Tomorrow, August 1, is Isaac's and Rachel's original estimated due date. I can't believe its August 1 already. It will be a tough day for me because from tomorrow on, Isaac is officially behind in growth compared with other babies based on Isaac's adjusted age. And every single additional day he is in the hospital is another day he should have been home were I able to go full term with him.
Its great to be able to hold him now but we only get to hold him for such a short time (it was about 10-15 minutes today). Its tough seeing the other babies cry and cry without being comforted around us in GCU because they are not getting fed, knowing that the same thing happens to our baby when we are not there. For babies who have no breathing issues, the nurses just prop the bottles up on the side of the basinett and leave the babies to feed from the bottles on their own. Today I saw the baby next to Isaac licking the side of the bottle for quite a while because he had accidently pushed off the nipple and couldn't reach it. I feel like I am abandoning my baby in an orphanage. Its sad because I am sure the parents of these babies are perfectly willing to be there to feed their own babies if the hospital did not have this archaic policy limiting visiting hours so unreasonably (Jong says it feels like we're in jail and we're given one hour visitation rights).
Its hard for me to think about my blessings today but I pray that I can snap out of this after tomorrow. I am tired of being sad, feeling down and feeling unmotivated in my life. I will let myself mope for one more day and that is it!
I need to rely on God more than ever to somehow find the patience and the grace to continue this journey at Toho for perhaps 2 or 3 more months and still be able to be His salt and light at this hospital.
Take care,
Sonia
Monday, July 31, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Counting my blessings
Dear all,
I just wanted to count my blessings today:
1. I got a haircut and a deep cleansing scalp treatment (that came with a head message) today! My last haircut was at the end of February on the Saturday right before I went into the hospital the following Tuesday. I chopped a lot of hair off and I feel very refreshed!
2. I live very comfortably in a very well air-conditioned apartment in hot and muggy Tokyo.
3. Jong loves me more and I love him more every day.
4. I have such easy access to the internet which allowed me to set up our blog and be a part of the Hannah's Prayer ministry, making it so much easier for me to communicate with family, loved ones and old and new friends, and because of my blog and HP, I have so many people praying for our precious little Isaac and us.
5. After going through a very difficult pregnancy, the very premature birth of our babies, the loss of our precious Rachel and having Isaac in the hospital for so long, God has made it clearer more than ever to me that He is GOOD, that His love for me endures forever and that His blessings continues to overflow for me and my family.
6. I got to hold Isaac with his head against my heart for a little while today. He seemed very happy there which made this mommy's heart very full.
7. Despite being born at 23 weeks, the only problems that Isaac is currently battling is Chronic Lung Disease, a very noisy and bright Growing Care Unit and nurses that don't pay enough attention to him (so he doesn't get fed promptly and doesn't get diaper changes often enough). (Yes, there were things I was frustrated with today but then I realized that its a blessing I am only worried about these things right now.)
8. Jesus died for my sins on the cross, resurrected and saved my life.
9. Jesus can and is healing my heartaches, my pain, my sadness, my bitterness and my brokenness.
10. Jesus is my Lord and Savior and He is enough.
Here are the pictures of me cuddling with Isaac today. He was grumpy when I first picked him up but very quickly settled down and it was such a great feeling having him on my heart.
The following is a video of our cute little boy being burped by the nurse after his feeding today:
May the Lord bless you richly as well,
Sonia
I just wanted to count my blessings today:
1. I got a haircut and a deep cleansing scalp treatment (that came with a head message) today! My last haircut was at the end of February on the Saturday right before I went into the hospital the following Tuesday. I chopped a lot of hair off and I feel very refreshed!
2. I live very comfortably in a very well air-conditioned apartment in hot and muggy Tokyo.
3. Jong loves me more and I love him more every day.
4. I have such easy access to the internet which allowed me to set up our blog and be a part of the Hannah's Prayer ministry, making it so much easier for me to communicate with family, loved ones and old and new friends, and because of my blog and HP, I have so many people praying for our precious little Isaac and us.
5. After going through a very difficult pregnancy, the very premature birth of our babies, the loss of our precious Rachel and having Isaac in the hospital for so long, God has made it clearer more than ever to me that He is GOOD, that His love for me endures forever and that His blessings continues to overflow for me and my family.
6. I got to hold Isaac with his head against my heart for a little while today. He seemed very happy there which made this mommy's heart very full.
7. Despite being born at 23 weeks, the only problems that Isaac is currently battling is Chronic Lung Disease, a very noisy and bright Growing Care Unit and nurses that don't pay enough attention to him (so he doesn't get fed promptly and doesn't get diaper changes often enough). (Yes, there were things I was frustrated with today but then I realized that its a blessing I am only worried about these things right now.)
8. Jesus died for my sins on the cross, resurrected and saved my life.
9. Jesus can and is healing my heartaches, my pain, my sadness, my bitterness and my brokenness.
10. Jesus is my Lord and Savior and He is enough.
Here are the pictures of me cuddling with Isaac today. He was grumpy when I first picked him up but very quickly settled down and it was such a great feeling having him on my heart.
The following is a video of our cute little boy being burped by the nurse after his feeding today:May the Lord bless you richly as well,
Sonia
Your Prayers Are Working; Keep Them Coming!
Dear all,
Not much to update except that Jong and I are enjoying the short periods of time we get to hold Isaac each day. And more importantly, that your prayers are working as Isaac's breathing was apparently quite a bit better today - they did not need to use the oxygen mask to give him supplemental oxygen beyond is nasal cannular today. So please keep those prayers coming! I am still praying for miraculous healing of his CLD and the scars in his lungs so that he can come home soon. GCU is so very loud and bright and Isaac is looking pretty tired everytime we visit him now.
This picture is from yesterday. I like it because my face is covered! ^_^
This is daddy holding Isaac from tonight:
The following pictures are actual in time sequence. Doesn't Isaac look like he was so happy cuddling with me in the first one?
Oops, didn't last very long!
Hmmm, may be I do like cuddling with mommy!
Hope you all have a blessed weekend!
In Christ,
Sonia
Not much to update except that Jong and I are enjoying the short periods of time we get to hold Isaac each day. And more importantly, that your prayers are working as Isaac's breathing was apparently quite a bit better today - they did not need to use the oxygen mask to give him supplemental oxygen beyond is nasal cannular today. So please keep those prayers coming! I am still praying for miraculous healing of his CLD and the scars in his lungs so that he can come home soon. GCU is so very loud and bright and Isaac is looking pretty tired everytime we visit him now.
This picture is from yesterday. I like it because my face is covered! ^_^
This is daddy holding Isaac from tonight:
The following pictures are actual in time sequence. Doesn't Isaac look like he was so happy cuddling with me in the first one?
Oops, didn't last very long!
Hmmm, may be I do like cuddling with mommy!
Hope you all have a blessed weekend!
In Christ,
Sonia
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Looks like we are staying at Toho for the long haul
Dear all,
I spoke with Isaac's doctor last night about whether it is possible to transfer Isaac to a hospital closer to us now that he has graduated to GCU and unfortunately, the doctor is not supportive of the move. He believes its better for Isaac to stay at Toho University because the doctors and nurses at Toho know Isaac better.
Unfortunately, he also believes that Isaac will need to stay in the hospital for another 2-3 months because of his severe CLD, which was worsened by his PDA. Its very unfortunate because we will need to continue to deal with this hospital's policy towards limited visiting hours and kangaroo care. Therefore, it seems that the best solution to this is if all of you can join us to pray really hard for the miraculous healing of Isaac's CLD and all the scars in his lungs so that he can recover a lot quicker than expected and can come home sooner with us. Also, please pray that even though Isaac is not allowed to receive kangaroo care, that the Holy Spirit is whispering to little Isaac and prompting him to remember to breathe and to breathe in deeply so that our little Isaac can receive kangaroo care directly from the Holy Spirit.
For those of you who have been asking why we are not advocating harder or pushing back on the hospital harder for Isaac with respect to things like kangaroo care and our "rights", I think it is difficult for people outside of Japan to understand Japanese culture and also the Japanese approach to doctor-patient relationship and even the Japanese approach to parenting. There are quite a few things that we think are best for our children (including in NICU care as well as in general parenting) that Japanese do not agree with. If we are not careful as how we are "pushing" for things, we can end up in a much, much worse situation than where we are now. Both Jong and I have personally been burnt by trying to go about things in a too-American style in other situations we have had to face in the past 3.5 years we have lived in Japan. Japan actually has a very good record with preemie care (viability is actually 22 weeks in Japan as opposed to 24 weeks in the US) so I am also trying to put my trust in God that everything is in His Hands. There was not a doubt that God wanted Isaac to be in this particular hospital, since at the time Isaac and Rachel were born, there were no other NICU beds available in Tokyo that were willing to take us in. One of the reasons I can think of as to why we need to stay at Toho longer is God wants us to plant more seeds for Him there.
Please also pray for wisdom as to how we interface with the hospital staff with respect to Isaac. I am afraid that there has already been a lot of misunderstandings and they may have misconceptions of us because of the differences in culture and language barriers. Now that we have to stay here for even longer, it seems more important that we are able to know how to deal with the hospital and still get the best for Isaac. And I have to admit that sometimes its hard for Jong and I not to feel frustrated, discouraged and lose our patience.
It seems that when things are getting better and better, I start to lose patience. Please pray for me to continue to have the patience to wait for the Lord and to trust in Him with all of my heart and not to lean on my own understanding.
Thank you very much,
Sonia
I spoke with Isaac's doctor last night about whether it is possible to transfer Isaac to a hospital closer to us now that he has graduated to GCU and unfortunately, the doctor is not supportive of the move. He believes its better for Isaac to stay at Toho University because the doctors and nurses at Toho know Isaac better.
Unfortunately, he also believes that Isaac will need to stay in the hospital for another 2-3 months because of his severe CLD, which was worsened by his PDA. Its very unfortunate because we will need to continue to deal with this hospital's policy towards limited visiting hours and kangaroo care. Therefore, it seems that the best solution to this is if all of you can join us to pray really hard for the miraculous healing of Isaac's CLD and all the scars in his lungs so that he can recover a lot quicker than expected and can come home sooner with us. Also, please pray that even though Isaac is not allowed to receive kangaroo care, that the Holy Spirit is whispering to little Isaac and prompting him to remember to breathe and to breathe in deeply so that our little Isaac can receive kangaroo care directly from the Holy Spirit.
