Hospital pictures and Nolan's 2yr pic

Nolan's Hospital Picture 2 days old

Nathaniel's hospital pictures: 6 days old

Nolan's 2 year picture

Nolan

Nolan laying down with his baby doll

He than wanted to lay down with his brother

Nathaniel

Nolan 2 weeks old

Nathaniel 1 week and 5 days old

Nathaniel smiles all the time!!!

Nolan and Nathaniel

Meeting cousins and Aunts

Since the only people allowed in the Special Care Nursery were Gail, me, and grandparents, this is the first time for some other family members to meet Nathaniel.

Aunt Shelley

Cousin Austin

Counsins: Austin and Amber

Aunt Deb and Nathaniel

Cousin Abby and Nathaniel

more cousin pictures

Cousin Josh

Special delivery

I just could not resist taking pictures of my little guy today. Here our some pictures of my special delivery, Nathaniel.

JAUNDICE STINKS!!!!

Doctor appointment went well today. He still has jaundice and his count level went up again to
13.8. Oh joy here comes the roller coaster ride again. The nurse called back with the results and said to have him retested on Monday. I was not going to wait that long to have test results I wanted to know if it was going to go back up more tomorrow and get lower. After talking with the nurse Gail convince them to order another test for tomorrow. But we have to get it early so because the Dr. office closes at noon on Sat. Please keep praying for him. I hate having to take him outside for these dumb test. I would also love for the jaundice to go away!!! I will keep everyone updated. Here are some pictures and video that I promised:

My little glow worm

Nolan loved to sit on the hospital bed and watch TV

Grandma Hon holding him for the 1st time

Daddy feeding him for the 1st time.
(oh yeah he changed the first diaper too! :)

Nurse from Heaven in the special Care Nursery.
Thanks Mary!!! :)

More picture from the hospital

1st time G-ma T held him

1st time Nolan got to see, touch, and hold Nathaniel without a window
between them!

Video of Nathaniel's Home coming

Nolan meets Nathaniel up close for the first time! :)


We caught Nolan trying to breast feed last night! ;) Wish we had it on video!! That really made me laugh!!!!

My side of the story

Well I can't believe Nathaniel is here. Early too! MY little Valentine Baby. I had been feeling uncomfortable for a few days, and did not realize that I was actually having contractions. Yes, I know I have an older child, but I was induced with him. So anyways I noticed some bleeding (bloody show) and my stomach kept getting hard off and on all day. I called my doctor and he did not seem to concerned he just figured I was starting to lose my mucus plug. Well that night around 10ish I told Gail I really think I need to pack my bag tonight. He said go for it, but I was too lazy to get out of bed and get it packed. So I feel asleep and was feeling pretty good until I went to turn over. That is when I felt a gush of water. This was at 12:45 Am (contractions really started at around 1:00 Am in the car 2 minutes apart!.)

This is where I think it gets funny! :)
I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. I yelled to Gail, I think my water just broke. He turned over in bed and felt the bed. He said: "I don't think your water broke Lisa, it would be really wet in the bed." I had a pad on so it held it I told him. Anyways, I called my mom, who informed me that yes my water did break and that I needed to call the doctor and go to the hospital. She was on her way to watch Nolan. Gail is still in disbelief. He calls the doctor and than he ask me again about my water breaking. He had me go to Google to make sure about my water breaking. As we are getting ready to go he notices my mom in the drive way and ask what she was doing there. I forgot to tell him that I asked her to come and watch Nolan. He was planning on waking him and taking him and dropping him off. Yeah right! So anyways we finally get on our way. We said a prayer, me I kept saying prayers the whole way there!!! We get going and we come to our first roadblock. Gail finds a way around it by going out of our way to get around the roadblock 747/275 ramp closed. Then as we are driving we find that we can't get on the highway because the rt4 275 ramp is closed. Another roadblock. At this time my contractions have been exactly 2 mins. apart and I am thinking I just better get to the hospital in time for my drugs!!! :) I did not want to have a natural birth, I wanted pain medicine!!!! :) We ended up getting to the hospital on time, but we thought we were going to have to get out at the 3rd roadblock right by the hospital . But the officer let us by! Yeah.
When I went in I was already 6 cm dilated. I was in labor for about 5 hours. I only got to hold Nathaniel for 30 seconds. He was whisked away to be put on oxygen. However, as the past blogs have posted God has not only blessed us with another beautiful son. He allowed him to get better fast and come home wednesday!!! :) We had a home care nurse come wednesday. We got his biliruben test back and it went up from 10.1 to 12.6. We have a doctor appointment today,so we will see what the plan will be for the little guy. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. Also, I am sad to say that he won't be going anywhere but the doctors office for appointments due to his respiratory problems at birth, being a preemie, and it is the flu season. He really can not afford to get a cold or flu due to these issues. The doctor advised that he stay home for at least 1 month another advised 2 months. He also advised limited visitation due to him being more vulnerable to catching an illnesses. I am hoping to introduce him to church by Easter Sunday!
The little guy is eating really well. However, since he is early he is still learning how to breast feed. So feeding time takes me an hour. We try nursing, and if he decides to nurse that is usually about 15-20 minutes, than I have to feed him a bottle to make sure he is getting enough food, than I have to pump for 20-30 minutes after every feeding to keep my milk production coming in and getting more milk. By the time I am down it feels like it is time to start the process all over again. So my job right now is food machine mommy. It is nice when I have a helping hand around because after I breast feed I can pump while someone else feeds him his bottle. cuts the time down a lot. But I figure a few weeks of this will pay off in the end when I don't have to pump anymore and I can just nurse him!!!! :) Since he is early he may only nurse a few times a day. THis is common so I have my work cut out for me, but I have really enjoyed nursing and the process a lot better than with Nolan.

