Pics...

Nov 27..

Our little guy is doing so well. This weekend he got out his perk line and for the first time does not have any IV's or anything!!! We are very excited about this as this is a big step for Dylan. So now the only nutrients he is getting is from his mommy's milk with fortifier!! It is so nice to see him without all of these lines running all over and around his bed, just him and his CPAP and that is it. He is loving the CPAP and staying at around 40-45 & oxygen with that. They have been able to lower his CPAP setting a little bit to which is great. He is now eating 24 cc's with extra fortifier and not having but trace residuals so that is better yet! Today they are giving him some iron with his feeding and an extra dose of Thyapholin to help with his oxygenaton. Mommy got to Kangaroo yesterday for abou 2 hours and when we had to put him back in his bed he was not a happy camper for about 45 minues or so, it made Brad and I feel terrible. But he calmed down and daddy finally changed his diaper for the first time!!!!! That was a big step! And when I went up to see Dylan on Friday night he was in a bouncy seat, yeah a bouncy seat. I about fell over!! The strap to hold him in had to be folded over 3 times so he would fit, it was so cute and for 2 1/2 hours he loved it!!! So we are so thankful for the prayers and keep them coming, they are truely what keeps us going and they are definetly working! Mommy and daddy got his room all put together with the wonderful gifts you all have got him, it is so cute. His bed looks more comfortable than ours, he will love it and we can't wait to have him home. Here are some pictures from the past week or so~ We love you Dylan, keep fighting buddy~

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! This is the first Thanksgiving for our little miracle Dylan and he is doing great! It is hard to imagine last year at this time we were in NYC for the Macy's parade and not even imagining where we would be this year at this time. Wow have our lives changed, and for the better I may add. Thanksgiving is surely a time of reflection, reflecting on our past, present and future and not knowing what any of those times may hold for us to be thankful for. We are sure thankful that we have had two beautiful boys that both have melted our hearts. One is in heaven holding strong for his little brother fighting thru each and every day here with his mommy and daddy! We have our family, here and together and we couldn't ask for a better day to reflect on each other.
Yesterday Dylan got his vent tube out of his throat and was put on CPAP!!!! Yeah!!! It was a wonderful day to be thankful for. He is loving it as well. It takes a little bit of time for him to get use to breathing on his own and realizing that he needs to breathe with his mouth closed so the oxygen he is getting doesn't escape out his mouth. He is sucking on a pacifier most of the time and doing great with it. This also helps to keep the air in and helping him have deep breaths. He is eating 18 cc's every 3 hours now which is great. He is only having from 0 to trace to a few cc residuals but that is okay, overall he is tolerating them well. The other thing that CPAP does is puts extra air into their tummy so it takes him a little bit to get use to that and eating all of his food. And another thing to be thankful for today is Brad got to Kangaroo with Dylan for the first time!!!!! This was definetly a precious moment. When I saw the love of my life all snuggled up Kangarooing with the other love of my life, my precious little boy, it melted my heart!! Pictures to come definetly!!!
So what a wonderful Thanksgiving for our Holub family and I hope it was for all of you as well. We have so many things to be thankful for, family, friends, healthy lives and much much more. We are mostly thankful that God has blessed us with a family and a new baby where as some people never have this opportunity to snuggle with a baby of their own. God has created wonderful things for us and is giving us the strength to get thru each and every day and live each day as if it was our last. God has blessed Dylan and is giving him the strength to keep fighting so he can come home soon and this is what our family is most Thankful for today~

Nov 18...

