Ryan's Coming Home!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone

Well you all must have had your fingers crossed double time because Ryan is coming home on Saturday. Once he took to the bottle he just took off and by yesterday he was taking a bottle for all of his feeds. Today he came out of the isollette and is a regular "crib." He's holding his temp very well and taking the bottle wonderfully. He is going under a "sleep study" which will evaluate his breathing and heart rate for twelve hours. This will basically confirm that he will need to come home on a monitor. We will get monitor training on Saturday morning and basically bring him home shortly after that.

It's a little sooner than we thought and we had to scramble a bit to get a few things ready that we didn't have yet but we're so excited. No one is ever really ready to bring home a baby, but we're ecstatic that he will finally be home.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I cannot begin to express how much all of this means to us. I will definitely keep updating the page with pictures so feel free to check the blog for new pictures -especially as Ryan continues to gain weight.

4lbs and a bottle!

Hey everyone,

Well, it's been an eventful few days. First, Ryan has been introduced to the bottle. He's taking it twice a day, once in the morning and once during the night. He did OK the first time, really well over the weekend, and not bad today. He's able to suck and swallow, but he hasn't quite coordinated the breathing part of it. Also, bottle feeding is very exhausting so that is why the nurses are easing him into it. If he uses too much energy to eat, then he won't gain any weight. Today, he was circumcised so that took a lot out of him and he didn't do as well as he did over the weekend. He'll catch on completely when he's ready and when he does he's that much closer to coming home.

Today Ryan hit 4lbs, another step closer to his homecoming which is looking like it will be in about 1 to 2 weeks. Let's keep our fingers crossed!!!

Update 2/20/08

Hi everyone

Things are going really well with Ryan. He's up to 3lbs 8ozs and is doing really well with his feeds. He's on gravity feeds now. This means that they fill a syringe with about 33 ml of milk and attach it to the isolette. The syringe is attached to the feeding tube and gravity allows the milk to go through the tube. This usually takes about 20-25 minutes, the time a normal feeding would be. This allows Ryan's stomach to be accustomed to filling up and not spitting anything up. The next step would be to introduce a bottle once a day, then twice a day, etc.

Thanks to all for the continuous thoughts and prayers!

Here are some pictures with Grandmom and Grandpop (GM and GP for short)

Happy Birthday Mommy

Hey everyone,

Here's the latest:

Ryan's feeds have been changed so that he's "two hours on, one hour off." What that means is that he's been on continuous feeds receiving 40 ml over 4 hours. Now, he's getting 30 ml over two hours, taking a break for an hour, then getting another 30 ml, etc. This is beginning the process to change him over from the feeding to tube to the bottle and eventually breast feeding.


He's up to 3lbs 4ozs and continuing to grow. The nurses have also started to wean him off of the isolette. Ryan used to have a temperature probe taped to him that would signal when he needed an increase in temperature. Now, the isolette is still heated at about 85 degrees but he's regulating his own temp. Again, another small step in bringing him home. If he's continuing to gain weight and still regulating his temp, then they'll slowly lower the temp inside the isolette. If he's not gaining weight then they'll hook him back up and try again when he gains a little more.


Ryan also had another head ultrasound and everything still looks good.


As you can see, Ryan was busy making a birthday card for Mommy. He's blowing kisses, too! Tonight he's going to work on Daddy's birthday card!

Three Pounds!!!

Well, it's hard to believe it's been a month already. In some aspects it's gone by so fast in others it's the longest month ever.Just shy of Ryan's 1 month birthday he's made it to three pounds - 3lbs .5oz to be exact.His feeds have been increased, his iron increased and his vitamins increased all to accomodate his growing body.Ryan also started the second round of epogen today to stimulate the growth of his red blood cells. Hopefully this will be the final round and he won't need a blood transfusion.That's all for now...stay warm everyone!

Grandparents Galore

Holding Daddy's Hand

Daddy's Diaper Duty

Update 2/8/08

Hey everyone,

Here is the latest - Ryan is up to 2 lbs 12 ozs. The nurses have also started a growth chart for him and his head and his length will be measured once a week. So, his head has grown an inch and half since birth and he's grown 3/4 of an inch in length. Both of these are really good signs because they indicate that his whole body is growing and not just gaining weight. The head growth is especially significant because it means his brain is growing, too.

Ryan also had is eye exam today and everything looks good! His blood vessels are immature, which is to be expected but there are no signs of Retinopathy of Prematurity. He'll have another follow-up exam in three weeks.

That's all for now - have a good weekend!

Grandmom Sue and Ryan

Boy was Grandmom Sue happy when she was able to hold Ryan!

Bath Video

Woo Hoo! After many failed attempts, Bill was able to figure out a way to upload Ryan's bath video.

Here is the link http://www.geocities.com/wjg119/ryansbath.wmv

It will take a while to load, so be patient.

It's kinda cute, but it mainly gives everyone an idea just exactly how tiny Ryan is. Bill and I are going to try and give him his bath at least once a week so we can get familiar with it.

Here is just a picture of me holding Ryan's feet - they're so tiny!

Enjoy the video for those who watch it

Bath Time

Hey everyone,

Well, last night Bill and I were able to give Ryan a bath. We took some video of it, but unfortunately this website is having issues with uploading video. I'm working on trying to resolve this. In the meantime, here is a a close-up of Ryan during his bath

As far as Ryan's update, he's doing well. He's 2 lbs 10oz. He is also starting Vitamin E to help with his developing eyes. He'll have an eye exam within the next few weeks which will basically say that his blood vessels behind his eyes are immature (duh!) so the Vitamin E basically strenghthens those vessels to help prevent Retinopathy of Prematurity. This is when the retinal blood vessels don't develop correctly and could result in eye problems down the road. Exposure to oxygen can increase the risk of this, but since Ryan wasn't on oxygen for very long hopefully it didn't cause any problems.

Well, that's all for now, I'll work on figuring something out for the video and I'll keep you all posted.

Update 2/4/08

Hi everyone

Not much to update. Ryan's weight is up to 2 lbs 9ozs. He's doing well and he's starting to develop a personality as noted in the picture. He smiles a lot, too and we've heard some coos come from his tiny little mouth.

If anything, this picture affirms that Ryan is the boss!

Grandmom Sue, Mommy and Ryan

Update 2/2/08

Hey everyone,

Happy Groundhog Day! Not much to add - Ryan's up tp 2lbs 8ozs. (yea!) and continues to put on weight. He had a blood test on Friday and his "H and H" came back pretty high so we know the medicine is working. Hopefully it will continue to work and he might not even need the second round.

Some of you have mentioned having a difficult time leaving comments on the blog. For those interested, when you leave a comment, after you type it, and type in the security letters, you need to scroll down and click the box that says nickname or anonymous. Then you should be able to leave your name (nickname) or not (anonymous). Then publish comment

Hope some of you find this helpful

Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers