Trying my New Stuff

Although Chase is still adjusting to his crib, he has enjoyed his time in the swing. We haven't yet tried out the pack-and-play, and the bouncer after eating was a bad idea on mommy and daddy's part!

What is this thing?

Sunday-Race Day:)

This was the best pic I could get of the boys watching the race. Well, Jas watching the race and Chase sleeping after breakfast:) I tried to get an actual track shot, but they all just ended up looking like the image projected on their bodies! The pit crew in action was as good as I could get and since Jas had just woken up, he wasn't exactly wanting to pose for pics.

HAPPY "BIRTH"DAY!!!

Happy "Birth"day Speed Chase'r!

Today was my due date. Can you believe we finally made it? Jas even forgot he set it as an event in his calendar back when I found out I was pregnant-it said "Baby's coming". Despite everything we've been through in recent months, we wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

Looking forward to many, many more wonderful milestones with you peanut. Mommy and Daddy love you more than you know...

First Road trip

Today we decided to take a road trip to Annapolis to walk around a little bit and see "aunt" Francesca. It took us a while to get ourselves together and Jas is running on even less sleep than me. I have never had a problem falling back asleep once my head hits the pillow. Jas on the other hand, has never been a napper. Chase has decided his favorite places to sleep are on the boppy lounger during the day, and in our arms at night. As soon as he falls asleep and we put him in his crib he fusses and cries, and we are trying hard to not give in and take him out!

Anyway-since it was such a beautiful day there were lots of people down by the marina, so we chose a place to eat outside away from the crowds and had just short visit with Francesca. Its always good people watching down there!

Tomorrow is a race day-so Chase will be able to have his first F1 experience! He sleeps through the surround sound, so I'm not worried for when they start their engines. I'll take a picture of my two boys watching the race together tomorrow:)

Running to Outings

We've had two outings to doctor's appts. this week, and we were late for both of them! Luckily we were only a few minutes late and each time they were understanding. Wednesday's visit with the pediatrician was at 3pm so it didn't conflict with meds, but this morning's eye doctor's appt. was at 10am so I had to prep extra.

I neatly packaged his medicine and milk for the 11am feeding, and the staff graciously gave us a private room after our appt. I still haven't nursed in public, and since he needs to get his meds in a bottle I figured we'd continue with the current setup. Two things I learned today however...pack more than you think you'll need and don't forget something to put the dirty diapers in! I guess I could have read up on what to pack in the diaper bag in my parenting magazine or one of the plethora of baby advice websites, but I figured how hard can it be? Luckily, the little man only had one gigantic blow out requiring a change of clothes. I however left the plastic bags for soiled items in the car. So Jas needed to run out to the car to get them after I finished getting him dressed. Lesson learned.

After our appointment and an outfit change we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and head into Towson to grab a bite to eat at DiPasquales since they have outdoor seating. Since Chase had just eaten, and loves the car ride(Jas says its because of the rumble of the V-8 in my car), he was passed out for much of our lunch. As many of you know the Towson circle(or roundabout as Marylanders call it) is quite a busy place. I'm please to report Chase slept through the noise of delivery trucks, honking horns, and some obnoxiously loud music. I'm still amazed that people can't drive around a circle down here. If they were from South Jersey they would have needed to learn how to navigate our famous circles and jug handles during driving lessons!

After lunch we walked around Towson and headed to the park in front of the courthouse to give Chase a break from his stroller. While we sat in the shade only two grandmas stopped over to say hi, and as I write this I'm thinking about how we need of those hang tags for his stroller that say-"hands off" or something a little more nicely put:)

First Days Home

Bath Time-Yum my hand tastes good:)

I love being home and held all the time!

Love my boppy lounger

What is this thing?

Out for my first walk

We've had an eventful first few days since Chase has come home. We gave him the tour of the house and introduced him to Summer. She has been great with him, and is very concerned when he cries. She likes to sleep on the rug in front of his crib, and has only gotten in a few quick licks in the past two days.

