2 week update

I can't believe tomorrow Quinn will be 2 weeks! Time sure flies. We went to the doctor today for his 2 week check-up. Quinn is doing great. He is still being a lazy eater, but he did gain some weight since Tuesday so things are on the right track. He is still breathing fast but the doctor said it will probably last another month or two, but his lungs sounded good.
He woke up every two hours last night, which is good since he needs to eat more, but I am tired! Since I have to pump every time he feeds it takes about an hour to feed and pump before I can get back to bed. Plus, he has colic in the evening. I feel so bad for him when he is fussy and I can't do anything to help him.

First doctor appointment

Quinn had his first official doctor appointment today. His lungs sounded good, but he lost a little weight. He needs to wake up a little more and not be such a lazy eater! We go back on Friday for his 2 week appointment and to check on his weight gain. Hopefully he will be doing better by then.

Quinn also got to visit mom and dad's work today. We stopped by both places to say hello. After our outings Quinn had some milk and then took a nice long nap.

Quinn is home!

Quinn finally made it home yesterday at about 1pm. The big brothers are very excited to have him home. They both kept coming into our room just to look at Quinn sleeping in his crib. Too cute. William has already asked for diaper changing lessons. I am sure that enthusiasm will wear off once he actually changes a diaper though! LOL.

Quinn is doing very well. We go into the doctor tomorrow to make sure everything is still on track with his breathing. He is quite the lazy eater. It was difficult to get even an ounce in him before he would fall asleep. We are working on the breatfeeding, but right now he gets too worn out. His nurse suggested to start each session with a little breastfeeding, just to get him used to it and then to switch to the bottle. I am going to go to a breastfeeding support group on Thursdays until I go back to work. Hopefully by then we will have him track with is feedings. I am pumping milk for the little guy, so at least he is getting the good stuff:)

Thanks again for all the prayers. He was a pretty sick guy and I know God's healing hand was on him.

Grandparent visit #2

Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Robinson got to visit little Quinn and we got the great news that he was ready to come home the next day!

Yippee!

When we went to visit Quinn this morning we found that he had pulled his oxygen tubing out (several times) so the nurse decided to leave it out and see how he did. He is doing great! Hopefully he can keep his breathing even and his oxygen levels stable so he can come home! It was SO good to see him without a bunch of wires and tubes attached to him.

Grandparent visit #1

Mr. Quinn had his first visit from Grandma and Grandpa Dark yesterday. He slept through the whole thing, but the proud grandparents enjoyed their visit with the little guy.

Friday Update

Last night the boys were able to meet Quinn for the first time. They were really good at staying quiet and being calm. I was very proud of them. Quinn really enjoyed the visit too. When the boys would talk to him, he would look around and try to find their faces. It was very cute. Quinn has started smiling a little. It is really cute. He is certainly a beautiful guy.

The doctors think Quinn has turned the corner now. They were able to get his oxygen to around room air (21%) and bumping it up a little every once in a while, especially when he is getting handled. They are working towards getting him off his air flow (which is the pressurized air they use to help keep his lungs open.) He is doing a lot better at breathing and his lungs seem to have finally popped open a little. He started on 6ml of flow and he is down to 3ml now. They are planning to take him down 1/2 ml every 3 hours. Hopefully he will take to it well. If he does well today/tonight with bringing his flow down then they doctors think he will be able to come home Monday. I sure hope so! It will be great to have him home with us finally.

Thanks again for all the prayers. They are working wonders!

Birth Stats

I just realized I forgot to put up all of Quinn stats. Silly me!

Quinn weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20 inches long.

Good news!

The doctor is taking Quinn's IV out tonight. As long as he keeps eating well he isn't going to need it anymore. He has one less thing hooked up to him now:) Yippee!

Hope you enjoy the new pictures from tonight. Tomorrow we are going to bring the boys to finally meet their baby brother. They are both VERY excited. They are going to be great big brothers.

