DOL 99

Well slap me silly and call me Martha, they actually let me out today! I'M HOME! I kept hearing about this place "home", but I was beginning to think that they were just pulling my diaper! I'm here, and let me tell you, it's great! It's warm and cozy....a little loud with all the talking, but I'm used to that from all of my nurses. I'll miss the ol' crib at the nursery, but I have a picture to remind me below...

So here I am. 8 lbs., 14 oz. of cute, spit and stink! I am 20 inches long these days and I'm planning on getting much bigger. Shaquille O'Neal was a preemie, ya know!

I love my room. I posted some pics below. I'm going to be a yachtsman, apparently! This is going to be great! I even got to meet my (fur)brother, Teddy! My mom and dad have been doing a pretty good job keeping up with my demands...I'm going to have to train them to jump when I say I want something. So far, screaming at the top of my lungs has been fairly effective in this respect!

I'm very thankful for all the great care that I got to help me along the way. This day is the culmination of countless hours of expertise, care, love, snuggles and diaper changes. Thanks to all you folks who got me to this point. It's sooo great to be home with mom and dad. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity and I am so grateful to all who nursed me from a sick little guy to the behemoth baby you see today. Thanks to all of you who turned my luck around.

I am Jack and I am one of the lucky ones.

DOL 94

Guess what folks!?! They took my feeding tube out! I'm just feeding with my bottle now! That's great news. I hated that tube...it was so uncomfortable and it made breathing that much harder. Boy, am I glad that's gone! Now I can kick back, relax and enjoy my dinners instead of fighting for air and feeling congested. This is great!!

I'm up to a whopping 8 lbs., 9 oz. now! Yeah, I'm pretty much the biggest kid in here. I think I'm ready to hit the road and move on for more greener pastures (whatever that means...)

Oh yeah, and one more thing......



I'M GOING HOME ON WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY17th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it?!? I'm so excited. I can't wait. I don't know what to do first. I'm going to look at everything, and smell everything, and cry, and yell, and eat a lot, and meet my dog, and see my room...and..wait, I'm tired now...I need to take a nap. There will be plenty of time for all of that once I get home. This is great! I'm a lucky guy...

DOL 91

Hello everyone! I'm doing great over here...I'm itchin' to get home, but the docs just wanted to try to sort out this hypertension thing. They are just trying to rule out the big, scary stuff--which for the most part, they have done! I still think the elevated blood pressure is just me, being me...I squirm and bear-down a lot. I'm a wiggly little guy. Actually, I'm not so little anymore. In fact, I'm a healthy 8 lbs., 3 oz. I'm getting up there! So, for the time being the docs have me on some a little medication regimen..nothing serious. But what I can tell you is that I hate taking that prilosec for my reflux..(it's soooo salty!)

I also have a little wound on my backside...the docs want that to clear up before they send me home. It can hurt sometimes, so I appreciate the extra care that they are paying to it!! Once that's looking better, I'll bet they are going to take out my feeding tube and start me on oral feeds alone...then as long as I can keep my weight gains up, I should be outta here! I can't wait!!!

DOL 86

Well hey there folks! I have some pretty good news. I met with the cardiologists from Children's Hospital today...they gave me a clean bill of health. My little heart isn't causing any hypertension! That's good news. They also said that the tiny little hole in my atrial wall will probably close up on its own. Even if it doesn't, they said that they could repair it with a really simple, easy routine surgery with a catheter. That's a relief. Chances are, though, that this won't cause me any issues...boy, I've had more tests by three months than most of you have had in three decades!! These hospital folk are great! So, now where back to square one about the hypertension. They are going to do a lab culture to ensure that the ol' kidneys are doing what they're supposed to...but since the renal ultrasound looked normal, I'm not too worried about it. It's just another test!! I'm getting pretty good at these things by now!

Well, all things considered, I'm doing well here. I'd like to get home, but they keep telling me that I can't until I can take a whole bottle at each feeding. They don't want to send me home with this ridiculous feeding tube. Plus, my folks wouldn't be able to stop me from pulling it out...I hate it!! So, hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon!!

I'll check in again once I get some more feedback from these tests! Oh, I almost forgot...I'm up to 7 lbs., 14 oz. I have rolls on my chubby little legs! I earned 'em!

DOL 84

Well hello there everyone! I'm attaching a little video of me taking a bath. They've been giving me regular baths for my little fanny. My skin has been breaking down a little bit lately. I'm hoping that all the medications that they powder me with will do the trick! Plus, I like all the attention!

I'm up to a whopping 7 lbs., 12 oz. now! They keep giving me food, so I keep eating it! I'm looking forward to coming home soon...I can't wait! Until then, I'm just going to make the most of it here.

The docs gave me a cardiac ultrasound to see if they could figure out why I have slightly high blood pressure. They think that I have a slight atrial septal defect ("ASD"). But, there's also a good chance that it's just the patent foramen ovale ("PFO") that we're all born with...so there's a good chance that it'll just close up on it's own. Either way, they don't think that it's causing my hypertension...so they're doing a kidney ultrasound next. So, we don't know yet, but I'm not worried about a thing...except when my next feeding is supposed to start...NURSE!!!