Gas drops and prune juice

have become our best friends. With the high calorie formula and extra iron supplements, Cade's digestive tract has not been very good. But, we have it under control now and he doesn't scream in pain during every feeding. Yeah! It's amazing what becomes important :) Here's some highlights from the last week.

Helping Mommy with the last blog update:

Thursday and Friday: Grandma Linda and Grandpa Reg were down for a visit. My mom walked in the door, I changed Cade's diaper and then handed him over. There was for alot of cuddle time with grandma (and grandpa).

Saturday: Auntie Marcy came over and got in her cuddle time and I ran to Babies R Us to get a new monitor. Ours was defective but I bought a more expensive one this time so hopefully it keeps working ;)

Sunday: A lazy family day.

Monday: My aunt Diana, uncle Jay and cousin Nina stopped by for a visit. They were in town from up north to visit us and a few other people.

Tuesday: We went to Children's so Cade could get his follow-up head ultrasound and then went to the neurologist's nurse practitioner to find out how the u/s looked. She said that everything looked good. His ventricles are shrinking slightly and they expect them to keep shrinking. She had no concerns and we have another appt in 2 weeks.

Wednesday: Cade had an eye appt and we got more good news. The ROP that he had developed in the hospital has gone away. Basically, the blood vessels were not growing normally but they correct themselves and his eyes are mature now so no more worries about ROP. We don't have to go back for another 6 months. Also, some of Sean's co-workers came over for lunch and to meet Cade. We all had a good time outside on the deck.

Highlights from the first few days home

Sunday: First bath at home; the nurse came and Cade weighed 7lbs 4 oz and was 19 3/4" long; Auntie Marcy came over and Cade fell asleep on her; took the puppies for a walk again


Monday: We made our first trip to the pediatrician and found out that we picked the right one since both my OB and the perinatologist that delivered Cade bring their kids to him. We see him in another couple of weeks but he said everything looked good. Also, Amy and baby K came to visit in the evening. Amy is pregnant with what is sure to be one of Cade's first friends. Later in the evening, Bob and Deb our next door neighbors stopped by. They were happy to meet Cade after hearing about all of our trips to the hospital. Then we took the dogs for a walk and ran into our other neighbors that didn't even know Cade existed. I'm sure that will happen more than once.

Tuesday: We finally sold the townhouse. What a relief that everything went through without a hitch. Cade even slept through the whole thing.

Wednesday: Another bath and a change of the cannula so I got a couple of pictures of Cade with nothing on his face :) A very cute boy, indeed. Also, another nurse visited and now he weighs 7lbs 9 oz. We were a little worried because he's changed his eating schedule but he seems to still be growing.

Cade is home, finally!

After exactly 3 months in the hospital, Cade was discharged yesterday. He passed his car seat test with flying colors (no spells) and then had a final check over by the doctor. We got all of his follow-up appointments scheduled and got his meds from the pharmacy and then we were on our way. It was bittersweet to leave the hospital. We were so excited and happy to finally get to this point but we also met alot of great people and Cade got the best care that he could from Children's Minneapolis. Cade finally met his big sisters. Lucy is still a little scared and Sophie is nervous. Sophie is used to being top dog so I don't think she is all that impressed with Cade. Belle hasn't exactly met him but she did make it to his room last night to sniff around. The whole family went for a walk last night (minus Belle of course) and we all enjoyed it. We all survived last night too. Sean and I split up the feedings and each got a little sleep. Cade wants to eat every 3 hours and it takes him about 30 to 45 minutes to eat so we get a couple hour break between feedings. Well, I guess that's it for now. We see the nurse tomorrow and meet the pediatrician on Monday and if all goes well close on the townhouse on Tuesday. I'll be home for the next 7 weeks so please send email to my personal address jksouth23@yahoo.com.

After the walk

Hanging out today

Staying over at the hospital

We just got news that Cade's eyes are mature enough to give him 100% O2 so that means we'll be staying the night at the hospital tonight. This was a big hurdle to getting him home by Friday. So, things are going according to the plan. We will stay tonight, meet with the neuro nurse tomorrow morning for discharge instructions, also need to meet with the dietitian and clean the house thoroughly. Then on Friday morning, Cade has the car seat test. If all goes well, he can be discharged on Friday which is 2 weeks before his due date! Another of the hurdles was that he needed to be bottling 100% of his feedings and gaining weight. Well, he bottled enough between Mon and Tues to gain 32 grams. He's now just over 3 kg which is 6lbs 10 oz. On Mon, he took a partial bottle from me and then before we went home for the night, he took a whole bottle from Sean. We also got a whole bottle in last night even after a bath :) He was sleeping through the last half but got the whole thing down. Sean and I are just really excited that we are finally at this point. Cade has been in the hospital almost 13 weeks, gone through 3 surgeries, is over triple is birth weight (2lb 1oz) and has grown over 4 inches. What a miracle!

Elli's party

My cousin Erin's daughter turned 1 on Sunday and we went to her big party. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of her covered in blue frosting but here's a couple cute ones. Of course, the bags and boxes were more fun than the presents and big brother Noah was very good at helping.

Helping Daddy

Coming Home?

