Miller's 7 Month Update

   Hey y'all! This past Tuesday(on my 21st birthday of all days) Miller officially turned 7 months old. Each new month is both exciting and bittersweet for this mama. Sometimes it hits me how big he's gotten as if I haven't been with him every day of his life. Well for those of you who are curious about what he's up to in his 7th month of life, here you go!

Weight: At his last appointment he weighted 16lb. 10oz.

Clothes: 6-9 months. I've already started finding some of his Fall clothes.

Diapers: Still in size 2.

Food: He has started on his pureed foods, and is still taking his G-tube feeds. He was doing extremely well with the pureed foods, his favorites being bananas, squash, and pears; but I think he has started teething so he's not quite as interested as he had been. But he loves a nice cold paci!

Favorite Toy: He is still enthralled by his triangle toy. He also loves his rings that can connect and disconnect.

Best Time of Day: The morning is still his favorite. He gets up, gets changed, eats, and usually takes a late morning nap.

Likes: Being held, cold pacis, being talked to, playing with his toys. I recently discovered how he likes to join in on exercise time with mommy. We'll do squats together and he just laughs and squeals, it's the cutest thing. He also loves The Gilmore Girls theme song. Every time it plays I'll sing it to him and he just stares at me and smiles.

Dislikes: Not being held, and not having a cold paci. Oh and bath time is still torture to him.

Milestones: He recently had what I call appointment day. He got all 3 doctors done in one day; neurologist, gastrointestinal doctor, and pediatrician. I love how convenient it is that his neurologist and GI are across the hall from each other. Is it sad that that's the kind of stuff I get excited about now?! Haha moving on. All of his appointments went wonderful, they couldn't have gone better! I was the happiest by what his neurologist said, which was his first appointment of the day. He said he was very surprised and pleased by Miller's progress. He also said he wasn't too concerned by what he was doing physically, that his social interaction and awareness is more important. And everyone says he doing very well socially. He is getting even more gorgeous hair, and his eyes are even bluer. So far this has been a fantastic month for Miller!

Miller's 6 Month Update

  Hey y'all! This past Sunday Miller officially turned 6 months old, half a year...is that crazy or what?! I thought I should do a little update on Miller, because you only turn half a year old once...

Weight: 16 lb. 2.6 oz.

Clothes: Currently rocking mostly 3-6 or 6 months sizing wise(although he's almost ready for the next size).

Diaper: Size 2 for a couple months now already.

Food: Still doing well with his g-tube, and he gets to start on purees very soon!

Favorite toy: He loves his Little Tikes Play Triangle, for some reason he thinks he can get it in his mouth. His "o" ball and keys are a close second.

Best time of day: The morning time! He loves to talk and play then.

Likes: Being held, having his diaper changed(surprisingly!), having his face wiped, talking, Daniel Tiger, being rocked to sleep in his rock 'n' play, books, eating his fingers.

Dislikes: Not being held, having to have saline drops, baths, tummy time(except when he gets to do his tummy time laying on mommy).

Milestones: Miller just had his first appointment with a neonatologist developmental doctor. It went very well! They said he is right on target for 5 months, which is what he is expected to be developmentally since he was a month early. As far as sitting up goes he's getting stronger. His little head is finally starting to get more hair on it.





Before Church this past Sunday!

 

