Blog

OK… The bigger kids are both sick (Isaac with a fever and an overly hefty dose of high drama), Michael is in the NICU about 30 miles away, I’m still fighting a cold that is taking its time going away, Liz is at the hospital with Michael, and now we’ve got almost 18″ of fresh snow on top of the 2 feet we already had. I can barely get the back door open far enough to let the dog out, and then he has trouble finding a place to go… he’s an 80lb dog… I’m glad he’s not an ankle-biter. He’d get lost in a drift and never resurface. As is, he’s standing on about 1ft of packed snow, and the porch didn’t get as much snow as the rest of the yard. Our 5ft fence looks 2ft tall.

Thanks to the weather and the sick kids, the folks at the hospital asked Liz to spend the night there in one of the extra rooms. Now it’s looking like she’s going to end up there for another night with a high probability she’ll be there until Michael comes home. When she went there yesterday, it was just supposed to be for the day, so she didn’t pack clothes or toiletries. Now I’m in a position where I can’t get those items to her because the roads are impassible. She’s going to have to rough it for another night.

• Michael has been off of the oxygen for over 24 hours
• The bili-lites have been turned off. His jaundice went way down.
• The IV was taken out of his head this morning. He is getting plenty of fluids from his regular feedings.
• He is able to rest better between feedings and continues to gain strength.
• He has started opening his eyes to look around when it is time to check his vitals and eat.
• It is so nice to see what he looks like without having his head covered in tubes, wires, and gauze.

I am doing well and enjoying each day; being with Michael during the day, spending time with Peter, Sydney and Isaac in the evenings and early mornings.

Unfortunately, Isaac has been pretty sick this morning (Peter and Sydney also have mild colds) so I have to wear a face mask at home and keep my hands washed; also, I have to kind of stay away from him. If I get sick I can’t go to the NICU, so here’s hoping that I stay well during the next few days.

Michael has been completely off the oxygen for 18 hours; he is breathing on his own! He has completely stunned the nurses and doctors. Of course we have been reminded it is important to not be surprised if he does need to go back on it but we’ll take any success we can.

I’ll update some more later today after spending some time at the hospital.

Michael continues to improve steadily; his breathing is continuing to stabilize and he is requiring smaller amounts of oxygen to do well. He has been rather feisty and has yanked out his gavage tube a couple of times and is always grabbing at the various tubes and pieces of tape stuck to him. But this is actually good news because it means that his body has some energy for activities other than breathing.

Feeding has been going well and he is tolerating milk; while he takes his food through a tube I put his binky in his mouth so he can suck on it and associate a full belly with the motion of sucking. This afternoon we are going to try nursing and see how it goes.

Right now I can still only hold him about once a day but if he does fine with nursing and his breathing continues to improve he will be able to come out of the incubator more often. Sydney and Isaac will get to see him for the first time today; albeit through the NICU window, but they are pretty excited to see their baby brother!

Jaundice has crept in so he is laying under the bili-lites with some sunglasses on his face; just chillin’ in a tanning booth.

Mom and dad are doing well. Sydney and Isaac were spoiled by our friends that watched them for a couple of days. We have a wave of meals coming in this next week and several friends and neighbors wanting to know how they can help. Right now we feel very blessed to know that others are keeping us in their prayers and to know that we have many friends that we can call in a pinch.

For those of you privileged to have access to this page we thought we’d share more detail and pictures.

He came out five weeks ahead of schedule weighing 5lbs, 8.1oz.

Because he was early, they started an I.V. to run fluids and prophylactic antibiotics. His lungs were poorly enough developed that he was having to work really hard just to fill them with air (you can see how his chest sinks in the picture… it was like that every time he tried to take a breath). To help keep his lungs open, they put him on a CPAP to keep positive pressure in his lungs. Through the course of the night he was gradually having a harder and harder time breathing, so about the time I crashed for an hour nap (I’d been up for about 36 hrs by then) the pediatrician ordered a surfactant treatment. (The lungs naturally produce surfactant to keep them from collapsing fully with every breath. Premature babies don’t always have enough of it, which can lead to acute respiratory trouble). The treatment went well, and by the time I came back 2 hrs later he was already doing visibly better. He’s been steadily improving ever since.

They took him off of the CPAP early this morning, and moved him to an incubator (A good thing because it means he’s stable enough they aren’t worried about having to get rapid access to him). He’s still on a slow flow of oxygen, but they plan on tapering that off over the next day or so as long has he continues to improve.

We had our baby boy very early this morning. Here are the stats:

Michael Arnold Johnson
Feb. 17, 2011
12:14 AM
5 lbs 6 oz
18 3/4 in.

Just like our other kids, he showed up five weeks early and is staying at the local NICU for an undetermined length of time. Right now they are helping him with his lungs and making sure all the basic functions are working.

We’ll post some pictures when we feel like it!

Thursday afternoon this little baby in my tummy started moving around real funny. By the end of the day I realized I was breathing much easier and I thought my belly looked lower – like I might have dropped. Thankfully I knew Peter was coming home Friday and I wanted his second opinion. By Friday afternoon, however, I did not need a second opinion after looking in the mirror. I had dropped considerably (Peter noticed right away when he came in the door). This is exactly what has happened during week 34 before delivering my other 35-week gestation babies. I hope this little guy waits a couple of weeks or longer.

Dropping or “lightening” does not mean labor is imminent – but it is one of those things that happens before or during labor. In most cases it happens about two weeks or less (sometimes just hours) before real labor contractions kick in. Anyway, we’re on baby alert at our house and I am constantly packing my hospital bag any time I have to leave the base.

Peter just arrived home last night and the poor guy has a sore throat and feels pretty miserable. Thankfully his sprained ankle has healed amazingly well; I don’t even notice him limping anymore. He is taking a couple of days over the weekend to recover before having to go to work on Monday (or head to the hospital in the middle of the night with me).

Sydney – She has been experimenting with nail polish after getting some books at the library on finger and toe painting. A couple of Saturdays ago she spent about three hours taking care of her nails (reading a book while waiting for nails to dry). Now she is asking about trying out the curling iron on her own. My little girl is growing up!

Isaac – What a little devil this adorable son of mine has been the last few days. He is testing the far-reaching corners of disrespect with me and bullying with Sydney. On Tuesday he did not get to participate in TaeKwon-Do because of an altercation with his sister that happened as we were getting ready to go. Instead, he took some toys to play with but spent much of the class time brooding inside while watching Sydney have fun in class.

He has also been freaking out when I remind him he has 10 or 15 minutes (or another amount of time) to finish a task that he is working on. Instead of getting to work he spends a great deal of time whining that he won’t possibly get the task-at-hand done in time. But, when assigned with a follow on assignment because of whining or not finishing in time, he always pulls through. I just need to keep up my spirits, my wits, my strength, and some old-fashioned grit to pull through this phase.

Isaac has been asked to give the First Article of Faith in primary tomorrow. He has been practicing saying it slowly, clearly, and loud enough to be heard. He currently can recite numbers one and two by memory.