Happy Family!

I've not been bloggin as I've been living in the hospital with Alistair since the last blog. Life has been challenging as his flippin little tongue as loved the roof of his mouth but we are conquering that. Over the last week he has progressed leaps and bounds with movement and breast feeding which is awesome as that is keeping us from getting home. But that last 3 days he has made incredible progress. We did step back a bit the last night and give him more rest at nights (and mom too! Oo these 2 hour stints of sleep give nice black circles under the eyes. how stunning is that. maybe i'll start a new trend!) Anyhow because of the rest he has picked up more during the days. Some times he likes to almost head butt my boob like when two wild rams go at it. Its actually quite comical. I have to continue to see things from this perspective or you go insane. Or i do anyhow. So yep today he started off with a record feed of 78ml and then the next was 58ml...Yippee for that. ...Jason came down last night after a nice trip to Cape Breton to see his sister get married. Or more like it work his butt off to help his sister get married. (He loved every minute of it by the sounds of it!) Anyhow for the first time ever Alistair and mom and dad all got to sleep in the same room together as the rooms have a double bed. So nice! Its wonderful having J here just to put his arm around me and hold Alistair in the middle of the night, change his diaper, or just chat to his wife. Flip I can't imagaine being a single mom going thru all of this.... Anyhow it looks like 2 more weeks to me is my guesstamit on the whole thing before we can head home. jason has about a months worth of work down here so we'll likely stay down here for a month after discharge as he'll start the work around then. It'll be nice as then I'll continue to be close to a pediatrician if need be who is familiar with him. I Just asked Dr Earl to take his care and he was willing which is wonderful as he's so family orientated with a lovely bedside manner. Just what this mama needs at the moment....Sandra you asked about nicknames well it seems that MacAlistair has stuck here and there with Grandma hedges and several nurses. It just comes up out of the blue. I just call him Mr Milkface or Little Man But warning no AL or Jason will let you know promptely this is not going to fly! Mind you I'm not keen on Al either!....O yes and I call him my little parasite as this kid has sucked all the fat off me. I'm now down to 175lbs which is pretty much my preprego weight. Apart from not having fries and focusing on healthy choices I havent really tried too too hard. The odd weight lifting and sit up but no intense regime. So that is a nice little treat for this mama. ...Well I had better head out back to the hosptial. Jason and I just popped back to the farm for a little break. K cheers Peps!

Transition

More big changes and developments today! First of all we got moved out of NICU to the Pediatrics Unit. I thought the rooms in the NICU were phenomenol well heck you should check out the Peds Unit here in PG! Its like a mini Hilton. The rooms are twice as large as those in the NICU. They have a double bed, personal bath and shower, closet, t.v. with a selection of movies and cartoons, sink for bathing, and a crib twice the size with iridescent lights constantly changing color above it! Plus there is a window twice the size letting in some natural light to keep me sane. All I can say is its absolutely amazing. I'll have to take some pictures tomorrow and post them up so you get a better idea. How wonderful for any family that is there long term. What a way to stay sane....Its funny the transition up to Peds is wonderful for my brain and they are definitely more focused on the reality of transitioning to life outside of the institution. Things are not quite as cookie cutter as the NICU but I'd have to say thats what a NICU needs to be. I'm looking forward to bunking in there tomorrow........The other big news is Alistair took FOUR consecutive and substantial feeds today plus had a bath. It totally blew me away as he usually can only handle one substantial feed and then takes a break or a mini feed. We've only had two substantial feeds in one day so this is big big big. I don't know if moms stress level yesterday kicked him into gear or the fact they took him off the caloric supplement they were adding to his feeds, or perhaps he was just ready for the next step. Anyhow whatever the case he's made this mama a happy camper. I'm actually on a high because of it! Bonus for me.....The blue platupus in the picture was given to Alistair by the peds unit when we arrived. Kinda cute hey!

Too many opinions!

