Each day, one tiny step closer

Thank you, still, to everyone thinking about us, praying for Pierce & us, asking about us...we need the prayers to keep coming because they're working.  My handsome boy is a fighter.  

When we saw him for the last time yesterday, around 8pm, he was resting on his own, no sedation meds, all of his stats were good.  They had switched him to the nitric oxide and at that point he'd been responding well

During the night we got to wondering how he was, so I called.  It was really nice to hear the nurse say, "He's doing good"  I like the word GOOD!  

We did learn that during the night he became agitated and wouldn't calm down, so his stats had gotten off.  It was 1am, so I don't remember exactly what was up and what was down.  So, because of that, they put him on a sedative drip and that calmed him down.  They're going to keep him on that for some time, we don't love the idea that our 3 day old baby is sedated.  But, we're more than happy that he is resting and sleeping...that will allow him to recover faster than if he were fighting the ventilator like he had been.

J called when we woke up this morning, learned that he didn't need any extra anything after I spoke with them about the drip.  So, good!!

We had gotten so used to hearing something new: had to try this, had to do this, his respirations are up, his this or that was down.  His first two days were such a roller coaster ride, we're glad to be on a calmer ride.  We understand that there are still bumps in the road to come, but this ride should be so much more calm.

We got down there after his first diaper change of the day and they had gotten his lab work back (they take labs every 4 hours) and everything was good.  

The doctor came by, had no bad news.  Yesterday when we saw the doctor, I cried.  Today, no tears.  Today, the doctor was able to focus on one subject with him, instead of like yesterday having to explain what seemed like 100 things that I tried to wrap my brain around.  

Thank God for J, he is grasping all of this information and running with it...like he does this for a living.  It's beautiful.  He's learned what every line on every monitor means and how to read it.  I must admit, because of that, I have just focused my attention on soaking in every inch of my precious Pierce.  J retains all of the information.  J doesn't like watching them draw blood for Pierce's labs, even though they don't poke him and just go through the catheter in his belly button.  

Pierce just laid there, comfortably, we spoke with his nurse and were really comfortable with her.  She is very caring with my tiny love.

I jumped at the chance to see his face when the respiratory therapist came in to clean his tube out.  They keep his face covered to cut down on stimuli from light (he's in the darkest quietest corner of the NICU), movement, and noise.  It works!  The sweet nurse told us to come back right at noon when she would be doing all of his checks, changing the diaper, etc and we'd be able to see his face because it would be totally uncovered then.  

Noon check went well.  He had no changes again, and was resting well.  His precious face got uncovered and I melted!  Love that boy!!  His little face is really puffy from one of the meds he's been given (dopamine), so to counteract that, he is given Lasix to keep his kidneys from being overworked.  It's working well....he's filling his premie sized diapers with pee.  

(I took a pic of his face for us, but don't want to share them because of the tubes and how puffy his face is)

I fall more in love with that baby every time...I'm not sure how it happens, but it happens

Just got back in from our 4pm visit (we can go whenever we want, but we chose to not over stimulate him with visitors so we go only at certain times).  A few changes, but we're being cautious...ventilator changes for the good...but we're conserving our excitement about it, since it just changed.  We'll be excited about it if it doesn't go back for the next 24 hours.

The nurse changed his diaper, filled again, I've never been so happy to see a full wet diaper! 

She cleaned his mouth out with saline and a teetiny vacuum.  Oooohhhh, he was so mad!  It's kinda cute and kinda sad, he can't cry when he gets mad!  He balls up his fists really tightly, pulls them up to his face and wrinkles his eyebrows up.  SO CUTE!  When she was done, he opened his eyes a little and gave her an ugly look.  He's so precious!

Finally, she was done and was about to cover his face and stopped.  She looked at me and said, "You want to kiss him?"  I had to ask her to repeat herself, I really didn't register what she had said.  I heard it, but I wasn't believing it.  Of course I want to kiss my son!!  He's 3 days old, and this is the second kiss I've been able to give him.  J leaned in and kissed his little head too, his first time to kiss his son.  I couldn't stop the tears, those were the best happy tears I've had in my life.  

We decided to leave, since he had settled back down from being mad about being messed with, and let him rest before we go back for the last time of the night.  We always tell him how much we love him before we go, this time was even more sweet because we were able to kiss our sweet boy.  

I'm floating on cloud 9.  That tiny boy has my heart in his tiny tiny hands.  

Pumping for him is getting more and more successful each time.  Setting a schedule is helping a lot with that.  Before getting pregnant, I would have told you NO WAY am I breast feeding or pumping!  I'm SO glad I changed my mind.  Pumping just really isn't that bad at all, you feel really good about yourself when you get something...like this is day 3 and I have just pumped half an ounce on both sides.  His little tummy will only hold about one ounce for a bit...so just like that I've given my son a valuable, nutritious meal.  I'm loving that!  J is even getting into the little celebrations.  It doesn't really hurt the way I expected it to, and I think it's preventing engorgement.  I highly suggest to my pregnant friends, let them bring you the hospital pump, they bring everything to you, try it out for the time you're in the hospital before you say no.  Your baby doesn't ever have to physically breast feed.  

My blood pressure is still all over the place, starting to come down with meds, but nothing consistant.  I've had a major headache today that Percocett didn't touch.  So, I'm not being discharged today like originally planned.  Dr wants to keep me another night and monitor me to make sure it starts to come down and starts to look somewhat consistent.  

Again, thank you to everyone who has prayed or asked about us.  Please, keep sending prayers for my sweet Pierce Eamon.  

Btw, his middle name is pronounced AY-mon...it's Celtic Gaelic.