Home Sweet Home

Praise God that Sutton was healthy enough to be discharged from the hospital today!  I spent all morning staring at his monitor with an anxious feeling in my stomach.  Anyone who has spent any significant time around heart/respiratory/oxygen saturation monitors know that they can be a blessing and a curse.  NICU parents tend to base their kids' progress on these monitors all the while knowing that one shift in position or tiny foot kick can show an inaccurate reading.  I am highly aware of these facts, but I kept feeling a surge of panic any time Sutton's oxygen saturation dipped (even though I could see his rosy cheeks beaming at me). Suttie's "incident" is one we won't shake for quite some while.

The surgical team came in today and told us that if his stats remained good while he took a nap off oxygen and his next feeding went well, we could go home.  This was music to our ears- we were so excited to have our healthy baby back, plus we couldn't wait to see little Lawson!

After a good nap and feeding, we gathered our belongings and got the heck out of that place!  The staff was amazing and the nurses were so sweet to us, but we were ready to put this experience behind us.

Andrew's mom is coming up to Columbia to help with Sutton's transition back home as Andrew leaves on a business trip.  On her way she met my parents at the lake to pick up Lawson.   How lucky are we that our precious babies have two sets of grandparents who have continually rearranged their schedules and made special trips to help us take care of our family?!  We really could not have survived these past six months without such amazing parents.

We are hopeful that this is the last surgery for Sutton.  The doctor is confident that the procedure will prevent further diaphragmatic hernias as they sometimes reoccur.  Sutton has a follow -up appointment in August.  From there, we will follow up with x-rays every few months to make sure those pesky organs stay in place.  

Thank you for your Facebook messages, texts, emails, phone calls, thoughts, and prayers.  The comfort and support we received over the last few days was a tremendous help.

("I feel better!")

Better Day...Knock on Wood!

Sutton is so much more comfortable today!  He woke up with a big old smile on his face!  I feel like he finally got some quality sleep.  He ran a low-grade fever last night, but that's fairly common in post-op babies.

His glycerine suppositories really kicked in today too!  His belly is back to its normal size and is nice and soft.  He was able to have 1.5 oz of formula diluted with 1.5 oz of water.  Not quite his normal 6 oz, but he was so happy to finally have something in his belly.  The surgeon came in a little bit ago, and said the goal for today is to continue to coast and not do anything too "exciting" like yesterday and we just may go home tomorrow!

Here's our smiling Sutton once again:

With all this talk about Sutton, I thought it was only fair to give a shout-out to sweet Lawson.  He has been on his very best behavior at Lulu and Graw's.  I know he is getting spoiled to pieces, so it makes being away from him a little bit easier.

Sweet baby Lawson after a bath at Lulu and Graw's:

We will keep you posted and thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

Suttie's Surgery

Well, we are a little over 24 hours post-op and it's been an eventful day to say the least! 

First off, surgery went well!  The doctor did find that Sutton had a diaphragmatic hernia and eventration.  He was able to fix both in a somewhat lengthy surgery- he went back at about noon and we were able to see him around 5.  He was extubated quickly and was a champ with anesthesia.  He was on 1.5 L of oxygen until about 1 am and did well without it for the rest of the night.

Here is a picture of Suttie in his hospital gown right before surgery:

We were able to start feeding him pretty quickly which was great since he hadn't eaten since 2:30 am.  We fed him a little throughout the night, but at about 3:30 am, we noticed that his stomach looked very distended.  It was rock hard and pretty big.  We asked for a doctor and he said that it was probably a lot of air that just needed to work itself out.  The surgical team came to check on him at about 6 am and echoed that it was most likely excess air.  This meant unfortunately that Suttie would not be able to eat until his stomach was no longer distended.  He is now taking glycerine suppositories to help that situation.

Little buddy after surgery:

We spent the morning working very hard to make Sutton as comfortable as possible.  He was dealing with hunger, a very bloated belly, and having his insides rearranged- needless to say he was not a happy camper.

But things really went downhill fast after his noon dose of morphine.  About 20 minutes after receiving his dose, the nurse decided to measure his belly so we could start checking if it was changing in size.  Suttie really hated this and started bawling.  It's hard to say if it was because of his pain, effects of morphine, or both, but he stopped breathing.  The nurse sprang into action and tried stimulating him, but it wasn't working.  He turned a dark shade of purple/blue.  She called out for another nurse and pulled the alarm for "code blue."  In a matter of seconds, Sutton's room filled with 20-30 medical personnel including nurses, doctors, ICU, the surgical team, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, radiology, social workers, and a chaplain.  Andrew and I were whisked to the side.  I, like any mother, was completely beside myself and was promptly placed in a chair.  The social worker, chaplain, and sweet Andrew were taking care of me.  Andrew has a real knack for staying calm (at least on the outside) in stressful situations.  What felt like hours ended up actually being 30-45 seconds without breathing.  Our little guy came to and started crying.  Everyone kept saying "he's fine, Mom and Dad, he's fine."  Only after we had been reassured several times that Sutton was fine, was Andrew able to break down.  I thank God he has the gift to be so strong when I am at my weakest.

Because there is no way of knowing what actually triggered this incident, Andrew pushed for them to put Sutton back on oxygen and we requested a non-narcotic pain medication (morphine can cause babies to get too relaxed and stop breathing).  The staff has really been fantastic about listening to us and taking our opinions into consideration.  Since that event, Sutton has done well on oxygen and seems to be in less pain.  He has released some gas which has helped his tummy a little although not enough for him to start eating.  We think as soon as he can eat, things will really move along.

Here is Sutton later in the day after his "event":

One would think that after all the time we've spent in the hospital with these sweet babies, we would have had some pretty scary days.  We can say with 100% certainty this was the scariest day yet.  Our little guy is doing better, but we could still use all the prayers we can get:).

6 Months and Other Happenings

On Sunday, the boys officially turned 6 months!  Half a year- whoa!  I feel so lucky because even though they are 6 months, they are really more like 3 months which means we get babies for longer!

Here are their stats from the 6 month check-up:

Lawson:  23 inches long and 11 lbs. 10 oz.

Sutton:  22.5 inches long and 11 lbs. 12 oz.

These stats put them below the second percentile in height and weight compared to their same-age peers.  For their adjusted age (3 months), they are around the 10th percentile, although their pediatrician said that coming up with a percentile for an adjusted age in preemies born this early is really a shot in the dark.  The doctor did say that they looked "perfect" and he was extremely pleased with their growth.  Poor babies had to get their 6 month shots:(.  I was sooooo glad that Grandma Lulu was there to help as we had 2 inconsolable babies for a good 5-10 minutes.

On another note, we had a great 4th of July holiday!  The boys were so excited to meet their cousins on the Pennington side!  We were also super excited to meet our new nephew Greyson and of course reunite with our other nephew Gage and niece Emma Kate.  We had a great time hanging out with the family and catching up!  We also got lots of help with the boys which was so great:).

I've had lots of people ask about Sutton's health.  So far the only update we have is that his echocardiogram was perfect!  He had this done in Columbia while the Andrew's family was in town, so the boys' Nanny (Andrew's mom) got to spend some quality one on one time with Lawson, which they both loved!  As of now, we are just working on scheduling the scope in KC.  This time we plan on being super prepared to spend the night/s there.

Our Yankee Doodle Dandies:). (Outfits made by Grandma Lulu)