Monday night was an adjustment for Mommy and Daddy, and Chase was awake and fussy about every 1 1/2 hrs. Drawing up medicine every three hours in the middle of the night was also a task in itself! Thank goodness one of the nurses made us a med chart for us to track the 3 hr. intervals.

The hospital had a home health care nurse visit yesterday, and she had some suggestions that made things go a little more smoothly last night. While I had all of the syringes labeled and organized in baggies, she suggested we draw up all of his night meds before heading to bed and separate them into baggies by feeding. This suggestion helped alot, since measuring out .67mL of one medication in the middle of the night requires you to be wide awake! We also limited his space a bit in the crib. In addition to swaddling him like the first night, we also used the sleep positioner piece from our snuggle nest to give him some more boundaries in the crib. He slept much better last night, and we even had to wake him up for his 5am feeding and medication this morning. He has at times enjoyed eating on demand though!! He also got his first tub/sink bath yesterday and only managed to pee on me once!

We are still settling in to a schedule and Jas has been taking the 11pm and 8am feedings. I've been doing the 2am and 5am. This will be subject to change when Jas goes back to work of course. So when Jas took him for the 8am this morning I went back to bed and slept til about 9:45. It was wonderful:) After some peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes(Summer got some plain ones) I tried to get some stuff done around the house, and Jas worked on documentation and work phone calls before our first outing to the pediatrician. Today was his initial evaluation. Everything looks good, he gained two ounces, and we go back for another checkup next week. The doc said maybe in a few weeks we can look at weaning his med schedule once he gets more labs done. Only one more appt. this week. We see the eye doctor on Friday for another follow-up.

After a busy day, we took a short walk with Chase and Summer to enjoy the nice weather, and test out the stroller. He didn't seem to mind the bumpy sidewalks or potholes of Baltimore today!

Welcome home finally!!

Chase Holden Swanson was finally discharged from the GBMC NICU at 12:50pm on August 23, 2010 weighing in at a whopping 6lbs. After 81 days he's finally home!

At Last

Gotta listen to that murmur one last time!

Getting my discharge physical

Mommy and Daddy are so happy! Look at my cute overalls:)

My crib is all ready

Look at all the fun stuff

Mama I'm coming home!

The day has finally come! Chase should be discharged from the hospital by early afternoon. Kate and I couldn't be more excited. pictures of his adventure home will be posted later.

Not so fast

We just got word he will be delayed his homecoming by a day our two. He had a brady after breakfast and the NICU team just want to be safe. Hopefully the little man will be home tomorrow our tuesday. we will keep you all posted.

80 days

We grew up with 80's music and movies. Who could forget the Miracle on Ice from 1980? 80 days around the world. And of course it was the year Jas was born. It is also the number of days since Chase was born, and how long he's been in the hospital. More importantly it is the magic number of days for him to come home!!

One week shy of his scheduled birth day Chase Holden Swanson is finally coming home. We couldn't be more overjoyed and can't wait for you all to meet him. Thank you for all of the well wishes and prayers over the past few months, we couldn't have done this without you!

Not himself

Chase was a bit out of sorts yesterday. He was pretty fussy during the night, had a brady with low sats, and he needed to be woken up 45min after his morning cares should have started. He also didn't eat very much at the 6am and 8am intervals. So when I got in at 11 expecting to talk about his car seat test and portrait outfits, we instead were greeted by an abdomen x-ray and blood work:( They wanted to make sure there wasn't an infection causing his problems. He slept right through the blood work and didn't even stir to eat when I got there, so we knew something was wrong. After wait seemed like a long wait, during which time he started to fuss and act hungry but I wasn't allowed to feed him, his results came back normal. Hopefully everything was just tied to the circumcision and his behavior was due to the fact that he was still in a little pain-Sorry buddy! He was still getting Tylenol so this was also contributing to his drowsiness. Before all of the blood work results came back the nurse practitioner came in to give me the go-ahead to feed him since at this point he was mighty grumpy and he was 1 1/2 hours overdue for his feeding. Needless to say he ended up perking up and ate like a champ. When we left he seemed to be his usual self. Hopefully today we'll get back on track!

