Our First Family Vacation

These pictures are from our weekend trip to the mountains of North Georgia. Our first vacation for our family of four! I loved that the directions included turn off the paved road and drive for 7 miles - it was exactly the kind of cell-reception-free time away that we needed. We did figure out that Chloe is following in my non-nature-girl footsteps. And that she plays a mean game of Candyland.

Lena

Not Sure Why She Wanted To Take A Nap On The Porch; It was in the 50's

Shot From The Porch

Yep, A Real Nature Girl

Such Pretty Scenery

Umm...You Have Something On Your Front

A New Way To Play Soccer

It's Like He Belongs In The Woods

Daddy Loses Four Games In A Row...At Candyland

What About Me?

Chloe wants a current pic on the blog. I can relate. It's hard to be the oldest!
Lena

Gobble Gobble

Little Thumb Sucker

It took about a week, but Gavin has figured out how to suck his thumb. His many failed attempts to get his thumb in his mouth over the past week were nothing short of hysterical. The funniest was when he finally got his hand to his mouth (as opposed to his ear, nose, forehead...) only to be missing his thumb - it was stuck in the center of his clenched fist! He's so sweet tempered that he laughed along with me.

Speaking of his sweet nature, Gavin has slept from about 9 to 6 almost every night the last week. AND when he wakes up, I hear him cooing in his bed. That sound has been what has woken me up most days recently. I'm glad one of my kids is a morning person!

Lena

National Premature Awareness Day

If you're reading this, it is November 17 and today is National Premature Awareness Day. Below is the blog posting I submitted to Bloggers Unite!

Today, November 17, is National Premature Awareness Day. To start things off, I would like for you all to meet Little C:



Little C is my daughter. In June 2007 she was born about 6.5 weeks early due to a rare condition called HELLP Syndrome in my wife. She was 4-lbs, 13-oz; a good size given her arrival date. Have you ever heard of preeclampsia? Multiply it by 100 and you'll have an idea of HELLP Syndrome. Basically, dangerously high blood pressure levels, low platelet counts, and a few other nasty details thrown in. Much like preeclampsia, the only cure is delivery. However, the risk factor for fatality in both mother and child is much, much higher. The only problem with HELLP is that it occurs in less than 1% of all pregnancies, so very little is known about it. Little C spent a mere 11 days in the NICU before coming home to her family.

Now meet Little G:



Little G was born in July 2009 almost 8 weeks early. He weighed in at 4-lbs. The HELLP syndrome was being monitored and maintained; my wife's blood pressure was steady and normal. It seemed we would be having a term baby this time around. The c-section was scheduled for 10 days before her due date. Her body had other plans. Without notice she started bleeding. A lot. One of her employees drove her to the hospital and I met them there. Less than two hours after the bleeding had started, Little G made his quiet entrance into the world. He was barely breathing; each little breath short and sharp. He was immediately whisked to the NICU. He fought for every breath until he tore a hole in his left lung. He was intubated; a chest tube inserted between his tiny ribs to alleviate the pressure. When the first ventilator wasn't working, the doctor switched him to an oscillating vent; it's supposed to be much gentler. His whole little 4-pound body was vibrating, like he was laying on a vibrating bed. It was awful. He rebounded; he gained weight; he started eating; he came home after only 26 days. A miracle if there ever was one. Five weeks after he left the hospital, my wife saw one of his main NICU nurses with her daughter. The nurse introduced my wife as "the mother of that baby I told you about; that baby that was as sick as could be and not die."

The strange thing is that with our first child, there was no way my wife would be classified as a high risk pregnancy; Master's Degree educated, prenatal care, income, race, age, no known medical conditions; nothing would put her in the high risk category. With number two, the only thing that changed was that that she'd had a preemie previously; all other indicators would rule out a high risk pregnancy again.

There is a website called Bloggers Unite where bloggers can sign up to blog about specific events on specific days. Today is the Fight for Preemies sponsored by March of Dimes. The main idea behind this event is to raise awareness about premature births. Around the world each year, 13 million babies are born premature. 1 million of them will die from the simple fact that they were born early. It's easy to think that the majority of premature births happen in un- and underdeveloped countries. North America has over 500,000 premature births each year. 28% of the 4 million annual neonatal deaths are due to preterm birth. The rate of preterm births in the United States alone has increased 36% over the last 25 years.

