The Bruckners: Tuesday, July 3rd: The Waiting Game

Our devious little boy! :) (6/23/2012)

Yes, we realize it's been a while. Things have been a bit crazy and yet routine the past couple of weeks. Hopefully the pictures and video will make up for it! :)

Finnegan's Growth Chart (6/26/2012)

Since our last post, Finn has gained just under a pound, turned 2 months old, received his 2 month vaccinations, was circumcised, moved rooms twice, and we had our first baby shower. Additionally, Ian and I continue to prepare to bring him home. We've moved along on the check list for bringing Finn home:

1. Keep his temperature between 97.4 and 99.0 in an open bed for a couple days. <-- He's a champ with that.

2. Nipple (eat from a bottle) all of his feedings (100%) for 2-3 days at his given food range. <-- We're struggling with this one.

3. Not have any alarms (bradys or apneas) that require someone to touch him to come out of it for 2 hours. <-- So far, so good!

4. Sit in his car seat for 90 minutes without having any alarms (bradys or apneas). <-- Yet to be completed due to his lack of eating like a good boy!

~~5. Get circumcised (that's not necessary for him to go home... but it'll happen before he does)~~

6. Gain weight continually. <-- We know he's good at that one!

"Seriously guys... this is a lot of work!" (6/23/2012)

Here's the mommy and daddy to do list...some stuff got added:

~~1. Find doctor and visit~~
~~2. Bathe him on own~~
~~3. CPR Training~~
~~4. Watch various videos about home care of NICU babies~~
~~5. Monitor training (Finn will be going home on a heart and resp monitor)~~
6. Learn how to give Finn his meds (which will probably just be caffine and multivitamin)
7. Learn proper car seat installation

8. Get his room ready
9. Learn how to mix his fortified milk
10. Arrange follow-up appointments with nurses

I have been so anxious to bring him home, but I have to keep reminding myself that Finnegan should still be in my belly and we wouldn't even have been able to meet him until next month anyway, so the fact that I've had the past 2 months with him is a blessing.

That still doesn't mean that the waiting game in the NICU is at all fun, but being with Finnegan makes it all worth it. We had our first "family time" on the couch last week. We had to watch videos preparing us for taking Finn home, and we were able to take Finnegan off of his monitors and just snuggle with him on the couch while we laughed at the corny videos. It was such an insignificant thing, but it made me so happy.

This past week Finnegan started regressing with his eating. He went from nippling 80-100% of his bottles each day to between 50-70%. As he has gotten bigger, we and his nurses have noticed his tongue is becoming a big issue. This is as far as he is able to stick his tongue out because he is "tongue tied."

This is as far as Finn can stick his tongue out.

This means that the little piece of skin that attaches his tongue to his mouth is restricting movement which may be why he is having problems with breastfeeding and his bottles. His frendulum (the little piece of skin) is actually attached all the way to the tip of his tongue making it look kind of like a butt (pretty visible in the first picture). So, instead of holding on to the nipple with the front of his tongue, he tends to push on the nipple with the back of his tongue which pushes the milk outward as opposed to down his throat. Initially, the doctors were not willing to look into the possibility of a frendulotomy (a procedure where they snip the frendulum). Apparently, they don't do those anymore. After looking into it and becoming more concerned with his disinterest in bottles, Ian and I insisted and after about 5 days of sitting on it, the doctors finally agreed to get a consult from an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor. The ENT said that he would only feel comfortable doing the procedure if he was put under general anesthesia because of his age and size. This would mean that Finn would have to be intibated and put on a ventilator for the first time in his life. Obviously, we would only want to do this if it was absolutely necessary, so we have a new game plan... a lot of it deals with waiting. If Finn's nippling percentage goes down or stays the same by the weekend, the plans will be put in place to have the surgery the beginning of next week. If he starts to improve, they will hold of for another week before making any decisions. We were so frustrated this week because we thought this procedure would be so minor (which it usually is for term babies and toddlers), but we again forgot that Finnegan is a preemie. It's kind of hard to do because he's such a rock star.

Grandma and Grandpa Bruckner (6/24/2012)

On Tuesday of last week (6/24), Finnegan got circumcised. The whole procedure was minor, and his nurse and doctor were surprised by his behavior: he sucked on his pacifier and grunted at them the whole time. Not abnormal behavior for Finnegan, but surprising for a baby getting circumcised! It was around that time that Finnegan's eating started declining. The nurses reassured us that this is very common. Most babies just want to sleep after the procedure and will not want to eat for a couple days afterwards. Well, Finnegan decided he wanted to continue this for a lot longer. This is when our major concerns about his tongue sprang up.

Can we say... "milk drunk"? (6/28/2012)

In other news, Finnegan continues to change every day. His hair has started getting extra fluffy and I'm guessing it might start to show curls soon! His eyes continue to get bluer and his personality is growing faster than he is! He is attempting to pick up his head a lot and is quite the Houdini when it comes to getting out of a swaddle.

Finn decided he didn't want to listen to his nurse... Such attitude!

It doesn't look like Finnegan will reach his goal of being home before fireworks, but he at least will hopefully be home before his due date! ;)

Enjoy some other pictures and videos! :)