Noah, the ever changing, innovative star of pod C continues to surprise both Katie and I and the staff. Noah started the day off great and all indications pointed to the fast track to success. The afternoon turned out to be a little different from the projected game plan. Noah's belly started to distend again. This development lead the doctors to believe that he may have a minor bowel obstruction. Tonight he will have an X-ray to determine if this is in fact the case. If a bowel obstruction is seen, then Noah will get a barium enema which should flush things out.
On the plus side, Noah has said goodbye to his belly button stump, and has been decreased to a nasal cannula instead of the siPAP. This is a huge jump, and a bit scary. The hope is that Noah does well with this challenge. If he does well his road to recovery will be a little faster. We are big fans of the nasal cannula because we can see his head and face!

Back on the Noah-coaster

The past 48 hours have been full of ups and downs for our little guy. Friday was a great day, a day that saw Noah up to full feedings and receiving fortifications in his breast milk of higher caloric fats and other essential nutrients. Things were looking great. Katie and I have become accustomed to calling prior to going to see Noah and we did just that Saturday morning. When we called, the nurse caring for Noah stated that he had a wild and not so hot Friday night. Noah had several spells and had to have his oxygen increased back to the max that siPAP would allow and he had a large vomiting episode. The ever aggressive staff in the NICU stopped his feedings, placed a tube in his stomach (to decompress it), and ordered lots of blood work and started antibiotics (just in case). Needless to say, Saturday was a bit of a downer for our family. Labs showed that Noah needed a blood transfusion.....

What a difference 24 hours makes! Sunday morning Katie and I came to see Noah to find out that he had an excellent night. His belly, which was full of air, had reduced back to a normal "squishy" belly and his color was much improved largely in-part to the blood transfusion. Sunday afternoon showed more improvements. Noah was able to have the feeding tube placed again, and got to start back on a third of the full feedings that he was on. Kangaroo care resumed and Noah received a bonus. He was able to do his first episode of non-nutritive nursing. Essentially Katie is now Noah's new favorite pacifier. Lastly, the oxygen rate has been reduced now to 15 breaths per minute to supplement what Noah is doing on his own.

Tomorrow is a new day, and optimism is high in the Flynn house. Let the Noah-coaster continue to roll.

Smooth sailing

Noah has had a great week! I think he is finally getting over his bacterial infection and belly troubles. He went off his antibiotics on Monday and shows no more signs of infection. Noah has decreased his siPAP rate to 13 as of last night. This means he is getting 13 breaths per minute by the machine and the rest is up to him. This rate had been 20 earlier in the week. He has had minimal to no "spells" in the past couple days. We hope to see him back on the C-PAP soon. Noah is also gaining weight! He is now unto 2 pounds 8.6 ounces. Feeds have been increased to 16mL of milk. Nurses have begun fortifying the milk again to add more calories. The fortified they are using this time is different from last time, and will hopefully be more gentle on his tummy. Noah continues to enjoy Kangaroo Care with both his Mommy and Daddy. He is alert and active during this time, and has started smiling often when he is awake. We have yet to capture this on camera. His eyes are also open a lot more these days, and he passed his first eye exam yesterday on his 4 week birthday! Yay Noah!

Noah is back on the path that he needs to be. As of yesterday he weighed 2 lbs. 6 oz. And was highly alert! His eyes opened bigger than we had ever seen. He is still having spells but the frequency has decreased. He had one during the night. His feedings have resumed and he is going back up slowly, one Ml every 12 hours. Noah has has some acid reflux caused by the siPAP/cPAP that slightly distends his belly and creates pressure that the food can't compete against. Feedings have been placed on a pump to allow him a chance to digest all that good food.

Day 22

Noah had an interesting day today full of ups and downs. This morning we found out that Noah starting to have more "spells" during the night, meaning that his brain was not telling his lungs to breathe. This is a minor setback because Noah is not supposed to be using his lungs this early. He remains on siPAP with 20 supplemental breaths instead of the previous 10. He will overcome this.
On a more positive note, Noah looks great and is gaining weight. He is now 2 lbs. 6 oz and 14 and 3/4 inches long. He started his feedings again and they are increasing them pretty rapidly. This afternoon he was up to 6 ml per feeding. If all goes well by tomorrow evening or Saturday morning, Noah should be back up to full feeds (1/2 ounce).

Improvements

Tonight will be Noah's three week birthday !!!!!
Many of you may know that Katie and I returned to work this week in efforts to grant Katie a full maternity leave when Noah finally comes home. We are both visiting daily, and it has been easy for me to go up and see the little man on my lunch break. Katie sees Noah at the end of her day.