The past few days have been pretty good for our little man. The have stopped his antibiotics because they were feeling that his left shift or infection numbers were coming down nicely so last night at 10pm was the last dose. He has tolerated his feedings great. Today after rounds we are up to 14 cc's every 4 hours. This is almost 1/2 of an ounce and the most Dylan has ever had and so far he is tolerating them wonderfully and we want to continue on that path!! The other night they did a CT scan on his belly to make sure that everything was looking good and it was!! It was looking so good that they cancelled the upper GI test that they had scheduled for him to have on Thursday. The only thing they did see was the hernia which we already knew about. So this reassures us that there are no tummy issues!!! Yeah!!! That is big news so now we can just focus on the little guy eating, breathing good and growing!! Last night though Dylan had a couple of blood gases that wern't the best so they ended up going up on his vent settings a bit. This concerns mom and dad because they had been at the lowest they can go for the past 3 days. The nurse reassured me this morning that this is typical of a preemie baby and it doesn't mean anything that they are concerned about. His settings are still low just not the lowest like they were. So now we need to focus on him breathing good so we can get them back down and a step closer to CPAP. He is smiling a lot and awake a good amount of time but we like to have him sleep because that is when he grows the most!! So things are looking up and we love that. We are thinking we are on an even path closer to home~ We love you Dylan~

Nov 15...

Our baby is 2 months old today, Happy Birthday buddy! It seems like time has just flown by. Little buddy has been thru a lot these past two days but he is doing great. Yesterday his infection number CRP went up from 3.5 to 5 and it should be .5. So the doctors were a little concerned. They ended up putting a new perk line in his other leg because the leg where the other one came out from is pretty puffy and red but the swelling is going down. So they have been feeding him but he has had a few small residuals left in his tummy after each feeding. So they decided to do some further testing to make sure that his tummy is okay rather than waiting for something to happen if it is not okay. Plus his infection numbers went up a little rather than down yesterday so they were a little concerned. Last night they did a CT on him and he handled it well. The results are not back yet this afternoon. So today they wanted to do an upper GI well they packed him up and transported him to the area where they do that at and did a tummy x-ray. The x-ray showed he still had some contrast in him from the CT last night so they couldn't do the GI. So the had to pack him up and move him back to his room. They fed him hoping it will pass the rest of the contrast thru. Tomorrow morning they will do another tummy x-ray to make sure the contrast is gone and then do the GI tomorrow.
This morning his CRP is back to going down which is good. Today it is 3.7 but still showing there is infection in there. The results from the spinal tap they did the other day were negative which is great! He is still around the 4 pound range for weight, they have been giving him the lacix to have him pee off the fluid and he sure is! During the spinal tap he pee'd all over his bed, daddy was proud of his boy for that!! So we are waiting for these tests to get over with and tell us something if there is something to tell they can fix it and he can be on his way to growing and eating and coming home! The doctor made the comment Christmas is coming but we aren't pushing for that because we want him to be completely better so we don't have to go back there again, we want to keep him home once we get there! So keep fighting little man and we are praying like crazy for you~

Nov 13...

Today is a pretty good day. A little mishap overnight, Dylans "perk line" the line which goes from his leg to his heart to administer medicine thru, came out or went bad. Poor little guy, they have not yet decided if or when they will put another one in. The issue is that his IV's only last a few days and certain meds can only be administered thru a perk line rather than an IV. His weight is down 10 grams today but he still has some edema to pee out. He has pooped 3 times on his own which is a major ++!! They are now feeding him 4 cc's but every 3 hours instead of every 6. His infection is getting better though his numbers still show that it is there. His CRP is registering 3.5 and it should be .5 or so. So slowly it is getting out of his system. He started to open his eyes again today the nurse said, so we know he is feeling better. Those prayers and blessings are really working and keeping us going thru every day. When times get tough we just remember those people that are pulling for him and he fights his way thru everything~
Here are some pictures from the past week or so, volunteers at the hospital made this pumpkin hat and booties, they are in the baby book for sure!~

Nov 12...

Dylan is doing much better this weekend. His infection is still there but getting better. He has really started to pee out some of the fluid so he doesn't look so puffy and his weight today is 4 pounds 3 ounces. He has been able to lay back on his belly which he loves!!! His vent settings are now down to the lowest they can be before they take the tube out and put him back on C-PAP. He will surely love getting that tube out! Hopefully some time this week but the doctors want to be very sure before they do it, they don't want to have to re intubate him again. He is eating again, 4 cc's every 6 hours and tolerating them well. So basically we just wait for the infection to clear up completly and him to grow even more! He is more active now and hopefully this week mommy and daddy can hold him again. He is smiling and opened his eyes for the first time in 4 days, it was very nice to see them especially knowing he is feeling better. So we are on the road to going home and that is what we want. Prayers are definetly working and little buddy is still putting up a real big fight which we love~

Nov 8,9,10...