I had a bit of a melt down in the NICU today. I came in after a good nights sleep and gave Alistair a good breast feed of 49ml. Well then the nurse came in talking about topping up with bottle feeding. Everyone has been hinting at bottle feeding. Today the nurse, then the OT, then the lactation consultant all gave me their opinion and advice on the topic still ultimately giving me the choice. But when everyone starts talking about it you start to get swayed. All this didn't just start today either its been for days. So we topped up with the bottle and he took another 50ml in miniutes....literally. That bothered me as if its that easy to feed by bottle why would he put the energy into breast feeding. Anyhow I started to realize I was going away from what I really wanted and I finally told everyone to "back off" and had a little melt down. Anyhow everyone got the hint and it is now charted not to bring that up with Julie again LOL! Sometimes this mama has to put her foot down.....So ya if I bottle fed he'd defintiely get home sooner. So why not you ask? Well with him having one half assed lung I feel if I can breast feed through the winter months he'll gain immunity that formula wouldn't and possibly prevent him from getting some nasty lung infection. Its not that I'm a hippi breast feeding chickypoo its that I passionately believe he'll have a healthier winter in the long run if mama sticks to her guns. Plus whats 2 more weeks or so in the hospital at this stage in the game? I also have no interest in having to pump avery 4 hours for 20 minutes and then bottle feed him throughout the whole winter. I just want to stick him on and be down with it!....Anyhoo this whole experience will make me a lot more empathetic with patients when I'm back nursing. Its flippin FRUSTURATING getting all these opinions. No one actually thought of starting with mine and developing a plan around that! Interesting.....Ok I know its back to the boob topic. Oops sorry pepes but I guess thats where my brain is at these days. I probably think about boobs more in 24 hours than the average man now... Bizzare!.....So apart from all that life is hunkydorry. I've had tons of visitors again which is truly great. Lots of ooooing and awing. Plus lovely little gifts ranging from sweet little outfits to homemade cards and scrummy chicken salads. So cheers people you all keep me sane within my insanity.....K heding to bed soon Cheers Julie

Visitors!

Yep today was family visitor day! My brother George drove out from Edmonton for the weekend and hung out with us in the room for 3 or so hours AND brought food! : ) Then my cousin's wife Donna and two of her kids came by, as well as my cousin Jaclyn and her husband Daine. So I really had the opportunity to show off my little man. Kinda fun and surreal to be showing off Mr Milkface to all my family. Makes it seem all the more real to be closer to home. ....They stepped up his feeds now to every 4 hours. All the slow transition to get him to reality. So two out of the three feeds we had success. I have found I have to be quick on the draw or he totally wears himself out and gets very pissy! So mom is learning. We did have a great success though. He fed his max of 60ml today so we didn't even top him up with the machine. Whoop Whoop. Sorry just can't help but talk about the breast feeding....As for me the brain got feeling much better after I stayed home and had a bit of recoup. Yesterday morning mom and I were sitting out in the family room which has huge glass windows and the birds were going crazy outside with all the saskatoon berries. Well unfortunately they kept slamming into the windows which brought me back to when I was a kid as each time they hit I ran down stairs and found these poor little feather fellas. Then I'd run up and stick them up in the bird feeders to recoup. Fortunately two of the three got their marbels back and flew off in time. Yahoo for me!...O I had another scare yesterday. The OT has given me advice on massaging Alistair for stimulation and body awareness for Alistair due to his institutionalized life. So I massaged away with some lovely oil following a guide given by the OT. Then I stuck him in his little swing for a good while. Well when I took him out his whole right shoulder was severely bruised. I was like O SHYT he has a bleeding disorder now! Well when I stepped back and thought about it for a second. I grabbed a wash cloth and yep the ink from the silly chair had transferred to his skin due to the oil! O gaud! What a nut case I am! So yes he's all good.....Mom is feeling better. I just need to remember to CHILL OUT!....

