Milestones

Today, September 14th, is Greyson's original due date. He is nine weeks and four days old. I returned to work today after taking the last three and a half weeks off. Our remodeling project, which started the day he was born, passed the final inspection today.






My brother Jeff and his girlfriend Terry were visiting from Japan last week. We met them in Monterey for a night. We stayed at a place on the water where we could hear and smell the sea. Greyson, who usually sleeps between an hour and a half to three hours at a time, slept for five and half hours. The first thing we did when we woke up was book another night stay!

Home!

Last Wednesday, we deemed our house 'finished enough' to move in. We slept in our bed for the first time since since June 3rd. We were a little sad to leave the Ochoa B & B. It's going to take some adjustment cooking and cleaning for ourselves. Our shrimp stir fries and adobo are going to be replaced by frozen pizzas and cold cereal.

Since we've been home, we've spent several days cleaning, organizing, arranging a nursery for tGreyson, all stuff we thought we'd be doing before he was born.


On Thursday, Greyson was eight weeks old. He's probably about seven and a half pounds, almost double his weight when he was a couple of days old. By the way, his original due date is still a week away!

Trish

Trish is going in for some clean-up work today. Last week we found out there are still bits of placenta attached to her uterus. It's an out-patient procedure. She should be in and out of there in less than four hours. I'll be hanging out at the hospital showing off the kid to all the Antepartum and Labor & Delivery nurses we befriended during our stay there.

Our remodeling project is finally coming to a close. We're planning on moving back in possibly Tuesday after Trish has recovered.

Running on three wheels

Having practiced it several times in the climate controlled comfort of the living room before Greyson was discharged, I am now an expert at whipping his hi-tech stroller out of the trunk, snapping all the joints in place. Trish was a little less prepared. The other day we were unloading all our stuff out of the car. Trish decided to pull the stroller out of the trunk while I got the baby out of the car. "I got this," she said as she wrestled the mechanical equivalent of wet spaghetti over her head. With some coaching from me as I held the baby, she was able lock all the necessary pieces into place, we thought. While attempting to release the stroller brake, she had inadvertently pressed the 'wheel release' button effectively booby-trapping his ride. Minutes later as we wheeled Greyson through the parking garage, the mistake became evident as the rear wheel jettisoned itself across the parking garage. I used my cat-like reflexes to initiate a quick right turn to keep the stroller upright. I could be wrong, but I think we might be in for the ride of our lives.

New Parents

Greyson has been out of the NICU for six days now. The world outside the NICU is quite different for him. I'm sure the nights seem very dark and quiet compared to the constant, 24/7 commotion in the NICU. This kept him (and his parents) pretty restless for those first few nights. But that will go away in a few days,... right? As he is adjusting to life outside the NICU, so are his parents who are now full time parents for the first time in their lives.

For the most part Greyson breast feeds. Sometimes he gets his milk by bottle, however, to give his mom a break. The other night I was feeding him his bottle and was amazed at his progress as to how fast he could suck down a bottle now. What I didn't realize is that I hadn't seated the nipple in the bottle properly and most of the milk was running down the side of his face, soaking his onesie, and down my sleeve to my elbow. So I cleaned him off, changed his clothes, changed my clothes and warmed another bottle for him. And then, in my sleepless stupor, did the exact same thing... again. Perhaps the whole learning process is going to take a little longer for me.

Home! (Close enough)

Yesterday, on August 19th at 1 pm, one day short of Greyson's six week mark, he was discharged from the hospital. This ended 11 weeks of daily jaunts to
Alta Bates for me (because it's all about me). Special thanks to HealthNet for picking up the $750k (and counting) tab. Two clueless parents packed up their carefully nurtured package and inserted him into the car seat that installed in 17 easy steps. We drove him to the in-laws where we are staying while the remodeling project, that was supposed to be done before he was born, is completed. It was the first time Greyson rode in a car, it was the first time he was outside. It was the first time Trish and Karl were responsible for a child. It felt good to come home and finally get eight hours** of sleep.


The night before being discharged, Greyson had undergone a "car seat study" where the plug him in to all the monitors and have him sit through a 90 minute practice run of sitting in the car seat.


We had many good-byes as we embarked upon the next chapter of being parents. Among them were Louella, our favorite nurse at the the NICU. Louella was amazing. Not only is she one of the more senior staff, but she has amazing compassion for what she she does. She really made us feel comfortable about leaving Greyson at the NICU. We were really blessed to have crossed paths with her.



**Note that "we" constitutes the three of us, and "eight hours" is the total between the three of us. That eight hours occurred in 15 - 20 minute intervals through out the evening.