Poor baby Dylan cought another infection over the past few days. He had a bacterial infection in his trachea which turned into a blood infection. The second blood culture grew a certain form of ecoli. This is pretty serious in preemies. They had him originally on a broad spectrum antibiotic but when the second culture grew the ecoli the antibiotics he was on arn't specific for that. So yesterday they were able to change the medicines around to some that will specifically help treat that infection. Today he is doing better. He is peeing great whereas the other day he wasn't peeing much. His CRP and White blood cell count have started to slowly come down which verifies that the antibiotics are starting to work. He is pretty sick and uncomfortable so they have gave him a mild sedative to keep him calm and restful. From a resperatory standpoint he is doing good. They have not been able to come down on his settings because he is stick but they have not had to go up either which is even better. He is at 35-45% oxygen the past two days. Today they have started to feed him again, 4 cc's every 8 hours. They will start slow again to keep things moving along. So he is really fighting thru this, he is such a strong little boy. His weight is up to 4 pounds and 4 ounces with about 10-12 ounces of that being fluid. They want him to pee out a good amount of the fluid the other amount he will grow into. He looks good though, we just want him to get better and he will!! He is fighting and he has many people praying for him and watching him and strengthning him from heaven above! We love you little man and you will get better soon so mommy and daddy can hold you~

Nov 7...

Today is a pretty good day for the little man. He has a new conventional vent now, they didn't think he needed the high frequency anymore and so far he is loving it and is only on 30% oxygen. Mommy changed her first poopy diaper last night, that was good especially since he has gone on his own now without any glycerine! They were able to up his feedings to 11 cc's every 3 hours with fortifier!!! So his weight is up to 3 pounds and 6 ounces today, at least that is what the scale is showing. The scales are a little off today they are thinking and not just with Dylan so they are just closely monitoring his weight. He does have some edema still probably 100-150 grams or so but accoridng to his fluid intake and output the 3 pounds and 6 ounces may or may not add up. We do know he is sure growing so if the weight is off a little bit we still do know just by looking at him that he is definetly getting bigger. The doctors are impressed and it is very good that he is tolerating his feedings!!! He was very smiley for his mommy and daddy, he was alert and always peeks to make sure we are still there when we are quiet! He is very eager to come home soon and mommy and daddy just can't wait for that day to come! There is definetly several people including his big brother encouraging him and helping him get stronger every day~

One week later....

Sorry everyone we have been so busy and have not had a chance to update the blog. Dylan has had a great past week and is still doing great. The doctors have up'd his feedings to 9 cc's every 3 hours now. This is the most that Dylan has ever had and he is tolerating them great with only trace residuals every time. He is sure growing like a weed his weight is up to 2 pounds and 12 ounces now, he has been at that weight for a couple of days now. They are waiting another couple of days to re'add the fortifier back into his milk just to make sure that he tolerates the amount first before they add the extra calories. He is off of his antibiotics again so we just keep on praying that he continues to not get any other bugs. He has just a little bit of edema in his head and neck area but most of his weight is just him growing and getting bigger! For Halloween the group of volunteers the UIHC has made him a little pumpkin hat and booties, it was the cutest thing we have ever seen. Hopefully soon I can get some of those pictures posted on here, with his little chubber cheeks it fit him perfect. Brad was in a wedding this weekend in Galena so we were able to get away and enjoy each other for a little bit. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and just reassured our love for each other and how perfect our family is with our new little bundle of joy! So for now we are just watching him grow more and more every day and thanking god for all of the blessings we have had that are helping him stay healthy and get healthier. He is fighting and fighting and we know he has those from above helping him even more!! When we see him smile every day it just melts our hearts, the love we have for each other has now blossomed into our beautiful baby boy~