Wednesday Update

Quinn is doing well, but his breathing was pretty fast today. He is working very hard, so they are having to keep his oxygen and air pressure up. He was taken off the light therapy for the jaundice, which makes him very happy. He is just like his dad, he doesn't like light when he sleeps. He is still very sensitive to sounds and light, so visits are limited. I got to hold him for a while today, but his breathing was really fast so most of the time we had him in his incubator to keep him calm. I was there for his noon feeding and got to give breastfeeding a try. He did really good, but could only go for about 5 minutes before getting too tired. I fed part of his milk with a bottle and then they gave the rest through his feeding tube. After lunch he took a long nap and I headed home for a nap myself. Joe and I are going to go up again this evening. We are hoping in the next day or two the boys can visit their baby brother. They are both anxious to meet him. The doctor is estimating another week in the hospital. His lungs still aren't opening up, but he is stable. The doctor is hoping in the next day or two the lungs will finally "pop open" and he will start to make big strides towards getting off the IV, oxygen, and pressurized air.

Please keep praying for his lungs to get stronger. We can't wait for him to come home.

Tuesday update

Yesterday I got settled in at home again. Our little Quinn is still at the hospital and it looks like he will be there for another week or so. At 10am the doctors do their rounds, so I spend the morning at the hospital and stay until his afternoon feeding.

Quinn is doing a little better every day. He is dealing with the nurses handling him a little better now, which is a good sign. His tests came back negative for any infections, so the official diagnosis is under developed lungs. It will take a little time for them to get strong, but we are happy he doesn't have an infection or pneumonia to complicate things. He developed jaundice, so he is getting light treatment for that. The doctor has increased his feedings which should help get his levels down over the next few days in conjunction with the light treatment. Once they get his breathing regulated and he can be weaned off the oxygen they will start to work on feeding with a nipple, but for now they are feeding him with a feeding tube.

Joe and I are going to visit him this evening. We are hoping he will be ready for a visit from Zan and Will in the next few days. They are anxious to see him, but right now he isn't quite up for visitors. Thanks again for the prayers. It is hard to have him away from us. Hopefully his lungs will develop and strengthen quickly and he will get to come home soon.

Our littlest angel

Quinn is here!

The doctor suggested we eat a good breakfast before coming to the hospital on Saturday, so Joe and I went to Shari's around 6 am and got to the hospital at 7 am to be induced. Things, as they usually do at hospitals, took a while. We finally had the pitocin going at 9 am and had a few contractions. Over the next several hours they increased the dosage. They we able to get the contractions around 2-3 minutes apart, but they weren't getting any more intense. I dilated a centimeter to 3cm between 9am and about 5:30pm. The doctor broke my water to hopefully gets things going.

To say the least, the doctor definitely got things going! My contractions started getting more intense in just a few minutes. At about 6 I was in quite a bit of pain but I was only dilated another centimeter so the doctor suggested I just get something in my IV to take the edge off. The nurse came in and gave me the medication and said it would take the pain down a notch or two and last for about an hour and then hopefully I would be ready for an epidural. About 7 pm I was in severe pain. The contractions were about 2 minutes apart and I could barely think during them. Joe was great and would rub and squeeze my feet during the contractions which helped a lot to distract me, but I was ready for the epidural.

When the nurse came to check me at 7:10 I was dilated to 5 centimeters and she called the doctor to see if he was okay with me having the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in about 10 minutes and I was in major pain. She had me get on my side and when I felt baby Quinn fall into place (and my pain level increased even more.) They were ready to insert the epidural, but when the nurse checked me the baby was already crowning and ready to go.

Two pushes later, Quinn was here! It was quite an intense experience, but from 5 cm to birth was only 24 minutes.

Unfortunately, Quinn's lungs weren't quite ready for the big world, so he took a trip to the special care nursery and is probably going to be there for a few days to a week or two while his lungs develop the rest of the way. Please keep him in your prayers. We can't wait to have him home with us.

Saturday!

I just got back from the doctor. Saturday is going to be Quinn's birthday:) I am already dialated to 2 cm, so the doctor was very happy about that and said that he didn't think we would have any issues with having a regular birth (yeah! No c-section! That makes me VERY happy.)

I am so excited to finally get to see my little guy! Plus, I will enjoy not being "chained" to my couch anymore.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and prayers:)

Quinn's birthday is coming soon!