I know this next part will rub people the wrong way, but I'm putting it out there anyway. If you don't like it, you can go about your business, and thank you for listening. March of Dimes has partnered with MasterCard through December 31, 2009 to raise funds to fight for both better recording and reporting of statistical data and for proper medical care for those areas most in need of medical equipment, technology, and supplies. If you make a donation to March of Dimes using a credit card with a MasterCard logo on it, MasterCard will double the donation to March of Dimes. If you feel willing and able to support the cause, please CLICK HERE.

I understand that some people are not willing or able to donate, and that is entirely up to you; your decision. I won't say anything if you do or look down on you if you can't/don't. Today is about raising awareness; anything else is gravy.

I thank you for your kind attention during this announcement. And if you feel able to do so, please pass on this link so that others might read as well. I leave you with one final thought:

"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." -Abraham Lincoln

This is not to say that probablility is against us, only to say that the struggle to raise awareness and support for the cause we believe in should not be enough to stop us in the pursuit.

Mr. Smiley

Because there's nothing in the world quite like a smiling baby. Happy Monday!

Apparently it Takes 4 Months

I have been so emotional about my dear little Gavin lately. I do think it's that my emotional wall that kept things together when times were tough is starting to crumble. I have been downright weepy at times. It helps that this picture shows you what I'm looking at while I write this. He is an amazing and happy baby. He's cooing loudly right now - trying so hard to talk!

I was shopping with Gavin this morning, and the woman behind me in the checkout line started asking me about Gavin. Turns out she's a NICU nurse at a local hospital - not the one where both my kids were born. She said "Oh - 32 weeks is nothing. I mean, I know it wasn't nothing, but it is nothing to really worry about." I smiled and told her about the many complications Gavin faced in his first week. The pneumo, going septic, and being on the oscillating ventilator. Her response was "Oh! He went through SO much! And he looks so good! They did such a great job taking care of him."

And I agree. And I know it's true. And I agree with her that even the shape of his head is perfect. She kept saying how impressed she is with him and how he clearly got such good care.

I'm reminded of Gavin's 4 month well visit. His pediatrician kept saying "look at his growth chart! I mean look at it!". Our little man went from about the 2nd percentile to almost the 50th in just 4 months.

But then, I'm watching Hero's. And a side story shows a kid with a pneumo, about to die, and they make a hole in her chest cavity to uncollapse her lung. And I cry. I cry because I know that a pneumo is a collapsed lung caused by a hole in the lung. I cry because I know why making a hole through the rib cage alleviates the air pressure that has leaked out the hole in the lung and is trapped between the lung and the chest cavity, making it impossible for the lung to reinflate. And I cry because that happened to my son when he was just days old. I walked in the NICU around 2am that night. I just had to go see him, and I walked in on 5 nurses surrounding Gavin's bed, talking through his symptoms, making a diagnosis, and creating plans for an emergency procedure.

I'm not much of a blog reader. I look at 2 new to me ones today found through an Amazon book search. One ends up being about a girl who was a preemie - who passed away at 17 months old due to an upper respiratory infection that her scarred lungs couldn't handle.

I'm grateful that Gavin's first RSV shot is finally scheduled for tomorrow, and my germaphobe tendencies are reinforced.

Now the weepy feelings have passed, as has my need for reflection. Right now I've got 2 very happy kids in my lap, and we've got too much fun stuff to do and life to live to spend time sitting around feeling bad about what has happened or worrying about what might be in the future.

Plus, we've got a party to attend this afternoon. With lots and lots of hand sanitizer.

Lena

Dig Deep!!!

Okay, I'm going to stand on a soapbox for a few moments and ask everyone out there to dig deep. Especially anyone out there with a MasterCard credit card.

March of Dimes and MasterCard have partnered through the end of this year to help raise funds for this very worthy cause; a cause close to our hearts. For every donation made to March of Dimes using a MasterCard credit card, MasterCard will double that donation. $25 becomes $50, $50 becomes $100, etc., etc. They'll double anything up to $225,000 so if any of you out there have that much, please do it. But they'll take anything they can get. See the link included below for more information.

