Update on Liam...

This is my fourth attempt at getting this updated... Hopefully I'll get far enough with an update on Liam and actually post. Thankfully my last draft is all wrong now because he is doing so well....

Where are we at today?! (2/9)

Liam is doing exceptionally well. He is almost off oxygen, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the Echo scan he had yesterday shows that his PDA Valve is finally closed. From my earlier (non-posted posts), I explained a little bit about what the PDA Valve is: This is a valve in the heart that is typically closed at birth, but in preemies sometimes needs help by medication and/or surgery. Once the valve closes, he shouldn't need the assistance of the oxygen, since this valve controls the flow of blood and oxygen to the lungs. Liam has received several treatments with the medicine, Indocin to help aid in the closing of this, but has not had any as of Friday night. Last night the technician that performed the Echo scan, said she thought that it was finally closed, but we are still waiting to hear back on that today.

He is getting breast milk though a feeding tube, and this is due to his rapid breathing. He has not quite figured out where he needs to be on his breathing respirations, and so there is a risk there that if they introduce a bottle that he could choke and have other complications. He started getting breast milk on Friday. He was started at 5ml, and today he is up to 36ml!

Yesterday (2/8) - was the first day that Liam and I got to do "Kangaroo Care". This is basically just skin to skin holding, that is very therapeutic for the baby (and mama in this case! - Pretty sure my bp was perfect while I was holding him!). His breathing slowed all the way down to where they wanted it while I was holding him. We even fell asleep together, which I totally loved! When I put him back, his breathing accelerated back up to where it had been- he needs to be in the range of 60-70 breaths per minute consistently. This morning we were told that he was in the high 80’s – so he is starting to figure it out, but we still ask that you send your thoughts and prayers to Liam for this specific need.

He should also be off all his fluids through the IV either today or tomorrow. Yesterday they were talking about taking him off everything, but wanted to make sure he tolerated his next feeding amount before they took the IV completely out. I am hoping to walk in and see him today with only the oxygen in his nose. He had to have his central lines taken out of his belly, and they tried to place the IV in his hand and foot, and it wouldn’t stay in, so they put the IV in through his forehead… Yeah… I was a little upset seeing him the first time with it there, but now I am used to it, and just call him my little pumpkin!

We are unsure how much longer he will be in the NICU. He has to breathe on his own, and correctly, as well as take all his feedings by nipple. We are hoping to have him home in the next two weeks, but as all the Dr’s and staff say, it’s completely up to the baby on when they figure things out and have their “ah ha” moment. We try not to rush Liam at all. We are extremely thankful that we even have a baby to post about and to be so proud of.

He really seems to like having visitors and loves being held and making faces at people. He is also a master of finding ways to pull tubes out, and set off all the alarms. His most famous method is by wiggling his toes and getting the cords wrapped in between them, which is a really fun game for him by making the nurses panic and completely unswaddle, find the pinched cord, reswaddle, then set the machines all back to normal. =) He’s testing people already!

We have not brought Jax in to see him yet. We are hoping to do this, this weekend, but really wanted to have Liam lose some of his “jewelry” before we took Jax to see him. We don’t want Jax to freak out that “Yeeyum” doesn’t look like the babies he see’s. We also wanted Jax to lose the runny nose and cough he had juuuust to be on the safe side.

Hopefully by finally getting all the baby stuff ready in the house (Thank you Honey), Jax is starting to understand that the baby mommy had in her belly is real, and finally about to come home. We have been practicing being gentle and easy with Jaxon’s stuffed Ernie. Thankfully Liam’s nose isn’t as big as Ernie’s, and hopefully this will prevent Liam from being pulled out of the baby swing by his nose and dropped on the floor lol…

I am just so thankful for all the support, and prayers we have received. It has been so reassuring to lean on others on our down days, and have so many people be there for us. We’ve had home cooked meals delivered, help with Jax so that we can commute back and forth and all of our friends and family constantly updating others and passing on information so that we can try and focus on being w/Jax and Liam. =)

I hope this updates most of you in the area’s that you had questions on. Once we get the little guy home, I will probably post his story so that everyone knows how truly amazing he has done with all he’s gone through.


Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Love always,
Shylah