Tub Time and Trauma

I am so friggin' cute

Chase had a big day today. He peed on Mommy while he was getting weighed, he got his first tub bath, and he got circumcised. So only the first two things were kind of fun for him, but it was still an eventful day! I would load the video, but it shows his bits, and we're trying not to get in trouble:)

I wasn't there for the circumcision, but he was pretty grumpy afterwards. Can you blame him? Every time he'd kick his legs around he'd scream, and we tried to keep him calm by holding him for a while after feeds.

Today they set up a bunch of appointments for us and I got his prescriptions to fill for tomorrow. He still is having occasional desats, so we may be a few more days, but his little bits healing at the hospital with the nursing care is fine by us! He still has to do the car seat test because they didn't want to subject him to anything else after his traumatic afternoon.

A Matter of Time

Waiting for the test

Still no date-sorry! The doc came in to let us know it would be soon, but since Chase is still desatting a little they want to watch him for a bit. Like he said, "We don't want him to have to come back" and Jas and I couldn't agree more! Chase will let us know when he's ready:) Today they also stopped tilting the head of his bed and are monitoring his O2 levels since he does still reflux a bit. He needed some blow-by oxygen for a desatting episode were his numbers didn't bounce back up like usual yesterday, so they don't want to rush sending him home. I think the doc thought we'd be upset, but we never thought tomorrow was going to be his discharge date anyway! We'll keep you all posted, we're ready whenever he is.

Almost there!

Summer is a little confused with all the commotion

In a few short days Chase will be coming home! We still don't have a date set in stone, but Thursday will be day five off of oxygen with feeds. I took his car seat in the morning, and he'll have to sit in it for over an hour with no bradys and without desats lasting more than 20 seconds to pass the test. We still have to get the script to pick up his meds, and make an appointment to see the pediatrician. He has to see the doc two days after discharge. We also might have a nurse come to the house this weekend, but I haven't heard any details yet. Tomorrow is also my last day at work so I have a boatload of stuff to do, but then I'll be able to take a little time to meet with the docs and get a few more things ready at home.

Everyone keeps asking what we're going to do when we get home with him, and when we both have some time off of work. Honestly, we just want to enjoy being a family. No driving, no scrubbing in, and sorry to say for a little bit-no visitors. We'll gladly take being sleep deprived at home over going back and forth to the hospital any day.

Shower time

Thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts! I have my work cut out for me with thank yous from both shower nows:) Sorry you all had to trek down in the rain. Apparently rain is a recurring theme for our family celebrations. Despite the lousy weather it was so good to see everyone, and a few friends and family got to visit with Chase before and after the shower.

Day 72

Yesterday Chase did well off of oxygen all together! He still gulps the bottle when he's hungry and gasps to catch his breath, but this would happen to anyone eating fast:) He only gained a few grams which was good, because the two prior days he gained a little too much. As you may remember this issue is of concern because of fluid retention. After discussion during rounds the docs also decreased his calorie supplement back down to 24. We were also told to bring his car seat in by mid week!!

I wish someone besides the nurse could have seen Chase while I gave him his bath yesterday. He was hilarious. When she put him on his belly under the warmer he was squirming around like a frog. He kept kicking his legs around on the pad, rearing up his butt and lifting his head. Unfortunately I had my hands full with him, so I couldn't take any video!

Today is my baby shower at Clementine so we have lots of company visiting from out of town!

Big Boy

Home Stretch

No carpet

Carpet!

Not the permanent layout-but at least the space is usable again

Crib shots!

Although we don't get have a date, we know we are closing in on the end of this 70+ day journey. Chase passed both his hearing and vision exams yesterday, and today they are going to begin weaning him off the oxygen during feedings. They also scheduled his circumcision. Sorry TMI:) Yesterday he weighed 5lbs. 7oz. and as I was rocking with him after he ate I kept thinking that he looked not only giant compared to when he was born, but also that he would have been about this big if he had stayed in for the duration of the pregnancy.