For those of you who have been asking why we are not advocating harder or pushing back on the hospital harder for Isaac with respect to things like kangaroo care and our "rights", I think it is difficult for people outside of Japan to understand Japanese culture and also the Japanese approach to doctor-patient relationship and even the Japanese approach to parenting. There are quite a few things that we think are best for our children (including in NICU care as well as in general parenting) that Japanese do not agree with. If we are not careful as how we are "pushing" for things, we can end up in a much, much worse situation than where we are now. Both Jong and I have personally been burnt by trying to go about things in a too-American style in other situations we have had to face in the past 3.5 years we have lived in Japan. Japan actually has a very good record with preemie care (viability is actually 22 weeks in Japan as opposed to 24 weeks in the US) so I am also trying to put my trust in God that everything is in His Hands. There was not a doubt that God wanted Isaac to be in this particular hospital, since at the time Isaac and Rachel were born, there were no other NICU beds available in Tokyo that were willing to take us in. One of the reasons I can think of as to why we need to stay at Toho longer is God wants us to plant more seeds for Him there.
Please also pray for wisdom as to how we interface with the hospital staff with respect to Isaac. I am afraid that there has already been a lot of misunderstandings and they may have misconceptions of us because of the differences in culture and language barriers. Now that we have to stay here for even longer, it seems more important that we are able to know how to deal with the hospital and still get the best for Isaac. And I have to admit that sometimes its hard for Jong and I not to feel frustrated, discouraged and lose our patience.
It seems that when things are getting better and better, I start to lose patience. Please pray for me to continue to have the patience to wait for the Lord and to trust in Him with all of my heart and not to lean on my own understanding.
Thank you very much,
Sonia
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Pictures I couldn't load last night
Dear all,
Here are the pictures I couldn't load last night. By the way, I forgot to mention that Isaac is wearing clothes now. Its hospital issued and they won't let us bring anything in for him, which is a bummer because Jong just bought these cute preemie clothes in the US for him! Its kind of funny because its basically a cotton jersey kimono wrap and its waaaaaay to big for him because I think its meant for full term newborns!
Here is mommy holding Isaac for the first time:
Daddy holding Isaac for the first time:
Daddy kissing Isaac:
Isaac's new home/bed:
Blessings,
Sonia
Here are the pictures I couldn't load last night. By the way, I forgot to mention that Isaac is wearing clothes now. Its hospital issued and they won't let us bring anything in for him, which is a bummer because Jong just bought these cute preemie clothes in the US for him! Its kind of funny because its basically a cotton jersey kimono wrap and its waaaaaay to big for him because I think its meant for full term newborns!
Here is mommy holding Isaac for the first time:
Daddy holding Isaac for the first time:
Daddy kissing Isaac:
Isaac's new home/bed:
Blessings,
Sonia
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
A Surprise for Isaac's 39th gestational week
Dear all,
Today’s post is probably going to be a little long but please make sure you read it to the end!
First, I wanted to give an update about yesterday when I got to talk to Isaac’s primary doctor. Dr. Ishii explained that the reason why they have not allowed us to do kangaroo care is because Isaac still has really bad crashes where his SpO2/oxygen saturation levels have gone down to 40%. Therefore, in order to do kangaroo care safely, they need to have a nurse monitoring how Isaac is doing the entire time and because privacy is needed for kangaroo care (because we will not be fully clothed to allow for skin to skin contact), they will need to have a nurse dedicated to us for the entire time to do this and they just do not have the staffing for this.
We went over again how Isaac will be able to stay in NICU (where they have a 2 to 1 nurse to patient ratio) until another NICU bed is needed, at which point they will need to move Isaac to the Growing Care Unit (where they have a 4 to 1 nurse to patient ratio) next door. He also mentioned how he may attempt to move Isaac to an open bed sometime this week with his only breathing aid being the nasal cannular. I asked Dr. Ishii about the risks of brain damages because of his low oxygen crashes and Dr. Ishii said that the risks are not too high as long as the crashes do not last too long but that Isaac still has risks for Cerebral Palsy as he was born so prematurely. I then asked Dr. Ishii again when he thought Isaac would be discharged and he said that Isaac will probably need to stay in the hospital for 2-3 more months as he thinks it would be too dangerous for Isaac to go home as long as his SpO2 still crashes. He is pretty sure that Isaac will need to go home with oxygen as severe CLD cases like Isaac don’t usually resolve till the child is 2 to 3 years old.
So last night, I came out of the hospital feeling quite overwhelmed and heavy hearted. I know that Isaac has made tremendous progress the recent couple of weeks but the thought of him being in the hospital for another 2-3 months was quite intimidating as I am already exhausted from having to go every day for almost 4 months now. In addition, it sobered me to learn that he still had such bad SpO2 crashes as I was not aware of it before. Finally, as any preemie parent will attest to, any talk about CP in the early days is always frightening. In a lot of cases, it ends up being mild CP and it really isn’t the end of the world but before you are actually dealing with it face to face, it just seems a lot scarier (just like how before our babies were born, imagining having our child born at 23 weeks and in NICU for so long was extremely frightening but we have been able to get through everything so far). I am not saying that CP is inevitable for Isaac and of course we are praying that it is not, but just that thinking about the possibility is scary.
In any case, let’s talk about today. What a difference a day makes! So we arrived at the hospital and the nurse letting us in told us that Isaac has now been moved to GCU. So Jong and I were both a bit apprehensive while we were washing our hands for the prescribed 3 minutes. We thought poor Isaac was going to get less attention and probably will be hungry for longer (and as you can imagine, cry a lot more since he is such a hungry boy). Imagine the surprise we had when we walked into GCU for us to find him in an open crib already! They had just stopped giving him extra oxygen in his incubator yesterday. So although yesterday Dr. Ishii said that he might try putting him in an open bed this week, I did not imagine that it would be today!
And it gets better. After misunderstanding the nurse for a little while (I thought she was asking me if I wanted to change Isaac’s diapers), I realized she was saying that we could hold Isaac for the first time! She said that we can hold him for a little while, before I change his diapers and then she will start his tube feeding (he still only gets fed 10 ml by mouth 3 times a day during the day). So Jong and I held our little boy for the first time today. I, of course, started tearing up when I first started holding Isaac so I actually had a bit of difficulty seeing his sweet face. But it was so so wonderful! Jong got to kiss Isaac a LOT. I was more reserved with the kissing since I have been feeling a little under the weather so I only kiss the top of his head once. My mom actually got a little upset at me for putting my face too close to Isaac when she saw the video but, hey, it was my first time to hold my little boy! So please pray that Isaac did not catch anything from me and please pray that I completely heal 100% soon because I want to hold and kiss him every day! Isaac is so light. He felt like nothing. But being able to hold this tiny little featherweight boy made both of our hearts SO full.
Its not kangaroo care, and it was only for a short time, but we will take it. What a blessed night it was tonight!
Here are the videos of the blessed event (Blogger is not letting me load images so I am going to have to post the pictures later):
In Christ,
Sonia
Today’s post is probably going to be a little long but please make sure you read it to the end!
First, I wanted to give an update about yesterday when I got to talk to Isaac’s primary doctor. Dr. Ishii explained that the reason why they have not allowed us to do kangaroo care is because Isaac still has really bad crashes where his SpO2/oxygen saturation levels have gone down to 40%. Therefore, in order to do kangaroo care safely, they need to have a nurse monitoring how Isaac is doing the entire time and because privacy is needed for kangaroo care (because we will not be fully clothed to allow for skin to skin contact), they will need to have a nurse dedicated to us for the entire time to do this and they just do not have the staffing for this.
We went over again how Isaac will be able to stay in NICU (where they have a 2 to 1 nurse to patient ratio) until another NICU bed is needed, at which point they will need to move Isaac to the Growing Care Unit (where they have a 4 to 1 nurse to patient ratio) next door. He also mentioned how he may attempt to move Isaac to an open bed sometime this week with his only breathing aid being the nasal cannular. I asked Dr. Ishii about the risks of brain damages because of his low oxygen crashes and Dr. Ishii said that the risks are not too high as long as the crashes do not last too long but that Isaac still has risks for Cerebral Palsy as he was born so prematurely. I then asked Dr. Ishii again when he thought Isaac would be discharged and he said that Isaac will probably need to stay in the hospital for 2-3 more months as he thinks it would be too dangerous for Isaac to go home as long as his SpO2 still crashes. He is pretty sure that Isaac will need to go home with oxygen as severe CLD cases like Isaac don’t usually resolve till the child is 2 to 3 years old.
So last night, I came out of the hospital feeling quite overwhelmed and heavy hearted. I know that Isaac has made tremendous progress the recent couple of weeks but the thought of him being in the hospital for another 2-3 months was quite intimidating as I am already exhausted from having to go every day for almost 4 months now. In addition, it sobered me to learn that he still had such bad SpO2 crashes as I was not aware of it before. Finally, as any preemie parent will attest to, any talk about CP in the early days is always frightening. In a lot of cases, it ends up being mild CP and it really isn’t the end of the world but before you are actually dealing with it face to face, it just seems a lot scarier (just like how before our babies were born, imagining having our child born at 23 weeks and in NICU for so long was extremely frightening but we have been able to get through everything so far). I am not saying that CP is inevitable for Isaac and of course we are praying that it is not, but just that thinking about the possibility is scary.
In any case, let’s talk about today. What a difference a day makes! So we arrived at the hospital and the nurse letting us in told us that Isaac has now been moved to GCU. So Jong and I were both a bit apprehensive while we were washing our hands for the prescribed 3 minutes. We thought poor Isaac was going to get less attention and probably will be hungry for longer (and as you can imagine, cry a lot more since he is such a hungry boy). Imagine the surprise we had when we walked into GCU for us to find him in an open crib already! They had just stopped giving him extra oxygen in his incubator yesterday. So although yesterday Dr. Ishii said that he might try putting him in an open bed this week, I did not imagine that it would be today!
