Graduation from the NICU!!!

I know I haven't updated the blog in a few days but we've been kind of busy. Wesley "graduated" from the NICU and was discharged on December 3rd. He unfortunately failed his car seat test the night before but his pediatrician didn't think it was necessary to keep him there any longer. In order for him to come home though; he would have to ride in a car bed which lays completely down in the back seat and would have to be on an apnea monitor for the next few weeks. It's been great having him home; we're all getting adjusted to life with two kids. Brooke has been great but is a little jealous of her new little brother. We have had some false alarms with the monitor which will make you jump right out of your seat but it's a nice security to have when he's sleeping at night. It helps us get some sleep knowing we don't have to watch over him all night long. So far he's been a great sleeper and prefers to be laying down instead of being held all the time. We do get our snuggle time in though:) We'll follow up with the lung doctor in two weeks to see if he can come off the monitor. I think they'll have to wean Dan and I off before they do the baby:) haha. They'll also determine if he can ride in a normal car seat. I'll continue to update the blog so you all can follow along with what Brooke and Wesley are up to. Thank you all for the prayers. Every single one of them meant so much to us.

5 Weeks today!

Wesley is doing great! Knock on wood; don't want to jinx anything. He's been off oxygen since last Saturday morning. His feedings are going great; they are now letting him eat what he wants and stop when he's full. He's eating about 2oz right now. He weighs 6lbs, 2oz and is 19.5 inches long. He was also circumsized on Monday which didn't seem to bother him too much. They did a hearing test over the weekend which is passed; it's always great to get those results. The doctors are really impressed at how he has been doing lately. They say that maybe, just maybe he'll be able to come home soon. We still have to do the "car seat challenge" which is he has to sit in the car seat for 90 minutes to monitor everything. Hopefully he does well with that. They were talking about doing that later today. Trying not to get our hopes us too much but it would be really nice to get him home. We are SOOO ready to have him home but at the same time pretty nervous about it. We've had the security of the monitors, nurses, and doctors over the passed few weeks but they said they don't send babies home unless they think they'll do okay. They air on the side of cautiousness. Keep the prayers coming please!!! We appreciate every single one of them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Wes is doing really well; he's 4 weeks old as of yesterday. He has been eating really well lately so they took his feeding tube out. They also tried removing his oxygen yesterday but unfortunately had to put it back on last night. He just isn't getting the hang of completely breathing on his own. Even though they put the oxygen back on; it's only running at 0.05 which is hardly anything. He is getting cicrumsized tomorrow which is a bad thing for him but good for us because it means he's getting closer to coming home. He weighs 5lbs, 13oz now and is almost 19 inches long. Hopefully he'll get the breathing thing down pat and we'll be able to bring him home soon. The doctors won't give us a date; they don't like to get parents hopes up because they never know what the baby is going to do. His nurses love him and decided to put this cute hat on him yesterday. The pictures are when he was trying to go without his oxygen. We finally saw him with no tubes in. He is the cutest little thing!!! We appreciate everyone thinking about us and we are truly grateful for the prayers.

Three weeks down!

The biggest change this week was that Wesley finally got out of his isolette and is now in an open crib. He now weighs 5lbs, 6oz. He's a growing boy!!! They unfortunately had to put him back on oxygen b/c he wasn't doing very well. The doctor had actually taken him off earlier than he wanted to so it wasn't a big surprise he had to go back on. Even though he's on it; it's only on 0.2 air which is hardly anything. The nurse said it was like a wiff of air. So they'll try taking him off again in a few days. We're still working on getting him to eat from a bottlw which he is being kind of difficult with it. He'll eat real good sometimes and then won't take anything during others. We did try breast feeding the other day which he did great with. But for now, we'll try to get him to eat his bottles better and get off the feeding tube. Keep the prayers coming please!!!!!

Big Changes!

Over the past few days the only thing really going on was that the doctors have been working on getting Wesley's feedings up. He needs to be taking all his feedings by bottle before he can come home. Today we walked in and were welcomed with some big changes. We looked in his incubator and NO Oxygen Tube!!! The night doctor decided to take it out to see how he would react. There's always a possibility he'll need to have it put back in but for right now it's gone. The doctor also decided that we'll try putting as much in a bottle as possible and see how much he takes. He'll keep he feeding tube in but just so that they can finish off the feeding that way if he doesn't take it all by bottle. So that's good news. Plus, the nurse told us he now weighs 5lbs, 1oz!!! He's putting on the weight. So now we'll just increase his bottle feedings during the day and see how he reacts to being off the oxygen tube. Hopefully he'll continue doing as well as he has been. We're getting anxious to get him home!!

GREAT NEWS!!!!

Just as I was putting up my last post the nurses from the NICU called my cell phone. Wesley is being moved to the intermediate care room!!!!! He'll already be settled in when we go back tonight. His nurse yesterday took me back to see the room the other day; it was a lot quieter with fewer babies. They said the really work on getting the babies home. Things are looking great. Like I said in my last post; keep the prayers coming:)

10 days down!

