binkie boy

Salem isn't supposed to suck on a binkie... he's not suppose to have the suck/swallow/breath down yet.
He has been happy to have a plug since like day 3 of life.
He sure likes his binkie..
he should do well taking a bottle...which should happen soon...just waiting for the go ahead from the O.T.

we both get very tired.... so we take naps together!!!

Happy Birthday to Salem...

Happy Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving! Salem has gotten to the ripe old age of 3 weeks. He has come so far in such a short amount of time.

Annie, the Occupational therapist, said that he is doing incredible. She said his grasp is great and his head and arm motions are good and fluid, not jerky.

He's gotten big enough now that he doesn't need to be in a heated a incubator, he is doing a good job at keeping his own temperature.

1635 grams which is right around 3lbs 9 ounces. (as of Thursday night)
33 mls at each feeding (still through the nose, but we are hoping for a bottle feeding soon)

Your name will be fuzzy...

and we will call you fuzzy....


I got to the hospital bright and early... and Lisa (who I just love to death) was going to give him a bath... he usually gets his baths at night around 10pm..
and a REAL bath too! Okay well almost... we got to detach him from everything..and then I got him all nakkie..and then wrapped him in a blanky and in the tub he went...blanky and all... the nurses said that's how they've found that babies prefer their baths... he loved it...



Scrubbed his little melon and he has a fuzzy melon....

Thanksgiving coming up

Well, Thanksgiving is about here. I'm excited for the food, family, and fun. It's going to be a great time.

We will of course have the traditional going around the table telling each other what we are thankful for. Some will have to think, some may say come back to me, or he just took mine... I already have my answer ready. I am thankful that God is taking such good care of this little baby boy.

He has had, is having, and will have his struggles, but most of all he is doing well. He continues to grow and progress and hopefully will be home in a while. Someone at the hospital said maybe by Christmas. We'll see.

Regardless of how difficult it is to make the trips down there (Tree is the one that this applies to), he is a blessing in our lives.

Thanks, God, for a priceless addition to our already priceless family.

Salem got a middle name....

speaking of looking at middle names... we didn't announce Salem's middle name....it took us awhile to come up with something..and also took Chris at Vital Records & Birth Certificates calling & bugging us about submitting it...
Daddy decided in the end and I think he did a good job.....

Announcing...

Salem Daniel Scott Crowe

Salem-  means Peace (we got it from the Bible)

Daniel - from Great-grandpa John Daniel Prombo
& Great-great grandpa Daniel Larkin
Scott - Mommy's maiden name

We have quite a few families covered in this name...
now your job little buddy is to grown into that name....

Grandma Pat has a long talk with Salem

Today's visit was the 5th time I got to spend time with Salem. I figured it was about time he heard all about the family. Nurse Lisa let us cuddle for 1 1/4 hours. I started with telling him about MY grandparents. Lizzie and Daniel Larkin (from my mom's side) and Anna and Joseph Prombo (my dad's side). Then I introduced Salem to MY mom and dad: Margaret and John Daniel Prombo. At that, he kinda took notice.... Salem had heard mom and dad (Tree and Terry) talking about selecting a middle name for Salem. Had he heard that Daniel was being considered? At that, Salem started to pay attention what Grandma Pat was talking about.

Grandma continued to talk about the rest of the family, and Salem felt good to know that there are so many people who love him and are waiting for him to jump into their lives. Salem promised Grandma that he would hit a weight milestone at tonight's weigh-in. Then, he just has a couple more Olympic feats to accomplish: he has to eat on his own (gotta move away from the tube feeding to the bottle), he has to be able to maintain his body temperature (doing pretty darn good so far) and then he has to maintain all of the progress.

He's looking forward to breaking out of the hospital, but the guards (nurses) want to make sure he's ready to function in the civilized world (did someone tell Salem that we live in a civilized world???). He has been told that all of his brothers and sisters are crazy.... about HIM! Salem understands that a lot of aunts, uncles and friends want to hold him, hug him and sing him a lullaby. As good as all that sounds, someone told him that he'll be able to push around all of his loving grandmas and grandpas. From the picture, I'd have to say the pushing has already begun!

