Happy New Year

2008 wound up being very different from the way we originally thought it would be. I am definitely looking forward to 2009 being a much better year. 2008 started off with Stu being sworn in as chief of the fire department. A few weeks later I had invitro fertilization done and at the end of January we found out that I was pregnant which we were very excited about. We found out we were having twins the day after Valentine's Day and in the beginning of May found out we were having a boy and a girl. Just a week after we found out we were having one of each was probably the worst day of my life. I woke up that morning (a Sunday) and went to Wegmans. I came home, talked to my parents who had just gotten back from their cruise, and then went to make lunch. I went to go to the bathroom before I ate my lunch and my water broke on the girl's sac. We went to the hospital where it was confirmed that my sac had indeed broke and we were told we would most likely lose one or both of the babies. I began bedrest in the hospital and a week later I lost the girl. I stayed in the hospital for another week and after getting a cerclage came home to continue bedrest. I lasted 5 1/2 more weeks on bedrest at home before having to go back to the hospital because I was bleeding. When the doctor did an ultrasound he didn't know if the blood was coming from the girl's placenta or the boy's placenta so we were told that I would most likely have a c-section within 24 hours. 12 hours later I wound up having an emergency c-section and Brandon was born at 26 weeks and 1 day. He spent a long 12 weeks in the NICU and has been home with us since the end of September. He is doing remarkably well. I am very happy that I have him and that he is doing so well but the rest of what happened I could have done without.

Today is Stu's last day as chief. I am so proud of him for doing such a good job this year as chief. It was not an easy year for him to be chief with everything that we went through but he managed to do a great job despite going through everything that we did.

I am looking forward to a new year and continuing to see Brandon grow and develop as well as he has been. I am also looking forward to having Stu be around a lot more now that he is done being chief.

Rolling Over

Brandon rolled over again last night. He was happy at first for once when he was on his stomach. He started to roll and got a bit frustrated because he was stuck on his side. He finally got on his back but by then was extremely unhappy.

Hannukah/ Christmas

My parents and Stu's parents came over yesterday to celebrate our Jewish Christmas/ Hannukah.

Happy Holidays

Opthamologist and GI Doctor

Yesterday was a very busy day. In the morning Brandon went to Dr. Turtel to have his eyes looked at. He hadn't been in 3 weeks. Dr. Turtel said his eyes are improving but slowly. He doesn't need to see Brandon again for another 8 weeks and then he will probably just do an eye exam rather than pry his eyes open with the metal things that keep them open. He said babies Brandon's age get too big for that without putting them to sleep since they kick, scream, flail their arms, etc.

In the afternoon Brandon went to see Dr. Teitelbaum, the GI doctor. We originally had an appointment scheduled for February but there was a cancellation so he was able to see us yesterday. He increased Brandon's zantac dosage to 2 mL twice a day. He said you can't overdose on zantac and this way Brandon shouldn't outgrow the dose for awhile. He suggested two formulas that may help with the spitting up. I may try one. The carnation good start formula seems to be making Brandon extremely gassy and uncomfortable because of the gas so I want to switch him off of it. It only comes as a powder instead of a ready feed like he was used to. Someone mentioned to me that powder formulas cause more gas because there are more bubbles. Dr. Teitelbaum also told me to add 1 tablespoon of prune juice to each of Brandon's bottles to help with his constipation issues. I tried that yesterday and he really liked the taste of the bottles with the prune juice added.

The picture on here shows Brandon when we got back from our second appointment. He was wiped out.

Brandon finally slept better last night. The last 5 nights have been tough because of his reflux being so bad. He was up a lot throughout the nights but last night he went 5 hours straight and then went back down. He did wake up again briefly because of his reflux and to burp but went right back down again each time.

Pulminologist Appointment

Brandon went to Dr. Sembrano today for his next RSV shot. He let out a loud scream and held it out as usual. I feel so bad for him when he gets shots because they really hurt him. He was fine shortly after. Dr. Sembrano said that Brandon is doing really well. He was impressed with how active Brandon is and said that there have been no episodes on his apnea monitor. He is going to continue to be on the apnea monitor at night. Dr. Sembrano said usually around 6 months old he stops the monitor so I am guessing he will stop it at the next appointment in January but we will see. He is also still on his 2 diuretics but the dosase has not been increased since he came home from the hospital. He is weaning himself from them. Dr. Sembrano said when they run out we probably won't refill them this time. Brandon weighed 11 pounds, 12 ounces.

After his appointment we went to the NICU and finally saw Chris, one of Brandon's primary nurses. She hadn't been there the other times that we stopped by. The NICU has tons of picture holiday cards. They are taped all over the window for everyone to see. We sent one in so that was hanging too.

I spoke to Dr. O'Brien, Brandon's pediatrician, earlier. He said it is fine for Brandon to be on a regular formula now that he is over 11 pounds. So we started him on carnation good start tonight like Dr. Hudome suggested at the developmental clinic last week.

Rough Night and Pictures From This Week

Brandon had a rough night with his reflux last night. I had brought him to the pediatrician earlier in the week because everytime I would feed him he would start screaming and arching his back. This went on for 4 days. The pediatrician seemed to think it was his reflux getting worse. When she looked at his throat she could see the reflux. She changed his medicine so instead of getting zantac twice a day he was getting prevacid in the morning and an increased dose of zantac at night. I tried this Wednesday and Thursday. Last night Brandon woke up for his bottle at 2:30. I gave him an ounce and went to burp him and he threw up everything that he had drank. I gave him another ounce and the same thing happened. Every time I tried to lie him down after that he would gag but nothing came up. I called the pediatrician on call and he said it sounded like Brandon's reflux since he didn't have any other symptoms of a stomach virus. He said to stop the prevacid and to give him zantac before his first bottle this morning. It seems to really have helped doing that. Brandon has taken his usual 3-4 ounces per bottle every 3 hours today without spitting up more than a wet burp every so often. At 4:30 I finally thought to put Brandon in his bouncy seat to sleep so that he was sitting upright and he was fine until he woke up this morning. I did call a GI doctor. The soonest appointment they could give us was February 11th but we are on the cancellation list so the person that I spoke to seems to think he should get in the week after next week most likely.