Day 8 - One Week Old

A good day!
They took him off of C-PAP at 4 am just to clean his face, and he did so well that they left him off. No more tubes for breathing - he's doing everything on his own!

I got to hold him this afternoon for the first time. They really encourage skin-to-skin care (Kangaroo care) here. It regulates the baby's temperature and breathing. I held him for about 2 hours this way. He was very content. He's looking a little jaundiced again, so he may need the UV lights.

All-in-all, the doctors and nurses are impressed with what he's doing, especially based on his age and size. He is behaving like an older baby. He received another dose of medication for the valve, and has one more dose to go. They will repeat the echo on Sunday or Monday. As of this afternoon, the doctor could still hear the murmur, so please pray that it will close up soon.

I spent the morning with the rest of my boys (Evan, Darren, Liam & Eric). It was great to see them all, and hard to say goodbye. They seem to be enjoying their time at Oma and Opa's and have no shortage of stories to tell. Thanks, Oma & Opa. And thanks to all of you for your prayers, visits, and many offers for help. We are so blessed.

Day 7

As long as I have a chance, I'll continue to update on a daily basis (don't get too used to it though!) It's kind of a nice way to keep track of everything that is going on with little Isaac.

When I came in this morning, the nurse said he had a good night. They turned down the oxygen in his incubator to room air. The C-PAP that he is on is actually Si-PAP, which is a step between C-PAP and the ventilator. It provides continuous positive airway pressure as well as some breaths. When he started on this, he was getting 40 breaths a minute. As of last night it was 20 and just this afternoon, he was put onto just the C-PAP (don't worry if that doesn't make any sense - I'm still learning about it myself).

They put in a PICC line - basically an IV with more permanent site (it can stay in for up to a month, as opposed to a few days for IVs). It's long procedure, and once it's in, they x-ray it to check the position. Then they adjust it, and x-ray it again. It seems to be in a good spot now and he is rid of a few tubes and wires.

They repeated the echo to check the valve. The doctor said it has changed from "large" to "moderate." He was hoping it would have closed completely. Isaac will receive 3 more days of medication, and hopefully that will take care of it.

I had a great sleep in a real bed, thanks to my cousin. Tomorrow, the nurse said I may be able to hold him and try Kangaroo Care, so I'm looking forward to that.

Day 6

Isaac remains off of the ventilator. He had been struggling overnight and working hard to breathe today, but every time they checked his blood gasses, they were good. So he remains on C-PAP, and was resting very peacefully as of a few minutes ago. He is sleeping on his tummy - that makes it easier for him to breathe and open up his lungs, and he looks more cozy. He is done with the UV lights - his bilirubin levels are good. The nurse could still hear his murmur as of last night, but she could hear it less this evening. Hopefully that means that it is closing up. We'll have a better idea tomorrow. All in all, a good day. I was discharged today after a somewhat prolonged stay due to an epidural headache. While I wouldn't wish that on anyone, it was a blessing because I got to stay close to Isaac for a few extra days.

Day 5

Isaac began the 3 days of medication last night to close the vessel (PDA). Hopefully this treatment will take care of it and they will not need to repeat it or do surgery. We should know the results of this by tomorrow evening or Thursday. They are not increasing his feeds during the medication because his stomach may become upset. He is only receiving 1 cc every 6 hours currently. He had a head ultrasound this afternoon as a precaution, since babies under 30 weeks may be at risk for some bleeding. The doctor has no reason to be concerned, and will interpret the results later.
It was a nice surprise to walk in this afternoon at 4pm and see the ventilator gone! He "graduated" to C-PAP after 4.5 days on the ventilator. This gives him continuous positive airway pressure, and lets him do most of the breathing on his own. It may be adjusted as necessary, and he might need to go back to the ventilator for a break, but this is good news for now. Unfortunately, the C-PAP looks worse that the ventilator, and there are more tubes/wires and a little hat, so you can't see his face very much.
Once again, we're taking everything one day at a time. We're thankful for the blessings, but we know that there may be challenges to come.

Isaac Aaron Renkema

How things have changed since I last posted on here. Little Isaac Aaron Renkema was born on May 7, 2010 by c-section at St Joseph's hospital in London. My water had broken about 36 hours earlier and the only hospital that could take me was in London. He had to be delivered by c-section because he was transverse (sideways). The procedure went relatively quickly and they wheeled him out of the room. We got a quick look at him, and he was staring at us, wide-eyed.

His weight was 2lbs 5oz, which is fairly good for 13 weeks early. His length and head size are all in the higher percentiles, which is also good. They put him on a ventilator right away, and gave him surfactant for his lungs. They put an umbilical catheter in so they could draw blood and monitor blood pressure with less disturbance. He was put on antibiotics for 48 hours until they got the blood work back checking for infections. The test came back negative, fortunately.

Most doctors and nurses that we have seen are quite impressed with him. He is doing everything that is expected for a baby this premature, and his blood pressure is very stable. His bilirubin levels were borderline today, so they did not put him under the full set of UV lights - he's just lying on a UV mat, wearing sunglasses.

The doctor mentioned a murmur in his heart valve, which is quite common with babies born under 30 weeks. They did and echo to see the size, and it is fairly big, so they are treating it. The ideal situation is that it would clear up after 3 days of medication. If that didn't work, they would try a second round of treatment.

The staff here are very friendly and good at what they do. We are just taking things day-by-day. We likely won't be back in Oshawa until he gets to about 32 weeks. They will be doing a head ultrasound later this week to rule out any problems. The ventilator is gradually being turned down, allowing him to do more breathing on his own.

We are so thankful for all your prayers, and we would ask you to continue praying that things will keep improving. He still has a long way to go, and could face many challenges. I'll try to update this as often as I can.

Busy, busy...

Liam recovered quite quickly from his asthma attack, but came down with another infection right after. The doctor thought it might have been a hospital-acquired infection, but it wasn't, and he eventually recovered. Poor kid. He's a happy child these days - he has learned how to stand in the middle of the room, then looks around for applause. He has also discovered making noise on the kitchen floor with cups. He's very proud of that. He has been talking a lot more lately, repeating words we say. Evan loves trying to teach him new words.

Happy Easter!

We went to Belleville for the second half of the weekend, and had a nice Easter Sunday with (almost) all of the VanBredas. Unfortunately Liam got quite sick throughout the day and ended up at the hospital with an asthma attack/pneumonia/broncheolitis. We're hoping that he'll be discharged this evening so we can head back to Orono. He alternates between being very happy and energetic (thanks to the medication) and very tired and fussy.


On Sunday the kids dyed eggs with Grandma and they looked great. They did an Easter egg hunt and we had a nice dinner, followed by a visit to Grandpa's. It was great to see the whole family (although Eric & I spent most of our time with our sick little one).

Happy Birthday, Darren!

Darren celebrated his 3rd birthday this weekend. All week long he has been looking forward to this, and has been singing "Happy Birthday, Dear Darren!" His brothers have been looking forward to this as much as he has.

Oma and Opa came to visit for a few days, which the boys loved.







Oma and Opa brought this lovely cake (although Darren will tell you that Opa made it).

We spent some time at the park and had a picnic birthday supper. The weather was great!
Oma built a very tall tower (Darren is afraid to get any closer).
Darren enjoyed his presents,which included a John Deere Monster truck set, a Dora Leap Pad, and a few other things.

We headed off to Belleville for Sunday and Monday to visit with the VanBredas. Hopefully I'll post some pictures later.