And it gets better. After misunderstanding the nurse for a little while (I thought she was asking me if I wanted to change Isaac’s diapers), I realized she was saying that we could hold Isaac for the first time! She said that we can hold him for a little while, before I change his diapers and then she will start his tube feeding (he still only gets fed 10 ml by mouth 3 times a day during the day). So Jong and I held our little boy for the first time today. I, of course, started tearing up when I first started holding Isaac so I actually had a bit of difficulty seeing his sweet face. But it was so so wonderful! Jong got to kiss Isaac a LOT. I was more reserved with the kissing since I have been feeling a little under the weather so I only kiss the top of his head once. My mom actually got a little upset at me for putting my face too close to Isaac when she saw the video but, hey, it was my first time to hold my little boy! So please pray that Isaac did not catch anything from me and please pray that I completely heal 100% soon because I want to hold and kiss him every day! Isaac is so light. He felt like nothing. But being able to hold this tiny little featherweight boy made both of our hearts SO full.
Its not kangaroo care, and it was only for a short time, but we will take it. What a blessed night it was tonight!
Here are the videos of the blessed event (Blogger is not letting me load images so I am going to have to post the pictures later):
In Christ,
Sonia
Sunday, July 23, 2006
More pics and video
Dear all,
I got to see Isaac get bottle fed again today. I even captured some video of him being cranky while hungry and how he calmed down once he started eating. I had to break up the video into 2 clips as photobucket can only host up to 3 mins for each clip:
This is a cute video of him being burped after the feed:
Also, I wanted to share a few pictures from the past few days.
The nurse gave a little stuffed toy that is a Japanese superhero (I think called Apaman). Isaac really liked looking at it when I was there on Friday night and kept reaching out for it:
This is how I found Isaac after pumping yesterday. He was sleeping length-wise before I went to pump and 20 minutes later, he was sleeping cross-wise inside his incubator!
The following picture is from today, I just wanted to show how big his foot is now:
I slept a lot today and am hoping I will fight off this bug that seems to want to render me sick. I can't believe its Sunday night already! I wish I had one more day to sleep! ^_^
Sonia
I got to see Isaac get bottle fed again today. I even captured some video of him being cranky while hungry and how he calmed down once he started eating. I had to break up the video into 2 clips as photobucket can only host up to 3 mins for each clip:
This is a cute video of him being burped after the feed:
Also, I wanted to share a few pictures from the past few days.
The nurse gave a little stuffed toy that is a Japanese superhero (I think called Apaman). Isaac really liked looking at it when I was there on Friday night and kept reaching out for it:
This is how I found Isaac after pumping yesterday. He was sleeping length-wise before I went to pump and 20 minutes later, he was sleeping cross-wise inside his incubator!
The following picture is from today, I just wanted to show how big his foot is now:
I slept a lot today and am hoping I will fight off this bug that seems to want to render me sick. I can't believe its Sunday night already! I wish I had one more day to sleep! ^_^Sonia
Video of Isaac being fed from his mouth
Dear all,
Here is the video I promised from yesterday. I slept a lot last night and this morning and my migraine is gone. I am still praying and hoping I don't get sick.
Isaac was throwing a real tantrum before he got fed. But look at how happy he is while being fed! His SpO2/oxygen saturation levels would drop after he has been drinking for a little while so the nurse would have to stop for a little while and start again. I guess he is still trying to learn how to suckle, swallow and breathe at the same time.
Sonia
Here is the video I promised from yesterday. I slept a lot last night and this morning and my migraine is gone. I am still praying and hoping I don't get sick.
Isaac was throwing a real tantrum before he got fed. But look at how happy he is while being fed! His SpO2/oxygen saturation levels would drop after he has been drinking for a little while so the nurse would have to stop for a little while and start again. I guess he is still trying to learn how to suckle, swallow and breathe at the same time.
Sonia
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Still No Kangaroo Care
Dear all,
I know some of you may be looking for news to see if I was able to kangaroo Isaac today. Unfortunately, the answer is no. In fact, it now looks like they might not let me do it for quite a while, although after seeing how upset I got after learning the news, they said they may let me hold Isaac for a very short time sooner. I cried for a whole hour in NICU today. I just felt so sad that our precious little boy has been struggling so hard by himself inside this box for almost 4 months now and has never had a cuddle in his life yet. : (
I ended up getting a pretty bad migraine tonight and I may be on the verge of getting sick. I just woke up to pump but will be going back to bed soon. Please pray for me not to get sick because if I do, it would be the 3rd time in less than 4 months (since my babies were born).
I did get to see them feeding Isaac 5 ml of milk from the mouth today. They have been doing it this week but only during the day so I only got to see it for the first time today. They also didn't kick me out today so I ended up staying for around 1 hour 45 minutes today. I will hopefully be able to load some video of him feeding from his mouth tomorrow. Also, I found our little boy sleeping cross-wise in the incubator again after coming back from pumping in another room (before I left to pump, he was sleeping length-wise as he should have been). It is now confirmed that we definitely cannot leave him hungry because I witnessed another feisty tantrum he threw when he got hungry and saw how he calmed down immediately after getting fed. He is just so cute.
Thanks for your prayers. I guess I need to be patient for even longer...
Sonia
I know some of you may be looking for news to see if I was able to kangaroo Isaac today. Unfortunately, the answer is no. In fact, it now looks like they might not let me do it for quite a while, although after seeing how upset I got after learning the news, they said they may let me hold Isaac for a very short time sooner. I cried for a whole hour in NICU today. I just felt so sad that our precious little boy has been struggling so hard by himself inside this box for almost 4 months now and has never had a cuddle in his life yet. : (
I ended up getting a pretty bad migraine tonight and I may be on the verge of getting sick. I just woke up to pump but will be going back to bed soon. Please pray for me not to get sick because if I do, it would be the 3rd time in less than 4 months (since my babies were born).
I did get to see them feeding Isaac 5 ml of milk from the mouth today. They have been doing it this week but only during the day so I only got to see it for the first time today. They also didn't kick me out today so I ended up staying for around 1 hour 45 minutes today. I will hopefully be able to load some video of him feeding from his mouth tomorrow. Also, I found our little boy sleeping cross-wise in the incubator again after coming back from pumping in another room (before I left to pump, he was sleeping length-wise as he should have been). It is now confirmed that we definitely cannot leave him hungry because I witnessed another feisty tantrum he threw when he got hungry and saw how he calmed down immediately after getting fed. He is just so cute.
Thanks for your prayers. I guess I need to be patient for even longer...
Sonia
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Isaac's Sweet Little Voice
Dear all,
I heard our little Isaac's sweet little voice for the first time tonight! We have only had squeaks from him so far and not a real voice. When I got into NICU, Isaac was sleeping so I decided to read this little diary book we keep to see if his primary nurse wrote anything interesting. Well, she wrote that she heard Isaac's voice for the first time yesterday! I was pretty excited already and then his attending nurse (not his primary nurse) came over and asked me if I wanted to change his diapers. Of course I did. So we did and we ended up waking my little boy up with the diaper change which made him unhappy and he cried. And I heard his voice!!! Its not very loud but its his voice! ^_^ Here is a very short video clip:
Also, I had to go to a separate room to pump tonight. Before I went, Isaac was sleeping like an angel right in the middle of his incubator. Well, when I came back out about 20 minutes later, he had somehow moved from his vertical position and was sleeping horizontally right across the incubator box! Wanpaku (for those of you who missed our earlier Japanese lesson, this is Isaac's nickname in NICU and it means naughty boy)!!!!
They also lowered the oxygen in the incubator to 25% from 30% but the oxygen coming out of his nasal cannular is still 30%.
I am also going to post an older video from Sunday. It is really cute but I had too much video from Sunday so I didn't post this one then. Isaac started out looking at and then touching this little fishie stuffed animal and then it seemed like he was trying to eat/lick it! ^_^
Sonia
I heard our little Isaac's sweet little voice for the first time tonight! We have only had squeaks from him so far and not a real voice. When I got into NICU, Isaac was sleeping so I decided to read this little diary book we keep to see if his primary nurse wrote anything interesting. Well, she wrote that she heard Isaac's voice for the first time yesterday! I was pretty excited already and then his attending nurse (not his primary nurse) came over and asked me if I wanted to change his diapers. Of course I did. So we did and we ended up waking my little boy up with the diaper change which made him unhappy and he cried. And I heard his voice!!! Its not very loud but its his voice! ^_^ Here is a very short video clip:
Also, I had to go to a separate room to pump tonight. Before I went, Isaac was sleeping like an angel right in the middle of his incubator. Well, when I came back out about 20 minutes later, he had somehow moved from his vertical position and was sleeping horizontally right across the incubator box! Wanpaku (for those of you who missed our earlier Japanese lesson, this is Isaac's nickname in NICU and it means naughty boy)!!!!
They also lowered the oxygen in the incubator to 25% from 30% but the oxygen coming out of his nasal cannular is still 30%.
I am also going to post an older video from Sunday. It is really cute but I had too much video from Sunday so I didn't post this one then. Isaac started out looking at and then touching this little fishie stuffed animal and then it seemed like he was trying to eat/lick it! ^_^
Sonia
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
A Few Photos
Dear all,
I do not have much to report tonight. So I thought I'd just share a few pictures from yesterday and today. Isaac was breathing better today than yesterday.
Just another cute pic of Isaac sleeping:
This was after Isaac propped his head up before he turned his head on his own to the other side:
This shows how Isaac doesn't like the nasal cannular so he keeps picking at it:
Another one:
I think the nasal cannular was bothering the side of Isaac's face so you can see that he somehow got his hand on the inside of the cannular so that his hand can act as a cushion between his cheeks and the NC:
Blessings,
Sonia
I do not have much to report tonight. So I thought I'd just share a few pictures from yesterday and today. Isaac was breathing better today than yesterday.
Just another cute pic of Isaac sleeping:
This was after Isaac propped his head up before he turned his head on his own to the other side:
This shows how Isaac doesn't like the nasal cannular so he keeps picking at it:
Another one:
I think the nasal cannular was bothering the side of Isaac's face so you can see that he somehow got his hand on the inside of the cannular so that his hand can act as a cushion between his cheeks and the NC:
Blessings,
Sonia
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Quick Updates
Dear all,
I have so much work I couldn't finish at the office today that I need to finish before I go to bed. But since I need to update Jong about Isaac anyway (he is in the U.S. again), I thought I'd just do it here so everyone can get the updates too. No time for pictures or videos tonight though.
-Isaac weighed 1,520 grams today
-Apparently, they started feeding Isaac 5 ml by mouth today! They are only doing this 3 times a day during the day so I didn't get to see it. But still, yippee yeah!!!
-Isaac is now on a nasal cannular but they are still keeping the isolette at 30% oxygen though. Apparently, Isaac didn't like the nasal cannular when they first put it on and he already tried to pull it out!
