So, where are we these days? Rhys still has a feed tube through his nose. Though, he is being bottle fed and breast fed whenever he can stand it. The problem is timing doesn’t always work out. But, he’s almost got the hang of the feeding thing. :) He got his vaccinations and that went very well. He tolerated it fine and didn’t get sick. He was a bit uncomfortable after getting those shots, but can you blame him? He’s still getting his medication to help with any refluxing. However, he is not getting his aerosol treatments anymore! YAY!! I have to admit it is a bit scary. Today, when I saw him he was at 4 lbs and 15 ozs! Talk about awesome! He’s going to be home before we know it. The aunties are making bets about if he will be home before his due date. :) I’m thinking he will be.

Lola, and Cindy got to hold him, so that was very kewl. I know Lola has been waiting a long time to do that, so she was very happy to finally get to.

In other news, it’s tax time, we’re closing the business down (the dino thang), and we’re going to sell our land — after we refi thanks to our most wonderful lender Bob. :) The first half of this year is going to be quite hectic I think. Hopefully the latter half will have a nice change for us (yes I know having my son home is going to be a lot of work — but that’s different somehow). :)

The monkey boy

Not happy about being woken up

Relaxing in his crib

Suckin his thumb

We’re just cruising along. Rhys is doing fine — getting bigger and stronger everyday. Both Heidi and I are catching up a little bit on sleep and sanity — still far from rested or sane, but catching up. I’m learning more and more about Linux and the wonders of programming. In general things are quite well in our little bubble.

The real big news, of course, is with Rhys. Since the last update we find baby boy doing very well. He weighs 4 lbs 6.6 ozs!! His CPAP is gone and he is now just on the canula with an oxygen flow of 160ml. This has gone anywhere from 160ml to 500ml. He started on 750ml, so he’s getting better and better about keeping his sats. The idea is to keep weaning the flow until it is not needed. It’s highly likely he will go home on oxygen, but a proud father can hope, right? He’s on continuous feeds still because he just can’t seem to handle the periodic feeds. That’s ok. The little keike can take as much time as he needs to get goin with that. We’re in no rush. The biggest news of all is he has graduated to a crib. They tell you this and you think, “YAY!! Way to go son!”… Then you think, “Wait! That means he’ll be in the open air… with the germs… with only himself to protect him….” But, all milestones are scary — this is no different. However, a milestone it is, and we’re very happy about it.

Rhys made Heidi bring cookies for all the Aunties (to me their family, and not just nurses) to celebrate reaching 4 lbs. They were pretty much gone right away. :) I’m going to make lumpia for when we finally get to bring him home. I can’t wait until that day.

In other news, work is fine. I just keep plugging along. I keep trying to cram more crap in my head — learning about Windows toward my MCP, learning about Qmail, Apache, and MySQL toward my Open Source skills. I’m absorbing about 5% of what I read… You’d think I’d be able to concentrate better what with there being no drama in my life. ;) lol

With that, I will just pop a bunch of pics of Rhys. :) Not going to bother captioning them. Figure them out for yourself! ;) hehe Nite!!!

Let’s see. Haven’t updated in awhile. Right now, I’m up late just having got done working on an Apache server with Drewberry. Heidi is in bed early because we have to get up early tomorrow. Rhys has an upper GI scan scheduled. He’s refluxing some of his food. Which is why he is having problems with the periodic feeds. If he is fed little amounts at a time he doesn’t seem to have an issue. They are worried about him having a blockage of some sort in his system. Right now it’s unknown, but this will tell us for sure if there is a problem of this type or not.

He’s taking medicines to help with the reflux. It could be he just has reflux… If he’s anything like daddy, I’m sure this is it. :) If we find this to be the case, then they can be more aggresive with the meds toward helping that particular issue.

For awhile he was back on the CPAP and he hated every second of it. They did this to help with his breathing. Couple days back he had a rough day and they thought he was just tiring out. So they put him back on continuous feeds, and back on CPAP to give him a break. He hates CPAP. I just kept thinking that they just need to slow the feeds and give him more lung treatments. But, they know best… The next day found Rhys’ CPAP discontinued…. because he didn’t need it…. I swear…

Pretty much everyday she can, Heidi has been holding him for extended periods. Yesterday he even tried breast feeding… Didn’t quite do it, but it’s a start. His primary nurse was surprised to hear about it (it was her day off) and said that it was a brave move. She wouldn’t have done it, because he could have aspirated the milk… She said it was too early. But, each nurse is different and has their own opinion. I tend to go with his primary nurses since they know him quite well now.

I got to hold Rhys last week, and it was great. :) Here’s some pics of us.

Last but not least, here’s a pic of Rhys’ room. Heidi did the painting and it turned out great if you ask me. :)

Well, that’s the news, and I’m off to bed. :) See you guys on the flip side!

Mom got to hold Rhys today. Lola was there as well to see baby boy. This time he was awake for the visit. He looked right at her. He was very alert and quite interested it seemed in the things going on around him.

He gained some weight, but only 10 grams today. He’s at 3lbs 14ozs now. Feeds are giving him some problems. His heart rate goes down now and then, and you have to rub his back to get him started back up again. It’s a normal thing for a preemie but I’ll never get used to it. He’s on some medication now to help out with his problems with feeding and it seems to be helping. Time will tell. Feeds are every 2 hours right now, and we need to get him feeding less often with more volume. That’s the goal. The good news is his lungs are sounding quite nice now. There’s still scratchy sounds but they seem more from his nose than from his lungs… Slowly but surely we’ll get there. Here he is in his iso:

Rhys is doin good today. His respirator has been moved out of the room as they don’t anticipate him going back on it. He’s now in an tent-like thing which sits over him in the iso. They pump oxygen into this area and most of the time he is not even using the nose prongs. He had to go back on it tonight and was on it when we left the hospital, but all things considered these are very positive steps.

He had his first eye exam and the results show no damage (oxygen can cause eye problems), and normal development of the eyes so far (read: under developed eyes, but not more than expected). One of the nurses said, “His lungs sound clear.” I can’t tell you what welcome words those are. So many positives in the last few days.

Heidi got to hold him for about an hour today. It was good for both of them I’m sure. They’ve been separated for far too long. So, we’re back to the normal routine. Heidi is at the hospital and running home to take care of the pets during breaks. I’m stuck at work and at the hospital during lunches and after work.

So, here I am, quite tired again. :) Time for bed. No sleeping meds for me tonight tho since I’m on call all week… Ugh… Tomorrow’s my Friday and I can’t wait to get home and relax some. Take care out there!

Rhys’ new digs

Rhys tonight with his eyes open

And finally, my new favorite picture of my awesome baby boy!