Eye Exam and Code Brown

Truman had an eye exam today (his 2nd), to test for ROP or Retinopathy of Prematurity. The results again came back normal. They test for this because preemies are more susceptible to have eye problems... We have been told this is less common now than it was in the 90s and earlier because it was due to the baby receiving too much oxygen and didn't realize the harm it could do if not monitored closely and correctly. Anyways Truman's test show that everything is fine... We are still waiting for the vessels to fully develop so he will have 1 more follow up test next week. Due to this eye exam he was pretty tired when I got there this afternoon and wasn't really up for anything except snuggling which really hurt my feelings...Not!
Oh and side note while changing Truman's diaper today I noticed he had pooped just a tiny bit I questioned for a second if I should wait to change him but a diaper like that isn't uncommon so I continued. His nurse Carla was standing at the side of his isolette I switched his diaper out for a clean one and went to wipe his bum 1 more time when he shot poop across the isolette getting it all over the glass and door next to Carla, the new diaper and his linens. He'd she opened the door he would have hit Carla haha. The two of us giggled for a while and cleaned him and his bed up it was quite a day I love being a mommy!

SUCCESS!!!

Truman was successful at nursing today for the first time! I think he would have gotten it even quicker but was getting frustrated by having to try so hard and not getting rewarded right away... hmm my kid be impaitient yeah right... So after being frustrated that he wasn't getting anything last week, we decided to discuss it with Kara the OT speaking of which who knew Ocupational Therepists helped with Breastfeeding? I certainly didn't... anyways so we asked Kara what she thought of me pumping a little before feeding Truman (just enoiugh so he would get milk and an "Instant Reward" right after he started. She thought this was a good idea but of course being my kid he was starving right that second or he thought he was haha. So instead we used a syringe and gave him a little milk from the syringe everytime he sucked which was kinda working then we decided to try a shield wich helps him to get milk quicker. This lead to almost Imediate success YEA!! He then continued to eat for about 10 minutes took a small break and ate again another few minutes. We didn't really expect to take off the way he did so we didn't weigh him before we started (so we knew how much milk he got to adjust his NG Tube feeding) so we kinda guessed about 17mls of his 29ml feeding. I went back up tonight to try again and of course snuggle! Again he did awesome this time we used the scale and he got 16mls of his feeding from me... I'm so proud of him. He is just incredible and is doing so well in every aspect. I love hearing health care profesionals call him a star. The OT was also impressed with his motor skills... and his fiesty personality obviously haha. We are so grateful to be blessed with such a great baby and that he is so healthy and strong... These experiences are such Testimony builders. Truman is absolutly the greatest blessing in our life and we love him so much!!

1 Month Old

 I woke up this morning with some mixed emotions of excitement and sadness that the Monkey is already 1 month old. It has gone by a lot quicker than we expected it to, probably because he is doing so well. Not only is he doing a great job learning to nurse (We aren't quite there but getting to so close), but he is back on his fortifier and beginning to gain weight again he is up to 3lbs 7oz (he lost a little when they took him off his IVs). Truman is transitioning from body temperature heat to room temperature, this basically means that his isolette was heated and controlled by a temperature probe on Truman's tummy that would check his temp and adjust the isolettes heat to either warm or cool him.... now his isolette temp is set by his nurse and when they check his temp they adjust the isolette accordingly. This process gets him ready so that he doesn't get cold when they transfer him to a crib! Here are some "1 month birthday" pictures. We hope you enjoy!

I can hold my own Bink!

I can't get enough of Daddy!

Here are two pictures to show you how much Trumy has grown in just a month!

January 26, 2012

(The day he was born)

February 26, 2012

(1 month old!)