-Isaac can now lift and turn his head by himself when he is lying on his tummy. He has to do this in two different stages, he first moves his head so he is almost face down, then he turns his head to the other side. I saw him do this tonight.
-His new ability to lift his head and move it more has helped him get even better at trying to wriggle up the incubator. Actually, he doesn't really wriggle up, its more like he is trying to swim butterfly style with his arm. I saw him climb up quite a bit tonight too.
-Unfortunately, Isaac was really tired today (may be from the climbing?) and he wasn't breathing as well. He crashed quite a few times today and the crashes lasted longer than before, including a couple of crashes where his SpO2 fell to the 60 percentiles. Please continue to pray for his strength and stamina for his breathing and healing of his CLD.
I ended up staying at the hospital for quite a while tonight. The nurses were very busy and couldn't get me the pumping equipment till pretty late. Then when I was all set, Isaac decided to move his head and climb up the incubator so I had to stop pumping and try to calm him down (as this was affecting his breathing). I ended up holding him up for a little while and putting him back down on his side instead of his tummy and he got real comfortable after that. Then, after I started pumping for a few minutes, Isaac's heart surgeon, Dr. Ozawa, showed up to check up on Isaac so we ended up talking for a bit.
Isn't it amazing that Dr. Ozawa is still checking up on Isaac regularly? I don't know how often he comes by but it seems like he tries to come and see Isaac when he is in the hospital because he said he was there yesterday too. I am just so amazed about that! This is one of the reasons why I haven't mentioned transferring Isaac to a hospital closer to us for a while. The nurses and doctors at Toho really care about little Isaac so I don't think it would be good to transfer him to a brand new place with doctors and nurses who don't know him. We might still want to ask our doctor what he thinks about transferring Isaac once he graduates from NICU to the less intensive unit but we do not want to move him as long as he is in Toho's NICU.
Oh, and I want to mention that when I was changing Isaac's diapers tonight. I somehow thought about all these stories of friends getting sprayed by their boys while changing their diapers when my friends were still very new at it. So I pulled up the fresh diaper to make sure Isaac's pee pee was covered before I tried to find the tape on the top of the diapers. Well, good thing I did that because he immediately started peeing right there and then! It could have been a golden shower for him! So I ended up changing him twice tonight. ^_^
Another praise I have is just a week or two ago, I was getting quite worried about my milk supply which was going down. Well, it seems like my milk supply started improving this weekend. It could be because:
A. I started having oatmeal every day, which is supposed to be really good for milk supply, even though I used to utterly hate oatmeal (this time I discovered maple and brown sugar flavored Quaker instant oatmeal which turned out to be not so bad);
B. I started having a small glass of light beer every night, which I have also been told is good for milk supply;
C. I asked my HP sisters to pray for me and a lot of them did; and/or
D. After being able to hold Isaac up and change his diapers myself, it made me feel more like a mommy so I started releasing more milk making hormones.
I think the answer is all four of the above but I think option C was the biggest reason. ^_^
Anyway, this was supposed to be short and I ended up being long winded again.
Take care and God bless everyone!
Sonia
I have so much work I couldn't finish at the office today that I need to finish before I go to bed. But since I need to update Jong about Isaac anyway (he is in the U.S. again), I thought I'd just do it here so everyone can get the updates too. No time for pictures or videos tonight though.
-Isaac weighed 1,520 grams today
-Apparently, they started feeding Isaac 5 ml by mouth today! They are only doing this 3 times a day during the day so I didn't get to see it. But still, yippee yeah!!!
-Isaac is now on a nasal cannular but they are still keeping the isolette at 30% oxygen though. Apparently, Isaac didn't like the nasal cannular when they first put it on and he already tried to pull it out!
-Isaac can now lift and turn his head by himself when he is lying on his tummy. He has to do this in two different stages, he first moves his head so he is almost face down, then he turns his head to the other side. I saw him do this tonight.
-His new ability to lift his head and move it more has helped him get even better at trying to wriggle up the incubator. Actually, he doesn't really wriggle up, its more like he is trying to swim butterfly style with his arm. I saw him climb up quite a bit tonight too.
-Unfortunately, Isaac was really tired today (may be from the climbing?) and he wasn't breathing as well. He crashed quite a few times today and the crashes lasted longer than before, including a couple of crashes where his SpO2 fell to the 60 percentiles. Please continue to pray for his strength and stamina for his breathing and healing of his CLD.
I ended up staying at the hospital for quite a while tonight. The nurses were very busy and couldn't get me the pumping equipment till pretty late. Then when I was all set, Isaac decided to move his head and climb up the incubator so I had to stop pumping and try to calm him down (as this was affecting his breathing). I ended up holding him up for a little while and putting him back down on his side instead of his tummy and he got real comfortable after that. Then, after I started pumping for a few minutes, Isaac's heart surgeon, Dr. Ozawa, showed up to check up on Isaac so we ended up talking for a bit.
Isn't it amazing that Dr. Ozawa is still checking up on Isaac regularly? I don't know how often he comes by but it seems like he tries to come and see Isaac when he is in the hospital because he said he was there yesterday too. I am just so amazed about that! This is one of the reasons why I haven't mentioned transferring Isaac to a hospital closer to us for a while. The nurses and doctors at Toho really care about little Isaac so I don't think it would be good to transfer him to a brand new place with doctors and nurses who don't know him. We might still want to ask our doctor what he thinks about transferring Isaac once he graduates from NICU to the less intensive unit but we do not want to move him as long as he is in Toho's NICU.
Oh, and I want to mention that when I was changing Isaac's diapers tonight. I somehow thought about all these stories of friends getting sprayed by their boys while changing their diapers when my friends were still very new at it. So I pulled up the fresh diaper to make sure Isaac's pee pee was covered before I tried to find the tape on the top of the diapers. Well, good thing I did that because he immediately started peeing right there and then! It could have been a golden shower for him! So I ended up changing him twice tonight. ^_^
Another praise I have is just a week or two ago, I was getting quite worried about my milk supply which was going down. Well, it seems like my milk supply started improving this weekend. It could be because:
A. I started having oatmeal every day, which is supposed to be really good for milk supply, even though I used to utterly hate oatmeal (this time I discovered maple and brown sugar flavored Quaker instant oatmeal which turned out to be not so bad);
B. I started having a small glass of light beer every night, which I have also been told is good for milk supply;
C. I asked my HP sisters to pray for me and a lot of them did; and/or
D. After being able to hold Isaac up and change his diapers myself, it made me feel more like a mommy so I started releasing more milk making hormones.
I think the answer is all four of the above but I think option C was the biggest reason. ^_^
Anyway, this was supposed to be short and I ended up being long winded again.
Take care and God bless everyone!
Sonia
Monday, July 17, 2006
I am in love with 2 different guys!
Today, Monday, was a national holiday in Japan so we got a long weekend. I actually had to work a little bit and Jong left for another trip yesterday but it was still very nice to have a long weekend as I slept quite a bit.
Jong and I got to hold Isaac in the isolette again yesterday and (just me) today. I really love holding Isaac and being able to touch so much more of him. Isaac is such a funny boy. For some reason, whenever we hold him up, he would usually either: (i) spread his arms wide open like he is asking why?; (ii) shoot both his arms straight up like he won a race or he is surrendering; or (iii) shoot one of his arms straight up like he is a little boy in class and has a question or wants to answer a question. Our little boy just cracks me up.
Isaac was crying a bit today and I think I heard a wee bit more of his very soft squeaks than before. I am hoping we will hear more and more of his voice every day!
I think I also forgot to share that Dr. Ishii plans to try a nasal cannular on Isaac this weekend and if he stays stable on the nasal cannular, I could may be finally try kangaroo care with Isaac this coming weekend.
I think I have mentioned before that I have always wanted a daughter. I think its because I grew up in a household of two girls and went to all girls schools all my life until college. So I really don't have much experience dealing with boys as I didn't have that much exposure to little boys after I grew up either. I wasn't sure I would know how to "click" with a little boy or how to play with a little boy. I am terrible at sports, have embarrassingly little (Jong would say no) hand-eye coordination and cannot for the life of me make imitation sounds (you know how boys are really good at making up noises that sound like trains, planes and automobiles? Well, I can't do that). On the other hand, I know how to play tea and play with dolls, etc.
I still don't know for sure whether I would be any good at playing with little boys but I do know I have no problem clicking with little Isaac. I think it is different loving a little boy compared with loving a little girl. It would have been very interesting to see how it is to love a little boy and little girl at the same time if Rachel had stayed with us. I mean, of course I love Rachel but I am talking about loving them while watching them grow. Before I get too lost, what I am trying to get at is as I watch Isaac grow, I really feel my love for him growing more and more each day. I am falling more and more in love with him. It always amazes me how one can keep falling more and more in love with someone every day. You think you can't love a person any more but you still keep falling more and more in love with him - and I have been blessed with this kind of love with my husband. So imagine how overwhelming it is to be SO blessed by God for me to be able to fall more and more in love with 2 wonderful guys each day. ^_^
Since Jong is gone for the week and I need both of my hands when I hold Isaac, I probably won't have any more videos of me holding Isaac this coming week. Here is some video from Sunday with both Jong and I holding little Isaac. By the way, Isaac is really growing. Isaac's foot is now the length of my thumb (starting from the joint between my thumb and my second finger). Oh and have I shared before that Isaac just LOVES foot massages?
In Christ,
Sonia
Jong and I got to hold Isaac in the isolette again yesterday and (just me) today. I really love holding Isaac and being able to touch so much more of him. Isaac is such a funny boy. For some reason, whenever we hold him up, he would usually either: (i) spread his arms wide open like he is asking why?; (ii) shoot both his arms straight up like he won a race or he is surrendering; or (iii) shoot one of his arms straight up like he is a little boy in class and has a question or wants to answer a question. Our little boy just cracks me up.
Isaac was crying a bit today and I think I heard a wee bit more of his very soft squeaks than before. I am hoping we will hear more and more of his voice every day!
I think I also forgot to share that Dr. Ishii plans to try a nasal cannular on Isaac this weekend and if he stays stable on the nasal cannular, I could may be finally try kangaroo care with Isaac this coming weekend.