Time to Recoup

Yep I finally decided to step back and stay at home over night and recoup. I suddenly realized how mentally and physcially drained I have become when I saw someone breastfeeding and started to well up with tears. Mmm yah break time. So tonight after a unsuccess breastfeeding attempt I headed home to stay overnight. I'm so thankfull that I have such a rejuvenating place to come home to. Mom had home made macarroni and chesse for me and then I headed out back for a walk with the dogs. Just the smell of cut grass alone does wonders for the brain.....Its amazing how the brain just gets working overtime. i realized that I had been extremely concerned with the recent desat (or low O2) levels that Alistair would go thru. Well today a nurse on the verge of retirement came him while Alistair was desating and said you sometimes have to push pretty hard on his cheeks but he's likely just sticking his tongue on the top of his mouth! YES his bloomin tongue! Well this mama had gone through pre and post lung issues in her head with the possibilty of lung spasms etc and it seems that it all had to do with his flippin tongue! Ooo what a relief that was. I think that just made my armour come off as I am constantly prepared for a critical issue to appear. Anyhoo hopefully and likely thats all that it was as as soon as she did that whoop up came the sats from 82% to 94% (thats really good)...Well I forgot to bring my battery charger with me today so no new pics. Its charging now so maybe tomorrow. ......Well I'm thinking of my sis in law whose prepping for her big wedding day this Sat in Cape Breton! Hopefully the weather cooperates with that silly hurricane coming in down south! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Bonita! Cheers Julie

WARNING! You SICK no VISIT

Yeppers this is the protective mother writing! Just figured since we've headed North we may start to see more people for visitors which is great! HOWEVER, since Alistair's system is still quite vulerable and will be for some time I just want it to be very clear that I'd appreciate you not coming by if....your not feeling well, a bad cold or flu is going about in your family, or you haven't figured out that washing your hands is the best way for you and others to stay healthy! Plus when you do come to visit even if we are home by then I will ask you to wash your hands when you come over. I just want to give our little guy the best chance to strengthen his whole system before he has to start fighting off a bunch of bugs. I know its also inevitable that he will eventually get a cold or flu but for now I'd like to keep that from happening. So yep YOU SICK NO VISIT! I'm sure this seems obvious but I'd just like people to be aware that I am very serious about this and make sure its in peoples minds when they are considering coming over. The last thing Alistair's little lungs need is to deal with pneumonia or something! So thats my BIG WARNING. So don't take offense if I ask you to wash your hands or not smother him with a ton of kisses! Cuddles are allowed but you may get asked to put a gown on (at the hospital). K thanks for understanding people. .......As for Alistair he's doing great. He is back on a tad of O2 like 2ml as he just wants to desat a bit too much. That amount of O2 is really just a wiff. He's really getting into the breast feeding thing though about 50% of the time we're succeeding now which is a bonus all around. We're starting to do tummy time to try and strengthen his core muscles, hand stimulation exercises, and visual exercises. Its fun to see all the little changes. So back again tonight for a midnight feed......I got pretty spoiled today. Mom took me out for breakfast, my friend Becca took me out for lunch, and I came home and was served supper! Mmmm The pounds may not just keep falling off if I keep this up! Anyhow it was a great day all around. ......The picture above with Alistair and his funky ear phones is him getting a hearing test in which he PASSED. His first test ever! LOL...They are still going to redo it again in 9 months due to his congenital history but that was nice to have that pass. I didn't have any doubts but I've learned to not be surprised with anything.
K well better head back into town!
Cheers Julie

A Slower Day

Alistair was definitely a bit more exhausted today then yesterday. The nurses were thinking that I should pick up the feeds today and try to be present for most of them so if he's game I'm present. Well then he decided to kabosh that idea as after the first feed at 9am he refused to wake....So he is definitely the one in charge. I'm expected a better day tomorrow as it was so slow today. This was his pattern down south. The occupational therapist (OT) was by today too. Funny enough she had four kids lived on hammond ave where I did for the first 4 yrs of my life so she remembers us. Small world. Anyhow she seems very passionate about her work and has a ton of ideas to help Alistair progress especially in light of him being sedated and paralyzed for the first couple weeks of life and just being institutionalized. its amazing what kind of road blocks this can have on a kid. For example, one small basic issue is that he tends to always turn his head to the right which could in turn cause muscles to shorten on the oppostie side. He also tends to have strong extensor muscles in his back but very week abdominal muscles causing him not to perform certain actions. So through physio etc we can help him with this. Again some more interesting learning curves ....Jason headed back North this morning which was a total bummer. However, it's so much easier to say goodbye when you know he's only 5 hours away. It was fantastic having him about. Its amazing how these tough times can either pull you apart or incredibly close. Thankfully it has done the later for us. He is really so solid and is so obviously in love with his family. LOVE IT. Times like this really make you focus on what really matters in life...For those of you up North at the hospital...Becca and her mom came to visit today. She looks great and we're going to grab a lunch tomorrow. We were going to go pick berries together but its just too far out of town for a q3h feeding regime. Anyhoo as always shes just refreshing to have about.... Well I'm heading back in again tonight. So nighty nite!
Cheers Julie

