Hi everyone. Finn had his water physical therapy today. They started doing this with him last week - its meant to allow him to relax his muscles and also strengthen his core, kinda like pilates for preemies. He seemed to love it. They keep a blanket wrapped around his upper body to make him feel safer. Here are a few pictures…
Today is Finn’s 75th day in the NICU. Hard to believe. He’s had a pretty good weekend. Yesterday was a little rough as he recovered from the surgery and came off of the anesthesia. He was back on cpap for a few hours because he kept forgetting to breathe, but he’s much better today and is back on the nasal cannula. I got to give him a bottle today for the first time! He chowed down and then was completely exhausted and went right to sleep. He’s up to 3 pounds, 12 ounces today. Here are some pictures from the weekend…
Bottle with mom:
Snoozin’ with a cig behind his ear. (Just kidding, his ear was a little irritated so they had some gauze behind it.)
Representing his team:
Whoa. Some scary stuff in that diaper:
Hi everyone. Finn’s surgery went really well. He is back at Mary Birch and is just starting to wake up. The dr. said everything went as well as could be expected. We just got home from the hospital and are pretty beat. Thanks for all of the nice messages today. Here are a couple pictures.
Pre-surgery:
This is the bed they transport him in. He does not travel light.
After surgery. He has a breathing tube which they’ll remove when he wakes up.
So Finn is going in for surgery Friday afternoon. The opthomologist came back to examine him today and told us the ROP has progressed and he is also developing Plus disease in his retina. The combination means they recomend recomend laser surgery as soon as possible. It was pretty nuts we had to make the decision so quickly, but his condition is advancing and the earlier they treat it the better the outcomes, according to the studies. He’s scheduled to have the operation at Children’s hospital next door at 4. I guess it only takes about an hour. So, just like with his PDA surgery back in September we’ll meet him at mary birch and walk him through the tunnel over to children’s hospital, but this time around he’s so much stronger and shouldn’t have to stay overnight or anything. Finn weighed 540 grams when he had his PDA surgery, now he’s 1710 grams. They said he should be back at mary birch by the early evening to recover. Since he’s an infant they have to give him anesthetia and intubate him so he can breathe. He hasn’t had a breathing tube for so long, it’s going to be kind of weird to see him like that.
They say the outcome when they catch ROP early is very good. He is likely to need glasses earlier in life, and there’s a chance he may lose some of his peripheral vision, but the body adjusts and it doesn’t effect his ability to drive or play sports, or do all the things that a normal kid wants to do.
It’s been an especially tough day for Anne, she hasn’t seen Finn in over a week now, and she has to hear all of this information through me instead of directly from the Doctor. It seems like her cold might finally be gone, i hope, so i think we’ll sneak her into the hospital for a peak tomorrow before they put Finn under. Here’s a pic from yesterday, he’s getting big so fast! We’ll update after the surgery, thanks for all of the support and prayers. - Noah & Anne
Finn saw the eye doctor this morning. One of his eyes has stayed the same and the other has gotten a tiny bit worse. Not bad enough to warrant the laser surgery at this point, but the doctor wants to see him again on Thursday to see how quickly it is progressing. We’ll know more then…
Finn gets another visit from the eye doctor today, and we are very anxious/nervous to hear if they have stayed the same or regressed. If they have regressed it will mean he has to have laser surgery, but hopefully that isn’t the case. Other that that he’s rockin, I gave him a bottle last night and he was loving it. Anne is still getting over her darn cold and i know it’s killing her to not be able to see him. I’ll post again when we hear the results of his eye exam, thanks again for all the support. -Noah
We have major progress, people. Lots of big steps over the last few days…all of which I have missed because I still have this stupid cold. My parents and Noah spent time at the hospital this weekend and kept me posted on all the news.
Finn took his first bottle today! Noah and my dad were at the hospital this morning and his nurse warned them that he may not be into it and may have some events (apnea and dipping heart rate), but he took the whole thing down, no problem. He eats every three hours and all of his other feedings are given through his feeding tube, but from now on he’ll get one bottle a day until he’s ready for more. At this point, more than one a day may wear him out.
Finn’s also been moved from the incubator and into an open bed. Not only did he get new digs, but he’s been moved from the acute side of the NICU to the side they call ”step down”. This is the graduate side, where babies basically go to eat, sleep and grow. This is HUGE!! They’ve also decreased the flow of his nasal cannula, so he’s receiving less pressure and progressing more toward breathing on his own entirely.
Finn also got his first bath in the tub. Up to this point he’s been getting sponge baths but Noah arrived to an explosive diaper tonight, so Finn went into the tub.
He is 35 weeks now (so 5 weeks shy of full-term) and it’s hard to believe that we are nearing the end of this part of the journey. I know we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s so amazing to see him thriving.
Here are some pictures from the past couple of days.
Open bed:
Finn and Grandma Molly:
Mom and Finn last week:
First bath:
Bottle:
Holding on:
Hi everyone, it’s Anne. I’ve been home sick with a nasty cold for 2 days and haven’t been able to see Finn which is killing me. But it sounds like he’s had a great two days. His infection seems to be clearing up, his breathing is much better and he’s eating like a champ. He is up to 3 pounds, 4 ounces today. My parents are coming to visit this weekend so I’m sure we’ll have lots of new pictures in the next couple days.
I’m more and more amazed by this kid every day. In the past three days he has had a spinal tap, a urine catheter, a blood transfusion, his vaccines and a bunch of pricks for lab tests. The blood transfusion is pretty standard for preemies. He’s going through all of the other stuff because his white blood cell count was elevated, indicating he could have an infection. They’ve started him on antibiotics and he seems to be feeling ok. He was awake and moving all around this afternoon. I held him for about an hour and he just sucked on his pacifier and looked around the whole time. He has had increased episodes of apnea (forgetting to breathe) which is also an indication of infection. We’re hoping his white blood cell count goes down tomorrow and the antibiotics knock out whatever it is in his system.
He had another eye exam today and his ROP has progressed to Stage 2. The dr. wants to visit him again next week and see if it has changed at all. At that point we’ll decide what treatment, if any, he needs.
He has started making really funny faces lately. He sticks out his tongue nonstop and I swear he smiles!
Mom is off to have some fun…going to the Madonna concert tonight 