Gearing Up

A month ago, we were worried about Greyson's heart beating, lungs breathing, his murmur, his jaundice, his anemia. Now we're worried about his diaper rash. Fortunately, they got some stuff that works really well. It is Greyson's first, and certainly not last, experience with 'paste'.

It looks like Greyson is going to win the Baby vs Remodel Race. The house still has a couple of weeks left as we have added a few items (like painting) to the project. So when we say Greyson is coming "home", we actually mean his going to the Ochoa B & B which is probably better than "home". :)

Over the weekend, between breaks from the hospital, we spent our time making sure we have the essentials... diapers, wipes, place for him to sleep, etc. We even bought a small freezer to accommodate all of the frozen breast milk we have stored at the hospital.

Here are some updated pictures: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=11dwb14f.5v17wl33&x=0&y=-g9xycw&localeid=en_US

Light at the End of the Tunnel

The latest word is Wednesday. Wednesday is the day, we hope, when Greyson will be pronounced well enough to come home and his parents responsible enough to handle it. Seriously, I'm some one's dad... take a moment to let that set in.

Whew! Anyway, Greyson is getting better at breast feeding. Tomorrow Trish will spend the entire day at the hospital with boobs standing by for whenever he shows a hint of being hungry. I'll be at home watching TV.

I've been learning how to bottle feed the kid without sending him into an oxygen desaturation tail spin. When he comes home, we'll have no fancy baby monitors to tell us that he's not transferring oxygen from his lungs to his blood stream efficiently or that he has forgotten to beat his heart fast enough. Dramatics aside, I think he is ready to come home. I just want to be sure we are ready for it.

Lot's of folks have asked to visit, we'll get there. I promise. Even more have sent email with encouraging words. All are tremendously appreciated, we love you all. He'll be ready for visits in no time.

Oh, still working on getting some pix on-line... soon.

Five Weeks

Greyson is five weeks old today. He really has made incredible progress. His feeding tube was removed last weekend. He looks so much better without that thing taped to the side of his face. He is now 6 lbs, 4 oz. (His lowest weight was 3 lbs 15 oz.) There is lots of talk of him going home, although he still "D-sats" when he breast feeds. The doctors are likely to clear him to go home this weekend, but since he did have another concerning episode today so we're likely to keep him there a few extra days. So right now we're targeting mid-week next week.

I've had tons of email with lots of support from everyone. I can tell you how much we appreciate that support. I really haven't had the time to answer much email. I'll get to it eventually.

I'll get some more pictures posted soon. But for now, I'm going to bed. :)

One Month... Status

Greyson was four weeks old on Thursday. And, today, Sunday, he six pounds. He has gained more than two pounds since his lowest weight. He is looking much more like an infant than a premie.

His remaining milestones include being able to bottle or breast feed reliably (so they can remove his feeding tube). He also needs to get over any heart and breathing problems. Today he had an episode of oxygen de-saturaturation, affectionately referred to as a 'd-sat'. Normally, he can self-correct these, but for this one he had to receive some oxygen to correct it. Aunt Kristin was there to witness the action.

Estimates for his release are somewhere between 1 - 2 weeks. The estimate for completing our remodel project is about two weeks. The race is on!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Have I mentioned that we're doing a remodeling project at the house? We're adding a little half bath and a closet. Perfect timing, right? It was supposed to be done before the baby was born. Oops. It actually started the day he was born.



Since our place is pretty torn up, we've been staying at the Ochoa's house. It's kind of like staying at a bed and breakfast... a very comfortable bed and three home-cooked meals a day. This has helped us out a lot, since we spend most of our time running back and forth to the hospital. If we were at home, I'm pretty sure we'd have quite the collection of Chinese take-out boxes growing in the kitchen.

So the race is on... Greyson vs the remodel project. Who will be ready first? My money is on Greyson, but time will tell. Stay tuned!

Three Weeks!

Greyson turned three weeks old today. He has been introduced to breast feeding, but still has a way to go with that. (Come on! How hard can that be!) His hemoglobin level dropped to 8, although since his level of new-but-not-yet-developed red blood cell level (can't remember the name for it) has increased, the concern over a blood transfusion has been reduced. Last week, we discovered that I have the same blood type as Greyson (A Positive) so there is a unit of the good stuff standing by, just in case. :)

Over the last couple of days, he seems to be less of a premie and more of an infant. He spends more time with his eyes open trying to figure out the world. Good luck, I'm still trying to make sense of it.

Here's a video of the kid:


Here's some pix from the last week:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=11dwb14f.cq5cdph3&x=0&y=h1moj7&localeid=en_US

Progress

Greyson was moved to the NICU annex last week, essentially because the NICU was packed (60 kids!). But he's out of his isolet now, marking one of milestones of being able to regulate his own temperature. This makes him a little more accessible. :) Here's a shot of us last Thursday when he was two weeks old.

