All posts tagged: 2006

Eating, breathing, & pooping

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Eric continues to drink and digest his milk up like a champ and that is key to helping him get stronger. Below you can see nurse Kathy gavage feeding him. Gavage feeding is when the nurse lets the milk flow through the tube that leads to his stomach. Eric can not feel the feeding tube in his throat as you and I would because at this age the do not yet have a gag reflex so it is perfectly comfortable for him. Remembering to breath is Eric’s biggest challenge right now and something all preemies need to grow into. He is still getting oxygen throught CPAP, which gets delivered either with a tiny mask over his nose or these tiny little nasal prongs. The resipatory therapists alternate between the two to keep his skin healthy. When he needs more oxygen they can turn it up a bit but he needs to take a breath for the oxygen to get where it needs to go. We are definitely his cheer leading squad for this. Today Eric …

Momma Posts a Blog

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Today Eric’s Grandma Lorriane went back to Great Falls. I am afraid we may have worn her out on her first taste of “Grandma Duty”. Tonight Eric and I had some alone time. It is the first night I have visited him without Dad or Grandma around. I had to be disciplined to get myself to leave his bedside to “pump” and eat dinner at reasonable hour. Grandma has been really good at making sure I remember to feed myself and get some rest. Eric is tolerating a little more of milk now, 4 cc’s every 3 hours, which is the equivalent to 4 millileters or almost a teaspoon. This little bit of milk in his tummy his helping is digestive system develop. He also got started on some antibiotics today to cover a possible infection in his breathing tube. They did a chest xray today and don’t suspect a lung infection at this point. Tonight as I was getting ready to tuck Eric in and say good night he opened his eyes and peaked …

Little toes

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Eric is one week old today! Yesterday the doctors made the decision to put Eric on the ventilator. His lungs are strong but his body forgets to breathe now and then which is common with 26 week preemies. The vent adjusts to his breathing automatically and when he stops breathing it fills the lungs with air. Now he can focus on growing and getting stronger. When using the vent he can also sleep on his stomach which preemies LOVE.He is so adorable and he seems to recognize our voices.

Family Pic

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Grandma Lorraine has been here since Sept. 8. Thank the Lord for grandmas. Here’s grandma visiting Eric while he is under the bili light (which helps prevent jaundice). We’ve had lots of great support from family and friends! Thank you all so much. Tara’s bro Sean and his girlfriend Courtney stayed with us and helped up through some tense moments last week. Susie and Sam paid us a visit on Sep. 8. Susie brought to us the wooden toy trains that my dad gave me when I was born. Sam certainly enjoyed playing with the choo-choo or “do-do” as he calls it.

Eric”s eyes open

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On Monday, Eric decided it was time to take a look around. His eyes have opened and he seems to notice our movements next to the incubator. It is hard to tell what color they are but they are dark — either dark blue or brown. We visited him again last night and they have switched him back to the CPAP which is a bigger breathing device that provides positive pressure of air in his lungs. They did this because he was having too many “episodes” of breathing apnea. Sometimes a preemie “forgets” to breathe. When this happens the alarms go off and the nurse gently massages him until he breathes again. This was happening too often so they had to switch the breathing apparatus. He also got some blood from the Blood Bank yesterday because a preemie doesn’t make new blood quickly and they take several blood samples each day. So he was a little low and received 12 ml of blood. They say it will help reduce the apnea because he’ll have more …

Eric is born!

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At 4:34 p.m. on September 7, 2006, Tara gave birth to our son Eric Thomas DelloIacono Thies at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco! Born only 26 weeks and 2 days into Tara’s pregnancy, Eric is a real preemie but he is healthy and safe in the wonderful care of CPMC’s Newborn ICU.Eric’s birth weight was 1 lb. 15 oz and he is 14 inches long. Mommy is doing well and has already started pumping milk to feed little E. He is so cute and very feisty. One of the biggest concerns for newborn preemies is their breathing. Eric came out crying, which was joy to our ears, and so far he has not once needed to be placed on a ventilator.We can visit Eric at any time day or night and if all continues to go well with his development in the NICU, he could be able to come home in December.We love him so much and we thank everyone for all the love and support.love, Aaron and Tara

The feeding begins

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Now that Eric is on the ventilator his breathing is stable and they have begun feeding him Mom’s milk. He gets a very small amount every 3 hours. This is such good news because he can now start “bulking up”.Little angel sleeping: Daddy holds Eric’s hand. (note that the head covering has been removed now; this is an older pic):