His nursery and the upstairs are pretty much ready for his arrival. We still have to get an area rug and curtains for both rooms, and his nursery will be fully finished by the end of the weekend. Upstairs still needs trim, the projector remounted, a new screen, and closet systems as well, but all of these tasks will come together in due time. Right now we are just trying to get everything organized for Chase to come home. I have to put all the fun stuff away from my first baby shower to make room for the goodies from my home shower tomorrow:)

One Last Hurdle

We finally met with the cardiologist today. Although the PDA is still present it is small, and at this time doesn't require surgery! She said that the flow is in the correct direction, he doesn't have any enlargement on the left side, his lungs aren't as wet as in the past, and he continues to grow. All of these are good things:) We will see her again in two months for a follow-up to see if he may need a less invasive procedure if the PDA is still there.

Our hope was that after we got this news we would have a conversation about a possible discharge date, but no dice. The last goal he has to meet is not needing any oxygen for feedings. He is getting much more coordinated and we're hoping they do another trial off during feedings this weekend. After that it should be only another week or so. Keeping our fingers crossed!

Littlest Fan

Chase has already amassed quite a nice wardrobe, and he has a trifecta of fan gear from our Philadelphia teams. You all have seen his Flyers blanket and bib in his room at the NICU, but he also has Eagles and Phillies onesies, several pacifiers, outfits, socks, and hats representing our beloved teams.

Despite the fact that McNabb was traded, we won't start following a rival team down here, and will proudly display our newest gift during the season. Thanks Angela and Tommy for the great sign! The picture doesn't do it justice, its poster size and once he's big enough for his onesie you better believe we'll be taking pics to send everyone.

Don't worry he also received his first F1 Ferrari outfit as well:) Thank goodness the little one can sleep through anything, because his first Sunday home may be on a race weekend. For anyone that hasn't stayed at our house before...you don't sleep in on race day. You never sleep in on race day. Our small house is rocked with the roar of the engines at the start. He heard it throughout the pregnancy, so he may be unfazed:) We can't wait til Chase fits in his Ferrari outfit, and we already talk about when we can take him to his first race.

Didn't I mention that he's already sure to be a car fanatic just like his daddy? I imagine as soon as he's big enough to grip the steering wheel Jas will have him sitting on his lap in the race simulator he built a few years ago.

Squirmy

Not a lot of info, which is a good thing! He weighed 5 lbs. 1.6oz today and continues to need only minimal oxygen just for feedings. He's not a happy camper taking his medicine from the bottle some days, and this evening he had two bradys while eating. He seems to do better pacing himself while nursing. One last thing-our meeting with the cardiologist is finally on Thursday afternoon. I know we've been waiting to get a date, but I think we've finally made it on her schedule:)

I have house pics on the camera, but its time for bed for us. Will try to post them in the morning. Here's a video of the little one however:)

Chase isn't doing a lot in this video. Just squirming around and looking pretty darn cute!

Only for Feeds

Wearing my new hat that Anne made for me!

(look-no tape)

Another closeup-its hard to juggle the phone and him so the pics are a little blurry!

Sorry it's been a few days! Chase is doing fantastic:) He still requires just a little bit of oxygen for eating, but otherwise he has been off the cannula altogether! He now takes 50 ccs every time he eats. He is even relatively cooperative while taking his medicine in a bottle before he nurses. Some of his preemie sleepers are getting pretty snug, and we may only get a few more days out of them. He's almost 5lbs now!

House Update-

Hopefully the nursery will be complete in the next few days, I'm posting this while waiting for the carpet guys to come do the stairs and cubbies upstairs. I'll be adding some house pics soon.

One more thing, although we talked to them over the weekend-Happy Birthday to Dad and Tim this past Friday, and Pat on Saturday! Yes, we grew up with three birthdays within two days in our house, and when you are little you don't want to share a cake with anyone.

