Archive for June, 2006
June 19, 2006
June 19, 2006 | Updates
Well, we made it through another week :)! Yesterday was a pretty hectic day. We had stake conference in Logan and Samuel and I decided to venture to it with Tom and the other boys. Upon arriving there, however, I realized I had forgotten Samuel’s pediasure and he needed to eat while we were there. So Samuel and I drove clear back home to get it. When we finally got back to conference, I fed Samuel and listened to about an hour of talks. About the time Samuel finished eating, he had a seizure. It is apparent to me now that his seizures make him nauseous because as soon as he had the seizure, he threw up - drenching both me and him. I took him out and changed his clothes, but since I don’t carry extra clothes for myself, we had to just sit in the car until conference ended. Pretty silly that I had to run all the way home to get his Pediasure just so he could throw it up on me :)!Poor Tom had to make his own Father’s Day lunch while I cleaned up when we got home. We did all get a nice nap that afternoon (except Samuel who watched a movie while we all slept). Then Tom and I headed to the hospital to pick up Nathan. That took a little while to get all the paperwork and training done and then on our way home, we got a call from Tom’s parents to tell us that Samuel had thrown up all his dinner. So once we got home, we had to bathe Samuel and replace his feeding tube (which came up also - 3rd tube replacement in 24 hours - aaaauuuugh)! We think he threw up that time because the feeding bag was hanging too high and the food went into his stomach too quickly.
So poor Tom had to cook his own Father’s Day dinner while I cleaned up Samuel, replaced his tube and rearranged things in his room to fit Nathan’s bassinet. By then, it was nearly time for bed, and it took a good hour or more to get Samuel situated in bed, give him his meds, set up his feeding for the night, change both boys, nurse Nathan, feed him some through his tube and pump for the next feeding (which came just about 90 minutes after I fell into bed). Pretty crazy, but we had a decent night none the less. Samuel slept very well and so did Nathan. Nathan does require being fed every 3 hours and that takes some doing. But both boys sleep long enough that I should still be able to get enough rest.
Samuel is still trying to move and roll all over. I am going to make an appointment with his neurologist to see what we can do about his seizures. They only happen 2-3 times a day, but I hate them and so does Samuel. Samuel also seems interested in his newest brother. I think it’s just plain curiosity about this new little baby in the house. Nathan is now 5 lbs 8 oz and doing well. He just needs to get strong enough to take all his food by mouth, but he is improving each day.
One fun thing is Samuel has been playing ball with us. He will push a ball to us so we can push it back to him. Again, it’s not always real coordinated, but he definitely knows when it’s his turn and he’ll do it. It’s fun to find anything that he can do to interact with us. He is also falling asleep better at night since I started keeping him up until 10 instead of 9 pm. He’s tired enough at that point that he falls asleep pretty quickly.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll post again next week. Thanks for all the prayers, and don’t stop now :)!
Love,
The Jewkes
June 12, 2006
June 12, 2006 | Updates
I’m so sorry for the delay of this update. I’ve been having internet issues the last week and it seems like everytime I try to do this, the internet is down. I have typed most of the update I want to post on my laptop, but since my wireless connection isn’t working for some reason, I can’t get to the internet from there. Aaaauuugh - technology!So the update is that our little Nathan Dwight Jewkes is still in the NICU. He now weighs about 5 lbs 5 oz. He lost a little weight those first few days, but is slowly gaining it back. He was on oxygen for a few days, but has been without it for about the last 5 days and seems to hold his stats well. He has also been weaned from under a heat lamp to an incubator and now to room temperature. He seems to keep his temperature well as long as he is bundled nice and tight. He had some problems digesting his food at first, but an enema cleared out some muconium (sp?) that was still in his intestines and that seems to have fixed the problem. Now our only hold up is he doesn’t want to eat by mouth. They say he just gets too tired trying to do so or won’t even wake up enough sometimes to try. We got a pretty good effort from him yesterday when he ate about 15 cc’s by mouth, but today, he just wasn’t interested.
So he has a feeding tube just like his big brother, Samuel. I teased him that his big brother has so many great qualities that it seemed he could pick a better one to emulate! But they think it is a temporary thing for sure. They want him to be able to eat 50 cc’s every 3 hours before he comes home. But that could take a while, and I can’t get out to see him more than once a day. So after speaking with the doctor, he consented to let us take him home earlier since I have so much experience with feeding tubes - NG tubes to be specific.
However, I am holding off a few more days at least because Tom is very, very busy this week and Tanner will be out of town. And I lost quite a bit of blood during the delivery, so I am still struggling just to get back to being able to care for Samuel each day. I don’t want to bring Nathan home before I can care for him properly and before I can take the time to help him learn to eat each day. So, hopefully, he will be here soon, but it will be a few more days at least.
Samuel is doing fine. He survived the few days without his mom around and has gotten over the cold he had. He is rolling over all the time every day and we’ve even seen him on his stomach with his knees pulled underneath him and his hands on the floor trying to pick up his head. It’s not a real coordinated thing, but he seems to be trying to figure out how to crawl. And when we help him with it, he is finally pushing himself up through his arms at least for a short period of time, so that is encouraging.
He has gotten to where he smiles for his dad the instant he sees him. He knows dad will throw him in the air and he absolutely loves it. He is still having a hard time falling to sleep at nights because of his myoclonus that constantly wakes him. But once he’s asleep, he sleeps well for the remainder of the night. We are also increasing his pediasure and other calories because he has lost a few pounds, but the good news is he has taken a growth spurt and is in the 50th percentile for height. We’d like to keep him growing that well, but he needs a few pounds to go with it.
Otherwise, all is well. I’ll post later the details of Nathan’s birth and all that if you want to read it. Just didn’t want to keep everyone waiting any longer for an update.
Keep praying for Samuel. He hasn’t even gotten to meet his new little brother yet, but I am certain he will love him. And I hope that little Nathan will be the drive Samuel needs to keep improving and gaining on his slow but steady course of recovery.
Love,
The Jewkes
June 6, 2006
June 6, 2006 | Updates
Just a quick update to let everyone know we are doing OK. We added a new baby boy to our family this Saturday and are recovering from that :). I’ll post more later. He was 5 lbs 7 oz and about 4 weeks early, so he is in the NICU, but seems to be doing well. Samuel is fine also and so are the rest of us.Love,
Teresa
P.S. You can see more pictures of our baby by clicking “more” under the pictures.
