Today is a wonderful day!  Dr. Hernandez said that Trevor is doing exceptionally well, so she wanted to lower the  pressure on his CPAP and increase his feeds again.  They did all that and he tolerated it so good!  She said she hopes to have Trevor completely off of the CPAP by the end of this week! If he is able to breath completely on his own without the CPAP, he will get to move to the Level 2 NICU and finally get out of the critical care Level 3 NICU.  I am just so excited!  I know my little man can do it.  He is so strong!  Let's pray that he gets off of that pesky CPAP this week.  As of 7pm he was still doing great with the  CPAP lowered to a pressure of 8 and his O2 was set at only 24%.  Wow!  He just amazes me!

I just got back home from a late night visit with Trevor.  He is doing so good!  The doctor was able to lower his CPAP setting from 12 to 10.  This is good news.  He also is tolerating the feeds well and has been increased to 9cc every 3 hours. He has hyperbilirubinemia.  Big word, huh?  The best I can understand is that he has elevated levels of bilirubin along with anemia.  They are checking his blood daily to keep an eye on this.  He will have an abdominal ultrasound on Monday to check his liver and gallbladder.  I'm not worried though.  I just know it will be fine!  He is such a strong little boy!  Tonight he was laying on his tummy and he lifted his head and TURNED it completely to the other side trying to get out of the CPAP!  He sure doesn't like that thing!  I just can't believe he is strong enough to pick up his head and turn it!  He weighs 2lbs 13 oz tonight.  He lost a little bit of weight, but nothing to worry about.  Trevor's Aunt Holly got to see him for the first time today and I even shared my holding time with her.  The doctor gave us permission to hold him for about an hour a day, so I held him 50 mintes and let Holly hold him the last 10 minutes. I know.....I'm stingy! Anyway, he LOVES his Aunt Holly.  I have new pictures and will post them tomorrow morning.  Trevor just amazes me more and more each day.  He is the most wonderful gift I can imagine, and I am so thankful for him everyday.  Until next time....  Love, Melody 

We have so much to be thankful for this year, but  I can't believe I just spent a holiday away from one of my children.  As bad as it hurts, I keep reminding myself that I should be happy today and give thanks for all the blessings in my life. I'm missing Trevor terribly, but I know that he is exactly where he needs to be and I am very thankful that he has the privilage of excellent health care.  The doctors and nurses there are amazing!  His nurses take extremely good care of him.  He is doing really good today. He didn't have any A&B episodes and he is currently on about 25% oxygen.  The doctors increased his feeds again because he is tolerating them well.  He weighed 2lbs 14 oz at midnight last night.  That is a huge weight gain!  They will be watching him closely to make sure there is no fluid retention anywhere.  They tried to put a PIC line back in today, but could not get it in. They are supposed to try again late this evening or tomorrow.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Love, Melody

Trevor had another good day today.  His cultures came back negative again!!!  Looks like the infections are gone.  He will stay on antibiotics for about 2 more weeks just as a preventative.  Dennis and I both held him today.  He is just so precious!  He loves his pacifier and he actually sucks on it!  Most babies his size can't do that yet.  He had another eye exam today and it was still good news.  No ROP!  The doctor said they will watch closely though because he could develop it later. He has another brain scan on December 2nd.  Hopefully nothing has gotten worse.  I have complete and total faith that it will come out just fine! We signed a consent form today for him to have another PIC line insterted.  They will probably do that tomorrow.  He is being fed again too.  He gets 6cc of formula every 3 hours and seems to be tolerating it well so far.  I am so thankful that Trevor is doing well.  We seen and heard things in the NICU today that broke our hearts.  It was difficult to be happy about Trevor's progress, when our hearts were breaking for the mother sitting next to us.  The NICU is a place that no one ever wants to be. Please pray for Trevor and ALL of the babies there.

Trevor is having another good day.  He had his first eye exam yesterday, and the doctor didn't find any damage!  YAY!  He will have eye exams every week now just to make sure there are no signs of ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity).  It's where the retina separates.  So, thats good news!  He had his 2nd brain scan this morning and it shows no severe changes from last time.  Everything looks pretty much the same, but is not worse.  So thats good news too!!!  He still weighs 2lbs 3oz.  New pictures on the pictures page!  Love, Melody

Sorry for skipping yesterday. It was a weird day. Trevor is doing great!  He weighs 2lbs 3oz.  He is still having a little trouble with constipation.  Hopefully this wont last much longer.  He is doing really good with his vitals.  He has been on about 26% oxygen, on CPAP of 12.  This is good! We are so blessed!!!  I was able to hold Trevor skin to skin yesterday (kangaroo care).  It was amazing, but very scary at the same time.  They handed him to me in nothing but a diaper.  I had no idea exactly how small he was.  I couldnt help myself from crying.  I knew he was small, but it really put it all in perspective when I could held him in my hand, yes...one hand.  His little body and head rested just perfectly in my hand and his little legs hung down off my fingers.  The reality just really hit me hard.  Once I was over the initial shock, I loved it!  I just rocked him and sang to him the whole time.  He opened his eyes and was looking at me for almost the entire 45 minutes.  I could tell he knew I was his mommy, and that was the best feeling ever.  The bad news is, on my way home from the NICU yesterday my throat started feeling "scratchy".  By 6pm it was REALLY hurting.  I went to the Dr this morning and I have strep throat!!!  I called the NICU and told them about it.  They assured me that they would watch Trevor very closely and treat him at the first sign of illness.  I just pray that I did not make him sick.  This is really worrying me.  I just dont know if I could stand it if he got sick because of me.  I am taking antibiotics, but I can not go see Trevor for several days, obviously.  That is really hard, but thats how it has to be.  On another note, the hospital called and told me that as of Thursday 10/19/09, Trevor will not have insurance coverage because Dennis's employer has not faxed the information needed to Cigna.  UGH!!!  I called Cigna and they confirmed that they had not recieved the info from the employer.  Employer says they DID send it.  Who knows.....  But anyway, everyone is working on it to make sure that he is not terminated from the insurance Thursday.  Im trying not to worry about this, but thats impossible!  Oh, and we got the first hospital bill yesterday.  YIKES!  That's all I have to say about that!  :)   I will post new pictures of Trevor around 9am tomorrow.  They are SUPER cute, so be sure to check them out.  Good night everyone! Keep praying.  Love, Melody

I posted 6 new pictures of Trevor on the "Pictures" page.  Go check 'em out!  He's so cute!!!

Today was a good day for Trevor.  He had no A&B's!!!  The neonatologist said he is doing well.  He has had a couple of problems with constipation, but they have been able to help him out with that by giving a supository.  He is now taking an inhaled steroid to strengthen his lungs.  He has a little fluid in his lungs, but the Lasiks and the steroid seem to have helped him.  He now weighs 2lbs 2 oz!  He had an extra dose of caffeine today (that helps stimulate his breathing).  He gets caffeine every day, but he got an extra dose this morning.  I call it his "morning coffee". I am just so thankful for the past couple of days!  I'll be praying for more good days!!!  Love, Melody