Okay so he's still teeny!!!

1497 grams...(he gained around 47 grams in a 24 hour period)

 6 more grams and he'll be 3 lbs 5 ounces!!!!

This is the preemie outfit I brought for Salem to wear today. It's way tooo big... the one he's wearing must be uber-preemie!

Our oldest and our youngest together for the first time

Cam is one of the very few that has gotten to see Salem. He was able to go to the window and the nurse let us bring Salem to the glass so Cam could have a look.

He is so tiny.

He is still doing very well and getting closer and closer to coming home. The nurse today said that she is hoping that he will be home for Christmas. That still seems so far away. We'll just have to see how he continues to progress.

Salem is steadily gaining...

He gets weighed every night around 10pm... he is gaining around 24 to 27 grams...which is right around an ounce a day...(1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams) so that is GREAT!!!!

He weighs 3 pounds 3 ounces...now... and is such a little cutie...
Annie the occupational therapist is going to start evaluating him to see when he can have his first feeding via the "normal" way... a bottle, instead of what the call "gavage" feeding...
Gavage means the introduction of nutritive material into the stomach by means of a tube, which is feed through the nose and goes directly into the stomach.

looks like it could be within the week, yahooo!!!!

Salem has been praying too!

missing that baby....

I didn't go see Salem today... so I got nothing to report... other than man I miss the little squirt...
Dad saw him for a little bit this afternoon and Grandma Pat got her baby hold'n going on in the 4 o'clock hour...
If there is any news, maybe they will post...

Movin'n on up.....

3 pounds 2 ounces...
Steadily climbing the weight mountain...

PVL what it is,

With PVL, the area of damaged brain tissue can affect the nerve cells that control motor movements. As the baby grows, the damaged nerve cells cause the muscles to become spastic, or tight, and resistant to movement. Babies with PVL have a higher risk of developing cerebral palsy (a group of disorders that prevent the child from controlling their muscles normally), and may have intellectual or learning difficulties.

What causes periventricular leukomalacia?

It is not clear why PVL occurs. This area of the brain is very susceptible to injury, especially in premature babies whose brain tissues are fragile. PVL may happen when the brain receives too little oxygen. However, it is not clear when the trigger for PVL occurs - before, during, or after birth. Most babies who develop PVL are premature, especially those born before 30 weeks gestation. Other factors that may be associated with PVL include early rupture of membranes (amniotic sac) and infection inside the uterus.

What are the symptoms of periventricular leukomalacia?

PVL may not be apparent until later months. Each baby may experience symptoms differently. The most common symptom of PVL is spastic diplegia, tight, contracted muscles, especially in the legs. The symptoms of PVL may resemble other conditions or medical problems.

all grown up....and wearing clothes!

Since Salem is off all IVs, they are dressing him in the teeniest clothes.
Jimeney Cricket....he looks like a "real" boy now.....
He's eating well, and sleeping well...and he is so mellow!

Bigger is relative.....

Every time I think our little man is getting bigger, Dad has to throw his big gangly hands in there....



   He looks more like a "baby" now...especially in this picture...
a classic Crowe look...
Our little ones have always favored the "one sock look"......

just a tad smaller....

Salem has slipped a teeny tiny bit...
he's at 1338 grams or 2 lbs 15 ounces (he was 1360 on Saturday)
They haven't upped his feedings... he's still at 27 ml...

The nurse said that it could be an adjustment to being taken off IV fluids. It's all about him gaining weight now on just strictly feedings.

Seems like whenever we visit, he knows it's close to grub time, he starts squirming and make noise, boy likes his food.

The scientific term for what Salem has is Periventricular leukomalacia or PVL. We are just gathering info to try to understand what this means.

If any of you have ever dealt with this, or know anything about it, we would love to hear from you.

We will post more here as we learn.

Potential problems

I just got off the phone with Tree who just came from a visit with Salem and a long conversation with the Doctor.

