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