Monday evening he started to have a few more spells, indicating that he was not quite ready to leave the CPAP machine behind. He will likely need a little more time to allow his lungs to develop (in the grand scheme of things not an issue).

A small set back that Noah had related to his bowel being distended (a result from the milk allergy) created other small problems. The most significant of these issues were that they collected a blood culture from Noah that grew a Gram Positive cocci bacteria. This was treated with antibiotics. Coupled with not being able to eat breast milk for the past two days has created a tough time for Noah, but he is coming through it wonderfully.

Noah had a good day yesterday all things considered and was comfortable while he continues to recover from his first bacterial infection. For good measure, the physicians caring for Noah did a Lumbar puncture to check for meningitis. At this time all indications are that there is no sign of meningitis which is a huge relief.

This afternoon /evening Noah should be started back on breast milk and start to get back into what the staff call a feeder/grower stage. The fatter he can get, the less "interesting" he will become for the NICU staff and the more likely he will get sent home.... in October.

The Prayers, thoughts, support, and shout-outs ect. continue to be appreciated.

Love,
Flynn Family

PS. More pictures to follow in the next day or so. I know some of you have picture withdraw

Minor setback

Today was a big challenge for Noah. This is the first real setback that he has had. Yesterday Katie and I noticed that he had more swelling in his belly than normal and his oxygenation was not as good as it had been in the previous days. Katie was at the 7:00 vist time yesterday and Noah had an episode of vomiting and was generally upset. Due to the bloated abdomen, a chest X-ray was obtained and it showed signifiant gas patterns in his intestines. There was also an inguinal herina seen in the left lower quadrant. To remove the air that is in his intestines, there is a larger tube in his stomach connected to suction to decompress the belly. Sadly his feedings have been stopped until his belly returns to normal size (2-3)days at the worst.Noah will go back on intravenous fluids- lipids, protein solution, and TPN (baby Gatorade) until he can be reintroduced to milk. Noah also received a blood transfusion today for a low hemoacrit. This is a result of medical staff collecting blood samples and his bone marrow not being mature enough to reproduce the blood taken. For all the discouraging stuff there was good news for the day- Noah moved from siPAP back to C-PAP. This indicates that his lungs are getting stronger. In another week or two he should be close to being on a nasal cannula.

A mixed results day

Today was a good day overall for Noah. He is now at 16 ml per feeding and is tolerating it well. The volume has been so much so fast that he started to have a small amount of reflux. To combat that, the nurses have placed his feedings on a pump and he eats over 30 minutes. Noah was placed back on siPAP because his work of breathing was placing an unsafe demand on his little lungs. SiPAP will allow Noah's lungs time to grow more without stress and the muscles that assist in breathing will grow also. Noah does well on the siPAP and this is not the worst thing in the world. It is quite common for preemies to go back and forth between siPAP and C-PAP.

Noah is no longer on any supplemental feedings. Gone are the days of TPN (baby Gatorade) and there is no more lipid solution infusion. Noah has had the PICC line removed and now has no IV access! This makes Kangaroo care less difficult for Katie, as there is one less line to deal with.

Weight gain, fortified milk, and poop!

The 11th was a good day for Noah, he continues to show signs of strength and growth. With weight gain of a whole ounce (total of 2 lb 0.5 oz), breast milk started to get fortified. Milk is now 24 calories fortified per feeding. Breast milk is normally 20 calories per ounce. Noah is receiving a total of 28 additional calories daily. Poop is now yellow not black, and there is volume.

Daddy's first Kangaroo Care

Mommy's chest isn't this hairy!

The day had special significance for me, as it was the first opportunity I had to hold my little boy. It was the best experience of my entire life.

Mile stone 2weeks old

Happy 2 week birthday to Noah!!! Apologies to all the loyal Noah followers for the lapse in coverage concerning Noah.
That being said.... Noah has had a good few days. He had a period of gaining weight and then lost a few ounces. The fluid loss was related to having too much fluid in his little body. Sunday night they did a chest X-ray that revealed a "hazy" lung silhouette. He was given a medication called Lasix that causes a diuretic effect and removes fluid. Yesterday he started to get some of that weight back. We are getting close to a milestone for Noah. His feedings have been increased and continue to increase in the volume that he is receiving. This morning he should be at 13 ml of milk per feeding. Another big advancement on the feeding front is the addition of fortification to the feedings. In addition to the milk they are adding extra calories to the milk. It should increase his weight and soon. He still remains on c-PAP with pressures of 5-6. Pressures of 4 will mean that he can graduate to a nasual cannula. Today should be a good day for us all. Updates will continue,more pictures to follow this evening.