Better Brain

Yeppers as I figured the brain just needed some sleep and I feel a whole lot better about everything. Last night I went in at midnight and with persistence finally got Alistair to feed for about 10min. It truly is more a learning curve for me then him I think. He's totally game all the time where I have to figure out how to get the milk to him. ya ya it sounds much easier than it is...believe me! Anyhow I'm sure learning alot on how to get through difficult breastfeeding patches. I'll be more on my game with helping moms when I'm back into the whole nursing world thats forsure! Anyhow it was nice to have some success after a mentally and physically draining 24 hours. I stayed in with Alistair and woke at 6am for another success. Then I headed home to mom's farm for breakfast. I had planned to get back for noon but I totally crashed and didn't wake up till 1230. I definitely needed that...............WOOHOOO Jason surprised me and just drove down the driveway will have to add more later!! .......Jason and I went in last night for 9pm and of course Alistair was zonked and pissy and didn't let mom show off our new skills. Anyhow this morning we went in for a 9am and noon feed and both times he latched and fed well. The noon feed he actually took 52 mls so almost a full feed from mama. He looks great and at this rate he may come home sooner than later. I think I'm going to have to room in permanently as he is accelerating quickly. So bonus for us. Its great having Jason about and being so close that he can just pop down for a surprise. Life is getting so much closer to normal. LOVE IT! Well I'm going to have to start blogging about something other than breast feeding as I'm sure its getting quite old for a lot of you. Which really is a bonus too! LOL Well I still am finding it surreal to be back north. Its great to only have 3 sets of lights to go through to get home rather than 20 or more that always seemed to be red when I hit them. I couldn't believe when we left the hosptial last night that there was absolutely no other human body in sight. No cars, no people walking, no planes, NOONE! Yes its a novelty! Well I hope you all had a great weekend....I DID! Cheers Julie Here's some pics of Alistair departure! and the short and sweet visit from our buds in England when they passed thru vancouver

Wild Trees! and No Traffic!

Sorry no photos yet! I'm just running about with my head cut off and a lack of sleep. I got away about 10pm last night and stopped in Cache Creek at about 2am. I was too cheap to rent a motel and I really just wanted a kip. So I parked with all the other people who are too cheap and rested my head on a breast feeding pillow for about 3 hours. At 530 I was raring to go after using Bonita's breast pump. That definitely puts a delay on the road trip this whole boob thing! Anyhow it was a great time to get on the road. No construction is started, all the campers are still parked, and its just a refreshing time to start when the suns coming up. I definitely appreciated the wide open space, lack of traffic jams, and all the WILD trees! it was nice to see a lack of grooming going on. I also benefited from not drinking coffee during the pregnancy as it sure gives me a good jump start in these situations. I finally rolled into moms at PG about 1030am. Brushed the toothers and headed to the hosptial. It will definitely take a few days to adjust to our new environment. New staff, new system, different plans, different expectations,....It was very obvious to me I needed to sleep after I started to shed some tears when I heard the doc had stopped Alistairs polysporin drops for his eyes! ACK what a basketcase ...Anyhow it will be great...just a matter of transitioning. Alistair also looked a bit blue and mottled looking which put me back too. I guess the change of altitude is a little hard on these gaffers. However his O2 sats were good and he was not struggling to breath plus he was back on O2 like I was told would happen. By the end of the day he was looking better. Probably helped not looking through blurry eyeballs. ....The physical side of the PG NICU is unreal. Its brand new as per the last 2 years. Alistair's room is bigger than my bedroom growing up as a kid. Yah they're all private rooms and I even have a permanet bed made up for me. AND A WINDOW! Alistairs first time with natural light. The charge nurse was telling me that makes them look bluer too?!?!?! Not quite sure about that one. ... Ya but beautiful layout. I got in a sleep at the hosptial with Alistair between attempts at breast feeding which was a total lose today. At least we got in some snuggling. I'm now heading back in to sleep at the hosptial tonight with Alistair so I can attempt a feed at midnight and 6am. We'll see how it goes......And no I won't wear myself out you guys!.....So ya very lovely to be in the north again. Like I said its nice to see all the wild trees and have a lack of traffic. When I figure out how to add pics on moms computer tomorrow or something you'll get some visuals.
K night peps~ Julie

Alistair goes first class!

