Home at Last

Well we have been home since Monday afternoon and things have been going well. Jackson has handled the transition well. He continues to eat well and enjoys looking around at his new environment. While he is no where near sleeping through the night, he does sleep well at night and we usually only have to wake up a few times.

He did come home on 1 liter of oxygen and an apnea monitor. We're hoping in the near future we'll be able to begin weaning him down on his oxygen and get rid of the monitor. Other than that, he is on no other medications or equipment. As far as a micro-preemie is concerned, that is pretty darn good!

Friday, Jackson went back to Iowa City for another eye exam. The exam went well and the ophthalmologist said his eyes may have even improved a little; from "pre-plus" to "no-plus". This is an important step in his eye development and hopefully it means that he won't need laser eye surgery in the future. His next exam is Wednesday; hopefully his eyes will have continued to improve. Over the next few weeks/months we'll have a lot of appointments up in Iowa city meeting with various different doctors/specialists.

We are so thankful to be home and so grateful for all of you out there who have been following Jackson's story, and who have supported us through this crazy journey that we've been on. We've been so blessed!

No change, But....

Jackson's original due date is coming up this week (3/22). It's hard to wrap our heads around that he technically is not supposed to be here yet. Not many people get to watch their child develop through these stages - it is a amazing and crazy thing. We pray we don't have to go through this again, but we both would not change the course of events. We've been blessed by this little boy, more than we can ever explain.

The last 15 weeks has been one of the hardest things that Ben and I have had to go through - to watch your child have to go through way more than he should have to is hard, but also humbling. God blessed us with amazing doctors and nurses at both Mercy and UIHC. We would not be where we are today without them.

So now the update - Jackson had his routine eye exam Wednesday - his left eye stayed the same, but his right eye got a little worse (they are now the same, pre-plus). They decided to check his eyes again Friday to be sure that they were not getting worse rapidly - Thankfully they stayed the same. Just to be sure, they also checked his eyes today and they have still not changed. Because they haven't changed, the doctors won't change anything between now and his next eye exam a week from now. Because they aren't going to make any changes or do any further tests for a week they said.....



WE CAN GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is great news that We have been looking forward to for over 3.5 months. We will still be making weekly trips to Iowa City so they can monitor his eyes, but as long as they don't get worse, we won't have to be admitted again.

We are so happy, thank you to all of our family and friends that have helped us so much since Dec. 7th. Thank you :-)

The list

As we get closer to our original due date - we are checking more things off the list of "goals" that we have to meet before heading home with him. We currently only have one more thing to check off that list!

His eyes. He has had no change in the status of the ROP for about 3 weeks. We are still looking for them to improve. He has a eye check on Wednesday, and that would give us a better idea of when we'll be heading home.
He is currently on 1 liter of nasal cannula oxygen - this is the same type of set up we'll have when he is home.

Please pray for his eyes to be improved as that would mean we would be in the home stretch for bringing Jackson home with us. Until Jackson's eyes improve to a satisfactory level, we are not sure how much longer we will be in Iowa City.

He is currently weighing in at 7lb 3oz!

Life in the NICU - Bay 5

Yes folks, Jackson is in Bay 5! Bay 5 is the transition bay to going home. We still plan to be here for a few weeks, but we are one step closer to coming home.
We still have to work on feeding by mouth, and his eyes need to begin the process of getting better.

So far, Jackson has done a great job eating! He is steadily taking more bottles/nursing per day.

His eyes are still in a holding pattern - We're talking to the ophthalmologist this week to get a better understanding of what needs to happen in order for us to go home.

Jackson continues to grow (he is around 6lb 5oz) and we continue to look forward to the day he comes home with great expectation. Thank you to everyone who has helped us out on this journey to bring Jackson home. God bless!