I guess there is a problem with his brain. He is missing some white matter and could have motor issues. Of course, they couldn't tell us much and said we will have to wait and he will be watched and retested later and all that stuff.

They also didn't have any answers about what caused it. Could've been the placental abruptions, could've been the problems with the umbilical cord in the birth emergency, could have been something else.

What we do know is that he is strong and that prayer works.

Please keep Salem in your prayers.

Milestone!!!! 3 POUNDS!!!!!

1361 grams, 48 ounces, 4.6666 stone, 3 pounds

This is what 3 pounds looks like!!!

3 lbs even.

26 ml or 5.2 teaspoons per feedings.(I can't believe he's up to that amount)

He spits up, which seems weird since he gets fed through the nose, but manages to keep most of it down.

Salem had another echo-cardiogram... it came back clean, originally it showed 2 small holes in his heart, but they were not able to detect them the second time... self correcting..Hallelujah!!!!!!

He has a small bleed on his brain. He had a second head-ultrasound today, I read the results and came to the conclusion that there are a lot of really big medical words that I can barely pronounce, let alone understand. We should get together with the the Dr. tomorrow to discuss results.

~Tree

rub a dub dub... little man in the tub....

Err... well a sponge bath anyway....

Terr & I got to do Salem's "cares"... diaper change, temperature, and then we got to "bath" him...

I washed, Terr dried..(we had to be efficient, so he didn't get too cold)

Little man didn't seem to mind it too much... he mostly tried to sleep through it.

sorry... our server was locked up

...and since the server dishes out IP addresses, our Internet was down while Terr was at his business conference...so i couldn't post pics or updates....

The verdict is still out....

I have yet to make a decision as to what color his hair is.... Looks dark to me..but then they keep the NICU dim... towards his ears might be blondish... I don't know....

If baby ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!

For being so young and so small he's really feeling the weight of the world...

What a little piggy... Salem is up to 8mls a feeding... (though 8mls only equals 1 1/2 teaspoons.)

He has gained a whole ounce since last night.

2lbs 12 1/2ounces...

His bilirubin level is up a bit...so he's back to wearing the little hawk hood..and tanning under the lights.

~Tree

You gotta love people who love their jobs....

Hats off to the staff at UVRMC.... they are all a bunch of hard working, knowledgeable people who seem to enjoy what they do. I had some great nurses on Labor & Delivery as well as Mother Baby...

my latest experience has been with Salem's nurses... Debbie was his nurse last night. I'm ecstatic that Salem has the opportunity to have her for his nurse from time to time. Bright, Cheerful, and loves her job.

These photos are courtesy of her.... she took them and even loaded them on a CD for us....

Thanks! :)

Grandma, Mommy & baby makes 3.....

Grandma is already smitten by a tiny little human, that's only slightly bigger than her hand.

The tiniest baby Grandma Mel has ever held has been one of mine....all the babies save Race have been under 6 pounds. But before her opportunity to hold little Salem, I believe Keeley (now 16) held the record at 5lbs even.
Kynz still holds the title for smallest Crowe Crew baby at 2lbs 4oz...but we were in Italy and NO one got to hold that little whipper snapper....

Here Salem is 2lbs 11 1/2 oz (half an ounce above his birth weight)

Grandma Scott & Mommy & Baby Salem
11/10/09

Harder, better, faster, stronger

Salem is one tough nut. Tree and Grandma Scott went there last night to visit and hold the baby and he was gone. Tree asked the nurses "where's my baby?!?" They said "he graduated!"

He has been moved across the hall to the area that houses babies preparing to go home. He went from 2 ml of milk per feeding to 4 about 36 hours ago and then yesterday they took him up a notch again to 5 ml per feeding. This little man will not be stopped!

Tree said when she got home "he just had a priesthood blessing yesterday and he is already getting ready to come home!" That is the power of the Lord. Believe THAT!

I don't know exactly what preparing to come home means... He may still be in there for two months. He may come home in a couple weeks. We definitely still need to watch him closely for any signs of going backwards. But so far he is outperforming everyone's expectations.

Thanks for all who have kept him in your prayers. It's working. Keep it up.