I will update more later.

Happy One week old

I can't believe Nathaniel is already 1 week old today. He turned 1 week at 7:48 Am Wow!!!
A home nurse came to pay him a visit today. He weighs 6 pounds 11 oz and he had blood taken to check his jaundice level again. Please continue to pray for him. He is not out of the woods yet until the jaundice is totally gone. We get results back tonight. If it is higher he might go back on the belly ruben blanket at home, if it is too high he would probably go back to the hospital. I think he looks about the same as he did when he left the hospital! He also has his first DR. appt. tomorrow. I will post more later. Right now Nolan went down for a nap, and my parents are here watching the baby. So that means nap time for me too!!! Yeah!!!

Thank you Lord!

Nathaniel is home!! He only had a belly ruben score of 10 today!!!

Lisa will update more later

G

Update on Nathaniel

Nathaniel is totally off of any oxygen etc and is doing pretty well.
Right now they are trying to get his jaundice level down he went from 13.2 yesterday morning, to
14.8 last night. They put him on 2 lights instead of one then. This morning he was at 12.8 they now only have one light on him. He is scheduled for another billyruben test today at 4 (we will get results at 5) if that is at 13 or below they will let him come home today!!!! IF not he may will stay another night and see how things go. Please pray that he is able to come home today and see his big brother!!!

G

GOOD NEWS!!!!

4AM
They have taken Nathaniel off of the oxygen!! He is now totally breathing on his own!!!
He only has an IV hooked up for nutrution.
The nurse said when the Dr comes in this AM((9:00) that he should be able to eat, and if the Dr does not allow him to eat Nathaniel should beat him up. :)
Wonder what the first thing he will eat will be?? If it were me hmm I dunno maybe some heath bar ice cream or some Seasoned Catfish. That may just stem from having to eat fast food for the last 3 days!

Keep praying that we have a place to stay and that Nathaniel can come home soon!!!

G

Update!!!

Wow it has been a very busy few days. Our last official day in the hospital is today. We are now considered Inn people, which means that we can stay in the hospital room as long as they do not need the room for free. We basically just have the room no service. It makes it really nice being able to stay close to Nathaniel. The down fall is that we could be summons to leave at anytime, but they will give us plenty of time to get our belongings together.
Good news about Nathaniel:
Last night: I got to hold him for the first time. Since then I have held him about 4 times! :) Today I got to hold him for an hour and half and then later this night I get a phone call from the nurse that she has a surprise for us. When I went up to see him he was off the CPaP machine and we can now see his precious little face! He now just has a nose oxygen thing that he finds to be more comfortable. He has an IV in his head now, that is only because they could not get a good vein anywhere else. He is now tolerating touch a lot better. The first two days we really could not even touch him. He was so sensitive to touch, lights, and sounds. The nurse told us tonight that he is breathing room tempt. now. If he keeps progressing as well as he has been they will start to ween him off the nose thing and will maybe even start some slow feedings tomorrow. He has a little bit of Jaundice, but not a concern at this point. They are monitoring it to make sure it stays in the save zone. He registered around 8 today. They say once he gets food in him this will most likely help him get rid of the jaundice.
Gail got to hold him tonight too!!! :)
Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. Please continue to pray for us and that Nathaniel will continue to improve and will be healthy to come home with us soon.We still do not have his length, but of last night he went down in weight. He weighed about 7 pounds. Well I will try to keep you updated on his progress, but for now enjoy some more pitures.

CPAP Machine
Nathaniel is breathing on his own. This machine just helps
to force Oxygen (O2) into him better.
We are just waiting here for him to maintain his air pressure at 21 and to
just breath room temp. air

Holding for the first time!

CPAP machine( he hated this thing on him) Can't blame the
little angel

The surprise!!! Off CPAP and we can see
his face better!!! :)

Gail holding him for the first time!

Nathaniel Reed is HERE!!

Nathaniel Reed is here he was born at 7:48am and is 7lbs and 4oz no measurement just yet.
He was born a few weeks early. He was put on oxygen at first but last we knew he was breathing on his own. He is having a little trouble breathing on is own kind of like how nolan was when he was born. They may put him back on oxygen if he does not clear up soon. They expect by tomorrow e should be breathing pretty good.

We really have not got to hold him or see him much he has been in the special care room for now.
HE may or may not have to stay a few days or more since he was so earlier.
Lisa can update you more when she is up to it.
I am mainly here to show you pics and videos so enough of my rambling
here you go see video at bottom