Miller's NICU Story

  Hey y'all! On my last post I touched briefly on Miller and his medical condition, but I felt it deserved a more detailed post.
   You might remember the term HIE(hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy), otherwise known as oxygen deprivation. Basically that means that for a period of time before Miller was born his oxygen supply was cut off therefore causing injury to his brain. HIE does not go away, it is a permanent condition of the brain. We have no way of knowing exactly when it happened. Now HIE can happen after birth but the way Miller's HIE presented it was pretty clear that his injury was prior to birth. Miller was very blessed in the sense that a lot of babies born with this injury can have organ failure, but he didn't. In fact at birth he presented fairly well, he was only taken to the NICU as a precaution with his lungs.
   The only sign and the way we found out that anything was amiss came a few hours later when I was holding Miller for the first time. I looked down at him in my arms and something seemed off. I can't even really remember exactly how it looked, but I knew right away. "Is he having a seizure?". The neonatologist took a look at him, and said no and that it was normal newborn behavior. I didn't even think about it later, taking what he said for face value.
   Fast forward to the next day, we were taking my aunt and cousin back to see Miller. We had just entered the NICU when the same doctor from the day before rushed over to us and asked if he could talk to us in private for a minute. It turned out it was a seizure. They knew because he had a few more that day. I was shocked. The whole pregnancy I had been concerned about him even getting the chance at life, I never even thought about this being a issue. I thought once he was out I could breathe easy.
    They called in the pediatric neurologist and ordered a EEG and a MRI. Over the next few days it was confirmed, it was HIE. The big concern at that time for getting him home would be feeding. That was his biggest hurdle. For the time being he had a NG tube(a feeding tube that goes through his nose), but he couldn't go home on a NG tube. The feeding specialist started working with him on his feeds. Unfortunately that was one of the areas that his HIE had affected. His swallow was out of sync causing silent aspirations after 7cc. After 2 swallow studies that had the same results it was finally time to make the hard decision to allow them to put a G tube in which would require surgery. After that it was just a countdown to home.   
    When I look back at Miller's time in the NICU it feels like another life entirely. The worry, the waiting, the what ifs, the second guessing. I remember the agony of knowing that if he had presented as severe(which his HIE presented severe on his MRIs) he could have had a cooling cap that has been used in the last few years to help babies appearing to have HIE hours after birth. I can recall waiting for him to come out of surgery strangely calm, then as soon as it was over questioning whether it was the right choice, even though the hospital said I had no other choice.
  I share this all because of the other parents that are maybe going through this right now, or have gone through this. Because I can remember sitting there in the hospital Googling every medical term I heard, reading every blog written by a parent who went through this. If we don't talk about this, who will?

Waiting for Miller's arrival!

Miller James is born!


 

His 1st picture in the NICU

The 1st time I held Miller

Chillin' under his bilirubin light

Headed for another test

His 1st Halloween was spent in the NICU, he also turned 2 weeks old that day!

Miller headed for PCN(Progressive Care Nursery, it's a step down from the NICU) the 1st time!

Right before his G-tube surgery

Well This Is Awkward

  Hey y'all! It's been a while. So much has happened in the last few months since y'all have heard from me. The biggest and greatest event to happen was the birth of my 2nd child! Miller James was born on October 17th 2015 at 6:37am, weighting 5lb. 9oz. It was definitely the best day of 2015.
   After my last post in August something happened very unexpectedly the same day as my last blog post. My husband left me. He was in another state for 2 months, and didn't come back to town until Miller was born. When he came back I naively thought we would eventually work things out, but my husband had other plans. I could go on more, but there isn't much point in that. My only reason for sharing this information is to explain my absence from this blog. After he left I knew I couldn't just post here as if nothing had happened, but I also wasn't ready for everyone to know, although our friends and family already know.
   Well now that that slightly shocking bit is out of the way, back to the star of my show these days, Miller. You probably already figured out by now that he was a little early. About 4 weeks early. I was in labor for about 24 hours, which compared to the 36 hours with James felt like nothing.
   When I heard his first cry it made me cry. Because that was something I never experienced with James. After I held him for a few seconds they whisked him over to the NICU doctor and nurses and prepared him for the NICU. While I was in labor my doctor assured me that he probably wouldn't be in the NICU much longer than a day or two, but of course be prepared for a longer stay. Fast forward 38 days and we finally brought him home. Miller has what is called HIE(hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, basically oxygen deprivation), which caused him to need a g-tube and be fed with a feeding pump. The prognosis isn't great, but he is doing much better than anyone could have expected. HIE can have many varying degrees of severeness. I plan to elaborate on Miller's condition later, but I just wanted to bring y'all up to speed on our life since I last blogged as I have had very sweet messages from my blogging friends.
    I can't blog without mentioning that this day last year was James's due date. I actually had found out a few days before that I was pregnant with Miller. It's shocking how different my life looks now a year later. I had no idea the joy and sorrow that the next year would have for me and my family. The unexpected turns my life would take. The people that would come and go. It's true what they say about it's better we don't know what life has in store for us. It would be like reading ahead in a great book, you can't possibly focus on right now while you know what the end result will be.
  I plan to keep this blog's title. For one thing y'all all know me from this blog. But also because it truly is after the honeymoon...