Terry

It's hard to be so far away from

its hard....
It was so hard to be away from the kids for so long, and now that I'm home it's hard to be so far away from that tiny little guy.
I had to call and bug the nurses about how he is.

right now no news is good news and that's where we're at.

Mom's home

Tree is finally home. She got checked out of the hospital today and we went to visit Salem again.

Allen Matthews came over to the hospital and helped give Salem a blessing. Salem is doing very well, but he has a long road ahead, so we really need the Lord's help.

Now we have to figure out how we are going to get down there each day for a visit and soon for multiple daily visits and still keep the other kids fed, clothed, and give them some attention. It is a 45 minute drive each way and Tree can't drive for a few weeks while she heals.

Away we go...

our own cranky wrinkly!

Salem looks/acts like a grumpy old man....
wrinkly scrunched face... pained scowl....
spits piss n' vinegar everytime you mess with him...

He's so tiny!

Tree and I went in and got to hold him tonight after he got fed and changed. He crieda fair bit. Tree thinks he is just hungry. He only gets two milliliters of milk every three hours.

Hopefully he keeps on progressing at this quick rate.

Terry

Baby Salem is doing well. He hasn't had to go back on the ventilator and he hasn't needed any oxygen or extra air flow.



He's taking two 2ccs at each feeding and will suck on a binky.
Poop'n & Pee'n like a chap.
They took him off the "lights" tonight, so he got to relinquish his little hood...




He's a tiny little thing, but I couldn't find anything to compare his size to.

 

~Tree

Dr. Bergong...

Dr. Bergong, who is not my Dr., came in to see me today. He was the dr. that they actually took off of another c-section to do mine. He said he had briefly introduced himself to me but I was already on my way out. Lights out.


He felt impressed to come by and see how I was doing and to then tell me he hasn't see anything as crazy, and fast paced and scary as what he got to experience with me. So many things were luck he said. (Please refer to the reply to Terr’s post "That was Quick")


He strongly suggested that I consider NOT having any more babies. Luck like that was not bound to happen twice. I told him I'd had that kind of "luck" 7 times now. But I assured him, for the sake of everyone’s sanity that I was indeed finished, done, complete.


Make it a permanent gesture....parting words.
~Tree

Billy Idol lips.....

I still have fat lips not A fat lip...Plural. The last 2 times that I have been intubated they have lacerated the inside of my mouth both top and bottom. This is a picture of a laryngoscope, which is what they use to cram down your throat and then it helps feed the tubing down. Once the tubing is down, they pull this cruel looking concraption out.                            

So the question is... Do they cram it in? or do they yank it out. Which causes the cuts on the side of the mouth. And it is un-avoidable? I don't know. I hope I don't have any additional experiences with intubation to be able to compare.

I've been avoiding posting....

So I've been avoiding leaving a post. Terry does such a good job at it. Very articulate.
But I guess I have some things to add... or it could be that I'm avoiding the wholly unpleasant task of "pumping". My single motivation to pump is that otherwise my poor unsuspecting baby is receiving what they call BHM or HBM or some arrangement of those 3 letters. Human Banked Milk....uh....makes me squirmy. The concept is a good one, I'm not knocking it. I applaud any woman who has such a surplus of milk that she's willing to donate it to a bank with no hope of a return on her investment. But the idea of my baby consuming milk from ambiguous women is just ...squirmy.
~Tree

So small

Breathing on his own

Salem was taken off the ventilator earlier today and is breathing on his own. What a trooper. He's a tough kid. Tiny, but tough,

When we went in to see him at around 6:00, he was sucking away on his pacifier like crazy. He's going to be eating in no time, too.

The nurse pulled off his little hat so we could get a better look at him. His hat covers his head and his eyes so he doesn't get over stimulated. he has a bunch of hair. Tree thought it was pretty dark. I think it's blond, just dark blond. We didn't really get a good enough look, though. I'll see if I got a good picture and you can tell us what you think.

Anyway, mommy has been up and around and she and baby are progressing like champs.

