Four Months Old

We have a 4 month old (4 weeks corrected)! How crazy is that! Jackson is growing so quickly - he is currently weighing in at 10lb 3oz and is 20" long.

Jackson had an eye and kidney appointment this past week. His eye exam showed "active regression" in both his eyes!! PTL! They have now downgraded his eyes to stage 1. They were previously stage 2. This is wonderful news and we are so happy that his eyes are getting better!
His Kidney appointment was to check numbers to see if his kidney's are filtering out the right amount of fluid, and that his kidney's are filtering correctly. His numbers looked good! They are happy with where they are, and we do not have to go back for a kidney appointment until he is around 6 months corrected (9 months actual)
God is Good!

We want to take a second to send out a big THANK YOU, to so many people. Over the past few months we were blessed by so many of you with prayers, gifts, cards, food, and encouragement. We tried to get thank you cards out, but we know we missed some of you. Please know we are so greatful, and thankful to have you in our lives!

cuddlin with dad!

Hanging out with mom

No place like home!

We've been home now for 3 weeks and it's going well! Jackson seems to be adjusting to his new home and having his mom and dad around a lot more!
We've had a lot of appointments since we've been released, but we've gotten some positive results!
We are still on weekly eye checks, but each week we've been seeing small improvements in his ROP. We were told that we must be doing a good job at home with him, as he gained 2 pounds since coming home! He's now weighing in around 9lb 7oz!! We were also able to lower his oxygen settings to a 1/2 liter! One more step checked off our list! We are very excited for the day that he no longer has to have tubes/wires on him!

We hope you all had a great Easter!

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!

Life in the NICU - Rolls

It's official - our son has rolls - yes rolls! He is currently weighing in at 5lb 11oz! We can't believe he's almost at the 6lb mark - it's amazing how far he has come!

This week Jackson has had a few tests - Wednesday he had his eye check up. They found no change in the ROP. No progression is good, but we are looking for and waiting for regression of the ROP. They will continue to monitor him weekly until they see change.
He also had a head ultrasound. Back when Jackson was a few days old, we found out he had a grade 4 brain bleed. When we got to Iowa City, they did a repeat ultrasound, and reclassified it as a grade 3. Now that he is 36 weeks old, they did another ultrasound to look for PVL - a really long medical term that basically means damage to the white matter of the brain. The scan showed regression of the bleed (his body is re-absorbing the clot) that his ventricles were not enlarged, and no PVL. All this is very good news! PTL!!!
Jackson has started the process of learning to take food by mouth. He has gotten to try both nursing and a bottle and has done well at both. He will have to take a couple bottles a day to give him a few extra calories, so he has to learn both nursing and bottle feeding before he can go home.
Jackson's High flow was also reduced to 1.5 liters - we can go home on 1 liter, so we're very close to that mark.

Jackson's big hurdles for the next 4 weeks are his eyes, learning to eat by mouth , and getting his oxygen down to 1 liter or lower. Please pray for all these things as we're getting so close to his due date, and we're so ready to get him home!!