Over the last week, he's been opening his eyes more and more. He seems to really respond to our voices. Here's a rare shot of his eye open, checking out the world.

I'll get more pictures up soon.

Ups and Downs

Greyson’s biliruben level is down so he’s out of the tanning bed. 

Something we’ve been keeping an eye on is his anemia. One of the ways this is measured is by monitoring his hemoglobin level, which has continued to drop. It’s now at 9. If you followed Trish’s hemoglobin level prior to her C-section you know may remember that 9 is about as low as you want it before you start discussing blood transfusions. The current plan for dealing with the anemia is to give him iron to help him develop his own red blood cells. He won’t receive any iron until the volume of milk he is receiving is enough to offset ill effects of the iron. It’s been a little bit of a race between how much food he can tolerate and how low his hemoglobin level goes. The doctors believe he’s probably ready for iron and should start receiving that today or tomorrow.

The much less desirable ‘plan B’ would be a blood transfusion. This could occur as early as next week if he starts developing more anemia symptoms.

Biliruben and Birthdays

Biliruben is what's leftover after red blood cells have have expired. Greyson's underdeveloped liver can't quite handle all the biliruben. The high levels of biliruben cause jaundice. For some reason, and I haven't quite made this connection, putting him the fancy blue light helps get rid of the extra biliruben.

Good news is that they have removed his problematic IV. This means that he is relying entirely on mamma's milk for nutrition. It also means that he can avoid being stuck with a new IV several times a day.

Today is TRICIA'S BIRTHDAY so that news was a nice birthday present for mom.

Breathing a sigh of relief

Greyson was allowed to remove his nasal cannula today. He is breathing completely on his own for the first time ever. This makes him very happy as you can see.



His biliruben level is back up indicating jaundice, so he's back to the tanning bed and wearing his cool sunglasses again. And nurses are reporting hearing another heart murmur. So, we'll be keeping an eye on that.

Ouch!

Greyson had his bellybutton IV line removed yesterday. It only had a ten day life span before they start worrying about infection. Now, he has to have an IV in his hand. It took them three tries yesterday to find his tiny little veins. Even then, it only lasted a few hours before they had to stick him again. Poor guy.

He'll have to keep the IV going as they ween him off IV nutrition and get him on his mamma's milk. He gets fed every three hours using a line that goes directly into his stomach. Not fair to get fed without tasting it! He's up to 23 ml of milk. Although that's not much, it seems like a lot compared to the 3 - 5 mls he started with.

It's neat to see him recognizing our voices. He has just started opening his eyes when he hears us. That's pretty cool!

Greyson is one week old

It seems like a life time already. I guess it is. Attached is a pic that show's how tiny he is. Or how big my nose is, depends how you look at it.



Also, he's responding well to his light treatment. It's kind of like being under a french fry warmer,... mmmmm, french fry.... He get's to wear these cute little sunglasses. He looks totally cool.



Latest new is that his red blood cell count is low. He started out a little low due to mom's touch C-Section. And the organs that develop those healthy red blood cells are still a little premature. So we're in a wait and see pattern, much like with mom before the delivery. The good news is that he is able to eat now, which means he receives a small amount of mom's milk through a line that goes into his stomach. His esophagus and swallowing muscles aren't quite ready yet. Totally normal for some one as early as him. His meals consist of 3 - 5 mls of milk. Not much, but way up from where we started.

Photos!

Want to see some pictures of Greyson? Click here.

Life is Good

Trish was discharged on Monday night. I spent my first night in a real bed since this all started. (Because it’s all about me.) She is recovering remarkably well. Greyson is breathing well. He has been treated successfully for a heart murmur. And although some set backs are expected, he continues to improve. If he meets all his milestones and goals, we should be able to bring him home in 3 or 4 weeks. Time will tell.

Worth It!

Did you ever have new parents show you some scraggly alien looking thing while asking you if that’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? I might be one of those people. Greyson was far bigger, healthier and cuter than I ever imagined. The first time I held Greyson in my arms, six weeks of hospital rooms, bed pans and blot clots were instantly washed away. The tears could not be stopped. It was such an incredible, precious moment, it’s something I will never forget. He really is cute. My mom, sister and mother-in-law were awesome supporting all three of us. I was close to useless.

Here are some pictures for you.