Tree will probably start posting some things here soon.

Terry

Step right up to see the incredible premature baby's mom!

I can't believe how many people have come to Tree to enlist her in some study that involves premature babies. This is crazy. As soon as the baby was born we had people coming to her room and finding us in the NICU to ask if we would be willing to help them gather some info that can help them with some University or governement study.

Tree is still so tired, and she is so nice when everyone comes in, but between checking her vitals, giving her meds, phone calls, doctors, nurses, and everything else going on, she is never going to get any rest.

Last night, it seemed like they came in every 30 or 40 minutes. I am glad that they are keeping an eye on her, I just hope they don't wear her out.

Terry

Good morning!

Tree is about to get up and get in a wheelchair. They are moving her to the delivered floor instead of the delivering floor.

We are going to stop by so she can see Salem for the firsts time.

I hope she likes him.

Terry

Doing fine

Tree and Salem are doing fine. Tree is obviously in a lot of pain. She just had major surgery.

Salem is doing very well. I think he is doing better than Kage did this far along. He seems big for how early he was.

He has good color and a bunch of hair.

Cute kid.

Terry

Wow... that was quick!

I was watching the Bulls game when Tree had a lot of pain and some blood. Then her water broke. Then the nurses all  came in and wheeled her bed into the operating room. I held her hand until they kicked me out. They gave her a quick general anisthaetic, pulled the baby out, and cleaned him up a bit. We went up to the NICU and gave him some surfactant to help his lungs. I answered a whole slew of questions about Tree and her pregnancies. Then I went and checked the baby again.

I am now back in Tree's room and got here while there was still almost ten minutes left in the game. Not that I am getting to watch it... But is that quick or what?

She had a baby and is back in the room in less time than it takes to play a basketball game. THIS is where amazing happens.

Bull beat the Cavs, BTW.

Terry

Little Squirt is here!

2 pounds 11 ounces.
16 inches.

Of course he came in the middle of the Bulls/Cavs game.

More soon.

Terry

Still some contractions

Well, Tree is still having some contraction. She was having them every 5 minutes or so and they have given her some more terbutaline to slow or stop them. It seems to be working, but we'll have to wait and see how it goes.

Tree is eating a bit more now. She has been able to eat the last couple meals and keep it down, now that she is off the magnesium sulphate.

Terry

Doing better

Tree is off the magnesium sulphate. She has had some contractions, and the doctor was going to put her back on the mag, but then decided to try muscle relaxants instead.

She is still having some contractions, but they are monitoring her and trying to keep it under control.

Terry

Off the Mag. Finally.

The doctor came in this morning and told Tree she could be taken off the magnesium sulphate since the contractions had subsided and see how she does.

We asked if she could be wheeled down to the lobby to see the other kids and he said absolutley not. She has bathroom priveleges and that's it. Don't want to take any chances.

Terry

Keepin the bun in the oven

One of the doctors just came in and sat with us for a while to talk and answer questions. It was the first time I felt like we weren't getting passed off.

In a nutshell, the answer to the question of how long we will be here is that Tree is the best incubator for the baby and as long as he can stay in there the better. Unless he or Tree is in danger, their goal is to stabilize the environment and keep her pregnant. He will be extracated when it becomes better for him or Tree that he is out.

Interesting bit of info: the amount of time he can stay in there now will double the amount of time taken off his stay after he's born. That is - if he can stay in Tree's belly for a week, he can leave the hospital about two weeks earlier. Rough figures, of course, but comforting just the same.

Terry

Bedside manner

Yesterday, when they told Tree that they were going to give her magnesium sulphate, Tree said that they should make anyone who administers the drug have to take it first to know what it feels like. I think that is a great idea - especially if the nurse or doctor doesn't show any empathy.

Maybe they should be monitored and reviewed and if they show empathy and genuine concern for the people they care for, then they don't have to, but if they treat the patients like a mass of tissue in a petri dish, then they have to be subjected to a series of procedures to keep them in touch with how the recipient feels.