I was in the hospital (again) on Sunday for high blood pressure. Things seem to be under control again, but some of my lab tests aren't the best. Nothing horrible, but my doctor is thinking about inducing me this weekend. We just might have a little baby before next week! How exciting would that be. Plus, I will enjoy not being confined to the couch anymore. I go into the doctor on Thursday, so I will know more for sure then, but right now it is looking like I am not going to have to wait until the 26th.

Bedrest is a lot harder than it seems! Thank goodness I have had lots of people here to help out. It definitely could be a lot worse.

Doctor appointment today

I just got back from the doctor. Things are looking good still. The doctor tweaked my medication again to hopefully get me back to just one medication again. I lost 3 pounds, but a lot of that was probably water that I had been retaining when my BP was so high. Now that my medication is working better and I am staying off my feet, most of my swelling has gone away. The baby's heartbeat was good and things are looking pretty good right now. The doctor said he isn't going to induce me until the week of the 26th, but if I go into labor before then he isn't going to stop it. He also said he would be watching for a few other things which would bump up the date of delivery. He is looking for either my blood pressure to spike again and not being able to control with medication, my fluid level to be less than 8 (it is 10 right now) which they check twice a week when I go in for testing at the hospital, or if the amount of protein starts to increase. I go into the doctor once a week now also...so pretty much every other day I am being seen, so they are laking good care of us and watching us closely.

So, if everything stays "uneventful" we will have our baby the last week of the month...so 2 1/2 weeks more of being home and stuck on the couch. Maybe little Quinn will be nice and get things started on his own earlier than that.

Testing update

I went in today for my scheduled non-stress test and ultrasound. Quinn is still doing great and the amount of fluid is still good. I go see the doctor tomorrow so hopefully I will know more about when he is going to make his big entrance. The new mix of medications seem to be keeping my BP under control, so hopefully things stay stable for a while longer.

Saturday I go in again for the same testing. Just keeping an eye on the little guy:) The nurse verified that he is head down and ready for launch:)

Update

I can't believe the time is growing so near for us. I go into the doctor Thursday so hopefully I will know more about when he wants to induce. I am sure a lot will be determined by the non-stress test tomorrow and how my blood pressure is acting. The doctor had to add back my original medicine (although a lesser dose) to keep my BP under control all the time. My new meds are supposed to last 12 hours, but at around the 9 hour mark it is wearing off...so he has me taking an extra dose of the old medication at that time to tide me over. So far it seems to be working pretty well. Hopefully it will continue to work for another week or so...getting our little Quinn to 37 weeks would be great.

Things are going well here on my couch. I haven't gotten super bored yet, so that makes me happy. I have had a few visitors, plus my mom-in-law came last night and is staying until Saturday morning to help out (and keep me company.)

On the financial side, things are looking a lot better. God is definitely good. We have gotten some extra money from very unexpected sources, so that takes some of the stress off.

Thanks for all the prayers!

What a way to start the year off!

New Years Eve my blood pressure decided to be naughty again and spiked up, so the doctor had me head to the hospital for some monitoring. They were having problems getting it under control so the doctor ended up admitting me. They finally had a high-risk doctor review my chart and do a few tests. We got to see our little guy on ultrasound again. The doctor measured him and he is doing great. On Friday he was 5 pounds 11 ounces, so he is going to be a good sized boys. Originally they thought I was going to need to deliver over the weekend, but they finally were able to get my blood pressure under control a bit better with some new medications and bedrest. I finally got to come home today around noon. Sure is good to be home. Hopefully my blood pressure will behave itself and we can get a few more weeks of "cooking" for our little Quinn. Joe's mom offered to come help, so she is coming down Monday and staying for most of the week to help with the boys and make meals, etc. I am officially off work now, which is stinky since I don't have any paid time off...but I just have to trust that things will work out. We have some money saved for when the baby was born, but using some of that now is going to shorten my time at home with him. It is more important to have a healthy baby by far. Maybe we will be able to afford for me to work part-time for a bit once I need to go back to work. Other not so good news is that Dusty lost his job, so we will also be missing money from child support...sigh. When it rains, it pours, right?

The best thing, besides our baby being healthy, is that we have lots of great friends and family that have all offered to help out with the boys while I am home for the next few weeks. All of this would be much harder to deal with if we weren't so blessed.

Hopefully there won't be too much more excitement to blog about for a few weeks. Keep us all in your prayers:)