Yep just a quick note before I hit the road and yes I realize its 9pm and yes I will be careful and yes i will stop when i get tired. I PROMISE! i've already gone through it with all the nurses here and made promises so no worries. Alistair got first class fixed wing paramedic flight to Pr George at about 730pm he left and he'll get there at about 10pm. i could have gone with but I wanted the truck up there and my stuff so i'm heading up now and will get a couple hours up the road before I call it a night. Then I'll just have a shorter drive tomorrow. So very surreal and wierd to be heading north already. It honestly feels like I just got here. So Yep north I'm headed.

Gotta go!
Chat more later ``Julie

Heading North?! and NO O2!

Ya so they are back on the topic of heading North again and it may just be tomorrow! So again its all dependent on whether there is still a bed in PG ( I've got my fingers crossed!) and whether the transport team is available. Like I've said before Alistair and I would be at the bottom of the list for transporting if anything critical came up in BC. So heres hoping it is a smooth day for BCs kids!...I'm also THRILLED to say that Alistair has been off oxygen all day and doing wonderfully! He didn't even need a whiff of oxygen tonight when we did an 11 minute stint of breastfeeding. He's starting to realize he can give himself a break and the boob isn't going to run off in the meantime. He still has the little circle stickers on his face incase he needs some oxygen support. Those things are darn sticky and its better not having them pulled on and off those delicate little cheeks.....we got moved from our private room to a quiet but larger shared room today hence the picture with Alistair and all his gear. Cribs can definitely be convenient for other purposes! ....Its quite sweet really. Alistair and I have had quite a few visitors from different health care staff, especially now that our stay is coming to a close. One of the respiratory therapists told me that his situation is being used as a model for prepping for CDH kids. I guess they were completely prepared for all the possibilites: meds, oscillatory vent, teams of people, etc... They were very happy with how smoothly everything had went with no bumps in the road. He definitely surprised a great deal of people with his incredible progress from day one. People have just come by randomly to check how he's doing since his arrival. He seems to have wrapped a few people around his little fingers! Yahoo to Alistair. ....Well even if we don't head up North tomorrow its going to be darn soon. So here's hoping there still is a bed up there as that would cause the biggest delay! K well I had better get off this silly thing and get packing and cleaning! Cheers to all~ Julie Oooo so todate I've lost THIRTY POUNDS! ( I gained 40 ) So I celebrated with a chocolate croissant and vanilla been latte. Mmmmm scrummy!....Alistair is 7lbs 9 oz today

Cleared by Genetics!

Yeppers we got the all clear from Genetics today which was nice to hear. Even though I wasn't on high alert about anything it still gets your brain buzzing. They sure are thorough! ....Mr Milkface proved to make mama proud once again! THRICE! Yep at noon he fed for 6 min, 6pm he was on for 12 min, and at 1145pm he latched for 5 min. So as a team we are definitely getting to figuring this whole fiasco out. The poor kid was getting drenched from one side while getting a meal from the other! LOL Ahhh yes the wonders of motherhood! Didn't Cleopatra have milk baths?! ...... I got invited over for a glass of vino after the evening feed today. Yes, Carole your bud Jan-Louise! She's definitely good for the head. She knows how to give one a true brain break. Anyhow it was a lovely evening of sitting out in the garden and consuming a perfectly cooked cornish hen. She does know how to spoil one rotten. Well this girl better head to bed. Its a tad late. Cheers Julie
PS I love the pic of Alistair doing a karate chop move on the scale!

Mr. Milkface!!!!

