Some things I wish I had...

After working with newborns at Primary's and having one of my own now, oh how I wish I had:

*an endless supply of diapers from the storage room (HA!)
*a hot water tap to warm bottles
*a blanket warmer
*saline bullets (don't need them yet...but what happens when he gets a cold??) I will probably wish I had suction set-up too in a few months. :)

I am making it sound like life is just rough. It's not. The truth is that nurses are just spoiled in the hospital! :)

Some pictures

Grandma Thacker (my mom) has been such a help to us! She has gotten less sleep than we have just because she has been so good to help in the nights.
I love this one. Thanks to my sister-in-law, JaNeece, for sending some preemie clothes, which I didn't even think I would need.

I am happy to be his mom. Every day gets better! Today he was 5 lbs. 10 oz. at the doctor. Yay! He is growing!

First Visitors

Our cousins, Matthew & Rebekah Bingham and Kiersten Nash, came to visit us. It was so nice to see them. McKay enjoyed a peaceful slumber during their visit. :)

Today is a better day

Thanks for all the prayers and concern! McKay had his one week check-up today and his growth is in the 3rd percentile...wahoo! The doctor is very happy about that and says that he is doing just great. When you compare it to how he was doing, he is just thriving!

I have been taken off bed rest, but my pressures are still pretty high, so I am "taking it easy" says my doctor. Thank goodness my mom is here because I am not able to help as much as most new moms that don't feel as sick.

All in all, things are looking better. McKay's hair is looking more and more red and everyone comments that he will be a red head. He is darling!

Cutie

Sorry this one is sideways, but it shows him in the NICU with his feeding tube.
His second bath in the hospital. He really loves baths.
Wrapped in the blanket great grandma Hatch made him.
Peace at last! McKay is a very content little guy--a much needed blessing with all that is going on with Shelley. We love McKay!

Home

Good news: we are both home. Bad news: I am still on bed rest until further notice. My pressures are still very high. Hopefully with a new medication, Procardia, I will be able to improve. The past few days have been absolutely the most trying time of my life because I have been SO sick. The magnesium they put you on at the hospital to prevent seizures puts you in one of the most darkest feelings--lethargic, woozy, hot flashy, nauseated. I pretty much wanted to die.

Luckily, I have one of the best husbands and moms in the world. Kimball and mom are helping me out a ton! I literally can't do anything except try to feed the baby and when that is too stressful, then I pump and they feed him my breast milk through a bottle.

We will post more pictures soon. I am the one that has always posted on this blog, hence the reason why it is not being kept up very well now. You will all just have to be patient. :)

Thanks to all friends and family members who have sent very thoughtful phone messages, emails, text messages, etc. I am receiving them. It is just hard to reply to everyone. Thanks for the family fasts. I know that it is your prayers that helped McKay recover so quickly from his glucose problems in the NICU.

I better rest. Thanks to everyone and know that things will get better.

Shelley is very ill

McKay is totally improved and ready to be discharged. Shelley, however, took a turn for the worse last night. She was discharged yesterday, then readmitted to the ER last night with a blood pressure of 174/107 and severe tremors.

She has been put on a magnesium IV drip to prevent seizures. The magnesium makes her feel very sick and lethargic. It is hard for her to feed or even hold McKay. Kimball is being a great dad! Shelley's mom is here helping out.

Please pray for Shelley, Kimball, and McKay!!

Day #3 in NICU

Good news is McKay is doing much better! His glucose levels are stabilizing in the 60-70 range, so they are slowly weaning down his IV. The IV glucose will be done today, but then they continue to check his levels often and feed him so that he can keep it up. The NG tube is out (thanks to the little guy's long fingernails). For all you nurses--that is the worst when they pull their own tube out, huh? Luckily, they haven't had to put it back down because he is getting enough through bottle feeding and some breast feeding...yay!

He is a totally new babe from yesterday morning. His progress is so much like the gospel. In the gospel, we have to look at people from where they have come from, NOT from where they are. I think we can always give people more credit! It's true with McKay too. It is so awesome that he will even drink from a bottle today, when yesterday morning, he wouldn't even suck on a pacifier.

Things are looking up. I will be discharged to a "hotel stay" room here in the hospital so that I can go to NICU and feed him. McKay could be discharged Sunday or Monday if all goes well. I saw one of my nursing school friends in the NICU last night. Jana (can't remember her married name) is a NICU nurse here in Logan and we graduated with each other. She was such a welcome site since we know very few people up here. The nurses here are wonderful.