Days 10 and 11

Day 10 for Noah was a decent day. The nursing staff received orders to increase the feeding times and the amount of feedings. Noah now receives feedings every three hours and they are adding 1 ml every 12 hours until they get to half an ounce (16 ml). There was a sight backward step with oxygenation. Noah has been doing so well for the past week and a half that he got a little tired yesterday and required supplemental oxygen. Kangaroo care was not allowed yesterday due to the oxygenation issue.

Day 11 turned out to be an excellent day for Noah. He now weighs a whopping 2 lb. 2 oz. and is starting to fill out nicely. Noah is getting a fat little tummy courtesy of scrumptious breast milk provided by the Flynn Dairy Farm and Medela. He is requiring less supplemental oxygen than yesterday, and is very alert. Noah is opening both eyes and tracking movement of those around him. When he cries (which is not often) he now sounds like a baby and not a cat.  During the morning visit Katie got to Kangaroo with the little guy again this was a satisfying bonding experience for both Katie and Noah. Noah is now up to 6 ml of milk and at 1:00 am he will increase to 7 ml.
We are anxiously waiting to see the many good things that day 12 will bring for our little guy. We are grateful for the continued prayers and encouraging words from family and friends.

I'm free! But only for a minute while they change my mask.

I'm rocking this headgear!

Day 9

Noah's digestion has been tolerating things so well that they have decided to increase his feedings from every 4 hours to every 3 hours. He still gets the same amount of milk, but an extra feeding a day. We think we can see his little tummy and hands filling out as he gains a little more weight. He is now back up to birth weight at 1 pound 13 ounces.

Since being on the new biPAP machine, Noah is working a bit harder to breathe. Because of this, his supplemental oxygen levels have had to be turned up a bit. He is still breathing on his own, though!

We did not get to do Kangaroo care this evening because his oxygen levels were low and his care times have been rearranged due to his new feedings. We hope to be able to pick back up tomorrow.

8 days old

Today was a rough day for our little man. Because he was taken off of the siPAP machine yesterday, he is having to work harder to breathe. his doctors and nurses think he is up to the challenge. This hard work can cause "spells" where his heart rate and oxygen levels drop. These spells are common among preemies, and Noah usually only as a few a day. Regardless, it is quite scary for Mom and Dad. As Noah gets used to the new breathing machine, the spells will hopefully decrease. Phototherapy resumed until lab levels improve. This means Noah gets to wear those cool sunglasses again while he is "sunbathing!"

On a more positive note, we were informed that Noahs head ultrasound came back negative for any brain bleeds! The IV in his scalp also came out yesterday, which is one less wire to get tangled up in. Digestion continues to improve, and he had 3 unaided poopy diapers today! Who knew we would ever get so excited about diaper changes!

One week old

I love lying on my belly!!!

My first art work 

Noah is one week old today! What a blur of a week it has been. Yesterday was a particularly good day for Noah. Last night Noah had the hiccups and it was the cutest thing we have seen him do thus far. There is a 30 second video of this- pretty funny if you ask me.  Noah also had his first arts and crafts session- hand and footprints! His crying is getting stronger and he is receiving more breast milk during his feedings(increased from 1 ml to 2 ml yesterday and up to 3 ml today). He had his first poopy diaper without the help of a suppository this evening. The siPAP breathing machine has been discontinued, and Noah is now on BiPAP. This provides him with pressure on his lungs, but does not give him any additional breaths- a step in the right direction! Noah also appeared to be more active today, opening his eyes much more and looking around. Kangaroo care continues to be the best hour of the day for the whole family.

Day 5 (one day late)

Subtle changes today for Noah. The best noticeable change was when we discovered that Noah kept a feeding down and digested it. This may seem like a small victory,but in reality this is huge for Noah. This indicates that his digestive tract is starting to get the idea. We are optimistic that we will have a big diaper change tomorrow. In other news, they (the doctors) were able to decrease his supplemental oxygen rate from 10 down to 8. Hopefully day 6 will continue to show us more improvements. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode!!

Day 4 late addition

Mommy and I love being Kangaroos! :)

Sleeping on my belly comforts me.

Time for a bedtime story!

The end of July seemed to agree with Noah. 4 days in and he is doing very well. Noah was on 21% oxygen today, which is room air/oxygen for the rest of us who have fully developed lungs. There continue to be ongoing issues with digestion. Poop occurs with the assistance of a glycerin suppository but no real work on his own yet. The best part of the day occurred with more Kangaroo time between Katie and Noah. Noah was against Katie's chest and he fell fast asleep in the safety of his mothers arms. After it became obvious that Noah was content and would sleep, I took the opportunity to read him a couple bedtime stories....