Thursday, December 31, 2009

Normalcy?



It has been a huge challenge this year trying to keep things as normal as possible for Abby. Her world will be rocked enough when Jake actually comes home. We ended up celebrating Christmas with our families on Sunday night and on Monday morning after Christmas. It was a feat to make the holiday still feel like the holidays when everything was so abnormal. Thankfully, Abby is still so young she doesn't understand when things are supposed to happen, and she doesn't mind opening gifts on days that aren't Christmas. She got a computer from her Aunt Debbie and a Black & Decker plastic drill from my dad. She would sleep with both of these if we would let her. What a great girl!

On Tuesday night, we decided to make Christmas cookies as a family. Abby had a blast. At one point she dumped half a jar of sprinkles on one cookie. It really did look like a Christmas tree, so I tried to scrape up the sprinkles and spread them onto other cookies. Oh the joys of having a two and a half year old. It was a nice distraction from the busyness of everything else.

I have to say, sometimes God gives us encouragement in the greatest ways. I have a constant reminder in my house of God's faithfulnes. When I look at my sweet Abby, I am reminded that Jake won't always be in NICU and that life will return to normal soon. What a wonderful, kind God we serve.

On a final note, please pray for balance for us as we try to make sure Abby doesn't feel neglected as we travel back and forth from Greenville.





Monday, December 28, 2009

NICU 2


Jason and I feel like we're becoming NICU experts. We never expected to have to do this twice, but God had different plans for us. Here's the exciting news of the day.

Things in the NICU have changed since Abby was there two and a half years ago. When Abby was there, the babies went into NICU, a large room where babies stayed at different stations. There were several rooms that more stable babies moved into. Abby quickly moved into one of these rooms, but it was all one big NICU unit.

Jake's stay has been different. There are now two NICUs. NICU 1 and NICU 2. NICU 1 is the same as it has always been, the initial place for babies to go and be cared for. NICU 2 is now the place that babies go when they become more stable. NICU 2 looks alot like a true hospital wing. It is rooms along a hall. There are usually 2 babies per room, and then there is a nurse's station in the hallway. It is really a very nice change because it is more private than NICU 1.

We knew that Jake would eventually make it to NICU 2, but we assumed he would have to be eating better to be moved there. Well, this morning, we went to visit, and they told us that he had moved to NICU 2. We were THRILLED! He's still not eating really well. He tries to take 2 bottles a day, the rest he gets by tube feeding. He's stable though, breathing on his own and not having any other problems.

We have been so touched by all the people expressing care and concern for us. Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for Jake. We know that God has a plan for him and that he loves Jake more than we ever could.

We're encouraged that Jake will be home soon.

Here are a few more pics.


Jake Reece Looper



Most of you have already heard by now that Jake Reece Looper made his appearance on Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 9:23 p.m., but I'm going to fill you in on the details. I've been getting messages and well-wishes wanting to know what happened and how he is, so here you go.

I went to the doctor on Wednesday for an ultrasound at the specialist's office. It was a routine BPP (biophysical profile) where they look for certain reflexes and monitor certain things to make sure that baby is not in distress. One of the things they look for is breathing. Babies start to breath in utero pretty early, and by 34 weeks - where I was - they breath pretty consistently. Jake had 30 minutes to breath for 30 seconds, and he didn't do it. I laid on the table while the technician looked, and he never did it. Some of you may remember that is what got Abby a quick pass to the real world. She didn't breath either and was born that night.

That was my first clue that we might have a close-to-Christmas baby.

After that, the doctor put me on the stress-test monitor to watch his heart rate. Jake was non-reactive, another bad sign meaning he wasn't moving much, and somewhere along the line I had a contraction. I'd apparently been having contractions and didn't know it because I never had that experience with Abby. In the midst of my contraction, Jake's heartrate dropped. The doctor wasn't pleased. That was the thing that sent us to the hospital.

I was going to do a contraction stress test (sounds lovely, huh?) and it's exactly what it sounds like; the doctors induce contractions - not labor contractions they say, but I'm not convinced - and watch the baby's heartrate.

We didn't get to that point either because in the hospital room, without any impetus at all, Jake's heartrate plummeted into the 50s and stayed there for quite a while. His normal rate was in the 140s.

Then my doctor said, "enough." I was wheeled up to the OR and Jake came as soon as everything was in order.

He weighed 3lbs 12.7oz, was 16 1/2 inches long, and came out screaming!

He's in the NICU of course, but he's doing well. We're waiting on him to wake up enough to start eating consistently and then we'll be in good shape.

He has to do three things before he can come home: he has to breath on his own without any respitory distress; he has to eat enough on his own to ensure that he'll gain wieght when we come home, and he has to maintain his body temperature in the open air with just "baby clothes" on.

He's got the breathing and I don't think the temperature is going to be a problem, but the eating is the thing.

Please pray that he eats well for us and soon.

I'll post more pictures later.





Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Here we go again!

I had a doctor's appointment today to check Baby Jake's growth. I know that he's small - the doctors established that 3 weeks ago when we had an ultrasound and he was only in the 39th percentile, but I was really hoping that he would be growing and that we wouldn't have an Abby repeat.

Unfortunately, God has different plans. We did the ultrasound today about 12:15, and were told that Jake is now in the 20th percentile for weight - somewhere around 3lbs 12oz. Now, for those of you with good memories, you'll remember that is already larger than Abby was, she weighed 2lbs 15oz when she was born. We're encouraged that he's grown some, but he hasn't grown enough.

My doctor came into the examination room and told us that he doesn't like to deliver babies this early (33 weeks), and I promptly told him that I don't like to have babies this early either.

They then sent us immediately to the Maternal Fetal Specialists group, and they did another scan for a second opinion. I was convinced that I wouldn't be leaving the hospital today, and I reprimanded myself for not having packed a bag.

Maternal Fetal Medicine told us that Jake is in the 5th percentile for weight, but that he is moving okay and that he seems okay right now; he's just small.

The plan for now is that my OB will check me once a week and MFM will check me once a week as well until things get too dangerous and Jake has to be delievered. I have a feeling this will happen at Christmas or right after.

Please pray for us as we know that Jake will not gain weight before he come most likely, and pray that we'll have peace of mind as we wait.

God is faithful, and He has prepared us for this with Abby, but that doesn't make it easier.

Monday, December 14, 2009

A Little Bit of Everything


The Christmas season is in full swing at the Looper house, and I don't have enough energy to keep up with it.

On the pregnancy front, I'm now 33 weeks (an amazing feat for me since when I was this far along with Abby I was in the hospital). I've reached the point where I'm tired ALL THE TIME and no amount of sleep seems to help. The doctors have scheduled a C-Section for February 6 - my grandmother's 80th birthday - but we're all pretty sure that Baby Jake will come well before then.



On the Christmas front, we took Abby to see Santa on Friday. Jason tried using reverse psychology with her, telling her that he wouldn't let her sit in Santa's lap, in hopes that she would indeed sit on his lap and have her picture made. As you can tell by the above picture, she didn't go for it, and we ended up with a family picture with Santa. I guess it's better to get your money out of the time.

For those of you who are interested, Abby wants toys and Play-doh for Christmas. We can't get her to be specific about what kind of toys, but we're thinking just about anything will suit her.

The Christmas shopping is almost done, and the gifts are not yet wrapped. We're going to work on that tonight and tomorrow and hopefully we'll remain baby-free through the Christmas holiday.