4 Weeks Old

Today was a big day for Truman, he is 4 weeks old today which is just crazy to me, I can't believe how fast this month has gone I'm loving it and hating it all at the same time. I love it because his time in the NICU has gone by pretty quick so far and hating it because I feel like he shouldn't be that old and even tho I'm with him every day at least once because he's not at home I feel like I'm missing things... I know it's silly. This week I've been going up to the NICU for Truman's 11:30 cares for him to try nursing. Basically they've been feeding him through the NG tube while he trys and does skin on skin with me so he associates getting full with nursing. The last 2 days Truman decided that 11:30 is nap time and he didn't do much trying (a little but not much) so today I went in at 2:30 to see if he would be more alert at that time and wanting to try more... Let's just say I'm one smart mommy. He was awake and happy and SUCCESSFUL with latching. I was so excited. His nurse tonight told me he also was giving her hunger ques and we are happy about that too. I love this baby so much I can't wait for him to be at home with his daddy and me... He's just so incredible wow can a mom brag too much about her baby? Yeah I didn't think so! Happy 4 weeks Trumy we love you!

WAHOO!!!

Well first things first, Truman's current weight is 3lbs 8oz! he is doing really great! Yesterday Truman and I tried to nurse for the first time and he did incredible as always
(I LOVE THIS BABY). so far he hasnt quite done it but he is trying and he wants to! The OT said that it will probably take him a few days (we will take slow so Truman doesn't get overwhelmed or frusrated) to be able to actually latch and get anything but that she is shocked that he is so interested and knows what he is doing as far as how to do it! We are so proud of all the things he is succeeding in. Its a happy day at the Rice house!

Truman Update

Just a little Truman update he is now 3lbs 5oz which we are so happy with! He is back on his feeding tube and will soon be trying to nurse and bottle feed I'm really excited for that.Last but not least he has graduated from the tiny little barely a preemie diapers to normal preemie pampers diapers that you can actually buy in a store! They are big on him but still Yay!!  Here are a few pictures from the camera that we have taken instead of our daily phone pictures. Hope you enjoy! Ohh and he has since graduated to a green bink instead of the purple one... all the other colors were to big and basically covered his whole face!

First Family photos!

I of course am going to take some more formal family pictures when Truman comes home but everyday since was born I've thought " I really need a family picture". We have lots of Truman pictures and lots of Mommy and Truman pictures and lots of Daddy and Truman pictures but not any Mommy, Daddy and Truman pictures, so today while we were at the hospital after Truman had snuggle time with Daddy, we asked our favorite day time nurse Carla if she would mind taking a family picture for us. I expected her to take one or two pics and be done to our surprise she just kept taking pictures at different angles and wanted us to do different things. By the way that wasnt super easy in the chairs and space that is available in the NICU. So with a big thanks to Carla we now have a few family pictures!

This one obviously isn't of the 3 of us but it is just so sweet of my boys it had to be shared! 

We also were very excited to be able to take Dee and Ellen (Logan's Grandpa and Grandma Rice) up to the hospital to meet Truman. Ellen and I went in first and she was so happy telling me that "Yes, he looks just like his daddy" then she went back and forth to each side of his bed saying how cute he was. Then Logan took Dee in to say hi and he kept saying "Holy Smokes! Holy Smokes he's tiny". We are so happy that they stopped by to have lunch and to see Truman Logan was really excited for Truman to meet his "Grams and Grumpy", They both mean so much to Logan and me we are so lucky to have such great grandparents that are always there and supportive! 

3 weeks!

Truman is 3 weeks old today! He also is weighing in at 3lbs 1oz! Hooray!! Check out the chub in his pics haha ok there's not much but this mom is still stoked about his chubby cheeks!

Truman LOVES his Bink which is a great sign that he is ready to eat food on his own soon! 

This is one of Mommy's favorite pictures with his hands on his cheeks

Check out how chubby he is getting haha I love the double chin that is almost there I keep telling his daddy that we want that chubby face!! I just can't get enough of this boy!  

Eyes Wide Open

Over the last week Truman has really started to be more awake, and we are loving every mintute of it. He is definately a little squirmer and doesn't really love confinemen, he also loves his "Squishy", you may have noticed him cuddling with it in a few pics its kinda like a Truman size Body pillow its filled with a gel type fluid and is comforting to him because when he snuggles with it, it's a similar feeling to being in the womb... I love that the University Hospital staff does so many little things to comfort him... it makes things just a little easier when you can tell his nurses and doctors love him and care about those kinds of things. Anyways here is a video of Truman awake and happy he even waves! Or at least Logan and I like to think he is waving!

A few pics

We haven't posted any pics in a while so we thought we'd share some! Hope you love them as much as we do.

