Sleep Study

Zach passed his sleep study. This means he does not have to take any more caffeine !!!!!! In addition to this the apena monitor we have will soon be gone. We feel more comfortable keeping it for now. After our discharge we stopped by and visited with the doctors and nurses in the NICU. Unfortunetly Zach was still conducting his own sleep study and did not wake up. It was so nice to see Dr. Ivacko, Amy, and Carolyn as well as the nurses from Special Care.

Zach at St. Joseph's hospital getting ready for his sleep study.  

Laughter is the best medicine !!!!!

Today is the first day Zach laughed out loud for most babies this is wonderful, however for Zach it seems to be so much more then words can describe. It is so nice to hear something other then crying. We are going to St. Joseph's hospital to have our sleep study today. The doctor stopped the caffeine on Monday since the test must have no results which may be affected by the use of the medication. Upon discharge from St Joseph's we had a sleep study conducted and Zach was the only baby ever to have the study ordered that actually past it. I hope he can do it again. :)

Zach in the morning.....obviously does not take after his mother!!!!!

Nicole

I thought my big brother was cool....then I met my big sister

What is he thinking?

Did someone say Fry ?

Zack is practicing the art of the SNOOTY FACE. It is funny how your entertainment of the week revolves around your babies faces. Oh that thing on his shirt is a french fry, although he cant eat them yet we did allow him to smell it. That also could explain the face he may be contemplating how to get a hold of it.

Zach 9 lbs 9 ounces

This is Zachs sneaky look to the side. We beleive he is in practice to be a spy. Actually we just arrived home from the doctors office we will be having our sleep study this weekend at St. Joseph hospital. We hope to see some of our friends in the NICU. We have come to miss them very much.

Zach on tummy time. The spot on his head is called a homanginoma. It will grow and then gradually disappear. We think it gives him character, if it doesnt disappear he's a shoe in to replace Rudolph. :)

:)

Zach is starting to smile, now the fun begins !!!!!

Zach and Dad.  

This may appear to be overstimulation, or a boy with too many toys.....NAH a boy can never have to many toys!!!!!!! 

Zach and his new toy, he loves his swing. It seems to be putting the dog to sleep so thats a bonus !!!!! 

We have a foot fettish in our house. These must be the cutest little feet ever!!!! 

This week we had a follow up with Dr. Dass (the eye doctor). Everything looks great so it appears the surgery was a success. In addition to this the home Nurse is pleased with his progress on feeding, No More Tube in his nose!!!!!! Feedings now take half the time. I am displaying some new pictures we have taken this week. Zach now weighs in at 8lbs 10 ounces. So he would of been a big baby if he went to his Febuary 19th due date.  

Nicholas

My big brother is the coolest !!!!! 

Zach in the NICU bouncey seat 

Zachary at home

Well, Zachary has been home for 2 weeks now and Jill and I have gotten about 12 hours of sleep in those two weeks. (kidding). As you can probably guess, Zachary has kept us awake for quite a many hours at night. It's his feedings which usually run an hour long. We have to give hime the opportunity to bottle feed for half an hour, then he gets tubed the rest of his food, should he not finish it. Using the NG tube to feed Zachary is a process too. We have to check for tube placement with a stethescope, then hang the food, and finally flush the tube. It is actually quicker if Zach takes his food by nipple. Which by the way he has done since yesterday afternoon. This makes Jill and I very happy, because he pulled his tube out of his nose yesterday (again) and we haven't had to put it back in, yet!!!! And then his Apnea monitor goes off in the middle of the night scaring both Jill and I out of our sleep. Half the time I think they are false alarms, or somebody is playing a sick joke on us. We think they have a remote and they trigger it when we are sleeping to keep us on our toes. Because 99% of the time, Zach is breathing fine. And it doesn't go off hardly at all during the day. Oh well, we've gotten used to getting up. Then there is the problem with Zach keeping his food down in his tummy. He has thrown up a few times, but it is not as often anymore. The nurse said no more than 3 in a 24 hour period, which he hasn't, and now it's rare. When he did express his food, it was because we were moving him around too much, so we've stopped that, and it seems to be working. YEAH!!!!!! Zach had several appointments last week with various doctors. The first of which was his pediatrician visit. The doctor said he looked fine. He's gaining weight good his lungs and heart sound good, and his hernias are gone. His second appointment was with the opthamoligist, and he said Zach's eyes are looking great, and he is not concerned anymore. This is great news for Jill and I, although he still could end up with glasses, but at least he will be able to see. Then we took him to the NICU to get a blood pressure reading and that was 98 which is kind of high, but not to be concerned about according to the pulmonoligist. Zach was scheduled to get blood pressure readings twice weekly, but his last two blood pressures were 84 and 80, so we don't have to worry about that anymore. Zach has a home nurse that comes to our house twice a week. She checks his blood pressure, weighs him, which by the way, he is 8 pounds 2 ounces now, and gaining every day. She also listens to his heart and lungs, keeps track of his feedings and various other things. Zach kept us up for a very long time last night and I'm contemplating contacting the doctor to see if I can change his caffeine intake times to the morning. I feel this may be the reason he is staying awake at nignt. We'll see. His nurse will be here in a couple of hours and then Jill and I can take a nap. So All in all we are happy with his progress, and very happy to have him home. He is my bundle of joy. It always amazes me that Jill and I have a little boy, and I am so proud to call him my son. I especially love his facial expressions. Zach is a little boy with many faces. And they are all adorable.

MR.Milk Mouth. The end of my feeding. Nite. 

Zach during a feeding