For the Holt clan, the nurses put up signs on McKay's crib with tractors, barns, and trucks. They asked us, "what do you think of when you think of McKay?" Kimball said, "John Deere tractors." So the next time we went, there were some pictures up. Very cute. More pictures to come later of McKay. It is exhausting to pump, feed, never sleep, and then also remember to take pictures. I am getting there....slowly. :)

Update on McKay

I just had to add this picture of right after delivery to give proof of how small this little guy really is! Update for today: his blood glucose levels are still up and down, even with the IV glucose going in. They put an NG (naso gastric) tube down his nose to give him some formula (mixed with whatever I pump) to increase his weight, his glucose, and hopefully a desire to suck on something. He has not had the energy or desire to suck on even a pacifier yet, so we are hoping that giving him more energy will help in that department.

For those of you who really want to know the medical stuff: they want his blood glucose level to be above 50. It was 28 when he went to NICU after delivery (common in small babies, but still that is really low). For the past 24 hours, his levels have been all over the place. They gave him a bolus last night, which put his level at 163. Then slowly, he has come back down without them changing anything. But, we don't want him to keep dropping. We really want him to stabilize somewhere above 50. The last one was 60, which is good because we have now been able to slightly decrease his IV rate and try breast/bottle feeding again. The NG tube will stay in place to give him whatever he doesn't take through breast or bottle.

We are cheering this little champ on. We know he can do it!! The nurses in this NICU have been fabulous so far...I had my doubts coming from Primary's. I just have to tell myself that McKay isn't sick enough to be in Primary's, so it is a good thing we aren't there. :)

McKay Alan Holt

McKay Alan Holt

Born October 14th, 2009 at 8:53 am
5 lbs. 2 oz. 19 inches long
Cutest hair ever!
Mom is doing great. Baby is in NICU getting IV glucose for low blood glucose levels and NG tube feeds because he does not have the energy to eat. We think he is the sweetest thing and hope to see improvements with his blood glucose levels soon.
For those who don't know, I was induced one week early due to my blood pressure going too high. With him measuring small for about a month in the womb, they have been watching things pretty close. My doctor felt it was important to get the baby out pronto when my BP started rising. He didn't like the pitocin very much during labor. His heart rate would decelerate, but all of our heart rates made up for it in acceleration!! :) He came out just fine, and I am still trying to get my blood pressures down (which can take a while with PIH--pregnancy induced hypertension, which is not eclampsia or toxemia).

A day in the life of Kimball

Cows are the most curious creatures. They loved having their pictures taken. :)
This is a Jersey cow

This is the milking barn. Two guys milk together. It takes about 7 hours to milk all the cows (twice a day). Luckily, Kimball only works once a day, but some of the guys he works with do double shifts!!

Kimball deserves a post for multiple reasons, but mainly because he is winning the bread day in and day out by milking cows. He has really enjoyed learning about dairy farming through the Utah State Dairy Management program. He landed a pretty good job at a dairy in Benson, which is west of Logan. Most importantly, he has learned why he is glad he got an education so that come spring he will no longer be milking, but will help manage a dairy. Yay!! Thanks for working, Kimball. And thanks to everyone for buying milk to help out the dairy farmers.

A Bad Sign...

When we first moved to Logan, I noticed something very peculiar about the fire hydrants. They all have tall metal wires sticking out of them. For what reason? At first I thought, that is kind of odd. Then I realized that the snow drifts can stay so tall in the winter for so long that the firemen wouldn't know where the fire hydrants are. Although I enjoy snow, I am not looking forward to the cold, cold winter ahead.

38 Week Ultrasound

Today was fun (probably like a few hundred dollars fun) because we got to see the little guy again on ultrasound! Yesterday at my appointment, I measured smaller than average, which I have been doing for about a month now. For those of you who have seen me and said, "you are so tiny," it is because I really am smaller than average. They predict the baby will be about 6 pounds at delivery. I'm not quite sure why this little guy wants to be so small, but Kimball has convinced me that it is better to have a small baby for a first delivery.

Everything looked good on the ultrasound. He is moving a lot and does not appear to be distressed. My amniotic fluid levels are on the low side of normal, which could be contributing to why I am so small. As long as I continue to feel the baby move, then I am good to go. So I guess that is good news.

In just a couple weeks we'll get to see if the doctor's guesses are correct regarding junior's size!!