Saturday night snuggles

Trumy loves to snuggle with Daddy! I love that if he is upset about something, you know like a diaper change, lab draw or a few other things he hates, if Logan puts his hand on his head he calms down almost immediately.
Ps Sorry for the side ways picture the camera on my phone is crap.

Way To Go Monkey!!

I went up and did Truman's cares and held him during his feeding earlier today and asked the nurse what he weighed the night before and I think she said 1100 grams if that's a little off she said it was 2lbs 7oz I was happy he had gained another ounce. Then when Loganand I went up later tonight the nurse had already weighed him and said he was 1180 grams or 2lbs 9oz ... Logan and I are so happy with his weight gain the last few days and glad to see the fortifier is doing its job!! Way to go Truman, Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!

Night Nurse Denise

Logan and I showed up to see Truman just in time for the NICU to close (its only for an hour but still!). When we were able to come back in there had been a shift change and our favorite Night Nurse Denise was there... Needless to say we were 2 happy parents. As we were doing his cares Truman decided to tell us how much he hates his blood pressure checked, Denise then told us that Saturday night she was doing his cares and he was really calm and didn't squirm or anything so he called down and had them run a few tests "He just wasn't acting right he didn't yell at me once or even try to pull away" she told us. Well obviously everything was fine he was just unusually cooperative haha. She then continued to tell us that she called in durring the day shift to check on him because the results didn't come in before her shift ended. She is absolutley the best. Then we find out that she was assigned a different room last night and still came in to see Truman durring her shift because she was sad. I konw she loves her other babies in room 3 too but its really great to know he is loved and cared for so much when he can't be at home with me. We are so blessed to have him at the U and LOVE all of the nurses that have worked with Truman so far... Denise just goes above and beyond and we really appreciate that even if Truman is a stinker to her!

On another happy note the Litte Monkey is now weighing in at 2lbs 6oz which is 2oz up from his birth weight and a few more than what he has been weighing the last few days because as you know all babies loose a little weight after they are born... Truman and I also got to spend about an hour tonight sunggling doing some skin on skin which was really nice and somthing I think both of us were needing... so all and all tonight was a really great night

PS Happy Birthday Phil

Fortified milk

Truman looked awesome today! He is so cute I can hardly stand it!! A research nurse came and talked to me the other day about Truman qualifing to be a part of a study about adding a fortifier to breast milk to help premies grow... They give all the premies a powder form of the fortifer already that adds extra calories and antioxidents to their breast milk which helps them to grow and gain the weight they need, with the research participants some are being given a new liquid form of the same fortifier... with the study also comes a few scans to measure Trumans bone density and his level of antioxidents, a couple extra labs that could be done with his regularly schedualed labs, and being measured on a lengeth board. Logan and I wanting to be able to help future premies and seeing that there were no real risks or side effects to Trumans participation in the study agreed to him being a part. Truman was drawn to recieve the powder form of the fortifier which they started adding to his breast milk yesterday and his first scans were done today (they do the scans every 4 weeks). If I didn't make it cllear why they gie the fortifier earlier it's because while breast milk is the best thing for babies it still isn't enough for premature babies did any of you know that because I sure didn't.
Truman also is up to 19MLs of milk every 3 hrs because he is such a good little eater, it's still from a feeding tube for a few more weeks and then we can try nursing and bottles (when he is about 32-33 weeks gestationally) but he tolerates a digests his food really well! I have to say he gets his eating from the Farnsworths hooray for loving to eat!!

Truman's room almost done!!!

Truman is going to love his room when he comes home! I may have picked the colors and theme but his Daddy and Uncle Bran really made it happen and I love it! I still have to finish his bumper pads and buy his mattress and sheets... And of course lots of other little things but it's a great start!!

Truman

Truman is starting to fill out, less wrinkled skin and you can't see the seams in his skull. He's also eating 15 mL per feeding so they pulled the IV.

Feeding the addiction

So I worked 16 hours, got off at midnight and still had to come up to see Truman because I missed him yesterday and didn't see him.

Sprawlage

Wifey

Rae came home from the hospital last night. One down one to go.

Im an addict

So I had to go in late for my daily Truman fix today. I can just stare at him all day.