I think I have mentioned before that I have always wanted a daughter. I think its because I grew up in a household of two girls and went to all girls schools all my life until college. So I really don't have much experience dealing with boys as I didn't have that much exposure to little boys after I grew up either. I wasn't sure I would know how to "click" with a little boy or how to play with a little boy. I am terrible at sports, have embarrassingly little (Jong would say no) hand-eye coordination and cannot for the life of me make imitation sounds (you know how boys are really good at making up noises that sound like trains, planes and automobiles? Well, I can't do that). On the other hand, I know how to play tea and play with dolls, etc.
I still don't know for sure whether I would be any good at playing with little boys but I do know I have no problem clicking with little Isaac. I think it is different loving a little boy compared with loving a little girl. It would have been very interesting to see how it is to love a little boy and little girl at the same time if Rachel had stayed with us. I mean, of course I love Rachel but I am talking about loving them while watching them grow. Before I get too lost, what I am trying to get at is as I watch Isaac grow, I really feel my love for him growing more and more each day. I am falling more and more in love with him. It always amazes me how one can keep falling more and more in love with someone every day. You think you can't love a person any more but you still keep falling more and more in love with him - and I have been blessed with this kind of love with my husband. So imagine how overwhelming it is to be SO blessed by God for me to be able to fall more and more in love with 2 wonderful guys each day. ^_^
Since Jong is gone for the week and I need both of my hands when I hold Isaac, I probably won't have any more videos of me holding Isaac this coming week. Here is some video from Sunday with both Jong and I holding little Isaac. By the way, Isaac is really growing. Isaac's foot is now the length of my thumb (starting from the joint between my thumb and my second finger). Oh and have I shared before that Isaac just LOVES foot massages?
In Christ,
Sonia
Sunday, July 16, 2006
We held Isaac inside the incubator today
Dear all,
Both Jong and I got a chance to hold Isaac up inside his isolette today! It was really great to be able to hold him up even if it was just inside the isolette. Jong got to do it first while I was pumping in another room so that by the time I got out, he has already been doing it for a while. I only got some pictures of him holding Isaac and not a video. I know Isaac has been held up by the nurses and the doctor before but he still seemed very surprised in the beginning and looked really funny as he didn't seem to know what to do with his hands. He then settled down and started really enjoying it.
I also got to change his diaper for the first time today. Compared to holding him up, it wasn't as big a deal. We will not be sharing pictures or videos of that activity to protect the little that is left of Isaac's dignity and privacy. ^_^
We also got a chance to talk to Dr. Ishii today. Isaac is doing pretty good and had some slight improvement in his lungs. We also asked Dr. Ishii about one concern we have been having lately - which is that we still haven't heard Isaac's voice since his ventilator has been out (we have only heard very, very soft squeaks so far). Dr. Ishii didn't seem too concerned at this point as Isaac's lungs are still rather weak and he was on the ventilator for so so long but please do pray for his voice.
Here is a picture of Isaac that Jong captured that made Isaac looked like he was sticking his tongue out at me.
The following video is mostly of me holding Isaac. To any French Prayer Warriors for Isaac out there, please forgive me for my Simpsons joke. I can only blame Jong who has successfully corrupted my mind with bad jokes after all these years of marriage to him. ^_^
Take care and have a blessed Sunday,
Sonia
Both Jong and I got a chance to hold Isaac up inside his isolette today! It was really great to be able to hold him up even if it was just inside the isolette. Jong got to do it first while I was pumping in another room so that by the time I got out, he has already been doing it for a while. I only got some pictures of him holding Isaac and not a video. I know Isaac has been held up by the nurses and the doctor before but he still seemed very surprised in the beginning and looked really funny as he didn't seem to know what to do with his hands. He then settled down and started really enjoying it.
I also got to change his diaper for the first time today. Compared to holding him up, it wasn't as big a deal. We will not be sharing pictures or videos of that activity to protect the little that is left of Isaac's dignity and privacy. ^_^We also got a chance to talk to Dr. Ishii today. Isaac is doing pretty good and had some slight improvement in his lungs. We also asked Dr. Ishii about one concern we have been having lately - which is that we still haven't heard Isaac's voice since his ventilator has been out (we have only heard very, very soft squeaks so far). Dr. Ishii didn't seem too concerned at this point as Isaac's lungs are still rather weak and he was on the ventilator for so so long but please do pray for his voice.
Here is a picture of Isaac that Jong captured that made Isaac looked like he was sticking his tongue out at me.
The following video is mostly of me holding Isaac. To any French Prayer Warriors for Isaac out there, please forgive me for my Simpsons joke. I can only blame Jong who has successfully corrupted my mind with bad jokes after all these years of marriage to him. ^_^Take care and have a blessed Sunday,
Sonia
Saturday, July 15, 2006
My two boys
Hi all,
I don't have anything new to report. But thought I would just share some pictures from Thursday's and Friday's visits. ^_^
Isaac was moving around a lot tonight and at times he tried so hard to move up (towards the front of the incubator) that he almost lifted his own head!
Isaac's scar has been healing very well. We are very thankful to his heart surgeon, Dr. Ozawa, who took extra good care to sew his incision up very nicely. Its amazing because the scar from my C-section from over 3 months ago looks so much worse than Isaac's scar from his heart surgery from just about 3 weeks ago.
When Isaac is awake, he is really curious nowadays and keeps looking around him. So we asked for a little toy for him to look at and he got this little red fish. (We are not allowed to bring in anything ourselves.)
The following two pictures show what happens when I am pumping and I let my big boy supervise my little boy and my big boy gets bored because his little boy is sleeping a little too nice and soundly. ^_^
Have a good weekend!
Sonia
I don't have anything new to report. But thought I would just share some pictures from Thursday's and Friday's visits. ^_^
Isaac was moving around a lot tonight and at times he tried so hard to move up (towards the front of the incubator) that he almost lifted his own head!
Isaac's scar has been healing very well. We are very thankful to his heart surgeon, Dr. Ozawa, who took extra good care to sew his incision up very nicely. Its amazing because the scar from my C-section from over 3 months ago looks so much worse than Isaac's scar from his heart surgery from just about 3 weeks ago.
When Isaac is awake, he is really curious nowadays and keeps looking around him. So we asked for a little toy for him to look at and he got this little red fish. (We are not allowed to bring in anything ourselves.)
The following two pictures show what happens when I am pumping and I let my big boy supervise my little boy and my big boy gets bored because his little boy is sleeping a little too nice and soundly. ^_^
Have a good weekend!Sonia
Friday, July 14, 2006
No Kangaroo Care today
I just called the hospital and found out that kangaroo care is a no go today. :(
I am quite disappointed but I understand that God has been teaching me patience and that I need to wait patiently for Him to let things to happen at the right time. The nurse said I might be able to kangaroo Isaac sometime after mid next week. It didn't come as a complete surprise for me as the oxygen in Isaac's incubator is still kept at 30% and he still has difficulty breathing on his own sometime. But it was still disappointing.
The nurse did say that she will show me how to change Isaac's diapers and let me hold him up in the incubator tomorrow. So that is something to look forward to I guess.
Sonia
I am quite disappointed but I understand that God has been teaching me patience and that I need to wait patiently for Him to let things to happen at the right time. The nurse said I might be able to kangaroo Isaac sometime after mid next week. It didn't come as a complete surprise for me as the oxygen in Isaac's incubator is still kept at 30% and he still has difficulty breathing on his own sometime. But it was still disappointing.
The nurse did say that she will show me how to change Isaac's diapers and let me hold him up in the incubator tomorrow. So that is something to look forward to I guess.
Sonia
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Pinkie Feeding
Dear all,
Isaac was breathing a teeny bit better than yesterday, just like he was breathing a teeny bit better yesterday than the day before that. Just like Jong and I are learning more each day how to trust God more one day at a time. You can tell he is really trying. At times, he almost looks like he is panting but he is trying very hard to breathe on his own. We are so proud of our little boy! He weighed 1,392 grams today and is officially over 3 lbs now (3 lbs 1 ounce)!!!! Yeah for Isaac!!!!!! ^_^
I don't think I mentioned this before but we are now officially allowed to pinkie feed Isaac. I think this is my favorite video so far.
Take care and God bless,
Sonia
Isaac was breathing a teeny bit better than yesterday, just like he was breathing a teeny bit better yesterday than the day before that. Just like Jong and I are learning more each day how to trust God more one day at a time. You can tell he is really trying. At times, he almost looks like he is panting but he is trying very hard to breathe on his own. We are so proud of our little boy! He weighed 1,392 grams today and is officially over 3 lbs now (3 lbs 1 ounce)!!!! Yeah for Isaac!!!!!! ^_^
I don't think I mentioned this before but we are now officially allowed to pinkie feed Isaac. I think this is my favorite video so far.
Take care and God bless,
Sonia
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
More Videos
Hi all,
Our little Isaac is still trying very hard to breathe on his own. They are now keeping the oxygen level in the incubator at 30% and he needs to have an oxygen mask blowing oxygen in front of his face but at least he does not have something attached to his face, which makes him happier. He still moves a lot and his oxygen saturation levels do drop when he moves but most of the time it is not crashing as badly as on Sunday. He weighed 1,332 grams (2.9 lbs) yesterday. He is now getting 25 ml of milk per feeding (8 times a day).
I uploaded more video so I will let the video clips speak for themselves.
Before I post the video links, here is a picture I like a lot from today (that I took of course) - I like the contrast between Jong's hand and Isaac's little widdle hand. ^_^
This video clip is a shorter clip from Sunday. It zooms into Isaac's face a little more:
This video clip is from today - a bit longer and Jong and I sound pretty silly on it. Oh well:
Blessings,
Sonia
Our little Isaac is still trying very hard to breathe on his own. They are now keeping the oxygen level in the incubator at 30% and he needs to have an oxygen mask blowing oxygen in front of his face but at least he does not have something attached to his face, which makes him happier. He still moves a lot and his oxygen saturation levels do drop when he moves but most of the time it is not crashing as badly as on Sunday. He weighed 1,332 grams (2.9 lbs) yesterday. He is now getting 25 ml of milk per feeding (8 times a day).
I uploaded more video so I will let the video clips speak for themselves.