Grandma Linda and Grandpa Reg were in town this weekend. It was great to see them and they were very excited to see Cade after missing him for a month. They got a chance to spend a few hours with him while Sean and I were at work on Friday. They enjoyed their time and even got to give Cade a bottle. There is nothing like a grandparents love to help a little boy along and he had 2 weekends in a row with grandparents. We were told on Saturday that they were going to try ad lib feedings where Cade can eat whenever he is hungry and they won't tube feed him. As long as he meets a minimum quantity and continues to gain weight, he can get rid of his tube for good. Also, on Sat, Auntie Marcy and Grandma and Grandpa fed Cade another bottle. It was kind of alot of passing of the baby but he seemed to do OK. He finished up the bottle with me and got a full feeding. On Saturday night, we had a mini celebration for my mom's birthday. She's turning the big 60 on Thursday. Then on Sunday, our friends Heather and Chris came over and went to the hospital with us. It was great because Heather hadn't seen Cade since May and Chris had never met him. After they left, Sean was able to give Cade a bottle and he finished the whole thing. While we were there, the nurse started laying out the schedule for Cade's discharge. On Wednesday, he has his eye exam and if his eyes are mature, he'll be able to switch to 100% O2. Then, Wed night, Sean and I will spend a night at the hospital with Cade on his home monitor. His car seat test will be next. Right now it's scheduled for Fri morning but may be moved up to Thurs. So, if everything goes right, we should have Cade home by Fri afternoon. We'll keep you updated.

One step closer

Sean and I had our training on Tuesday. We got trained on oxygen, the apnea monitor and CPR. I'm still hoping that Cade won't have to be on O2 when he comes home but it seems that he will need that extra help for awhile. So, we got 2 O2 tanks and the portable monitor. One tank is already at home and the other is under Cade's crib for the ride home. We are still waiting to make sure that his eyes are mature because he will be on 100% O2 and that can damage immature eyes. Currently, they keep his O2 below 95% with the adjustable feed into his cannula. The home system only allows adjustment of the flow rate but not the % O2. We are also still waiting for Cade to be able to handle all 8 bottles. Yesterday, he had taken 6 but wasn't able to finish every one. He's slowly getting stronger.

Great-Grandparents visit!!

We got a pleasant surprise on the 4th when Sean's dad, Phil, called and said that he was bring Sean's Grandma and Grandpa down on the 5th. Cade met his great-grandma Katherine when he was only about a week old but he hadn't met his great-grandpa Andrew. Grandpa has had some recent strokes and has been in and out of the nursing home for the last few months. But, he decided that it was time to see Cade and Phil took on the task of getting them both down here for the day. They all met us at the hospital along with Uncle Andy and Aunt Jill. Grandpa got to hold Cade first and I think pretty much fell in love instantly. It was fun to see the joy on his face. Then, Grandma got to hold him and fell in love too. She told Cade that he was her best friend and that he would have to visit alot. We had a hard time getting her to give him up but when she started saying that his head was really heavy, I passed Cade to Grandpa Phil. This was his first time holding him too and I would have to say that he loves that little boy an awful lot. Unfortunately, our camera died before we got a picture of Grandpa Phil with Cade but we did get a bunch of other pictures.

Great-grandpa

Great-grandma

4 generations of Bober men (plus grandma who didn't want to give up the baby)
Other exciting news, Cade has made it to over 6 lbs. He is still on track with his gestational age. I looked up week 36 and it said that the baby should be about 6 lbs.

Yesterday when we got to the hospital, the nurse told us that she was concerned about Cade because he wasn't acting like himself so they ran a bunch of labs to see if anything was wrong. All the labs came back normal and after we held him for awhile he seemed back to himself. He was a little sleepy but did take some of his 5:00 bottle. We, along with the doctor (Dr. Purdue who we really like), think that his new shunt setting may be affecting him. The neuro team changed the setting to drain more fluid because he had some build up near the shunt valve. But, the plan is to change it back today. Also, when we called last night at about 10:30 Cade was doing really well. He had taken almost all of his 8:00 bottle and was getting ready for his 11:00 by sucking away on his pacifier. So, it seems that all is well but they were keeping a close eye on him. I'm wondering if he just didn't like his day shift nurse. I wasn't that impressed with her and it seemed like she was creating drama where there wasn't any. But, I guess I would rather have the nurses be cautious.

Lazy Sunday afternoon (I actually heard Sean snoring)

Happy 4th of July!

On the way to 6lbs

Cade is now up to 5lbs 11oz and is taking about 50% of his feedings by bottle. He's getting closer to coming home but no one can give us an exact date yet. They continue to wean him off oxygen. They changed his flow rate from 1 L/min to 0.5 L/min and he seemed to tolerate that well. But, as long as he can bottle 100% of his feedings and pass the car seat test, the doctors won't let his O2 needs stop him from coming home. I'm hoping that he will be weaned from O2 before getting discharged but we'll just have to wait and see. Sean and I were told last night that Cade will go home with an apnea monitor. So, next week, we will take a class on how the monitor works and also an infant CPR class. Kind of scary, huh. But, we'll do what we need to do to keep Cade safe.

The head ultrasound that he had yesterday looked good. His ventricles are shrinking back to normal size and they feel that the shunt settings are correct. The only problem now is that since his head grew with his expanding brain and now his brain is shrinking his head is shrinking too. This is causing the plates in his head to overlap slightly. We are hoping that his brain will grow enough to put the plates back into the correct locations before they permanently fuse together. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Hopefully, as the days go by, we can get a better idea from the neuro team.