Wesley has been in the NICU for 10 days. We tried giving him a bottle for the first time the other night. It was great to be able to feed him but he didn't do too well. The nurses say he is still pretty young but they are gonna keep trying. The sooner he gets all his feedings through a bottle; the better. They took him off antibiotics so the IV in his arm will be taken out within the next few days. They have upped his feedings b/c he is doing well and he now weighs 4lbs, 10oz. The doctors and nurses are really impressed by his progress. They say he may even be moved to the intermediate care room sometime soon. The doctor said that we just have to work on getting him off all his oxygen, work on feedings, and get his weight up. Other than that, all is going well. We dressed his incubator up some with a cute blanket that my mom's friend, Susan, gave us. It looks more "special" to us when we walk in. If he can keep his temperature regulated for 24 hours they will move him to an open crib. Each day gets better and we're continuing to fight for him. He's able to wear clothes now so I took some newborn stuff in that we got from the shower. He was swimming in them! My friend Melanie and my mom bought us some preemie clothes. He looks so cute in his new sleepers. We thank you again for all the prayers. They have obviously been working. Keep em coming:)

HAPPY 1 WEEK!!!!

Well, we were FINALLY able to hold Wesley yesterday. Exactly one week from when he was born. It was the best feeling. He looks so tiny in our arms and feels like he weighs nothing but he is doing great! He is able to wear clothes now so we went out and bought him some cute stuff to wear while he is still in the hospital.

Here are the most recent updates on him:
-The cords from his belly button were removed and an IV was placed in his arm. This was good news b/c as of right now he doesn't need a PICC line put in.
-He is having bowel movements on his own. Nicole changed her first poopy diaper of his today.
-They have decreased his oxygen pressure down to 2. When he gets down to zero he will be completely breathing on his own and everything will be removed.
-They haved upped his feedings and are going to increase it even more tonight. He is now on Nicole's breast milk and gaining weight.

Today he weighed 4lbs 5oz which means he is almost back to his birth weight. They like the babies to weigh 5lbs before they are able to go home so he's on his way. The doctor said everything is looking great and he's on his way to being transferred to the intermediate care room insead of the ICU. We are so thankful that we continue to get good news when we call or visit him. We appreciate all the prayers you guys are sending.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Halloween from Minnie Mouse!

Well, we were discharged from the hospital yesterday. I think the hardest thing we've done so far was leave the hospital although we know he is being taken good care of. We were so happy to see Brooke when we got home!! Her smile and laughter really make you feel better. We went back last night and again this morning to visit Wesley. He is doing great according to the nurses. Here are some of the updates on his status:
-His jaundice is better so they took him off the lights.
-He FINALLY had a bowel movement over the night which was great news.
-He hasn't been throwing up as much now that they are doing a 'continuous' feed so the doctors decided to up the amount of food he is given.
-His oxygen level is great so he is breathing the same amount of air we are but with a little help from the oxygen tube.

When we were there visiting him he did have two incidents of bradycardia where he stops breathing for a minute. It's extremely scary and upsetting to watch this but the nurses say it's normal. They also said that the important thing about the incidents is that he continues to keep his other pressures up while this is happening.

Every day seems to be better and he is getting stronger by the minute. We just need him to keep getting better and hopefully within the next few days he'll get his tubes out and we'll be able to hold him. Please continue to pray with us. Here are some updated pictures. He has been opening his eyes when we are there; we like to think he knows our voice and is showing off for us:)

Unexpected Arrival!

Wesley's due date wasn't until December 25, 2010 but little did we know he had a different plan for us. I woke up at 3:30am on Tuesday, October 26th to my water breaking. In a complete panic I woke Dan up and called my mom. Dad came over to watch Brooke and we were off to the hospital. When we arrived; they confimed that my water did in fact break but they were going to try and keep the baby in for as long as possible. Then they delivered the most devastating news, "I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital until he came." They said it could be a few days or weeks. The thought of leaving Brooke for that long broke my heart; it was unbearable. I was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday and stayed the whole day. During the night I started to have contractions which they stopped by giving me some medication. The next morning I was feeling fine. Mom came to stay with me for the day while Dan was at home playing with Brooke. Dan and his mom came up around lunch time and we were able to spend some time talking. That's when we finally decided our baby boy's name would be Wesley! While they were here I started to have some more pain. The nurses drew blood and checked the monitors; they were afraid I was getting an infection. The pain went away and Dan and Becky left. About an hour later my pain came back and they confimed I was getting an infection......baby boy had to come out!! Dan rushed back to the hospital and my c-section was performed. Wesley Christopher Cadigan was born October 27, 2010 at 5:44pm. He weighed 4lbs, 7oz and was 16 inches long. He let out a loud cry and all the doctors said he looked great. Dan was able to hold him and take some pictures before he was taken down to the NICU.

Wesley has been doing great so far. He has an oxygen tube giving him a little support but is mostly breathing on his own. He is being fed through a tube for the next few days until he's strong enough to eat on his own. He also has some jaundice so he has been sunbathing under the lights until that clears up. We've attached a few pictures of his progress so far. We are being discharged from the hospital tomorrow. Leaving will be the most difficult thing we've done so far but we will also be looking forward to seeing Brooke. She's been such a trooper through all of this. Mom and Dad said she's been great for them and has been having a lot of fun.

We'll continue to update Wesley's status and pictures daily so please follow along with us to keep up with him. We thank everyone for the prayers and well wishes so far and hope that you all will continue to send prayers his way.