Before I post the video links, here is a picture I like a lot from today (that I took of course) - I like the contrast between Jong's hand and Isaac's little widdle hand. ^_^
This video clip is a shorter clip from Sunday. It zooms into Isaac's face a little more:
This video clip is from today - a bit longer and Jong and I sound pretty silly on it. Oh well:
Blessings,
Sonia
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Little harder to breathe on his own today
Dear all,
Isaac was having a little harder time breathing on his own today. This was at least when we were there. At times, his oxygen saturation levels dropped to the high 50 percentiles. He is trying very hard though and at times looked quite tired. On one hand its been totally amazing that Isaac is already breathing on his own; but now that he is breathing on his own, its also hard for us not to really want him to do really well and not have too much of a setback, so today was just a bit discouraging. Please pray for Isaac to continue to have the strength and the energy to, and to remember to continuously to, breathe deep breaths.
When the nurse was flipping Isaac over, she held Isaac up for a bit for us to see him face up. I guess Isaac is still not quite used to being picked up and looked a little grumpy.
Our little boy does love blowing bubbles!
The nurse ended up having to put this oxygen dispenser right in front of his face to help him breathe a little better.
In Christ,
Sonia
Isaac was having a little harder time breathing on his own today. This was at least when we were there. At times, his oxygen saturation levels dropped to the high 50 percentiles. He is trying very hard though and at times looked quite tired. On one hand its been totally amazing that Isaac is already breathing on his own; but now that he is breathing on his own, its also hard for us not to really want him to do really well and not have too much of a setback, so today was just a bit discouraging. Please pray for Isaac to continue to have the strength and the energy to, and to remember to continuously to, breathe deep breaths.
When the nurse was flipping Isaac over, she held Isaac up for a bit for us to see him face up. I guess Isaac is still not quite used to being picked up and looked a little grumpy.
Our little boy does love blowing bubbles!
The nurse ended up having to put this oxygen dispenser right in front of his face to help him breathe a little better.
In Christ,Sonia
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Our Little Miracle is breathing on his own!
Dear all,
I called Dr. Ishii yesterday and he said that he was going to try to take off Isaac's DPAP today and see how stable he can be breathing on his own today. So we were very happy to see that Isaac was in fact breathing on his own when we got to the hospital at 2 pm! The only thing they are doing to assist Isaac's breathing right now is to maintain the oxygen level in the incubator at 27% (as opposed to normal air's 21%). Dr. Ishii said Isaac was pretty tired today from breathing on his own so he asked us not to touch Isaac too much. Jong did end up touching Isaac a little towards the end. Isaac looked so much happier with only a feeding tube going down his nose. No nose mask, no ventilator tube going down his throat, no IV. He is almost completely free! Isaac slept very sweetly almost the entire time we were there until the very end when he opened his eyes a bit.
We are still not allowed to hold Isaac yet. They want to wait till he is more stable. But they said that if things are stable, I can finally do kangaroo care with Isaac on Friday! The doctor said that if everything goes well, Isaac should be able to come home in 2 months.
Last night's visit was very different. They put this different DPAP nose thing on him which is basically a small retangular box with two holes that are placed directly in front of his nostrils. Boy did Isaac hate that thing! He did everything he could to get the thing off of his nose. He tried using his little hand but couldn't really do it. He then moved his head to try to knock it off and was quite successful with that. He kept crying and crying poor thing. The nurse allowed us to place the palm of our hands under Isaac's head to hold his head up just a little bit which did make Isaac a little calmer.
The first picture is of Isaac on the DPAP thing. The rest are from today. This is the first time we have seen him with almost an entirely "clean" face - only one little tape left! We still can't figure out whether he looks more like Jong or me. I am thinking Jong except for the big cheeks which are defintely mine since I had big cheeks when I was a kid too.
We are so thankful for how much God has watched over little Isaac.
God bless,
Sonia
I called Dr. Ishii yesterday and he said that he was going to try to take off Isaac's DPAP today and see how stable he can be breathing on his own today. So we were very happy to see that Isaac was in fact breathing on his own when we got to the hospital at 2 pm! The only thing they are doing to assist Isaac's breathing right now is to maintain the oxygen level in the incubator at 27% (as opposed to normal air's 21%). Dr. Ishii said Isaac was pretty tired today from breathing on his own so he asked us not to touch Isaac too much. Jong did end up touching Isaac a little towards the end. Isaac looked so much happier with only a feeding tube going down his nose. No nose mask, no ventilator tube going down his throat, no IV. He is almost completely free! Isaac slept very sweetly almost the entire time we were there until the very end when he opened his eyes a bit.
We are still not allowed to hold Isaac yet. They want to wait till he is more stable. But they said that if things are stable, I can finally do kangaroo care with Isaac on Friday! The doctor said that if everything goes well, Isaac should be able to come home in 2 months.
Last night's visit was very different. They put this different DPAP nose thing on him which is basically a small retangular box with two holes that are placed directly in front of his nostrils. Boy did Isaac hate that thing! He did everything he could to get the thing off of his nose. He tried using his little hand but couldn't really do it. He then moved his head to try to knock it off and was quite successful with that. He kept crying and crying poor thing. The nurse allowed us to place the palm of our hands under Isaac's head to hold his head up just a little bit which did make Isaac a little calmer.
The first picture is of Isaac on the DPAP thing. The rest are from today. This is the first time we have seen him with almost an entirely "clean" face - only one little tape left! We still can't figure out whether he looks more like Jong or me. I am thinking Jong except for the big cheeks which are defintely mine since I had big cheeks when I was a kid too.
We are so thankful for how much God has watched over little Isaac.
God bless,
Sonia
Friday, July 07, 2006
Pls continue to pray for Jennifer and Triplets
Dear all,
I just received the following update from Jennifer's husband. Please continue to pray for them - please pray for the babies to stay inside Jennifer with reaccumulated fluids as long as possible. Thank you very much.
Sonia
I just received the following update from Jennifer's husband. Please continue to pray for them - please pray for the babies to stay inside Jennifer with reaccumulated fluids as long as possible. Thank you very much.
Sonia
Dear Sonia,
Things seem to have taken a turn for the worse. This afternoon the bleeding and leaking started again. Jennifer says the bleeding wasn't as bad, and after I got to the hospital, the leaking grew less and less, but still hasn't quite gone away. Also, she still has bleeding but it seems to be brown (old blood), so we're still hoping for a miracle. Since she seems to do better with me around, I'm going to take some more time off work and will try to spend the weekend at the hospital if they will let me.
Unfortunately, Jennifer is only 20 weeks, 3 days right now. If the bleeding stops and the fluid levels in the sacs replenish themselves by the next ultrasound on Saturday, then the doctor says she has a chance of carrying the pregnancy another four or five weeks, at which point they may be able to save the babies.
The good news is that Jennifer isn't in any pain. No contractions as far as we can tell, no abdominal cramps, and the doctors say there isn't a membrane rupture, but probably there is a slow leak. Also, she can feel all of the babies moving (I was able to feel them kicking today), and they continue to have strong heartbeats.
I told Jennifer that Isaac was off of his respirator and she was so happy she started crying.
I don't know when we'll be able to get another message to you since I'll be at the hospital without internet access this weekend, but please continue to pray for us
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Yum Yum
Dear all,
I didn't post any updates yesterday because Jong arrived in Tokyo in the evening and we were able to get the hospital to let us see Isaac a little later so that Jong can make it as well. So I got home pretty late. Isaac is still on DPAP and has been pretty stable on it. The only concerns that Jong and I have are it seems like the DPAP nose mask is flattening Isaac's very cute button nose and Isaac really doesn't seem to like the mask on his nose! So we keep telling Isaac he has to get better faster so that he can graduate from the DPAP nose mask to a nasal canular or, even better, nothing at all!
Isaac was pretty funny tonight. The nurse changed his diapers in the beginning of our visit while Isaac was sleeping on his tummy and our Isaac trying to be helpful as always, immediately stuck his butt high up so that the nurse can easily take his old diaper off and put on a new diaper. Its too bad we didn't have the camera out to capture this because its really, really cute!
He moved around a lot tonight. I was expressing milk from the side of the incubator Isaac's back was facing while Jong was on the side facing Isaac. After I finished pumping, I went over the other side and noticed that Isaac had sidled towards Jong's side of the incubator and was very close to the incubator porthole. I guess he wanted to get close to daddy! ^_^
Its been a lot harder to capture good pictures with his nasal mask on. But we got a pretty good video tonight (now that I have figured out how to put video on here). This is Jong giving Isaac some of my milk with a Q-tip. Now you all get to hear Jong's baby voice too! ^_^
Take care,
Sonia
I didn't post any updates yesterday because Jong arrived in Tokyo in the evening and we were able to get the hospital to let us see Isaac a little later so that Jong can make it as well. So I got home pretty late. Isaac is still on DPAP and has been pretty stable on it. The only concerns that Jong and I have are it seems like the DPAP nose mask is flattening Isaac's very cute button nose and Isaac really doesn't seem to like the mask on his nose! So we keep telling Isaac he has to get better faster so that he can graduate from the DPAP nose mask to a nasal canular or, even better, nothing at all!
Isaac was pretty funny tonight. The nurse changed his diapers in the beginning of our visit while Isaac was sleeping on his tummy and our Isaac trying to be helpful as always, immediately stuck his butt high up so that the nurse can easily take his old diaper off and put on a new diaper. Its too bad we didn't have the camera out to capture this because its really, really cute!
He moved around a lot tonight. I was expressing milk from the side of the incubator Isaac's back was facing while Jong was on the side facing Isaac. After I finished pumping, I went over the other side and noticed that Isaac had sidled towards Jong's side of the incubator and was very close to the incubator porthole. I guess he wanted to get close to daddy! ^_^
Its been a lot harder to capture good pictures with his nasal mask on. But we got a pretty good video tonight (now that I have figured out how to put video on here). This is Jong giving Isaac some of my milk with a Q-tip. Now you all get to hear Jong's baby voice too! ^_^
Take care,
Sonia
Please pray for my friend Jennifer and her triplets
Dear all,
I just received news that a friend of mine who is pregnant with triplets started having pregnancy complications over the weekend. Can you please join me to pray for Jennifer, her husband and their triplets? I am very saddened that they are going through this but I know our God is a God of miracles of healing. This is an email I just received from Jennifer's husband:
Thank you very much for your prayers for this family.
Sonia
I just received news that a friend of mine who is pregnant with triplets started having pregnancy complications over the weekend. Can you please join me to pray for Jennifer, her husband and their triplets? I am very saddened that they are going through this but I know our God is a God of miracles of healing. This is an email I just received from Jennifer's husband:
I am Jennifer's husband. She wanted me to write to you and let you know what was going on.