Trish

Meanwhile, back in the OR, Trish decided to keep things interesting. The placenta had grown/fused itself to the wall of the uterus, a rare condition called placenta accreta that we didn’t know about. During a normal C-section, the placenta is moved easily out of the way. But this time, because of the accreta, it had to be cut apart to get the baby out. This caused a lot of bleeding for some one who already had a hard time keeping her IVs open and had a low red blood cell level. Then, the placenta had to be scraped from the wall of the uterus, causing even more bleeding. She received four units of blood and two units of plasma during the surgery. She was in there for more than two hours.

Greyson Marley

Greyson Marley was born via C-section on 11:58 am on July 9th, ten weeks earlier than expected. He weighed in at 3 lbs, 15 oz. The whole experience for me is a blur. Seems like I was in and out of there in only a few minutes, or maybe it was 10, or 20. I accompanied Greyson the crew that was working on him NICU. Trish and I had agreed on this ahead of time, something about babies being mislabeled, lost, sent home with the wrong parents. After he was deemed stable, I watched him get plugged in… a CPAP to help him breath, a line into stomach to remove pressure, a heart monitor, a respatory monitor, an oxygen sensor, a sensor to measure his skin temperature, a line inserted through his bellybutton as an IV and another one to measure blood pressure an take blood samples. That’s a whole lot of lines and tubes for such a tiny boy.

Go Time

Thursday morning started out quiet. There was even talk of moving us back to Ante Partum. That wouldn’t last. The bleeding started again. I got dressed, put my cell phone in one pocket and my camera in the other. I knew what was about to happen. The door slammed open and an army of nurses rushed in. There was no announcement. There were no protests. Just two very worried soon to be parents. She was whisked out of the room so fast, there was no time to say anything. A nurse hurriedly persuaded me to put scrubs on. I had two phone calls to make. I took a deep breath and did my best to sound calm and relaxed. I wasn’t. I called Trish’s mom to tell her we were going in for the C-section. She didn’t understand, she thought everything was stable. So had I. As I did my best to hide the nervousness in my voice and reassure her, nurses in scrubs were holding the doors to the OR open waving me in. I had to go. The call to my mom was much different. “Mom, we’re going in.” “I’m on my way.”

Not for Faint of Heart

One of the unfortunate things about all the bleeding was passing clots. For some reason, the nurses always seemed to associate the size of the clots with certain fruits. Many clots were ‘cherry-sized’ or ‘grape-sized’. Most clots that week were plum-sized. But Wednesday night, Trish passed a clot that put us in a whole new category, well into the citrus range, we’re talking grapefruit… full-sized ripe grapefruit from Florida. I don’t know why they were still using fruit to describe the clots. I was fairly certain Trish had just expelled her liver. It was so big, they had to bring a scale in to weigh it. 27 grams, very impressive. If you haven’t lost your lunch and are still interested, I’ve got a cool picture of it.

A Rough Week

The week leading up to Greyson’s birth was a tough one for mom. The bleeding had increased from every other day to three in one day, two were very heavy. Our doctor drove in from San Francisco that night to do the C-section, but after a long discussion we decided to wait. The next day, Monday, her red blood cell level had dropped below a level safe for surgery. Trish was on some heavy duty meds, so I’m not sure that quite set in for her, but it sure made me nervous. On Tuesday, the level dropped even further. Until this time, a blood transfusion was something we hoped to avoid. Now it was inevitable. She received blood transfusions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ante Partum

The bleeding continued. It was intermittent and unpredictable, sometimes worse than other times. We spent most of our time in the Ante Partum unit, a place set up for long term care of expecting mothers. We spent a lot of time working on keeping Trish comfortable… trashy magazines and daytime TV and lots of visits from friends and relatives. If bleeds were bad enough, we would be moved to labor and delivery where we could be monitored more closely and be stuck with more needles. It was particularly tough on me since I had to sleep on an uncomfortable rollaway cot, rather than a pull-out chair/bed thingy.

Hospitalized

Early in the morning on June 4th, Trish woke with bleeding. We took her to Alta Bates. We thought we may end up spending the night there. We were shocked to learn that we might spend several days or even a week in the hospital. We had no idea we would be spending the remainder of her pregnancy there. All of our summer plans were suddenly cancelled.

Placenta Previa

In May, Trish was diagnosed with placenta previa, a condition where the placenta, which normally adheres itself to the wall of the uterus, is covering the cervix, the opening of the uterus. This makes the uterus very susceptible to any sort of trauma. The result of the trauma is that the placenta bleeds. The danger is that mom could lose a lot of blood fast and baby could stop receiving the nutrients and oxygen he relies on from the placenta. Another nasty side effect is that the husband has to do everything the wife asks, so as not to upset her.

Crawchoa's catching up with the tymes!

After refusing to succumb to the blogging craze for far too long, the Crawchoa's have decided to create a blog to keep family and friends up to date with us. Stay tuned for updates!