It was a hard day today having to put Jason back on the plane for Northern BC. I was so hoping that we'd be going North as well this week but it sounds like we will still be delayed till next week . The team just really doesn't want to jump the gun and cause us to back track. So as I've probably said over and over the goal is to get Alistair breast feeding on a regular basis before we head out of here. Well today he blew me away. I decided to stay late and see how he was at 9pm. Well he woke up and really started rootin around. I had lucked out and had a keen nurse on all day plus I was given a bunch of pointers from a lactation consultant. So utilizing those tips with a keen little munchkin Alistair latched in no time. And to my utter surprise he didn't stop or let go for 12 minutes! We had to turn up his oxygen as he started to get a tad dusky but he was game to keep on going so we just gave him a bit of assistance to go along with his eagerness. So again a very happy mother and a super happy kid with a major milk face! LOL

More Family Time

Hey!

We had another lovely family day just being with Alistair. I had a great nurse today who had been a midwife in England and was super helpful with getting Alistair and I to connect with the whole latch thing. So yes there was success at noon and even a bit of success at 9pm. Slowly the two of us are getting the knack of things. ....found out there still is a bed in Prince George for us which is good news as then there is still a potential to head north this week. Hopefully Alistair and I keep benefiting from repetition with the latch thing and we'll be on the move north. If we really excel there could be a chance of sending us home with a pump and I'd just to both the pump and breastfeeding. We will see....

Great day with lots of hands on all around. Also got a visit from cousin Bo and Alisha. Nice to show off our healthy son!

Cheers Julie

ONE MONTH OLD~ Reminiscing

WOW its hard to believe its already been one month since Alistair joined us in this world! Its quite emotional really to look back at photos and see how vulnerable Alistair was and how far he has come. I thought I would add a couple pics just to show the significant changes that have occured: first family photo and a very trying time for us as a family. Now it's incredibly lovely to watch such things as Alistair smack his lips for dinner, kick his feet and wave his hands about, see him watch and listen to his mobile, watch him have a total shit fit, and snuggle and mellow out into mom or dads arms. Like I've said before it is all incredibly humbling.....We had a really nice day today again just mellowing out as a family. We took turns holding Alistair throughout the day today while we read. I attempted to get him to latch at 9am and 3pm but it was just too much for him. Very exhausting. However he was VERY interested! Plus we gave him a bath so all a bit to much for the little guy. So tomorrow the plan is we will give it a go at noon and 9pm without a bath. Anyhow we are incredibly happy with where our little fella is at after a only one month. Prior to his arrival we never could have dreamed that he would be at the stage he is at now. Lovely! One very happy family! ~ Julie

All together again!

Well it was absolutely wonderful today to pick up Jason at the airport and have the two most important men in my life with me in the same room. To top it off we had the privacy of our own room which was great in itself. It just makes it all feel that much closer to the real thing of being home. We pulled the curtain and were in our own little bubble. Jason could definitely see big changes since he left with mom 2weeks ago: increased activity level, more alert, chubbier.... ...At 3pm today the OT came to help with the latch. Alistair surprised us all! In minutes he was sucking away like he had gotten the latch thing down pat weeks ago. After about 5 min he was totally knackered but very content. So we decided we'd try again at 9pm. Not as much luck with the latch but definitely the interest. He seemed a tad pooped. So now we'll step it up a notch and see if he'll preform at 9am, noon, and 9pm. It could be a bit too agreesive but you don't know until you try. So no more sleeping in for this lady! It is just great to know he can actually get the hang of the boob thing even if he's not into it each time. It sure made this mama grin from ear to ear though once I realized he was getting a true feed......The respiratory therapist was in early today and turned the oxygen down even more to 10cc and he coped very well.....So again lots of headway again today! .....The great thing is if Alistair can get a grip on this whole latch/breast feeding thing and cope better and better with it this means our chances of getting home are that much sooner! ....I keep telling myself to slow down and not expect too much but then Alistair knocks me off my feet with all this headway......Yeppers mama is very very happy and of course so is his papa as this means we are that much closer to being a happy family At HOME! K sorry the video is dark but thought you eager beavers would like it anyways! CHEERS JULIE

Ooooo .....Not So Fast!

