Cole's Recovery

Cole has been doing well. He was grumpy post surgery and little sore from his incision. I was suprised from his quick recovery. When Jason was 23 days old he also had pyloric stenosis. He was the youngest ever to have laproscopic surgery to repair this valve. He had lost a lb. and it took him 4 days in the ICU to get released. Looking back Jason was a lot sicker before he was diagnosed. Cole on the other hand was being watched much closer due to prematurity and being a multiple. I realized he was very sick after the last stool I had induced earlier that afternoon. Once he vomited during the night it was only a matter of scheduling coverage for the other siblings and deciding which hospital to go too. I preferred Childrens hospital with my single babies, but decided to drive to St. John's due to Cole's birth and history prior to this upcoming hospitalization. I'm glad I did. Well, the care was good, the surgeon was informative and cautious.(something I'm glad about with babies) And his recovery efficient. Cole is up to his normal feedings, stooling well and tolerating a 4 hour schedule once again. Thank goodness. By the way Cole didn't miss a beat he eats second and sleeps soundly, and lets you know when he wants to be up and out. He loves his pacifier ..................................

My little Cole

Cole

Kurt

Meghan

Molly

Cole


Kurt & Meghan - 6 weeks old


Our 6 week picture - Molly, Kurt, Meghan, Cole

Cole has been growing like a weed. He is the youngest of the 4 babies and my baby of all babies. He has been constipated and looking back on a week of events and some discussion I can see why we ended up where we did..................
Cole had been straining to go to the bathroom quite often but never seemed to quite manage to get out a stool or have a consistent pattern. I would be lying if I thought it was just rock hard stool that concerned me but he was vomiting too. So like the hospital I gave him glycerin suppositories so he could be relieved.
Well, I forgot to tell you the night before ( I think Monday) Cole could have died - very scary,but thank god I was in the room. I was feeding Molly when Cole vomited after I fed him, It sounded like a lot , but I was sitting in the chair with Molly and waited for him to cry,grunt, etc.. Well he didn't .... So I got up still feeding Molly and saw him turning blue. I had a moment of oh shit and decided to chuck Molly's bottle, place her quickly not softly into Meghan's side of the bed between Meghan and the wedge and pick up Cole. I gave him many back blows, and started sucking all kinds of milk from his nose and mouth and did it all over again till he cried and regained color. Needless to say I checked on him quite a lot over the next hour feeding Molly and Kurt and wondered if I should spend the night in his room. Oh well .... I didn't ...
But as the story goes he was blocked up and was going that way again and so was Meghan .... So I called the doctor & the call was to give 1 tablespoon of Karo syrup in their bottles 2X's a day and let them demand feed no longer than 51/2 hours between feedings. OK good an answer to this problem......
So My kids were chugging right along on a 4 hour schedule with Meghan eating 100ml, Cole at 90ml, Kurt 90ml and Molly at 80ml. I increased there feeds by 10ml (Monday) and started the Karo Syrup in 2 bottles throughout the day yesterday (Tuesday).They were all waking up early to eat.
Well today(Wednesday), .......They are starting to get sluggish and not eat well and not wake up. ( just a few feeding) So I fed them at the regular 1/2 hour time limit and if they ate 60+ I would call it o.k.. So I went to a 41/2 hour schedule at 8 p.m.tonight ( Wednesday night) ...................... we will see - it's trial and error ..................... So Last night (Wednesday), the babies fussed from 10:30 till Chris fed them at 11:30-1:30 (starting to become a habit.- the fussing) then I set my alarm for 4:15.................... Megan started fussing at 3:45... .so much for that Idea of letting them sleep through, so I got up, got the bottles and headed for their room ................ all of them were out cold................ so I ...... fed them ........ remind me never to do that again ..... so everyone ate 1/2 their bottles at this feeding time ( I could not feed some we'd be a mess in the a.m. )
Well I can recall today (Thursday) that they were very sleepy after the Karo bottles .. which were at Chris's feeding last night and this afternoon. plus bath time ....... So again I called the Doctor
I felt like a new mom .... repeatedly questioned my M.D. about the dosage of Karo and further suggestions to this high octane syrup that seemed to just make feeding time more painful and the kids more sleepy (not a bad side effect if you just have one baby and could try letting it sleep through the night without major consequences. )
So its Thursday afternoon when I just happened to walk into the room where Cole is being burped by my help and I see him arch way back, and start to foam at the mouth. Of course without hesitation I grabbed him, starting suctioning his mouth, requested my help to go to the nearest store and by my favorite glycerin suppository for him. He was relieved, but the scary thing was his stool was all liquid and very green ............ actually it shot across the room as I massaged his belly. (really resolve does work).
Then I did a familiar test Dr. Herbers did on my son Jason over 4 years ago - this reaction prompted me to believe Cole has pyloric stenosis. I took the M.D. instructions down and awaited for Cole to have them......... At 3a.m Cole vomited his feedings again and I packed a bag, awoke Chris and went to St. John's ER. While I was driving I recalled thinking should I go to Children's hospital instead, I hope this isn't true and Dad you better watch over him. Well at 7a.m. the diagnosis was made and at 11a.m. his surgery was being performed. At 4:30 Cole made it to recovery and was placed in the PICU overnight for observation. He had a few apnea spells post surgery and needed a little caffeine for heart rate drops. All in all he is home and recovering well.