Last Friday, she had some bleeding and had to go in to the hospital. She was kept overnight for observation, but the doctor's couldn't find the source of the bleeding so they sent her home on Saturday. Monday night, July 3rd, she started leaking fluid, so we went back to the hospital. They did some tests but could not confirm whether it was amniotic fluid. We spent the Fourth of July in the hosptial waiting for her high risk OB to come back from vacation, and she kept losing blood and fluid in the meantime. This morning, we had an ultrasound which showed low but adequate fluid levels around each of the three babies. The doctor told us he had no optimism that Jennifer could continue this pregnancy, and told us we could either end it now, which is not an option for us, or risk having premature babies born at 24-25 weeks. He told us that in the later case, they have only a 30-50% chance of survival and would likely suffer from problems related to premature birth.
We started calling our friends and family from the hosptial, as well as our churches, and asked people to pray for Jennifer and the babies. This afternoon, Jennifer's bleeding stopped and she has also stopped leaking fluid. When the doctor spoke with her this afternoon, it sounded like he changed his mind because he now says that he is optimistic. We have another ultrasound scheduled for Saturday, and hopefully if there is no more bleeding and fluid loss, the levels of fluid in the amniotic sacs will look better. If so, he is now saying that there is even a chance that she could come home on strict bed rest.
I know that you and Jennifer have become friends, and we have been praying for Isaac. We also had our group at church praying for Isaac, and you may rest assured that we will continue to pray for him. I'm sure Jennifer would appreciate it if you could find time to pray for our three children as well. Your story has already been a great inspiration to us and serves as a reminder that miracles can come true.
Thank you very much for your prayers for this family.
Sonia
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
3 Month Birthday
Dear all,
Today we celebrate the 3 month birthday of our babies, while a lot of us are also celebrating the birth of our nation. Today would have been the 36th week of my pregnancy, the week that, if everything had gone perfectly in our pregnancy, would very likely have been the week that our doctor would have wanted to schedule our C-section because of our twin pregnancy. In the beginning of our pregnancy, I had hoped that our babies could be born on the Fourth of July so that they can celebrate their birthday with fireworks each day. So today is a bittersweet day for me. However, there is no sense in dwelling in would have's or could have's. What has happened has all happened in accordance with the will of our Lord, who has blessed us so richly with His overflowing love and grace every single step of our way. So we praise God today for everything He has done and everything He will do.
I would like to share a letter I wrote to my son and daughter with you today. However, before I do that, I first want to share some updates on Isaac. Isaac is still stable on DPAP. He is also IV-free today for the first time after having IVs in since shortly before his heart surgery. His CRP level was at 0.3 today (which is the same as yesterday). He also had his eyes examined today and assuming I understood the nurse correctly as she spoke to me entirely in Japanese, Isaac's ROP has improved, so at least for now, there is no need for another laser surgery - Praise the Lord! We pray that the Lord will continue to heal his ROP and CLD. Isaac weighed 1,273 grams today.
Here is the letter that I would like to share with you:
July 4, 2006
To my dearest Isaac and Rachel,
My son, my courageous little soldier, and my daughter, my brave darling angel, you were born 3 months ago today. You were both still so tiny and fragile and were forced to face this harsh world so much earlier than you were supposed to. On top of that, my dear darling Rachel, you had already suffered for 5 weeks inside me without any water around you to let you move or grow properly. But you were both so incredibly amazing strong and brave.
Rachel, I know you tried as hard as you could. Thank you so much for making sure that mommy could meet you before you finished your work here on earth and went to heaven to be cuddled and loved by our Lord Jesus. Thank you so much for being so strong inside mommy so that your brother Isaac can stay here to be with mommy and daddy. Mommy will always cherish the time I had with you, both when you were inside me and when you were outside on this earth. I am so happy that you have been dancing and singing with angels in heaven for 3 months already. I am glad that there is no more suffering for you and that you are right now experiencing the full extent of God'’s love.
Isaac. What can mommy say? You have been such an incredible little boy. You have been so brave and so strong. Every day you amaze me with your strength and perseverance. Every day you inspire me with your zeal for life.
God has taught mommy so much through the two of you -– faith, surrender, patience, love, perseverance, courage, and more patience. I have been blessed beyond measure because of the two of you.
My dear beloved son Isaac, I am praying so hard that God will continue to teach your mommy and daddy how to be Christ-like parents so that we can show you just how awesome, how great, how merciful, how faithful, how loving, how powerful and how good our Lord and God is. I pray on my knees before our Heavenly Father that, even now, your heart can already grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and that your heart will know this love that surpasses knowledge - so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. And I pray that you will grow up loving our Lord our God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind.
Rachel, you already know the full measure of our Lord'’s love and you know it so much better than mommy and daddy can. Please whisper and explain this great love of Christ to your brother so that he can know and understand it too.
I thank the Lord each day for blessing me with the two of you. I thank the Lord each day for keeping one of you in heaven and allowing us to keep one of you here on earth for a while longer. I thank the Lord each day for making this mommy'’s heart full.
Happy 3-Month Birthday, my loves.
Mommy
Today we celebrate the 3 month birthday of our babies, while a lot of us are also celebrating the birth of our nation. Today would have been the 36th week of my pregnancy, the week that, if everything had gone perfectly in our pregnancy, would very likely have been the week that our doctor would have wanted to schedule our C-section because of our twin pregnancy. In the beginning of our pregnancy, I had hoped that our babies could be born on the Fourth of July so that they can celebrate their birthday with fireworks each day. So today is a bittersweet day for me. However, there is no sense in dwelling in would have's or could have's. What has happened has all happened in accordance with the will of our Lord, who has blessed us so richly with His overflowing love and grace every single step of our way. So we praise God today for everything He has done and everything He will do.
I would like to share a letter I wrote to my son and daughter with you today. However, before I do that, I first want to share some updates on Isaac. Isaac is still stable on DPAP. He is also IV-free today for the first time after having IVs in since shortly before his heart surgery. His CRP level was at 0.3 today (which is the same as yesterday). He also had his eyes examined today and assuming I understood the nurse correctly as she spoke to me entirely in Japanese, Isaac's ROP has improved, so at least for now, there is no need for another laser surgery - Praise the Lord! We pray that the Lord will continue to heal his ROP and CLD. Isaac weighed 1,273 grams today.
Here is the letter that I would like to share with you:
July 4, 2006
To my dearest Isaac and Rachel,
My son, my courageous little soldier, and my daughter, my brave darling angel, you were born 3 months ago today. You were both still so tiny and fragile and were forced to face this harsh world so much earlier than you were supposed to. On top of that, my dear darling Rachel, you had already suffered for 5 weeks inside me without any water around you to let you move or grow properly. But you were both so incredibly amazing strong and brave.
Rachel, I know you tried as hard as you could. Thank you so much for making sure that mommy could meet you before you finished your work here on earth and went to heaven to be cuddled and loved by our Lord Jesus. Thank you so much for being so strong inside mommy so that your brother Isaac can stay here to be with mommy and daddy. Mommy will always cherish the time I had with you, both when you were inside me and when you were outside on this earth. I am so happy that you have been dancing and singing with angels in heaven for 3 months already. I am glad that there is no more suffering for you and that you are right now experiencing the full extent of God'’s love.
Isaac. What can mommy say? You have been such an incredible little boy. You have been so brave and so strong. Every day you amaze me with your strength and perseverance. Every day you inspire me with your zeal for life.
God has taught mommy so much through the two of you -– faith, surrender, patience, love, perseverance, courage, and more patience. I have been blessed beyond measure because of the two of you.
My dear beloved son Isaac, I am praying so hard that God will continue to teach your mommy and daddy how to be Christ-like parents so that we can show you just how awesome, how great, how merciful, how faithful, how loving, how powerful and how good our Lord and God is. I pray on my knees before our Heavenly Father that, even now, your heart can already grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and that your heart will know this love that surpasses knowledge - so that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. And I pray that you will grow up loving our Lord our God with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind.
Rachel, you already know the full measure of our Lord'’s love and you know it so much better than mommy and daddy can. Please whisper and explain this great love of Christ to your brother so that he can know and understand it too.
I thank the Lord each day for blessing me with the two of you. I thank the Lord each day for keeping one of you in heaven and allowing us to keep one of you here on earth for a while longer. I thank the Lord each day for making this mommy'’s heart full.
Happy 3-Month Birthday, my loves.
Mommy
Tiny Update
I just called the hospital (Tues morning Japan time/Mon evening US time) and Isaac's nurse said he is stable and is still on DPAP!!! Thanks for all of your prayers and please continue to pray for Isaac to breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. ^_^
Sonia
Sonia
First Attempt at Posting a Video
Okay, I am not really sure that this would work but let me try anyway.
I did not want to load the whole video because of the really embarrassingly lame baby voice I was using to talk to Isaac. Especially since most of you have never heard my voice before (and I think most of you who know me have not heard my baby voice either since I have only used it with Jong and now Isaac). But I don't know how to edit the video without Jong around so I guess I have to swallow my pride to share this with you! ^_^
I did not want to load the whole video because of the really embarrassingly lame baby voice I was using to talk to Isaac. Especially since most of you have never heard my voice before (and I think most of you who know me have not heard my baby voice either since I have only used it with Jong and now Isaac). But I don't know how to edit the video without Jong around so I guess I have to swallow my pride to share this with you! ^_^
Monday, July 03, 2006
PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE GOD!!!
I got a BIG SURPRISE today when I arrived at Isaac's incubator. The nurse said to me in Japanese, can you see? I was like see what? I thought she was talking about this funny looking orange cap they put on his head that made him look like a gangster or a rap star. Then she pointed to his mouth and his nose and I saw that his ventilation tube is out!!!!! Instead, they have a DPAP (Demand Positive Airway Pressure) thingy (don't know what the correct term is) on his nose!!! I almost started jumping up and down in NICU!!!!
I had to look up what DPAP was after I came home and found this:
Demand Positive Airway Pressure (DPAP) - this machine monitors breathing. If spontaneous respiration doesn't occur within eight seconds, DPAP will provide the patient a 'breath' at whatever pressure flow necessary to move air into the lungs. Indications for DPAP usage is intolerable use of CPAP.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) - a machine which administers a continuous flow of air under pressure via a nose mask to keep airways open and unobstructed.
