tubing removed since then, and assuming he is still happy in air for another download sometime this week, the oxygen tanks will be collected and removed for good. Yay!!!! We've all been waiting for this day for so long, we are so proud of our little man, and he seems quite happy with himself too. Thinking back to when he was just initiating breaths, and having the ventilator finish them for him, to see him now doing it all on his own is an amazing achievement in such a short time. We were initially looking at being on oxygen for a lot longer, so our little super star has just amazed everyone he knows once again.

Now that we can see our handsome boy's face unobstructed for the first time ever, we've been showering his bare cheeks with kisses. We've danced around the house in twirls without tangles, gone out on to the balcony without restriction, passed him to each other without getting caught in tubing, and gone for a walk minus the 5kg backpack. It only took us minutes to leave the house, and we were able to take turns pushing the pram, heck, today we even enjoyed a coffee at a café with outdoor heating...something we've had to avoid having a flammable tank on our back....it's these little things of everyday life taken for granted, that are our little treasures. We don't have inquisitive stares any longer, we just blend. Not that I have ever been one to blend, but in this instance, it's been a long term wish.

On top of this good news, Jensen also reached the 4kg mark. Actually he's had quite the growth spurt, growing 6 cm in a week! This means he is less of a worry to the doctors, and much more robust. It also means that we can move on to demand feeding again, and let the little man sleep for longer stints (and mummy and daddy). We still have to keep track of his supplements and meds, but have now scheduled them to feeds rather than a time.

I think that's enough exciting news for one post, so will keep you updated with our little star's progress as the weeks go by.

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6 months old

As of last Sunday, little chap is 6 months old. We celebrated with some Jensen sized cupcakes and a photo session. Of course he looks nothing like a 6 month old, more like a 6 week old, bless him.

Since my last post we have had quite a bit of progress in the oxygen department. Three weeks ago we did a download in 50 mls which was perfect, and after two weeks in 50mls, did a download in 30mls which was also perfect. Doctor Sinn attributes this to the new medication Jensen is taking in the form of Flixatide, a steroid medication mainly used by asthmatics. Another week later we did a download in 20mls, neither Phil nor I were hugely confident, but the results were so good, Dr Sinn had us do another, the next night in air.....In AIR!!!! We decided to keep his nasal prongs in, should he require oxygen in the wee hours, we didn't want to face the battle of re-taping the prongs to his face. Unbeknownst to me, this meant his breathing was similar to that of breathing through a straw :(. What a terrible mother I am, the poor little chap. Nonetheless, his download was very good, but as Jensen hadn't put on much weight this week, Dr Sinn decided to keep him on oxygen for now. This will help with his weight gain, and also give him more energy. Anyhow, it won't be for too much longer that we're dragging a bottle of air around on our backs.

Little man now weighs 3.85kgs (8.5 pounds) and until this week has been putting on weight steadily. Last fortnight he gained almost half a kilo. This week his tongue is bothering him (a result of new medication) and hadn't been feeding to his full potential. Also this week has marked a milestone in that Jensen has now outgrown his tiny baby (00000) outfits and is fitting nicely into newborn size (0000). So yay!

I did a backflip on my decision about Mother's group and went along last week and again today. It was a very large group of mothers and babies which I found a bit overwhelming. After today I feel much better about going, but last week I felt quite emotional overhearing birth stories and 'hard' four hour labour stories, and seeing all these bouncing babies just casually latching on to their mother's breast. Particularly so when it was our turn to introduce ourselves. All the babies are aged between 4 and 7 weeks, with Jensen at 10 weeks corrected being the oldest...and the smallest by the looks of it. It came to my turn...."Hi, I'm Belinda, and this is Jensen. Jensen was born at 23 weeks, so he is 6 months old". I couldn't look at anyone while I spoke, I didn't want to see anyone's face. Afterwards, I'm sure there were many questions, too polite to be asked. Today some of those questions were asked, and today I was happy to answer them.

Last week when popping into the hospital to pick up the download machine, we decided to pop into Intensive Care to say hello. At first I was just going to discreetly say hi to a couple of nurses, but our presence was soon discovered and we were swiftly mobbed by a swarm of nurses, very keen for cuddles. It's been a long time since the intensive care nurses have seen Jensen. Besides the day we were discharged, it would have been late April, when we made the move over to High Dependency, since many of them had seen our little man. He's grown so much since then. We were smothered from all directions with kisses, hugs, can I have a cuddles? and teary eyes. Most comments were how big, alert and gorgeous Jensen was, and also how much he looks like his daddy, and has his calm and placid nature....no compliments for mummy then..., actually there were a few of those thrown in too. It was lovely to catch up with them all and we may well duck in for a visit again soon.

This weekend we are starting Music therapy, something Dr Sinn has recommended highly, in fact he has organised a special class for the three babies home from the NICU on oxygen, Jensen and his two little friends Andre and Arnold, who have recently been discharged from hospital. The medical staff are doing a research trial in the NICU with music therapy and pain management in preemies. It's in its infancy, but has already seen oxygen requirements decrease in babies participating in the music trial. It's also known to help brain development, so we have decided to give it a go. However, daddy is not too keen on frolicking around the room to the beat with the babies.

We are currently in the planning stages of Jensen's welcome home party, which we are very excited about. We've booked a date and a venue and mummy and her minions are busy planning the décor. Can't wait to celebrate our beautiful miracle baby with all that we love.

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