March of Dimes - MasterCard Double Donation

Thank you for your kind attention.

-Josh

Addendum

Josh here. I have another blog that I keep up daily. In my mind it's the stuff that I can rant or talk about that Lena doesn't care about; I don't mean it like that, but you get the idea. It's actually pretty good; I can talk about whatever and she doesn't have to hear it. Mostly just me be wierd. The point is, I posted a letter I wrote today to the benefits people at work. You can read it here. Oh yeah, read the previous post first; the one Lena wrote.

That is all.

It's Hard to be a Preemie Mom

I'm sure it's hard to be the dad, too. Or the parent of a special needs child. Or a child that becomes ill. Probably safe to say that it's hard to be a parent. Period.

My preemie book that I recommend so highly talks about it being normal to have something happen that triggers all the emotions related to having a preemie. I had my trigger today. We are now 40 days into RSV season, and Gavin hasn't had the expensive shots to help prevent him from getting it ($1,500 a month for 6 months). Our insurance company tells me they haven't received a request for approval. The pediatrician's office tells me Blue Cross Blue Shield is terrible on this issue. The clinic that has been referred to do the shot says they are now submitting a third form and had gotten no feedback from Blue Cross Clue Shield.

Suddenly I felt I really could lose Gavin. I sobbed while on hold. I barely kept it together while not on hold. I threatened to hire an attorney if my son gets sick because of this delay and finger pointing.

It isn't the delayed shot. It's all the tears that I didn't shed this summer. It's the difference between almost losing a child you don't yet know and the threat of losing a child you've grown to love. I became the hardest label I've heard directed to me - "the mom who's child was as sick as he could be and not die."

Gavin laughs when he's sleeping. He grins so big on the changing table, every time. He almost never cries for me, and when he does, he stops as soon as I pick him up. Heck, he slept 9 hours last night even though we've delayed official sleep training until we can get Chloe out of the house for a night or two. Even more, he came into this world well below the 5th percentile. At his last checkup, he was almost at the 50th! He is a sweet natured and impressive baby boy.

RSV is a cold for you or me. And it is highly contagious. If you have it, you likely won't even stay home from work, especially in this day and age when so many people are in fear of losing their jobs. It can kill Gavin, and the impact of an infection is greatly mitigated by monthly shots during the season.

Being a preemie mom is hard, and one of the primary reasons it is hard is the fear that is always just below the surface. Fear of rehospitalization. Fear from even knowing that word exists. Fear of not knowing just how compromised your child is due to both the prematurity and the side effects from life saving treatments. Fear of the judgment of failing all the many warnings given at discharge. Fear that this time we might not be so lucky.

Prematurity Awareness Day is next week on Nov 17. I hope that you and your loved ones never experience what it's like to have a preemie. I hope that we can decrease the number of babies that are born prematurely each year. And if you happen to be the parent of a preemie, I hope that the fear we live with remains just that - a fear that never sees the light of day by becoming a reality.

Lena
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Completely random picture. I was driving home from getting the seasonal flu shot and this truck passed me. I had to speed a little to catch up and snap this shot. It came out better than I thought it would. It reads: "Gavin Transportation Systems" Hysterical.

Gavin's 4-Month Check-up

Quick update as I'm behind with work. Lena took Gavin to his 4-month check-up this monrning. We did a little scale test the other day and it came back 13.5 pounds (13 pounds, 8 ounces), just like he was today at the doctor! Big man. He's more than tripled his birth weight, putting on almost 10 pounds since birth. Awesome. He measured at 24.5 inches long, which is 7.5 inches longer than his length at birth. WOW!

I tried to pull up the growth charts on the CDC's website, but they seem to be charting differently than the chart we have at home; lower actually. I'll chart tonight and post again with that info.

Happy Halloween Pictures

Gavin was dressed up like a pumpkin on Friday and a pea pod on Saturday. Chloe was originally dressed up like a pirate and was absolutely cute. We didn't get a picture of it by the time she wanted to change. About time to go out trick-or-treating, she decided to dress up like Dr. Jenn. She also decided to help herself to our candy bowl, trying to put it all into her bag. Enjoy!

Maybe A Bit Too Much Like Daddy...