And let's throw some tact classes in there too. For instance, don't tell a woman who is about to have a baby 10 weeeks prematurely that her doctor could have given her a medication that would have probably kept her from going early, but it would be absolutely no help now. Sounds like your advice - absolutely no help now, so why bring it up. Maybe she thought Tree didn't feel miserable enough yet.

Terry

Could be a while

The ultrasound showed that the placenta is slightly separated from the uterus. The baby is OK, but they are watching her closely and try to keep her in here for days or weeks.

Tree is in a tremendous amount of pain due to the magnesium sulphate. They are allegedly calling the doctor to see if she can take a break from it, but they are very slow in responding to her right now. She said that is ready to rip it out of her arm.

Nurse just came in and said no go on the stopping of the Mag Sulph.

I think she is crying.

She also doesn't want any visitors right now. Feels like death.

Thanks

Terry

Tree's night

Now on to the important stuff - how Tree's night went.

They have her on a magnesium drip which is helping keep the contractions down, but it is also making her nauseous. They give her stuff for the nausea, and it gives her a splitting headache.

The contractions were as close as 5 minutes apart last night, so they adjusted her meds to bring it more under control and she is now doing better.

They are going to take her in for an ultrasound soon to check and make sure the baby is OK. As soon as they can fit her in.

They also have given her steroids to help thee development of the baby's lungs since he is so premature. Boys have a rougher time being premature and the lungs are usually one of the big concerns.

The doc says if we can keep everything under control for at least 48 hours, the steroids will have a great effect on preparing the baby to be healthy.

Tree is sleeping now.

More as we know.

Thanks for all your concern, prayers, etc.

Terry

Long night

I got to bed at about 1:30.

4:30 - Kage woke up crying and soaking wet. Changed his clothes, pulled all the blankies off his bed to dry out, and stuck him in my bed with me. Now that he was awake, we had the following conversation:
him: Hi
me: Hi
Pause for five minutes
him: Hi
me: Hi
Repeat for one hour

5:30 Get up to make sure kids who need to go to early morning class are up.

5:52 After much tossing and turning, Kage snuggles in betweeen my shoulder and my neck and falls asleep.

6:03 Get up to tell older kids to remember to pick up younger kids after school.

Answer texts from Tree.

6:47 Get up to wake up second wave of school kids.

Go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, put pants and shirt on, and grab a hat, my wallet, ring and keys.

7:24 Take younger kids to school.

Tell grandma all about how to take care of the kids even though she is quite capable.

Gather slippers, word find book, toothbrush, lotion, iron supplements, etc for Tree.

Tell grandma again how to take care of kids.

9:54 Finally get to hospital.

Terry

Not the first time...

For those of you who are not aware, this is not our first premie. Most of our kids have come early. Some have had no complications at all, some have had some issues that we have had to deal with, pray about, and overcome. We have been very blessed in our family. Our kids are all very strong and have faired very well. I have faith that this one, number 9, will be the same. It is in God's hands and he is always in control.

I better get some sleep.

I'll let you know more tomorrow.

Terry

10 weeks early

Tree started having contractions a couple days ago and got very concerned that there may be something wrong with the baby. Things were better the next day and we decided it was just a bad night and not a reason to be concerned.

She had some more pain and discomfort on the weekend, but this pregnancy has been so good and uneventful, we didn't think much of it.

This afternoon, I got a message that things were getting worse. I shut my laptop down and raced home to take her to the hospital.

We got checked in, they hooked her up to all the monitors, and the baby seems to be doing fine. Tree is dilated to 2 cm and she is still in a lot of pain and having regular contractions - every eight to 10 minutes. They gave her some medication to slow the contractions and try to keep the baby in their as long as possible. I don't know if that means hours, days, or weeks.

Now we wait.

I came home to check on the other kids and try to get some sleep before I have to get them up starting at 5:30 and get them off to school. Then, I have to figure out what I am going to do with the 2 1/2 year old and the 1 year old so I can go back and be with Tree.

And what about work? Hmmm...

I will have my laptop with me and use this blog to keep people up to date as much as possible.

Here we go. The story of baby number 9 begins.

Terry