So Isaac now has a oxygen mask like thing but it just covers his nose. In any case, Dr. Ishii showed up shortly and told me that when they first attempted to take the ventilator out at 10:30 am this morning (I wasn't clear on whether he took it out without any other oxygen help or whether he gave him CPAP), Isaac wasn't doing so well with the CO2 level in his blood rising and him having bradycardia (his heart rate dropping too slow). But his CO2 level and bradycardia improved after they gave him DPAP. Dr. Ishii is on duty for 24 hours and will monitor Isaac. If his CO2 level improves, his SpO2 (oxygen saturation) stays stable and he doesn't have too many bradycardia episodes, they will keep him on DPAP. If not, they will need to put him back on the ventilator.
Please pray for Isaac to keep breathing on his own (and to remember to breathe on his own - i.e. no apnea), that his CO2 leve will improve and that he will not have any bradycardia or other irregular heartbeat episodes.
I talked to Jong this afternoon (his night time as he is currently on PDT) and Jong told me with a lot of confidence that I will find Isaac breathing much better tonight because he prayed for Isaac a lot during his day today. I thought, that's nice, hopefully his SpO2 level would be better today. I did not even in my wildest imagination expect to find him off of the ventilator tonight! Praise God! We just never know when God will answer our prayers. Sometimes (and a lot of times this past 3 months), He wants to teach us patience and tells us its going to take a while to answer our specific requests. But sometimes, He just answers our specific requests so quickly we can hardly believe it. One thing we are assured of is He has and He will always answer our prayers.
It takes quite a lot of energy for Isaac to breathe on his own so he was sleeping most of the time I was there. Please pray for him to continue to build his strength and stamina. Also, this is more of a silly request - when his eyes were open, he kept trying to look down at his nose at the DPAO mask on his nose - so please pray that he won't get cross-eyed trying to look down his nose too much! ^_^
Of all days, I forgot to put the memory card back into our camera today so I couldn't take any pictures. But I did take a short video. I will see if I have time after dinner to try to digitize it and see if I can figure out how to post it (assuming that I don't sound as silly as I usually do when I do my "baby talk" to Isaac). If I sound really silly, I might just try to capture some still shots from the video. ^_^
Thank you so very much for all of your prayers. Please do continue to pray for continued miraculous healing so that Isaac can come home soon!!!
P.S. Many of you may find this out before Isaac's daddy does since daddy is still sleeping as he is in California! ^_^
Sonia
I had to look up what DPAP was after I came home and found this:
Demand Positive Airway Pressure (DPAP) - this machine monitors breathing. If spontaneous respiration doesn't occur within eight seconds, DPAP will provide the patient a 'breath' at whatever pressure flow necessary to move air into the lungs. Indications for DPAP usage is intolerable use of CPAP.
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) - a machine which administers a continuous flow of air under pressure via a nose mask to keep airways open and unobstructed.
So Isaac now has a oxygen mask like thing but it just covers his nose. In any case, Dr. Ishii showed up shortly and told me that when they first attempted to take the ventilator out at 10:30 am this morning (I wasn't clear on whether he took it out without any other oxygen help or whether he gave him CPAP), Isaac wasn't doing so well with the CO2 level in his blood rising and him having bradycardia (his heart rate dropping too slow). But his CO2 level and bradycardia improved after they gave him DPAP. Dr. Ishii is on duty for 24 hours and will monitor Isaac. If his CO2 level improves, his SpO2 (oxygen saturation) stays stable and he doesn't have too many bradycardia episodes, they will keep him on DPAP. If not, they will need to put him back on the ventilator.
Please pray for Isaac to keep breathing on his own (and to remember to breathe on his own - i.e. no apnea), that his CO2 leve will improve and that he will not have any bradycardia or other irregular heartbeat episodes.
I talked to Jong this afternoon (his night time as he is currently on PDT) and Jong told me with a lot of confidence that I will find Isaac breathing much better tonight because he prayed for Isaac a lot during his day today. I thought, that's nice, hopefully his SpO2 level would be better today. I did not even in my wildest imagination expect to find him off of the ventilator tonight! Praise God! We just never know when God will answer our prayers. Sometimes (and a lot of times this past 3 months), He wants to teach us patience and tells us its going to take a while to answer our specific requests. But sometimes, He just answers our specific requests so quickly we can hardly believe it. One thing we are assured of is He has and He will always answer our prayers.
It takes quite a lot of energy for Isaac to breathe on his own so he was sleeping most of the time I was there. Please pray for him to continue to build his strength and stamina. Also, this is more of a silly request - when his eyes were open, he kept trying to look down at his nose at the DPAO mask on his nose - so please pray that he won't get cross-eyed trying to look down his nose too much! ^_^
Of all days, I forgot to put the memory card back into our camera today so I couldn't take any pictures. But I did take a short video. I will see if I have time after dinner to try to digitize it and see if I can figure out how to post it (assuming that I don't sound as silly as I usually do when I do my "baby talk" to Isaac). If I sound really silly, I might just try to capture some still shots from the video. ^_^
Thank you so very much for all of your prayers. Please do continue to pray for continued miraculous healing so that Isaac can come home soon!!!
P.S. Many of you may find this out before Isaac's daddy does since daddy is still sleeping as he is in California! ^_^
Sonia
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Sometimes Isaac pretends to be a sweet angel
Hi everyone,
I arrived to a very busy NICU today. It seems like there were at least one or two new admittances and all the NICU beds were filled. The last 2 patients they have put next to Isaac have all been 30 weekers and they all looks so massive compared to Isaac. Its hard to imagine that Isaac will become that big some day!
Isaac was sleeping sweetly when I first arrived but then the nurse had to switch him to the other side and he woke up. And boy was he a handful when he was awake! He is starting to really not like all the tape and tubes on his face and he keeps trying to use his fingers to take off the tapes. Then he somehow was able to catch on to the feeding tube going down his nose with his hand and he grabbed it and started yanking it out! He got a few cms out before I was able to stop him!! All the NICU nurses were busy running around taking care of other babies and I started squealing "No, No, No" to Isaac. I think I surprised the nurses. He is also very unhappy about the ventilation tube and he kept moving his head seemingly hoping that he could get that out too. So would you all pray that his lungs and his CLD will miraculously heal very soon? He is getting to the gestational age that he wants to be a lot more active and he just doesn't seem to want to be held back with all these tubes and things.
Unfortunately, the nurse told me that the chest x-ray they took yesterday showed that his lungs looked the same - with no improvement. The good news is his heart has gotten smaller. This is just from the nurse and not the doctor so I will have to wait to talk to the doctor and find out more details. However, I can see that his breathing has not really improved the past few days. His SpO2 levels (oxygen saturation levels) actually seemed more unstable today than yesterday. I guess his lungs have been more wet lately and the nurse showed me the yellow phlem that is coming out of it. This is causing him to have more difficulty breathing well. Its such a catch-22, the ventilator is making it hard for his lungs to heal because of the pressure it puts on his lungs but he can't breathe without the ventilator.
One piece of good news is that his CRP score went down a little today - to 0.9. Hopefully, the anti-biotics will really kill of this new bug. We don't know if his phlem is caused by the infection or just from allergies or irritation. I hope its because of the infection and that he will get better soon. I have seen him sneeze a few times the last few days including today. May be he has a cold? He is soooo cute when he sneeze though.
In any case, because he was such a trouble maker when he was awake, I was too busy trying to make sure he wasn't trying to pull his ventilation or feeding tube out when he was awake. I therefore only took pictures of him looking like a sweet angel when he was sleeping in the beginning and the end of my visit. The nurse said that he is usually even more of a trouble maker at night!
I am kind of bummed its Sunday night already. I really am not ready for Monday! I didn't do much this weekend but still feel like I haven't rested enough. Weekends just go by too quick! I only get Japanese holidays off but I so wish I could have July 4th off! ^_^
God bless,
Sonia
I arrived to a very busy NICU today. It seems like there were at least one or two new admittances and all the NICU beds were filled. The last 2 patients they have put next to Isaac have all been 30 weekers and they all looks so massive compared to Isaac. Its hard to imagine that Isaac will become that big some day!
Isaac was sleeping sweetly when I first arrived but then the nurse had to switch him to the other side and he woke up. And boy was he a handful when he was awake! He is starting to really not like all the tape and tubes on his face and he keeps trying to use his fingers to take off the tapes. Then he somehow was able to catch on to the feeding tube going down his nose with his hand and he grabbed it and started yanking it out! He got a few cms out before I was able to stop him!! All the NICU nurses were busy running around taking care of other babies and I started squealing "No, No, No" to Isaac. I think I surprised the nurses. He is also very unhappy about the ventilation tube and he kept moving his head seemingly hoping that he could get that out too. So would you all pray that his lungs and his CLD will miraculously heal very soon? He is getting to the gestational age that he wants to be a lot more active and he just doesn't seem to want to be held back with all these tubes and things.
Unfortunately, the nurse told me that the chest x-ray they took yesterday showed that his lungs looked the same - with no improvement. The good news is his heart has gotten smaller. This is just from the nurse and not the doctor so I will have to wait to talk to the doctor and find out more details. However, I can see that his breathing has not really improved the past few days. His SpO2 levels (oxygen saturation levels) actually seemed more unstable today than yesterday. I guess his lungs have been more wet lately and the nurse showed me the yellow phlem that is coming out of it. This is causing him to have more difficulty breathing well. Its such a catch-22, the ventilator is making it hard for his lungs to heal because of the pressure it puts on his lungs but he can't breathe without the ventilator.
One piece of good news is that his CRP score went down a little today - to 0.9. Hopefully, the anti-biotics will really kill of this new bug. We don't know if his phlem is caused by the infection or just from allergies or irritation. I hope its because of the infection and that he will get better soon. I have seen him sneeze a few times the last few days including today. May be he has a cold? He is soooo cute when he sneeze though.
In any case, because he was such a trouble maker when he was awake, I was too busy trying to make sure he wasn't trying to pull his ventilation or feeding tube out when he was awake. I therefore only took pictures of him looking like a sweet angel when he was sleeping in the beginning and the end of my visit. The nurse said that he is usually even more of a trouble maker at night!
I am kind of bummed its Sunday night already. I really am not ready for Monday! I didn't do much this weekend but still feel like I haven't rested enough. Weekends just go by too quick! I only get Japanese holidays off but I so wish I could have July 4th off! ^_^
God bless,Sonia
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