Meghan is next we will watch her to see what happens over the next few weeks.

Our Hospital Stay in NICU South -

I have been very unsuccessful at loading these pictures for everyone. Hopefully this link will recapture our stay in August at NICU South. All of our Nurses, Doctors and other families we met along the way will stay very close to our hearts. We really appreciate the kindness they have shown to our unique family and are glad to have our whole family home.

P.S. I included my growth pictures for all of you to see how big I got!!!!


http://picasaweb.google.com/jillmschwartz/Movies#5247006389174471666

K. Scully photography - A Must in my book

One of my good friends from Creighton has a unique style and creativity that cannot be matched. Kristin spent a day with us in our visits to the NICU North and provided me with this assortment of her days work. I first of all cannot thank her enough for her thoughtfulness and everlasting memory she has provided not only me but my babies as well of their start in life. Kristin you do amazing work .............. it's not work it's art

thanks again and I am lucky to share this with you

jill

( p.s. this site will steal you heart......... )

http://www.kscullyphotography.com/

once you have arrived at her site hit enter on/under the middle picture then go to client proofing , once there then type in one of 2 passwords both are very unique and worth reviewing.

quads b&w
quads color

if unable to log in try seeing the pictures on this site.....

http://flickr.com/photos/kristinscully/

1 month flies by when you have 4 new babies

Well I guess I have some updating to do.

The last pictures were from the first weekend that we were in the hospital.

Over the last month I was released from the hospital on August 12th. That day was particularly hard since I wanted to go home to see Chris, Jason & Kyle, but at the same time I finally was able to start getting to touch and hold let alone meet Molly, Kurt, Meghan & Cole.

As I moved back home, I seemed to miss what had been normal to me - breakfast in bed, familiar nurses and techs I had come to know well, wheelchair rides with transporters and family, particular Md's & their residents, and of course TV, The Shower Chair, and my next door neighbor Saadia.

It didn't take long and I was back to St. John's again this time visiting the NICU. At first we spent most of our time trying to make it before their schedules started or the limited time they could be held was gone. The staff accommodated us nicely especially with the extended family I had visiting in shifts each day. I would look forward to seeing them and meeting new nurses and talking about this miracle that seemed so unreal. They spent the first weekend working towards reducing their oxygen demands and breathing on their own. Molly and Cole both needed to be intubated briefly, given surfactant to help their lungs mature and recover prior to breathing on their own. By my departure all babies except Cole were breathing on their own - that was 8 weeks prior to their due date. What a miracle that was in itself.

Everyday I expected some setbacks or information that a baby or babies would struggle, need some type of support or have something major to be evaluated, but each day brought out more good news - all O2 demand negated, all bilirubin levels decreasing from photo therapy, no anemia problems requiring intervention, all ultrasounds to detect brain bleeds negative, hearing/vision screens normal, and all heart murmurs benign. All of the babies were moved to the South in 1 week a fast but much needed change from the critical north NICU. Thank god for miracles and a few good angels protecting these babies.

As each neonatologist would visit and discuss each child they would get an enormous grin on their face and say, "they are all doing so well, so well Jill, no worries get some rest." As the end of August approached, ( just shy of 2 weeks from my actual release) Dr. Chao thought 1 to 3 babies might be released from the NICU. Chris and I were shocked let alone suprised by the thought of three babies coming home in 2 1/2 weeks from birth. We prepared for them to be in over a month possibly more - not home in 2 weeks. As I discussed this home coming I started to tear up thinking I can't leave Molly here by herself - I just thought I'd never be able to get back. Now thinking about it I wouldn't be able to not with the demands of feedings around the clock and the exhaustion that follows you like a little cloud over your head, but you just seem to keep going. As I realized I was probably only talking about a week or a few days more I just couldn't bear it. I apologized to Dr. Chao because I realized there are much worse things I could be crying about right now ......... but he said every child is special and not every child is your own so that helped me realize I wasn't being selfish just wanting to not leave anyone behind.

So as the end of the day passed and the new day came I braced for this new change. I was glad they were coming but was still hoping they would stay longer to help me recover & get them home safely together. Again, someone was watching over us as the babies all slowed down together, I believe to wait for their sister Molly and to help me recover, but scientifically because the circumcisions fatigued the boys eating patterns and the now known "cold corner" of NICU south helped put Meghan into temperature fluctuations requiring a isolette.

Over the next week Molly caught up with intake of feedings, the boys started to eat well again, and Meghan regained her steady temperatures. ( For the NICU nurses that moved them I thank you - especially since it was your busiest time of a long 12 hour day.) As they kept improving it dawned on me they were all getting close to going home, but not until the nurse informed me to sit down that it was actually going to happen. It paid off and all of my babies arrived in pairs over the Labor Day weekend.