Yep there has been a delay and it really isn't such a bad thing. The occupational therapists (OT)want some more time focusing on Alistair's hand splints and particularly his latch and suck. OT just feel that one more week would put everything ahead that much more. I'm happy with that really as I know the team down here and feel that they have the experience working with CDH kids in this situation. Plus there is an OT that specializes solely in hand splints for kids and she truly is incredible at it. So now they are talking about the end of next week. So heres hoping we still have a bed up there by then. But whatever shall be shall be! It definitely is a transition going for a room of 12 critical kids to your very own spot. Of course it should be better right?! Well by the end of today it was, but I definitely had to get use to the idea as the original room was a very supportive social busy environment with several eyes upon Alistair, where now its just the two of us with someone watching a telemetry screen from outside the room. So this is getting a lot more like reality and as I said by the end of the day I was in love with the idea and felt it a priviledge to have our own space. It just goes to show how quikly one feels supported in an institutionalized setting...... Anyhow the OT came in today and was able to bottle feed Alistair 13ml with a good suck. So bonus! Why not the boob you ask?! Well they don't believe in the nipple confusion idea and OT just wanted to assess his sucking reflexes which I guess is easier with the bottle. Anyhow Megan the OT will be in tomorrow to work with us with breast feeding. He definitely gets tuckered out so its a once a day thing at the moment..... He sure likes the concept of the boob but he doesn't known what to do with it quite yet. It will take a lot of persistence on my part to get him to the stage of actually getting a feed out of it. He does get in there and root around and he loves to scratch the heck out of my chest with his ever growing claw like nails! After a bit he seems to get a bit P.O'd that he's not having the success he'd like from the dang thing! .....Well now that we don't have to race out of here it will allow Jason and I to enjoy the 3 nights he'll be down. It will even be all the better with a private room so we can just be as a family for once. Well you even have the luck of hearing Alistair rootytoot on this video! LOL He's definitely a tootin machine. Not sure what parent he got that from........ K Enjoy There People! Cheers Julie

Holy Schiznat!

T

Well when the ball gets rolling it sure gets momentum! I didn't have to guess any longer about whether it would be sooner or later before we headed north. They're hoping to get us up to Pr George THIS FRIDAY! WOO HOOO! Once there is a bed available and the kid is appropriate to transfer they try to move as quick as possible so they don't loose the bed. In addition, this NICU can always use relief. So today Alistair got to see the genetic councellors. That was quite interesting they definitely exam every little crease and bump that exists. There is a handful of conditions that are related to CDH and they just want to rule out any correlation. There didn't seem to be any major red flags. One thing I found interesting, but they didn't say that it was necessarily Alistair's situation, was that sometimes several irregularities can stem from a pregnancy originally being a set of twins. There is then the idea that for whatever reason one twin didn't make it early in the pregnancy and the result was absorbed by the womb. Then this material can cause clots which could have interrupted the development at a certain period during the pregnancy hence causing CDH, contractures etc.... Again they said they weren't necessarily saying that this was the case with Alistair but situations like this do occur. Anyhow found that interesting. Another big thing today was i arrived and they had taken Alistair off high flow oxygen and put him on only 25cc(which is about as low as one can go) of regular oxygen. So he's just getting O2 without the pressure behind it which was to help him expand his lungs. They even tried him completely without for a good hour but he just required a little wiff of O2 yet. The third big thing of the day was Alistair is officially over SEVEN POUNDS! So he's definitely a big boy now. O and lastly they transfered us to another area and gave us a private room so to give us privacy so that we can work on breast feeding before heading out. So lots and lots of changes. Anyhow just because they hope to get us north on Friday doesn't mean its going to happen. They have only so many neonatal transfer teams in the province and we are low priority. So if someone critical needs a flight we are bumped. But whatever the case all very exciting. So of course Jason will be flying one way and I'll be either flying or driving north with Jason. We'll see.

K well with all these big changes I suddenly realized I better get organized here to head out in the last min. So just did a bunch of cleaning. yahoo my favorite past time....unhuh!
K chat again soon!
Cheers Julie
ps the white board was by our bed and mom drew the pic. I also came to the hosp today and found the pics down up by the night nurse. nice!