On my own-No Assistance Needed

Passed out

I still have to keep my tape for a little while!

Around 12:15 today Chase was taken off the cannula. When I got there for his 2pm feeding he had been doing well, but coordinating eating without any support was going to be a little work on his part. His sats were all over the place when I gave him his bottle with his medication, and he was pretty sleepy. I had to monitor his coloring and give keep him moving around to make sure he was stimulated. I can't nurse him until he takes his medicine first. He had sodium, iron, and potassium mixed with a little of my milk in the bottle. After he finally finished his medicine, during which time he did have one brady, it was time for his regular feeding. After a slow start he ended up doing really well, with no bradys and overall only a few desats. Keep going Peanut!

Going tubeless!

Finally Alexandra gets to hold him!

Even though I just posted yesterday morning I feel like there is a lot to cover. In addition to it being two months since Chase was born, yesterday was also my work shower. I was excited to share news of his milestones with so many new and old friends. Although it was hard for me not to make a dish for my own party, I couldn't have been happier when I saw that they had gotten Wawa hoagies! Many people originally from NJ living down here share my sentiments:) After all the treats I had my work cut out for me with all of the presents. A huge thanks to everyone for all of the cute things. Now we just have to figure out where to put everything. Chase is going to be well dressed and have lots of fun when he comes home.

That leads me to our next bit of news...He had his feeding tube removed today, and tomorrow they are going to try him off of the cannula! Jas made it in time for rounds and they told him we should bring in his car seat soon. Bringing in the car seat is a huge step. Time and time again we see families bring in car seats and we know their child is about to be discharged. One of the criteria for discharge is that Chase will have to pass the "car seat test". He has to be able to sit in the car seat for an hour without having an issues. Also, once we meet with the cardiologist next week we should hopefully be pretty close to getting a date. Chase will most likely still need to be on diuretics, potassium, and sodium when he comes home, and but all of those things are manageable. I'll post a photo of him without any "equipment" tomorrow morning!

Today besides receiving wonderful news we had some more visitors. Jas' mom, stepdad, sister, and grandmother came to visit. Aunt Xandy got to hold Chase for the first time and Jas' MomMom met her first great grandchild. Chase will call her GiGi when he gets older:) Alexandra is all ready to babysit for us, and she even showed me her certification card from her babysitter training class. She took the class twice so she is ready to go!

Milestone

I received the morning update from Jas a little bit ago-he officially went 24 hrs, without having a brady!!!

2 months old!

Today Chase is two months old. Can you believe it? As of yesterday he was also 4lbs. 90z. I anticipate when he gets weighed today that he'll be officially double his birth weight! Although we still don't have a discharge date, we know there is only a short time left before he comes home. This couldn't make Jas and I more happy. We continue to be amazed by his progress on a daily basis, and as you can see from the number of pictures in the gallery thus far, we've tried to document his journey for you all:)

There have only been a few changes to the orders recently. He now is receiving all of his feedings p.o. and the flow on his cannula is going to be decreased to 1.5 L. You might be thinking these sound familiar-we did have a few little bumps in the road where the orders were written last week, but he ended up tuckering out with some of the changes so we're shooting to see how he does again now. Since he was switched off the heated cannula, we haven't had to deal with the "rain out" where he was getting water up his nose when the tubes were moved around. He also received his first set of vaccinations last night. One last update-the cardiologist isn't back from vacation til next week, so more information will come then.

A little side note-the little man is quite gassy, and even though I've started to watch a little more carefully what I eat(I can't give up spicy stuff all together) its a good thing he doesn't have a roommate right now, because he can knock you out some days. Too much information right? We've filled you in on so many of the details of his life since the beginning, so we figured no turning back now!!

Our Little Marsupial

The little man likes to sleep all curled up in a ball on your chest. This reminded us of our trip to the San Diego Zoo in May. We think the comparison pics are pretty cute, just like him!

5lbs Here I come!

I almost have a double chin:)

Happy after my late morning snack!