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Tyler Lucian Sex: boy Born: 24 January, 2008 Age: 0 years & 114 days Birthday in: 251 days Starsign: Aquarius Biggest achievement so far: -I`ve had surgery to place my intestines back inside and have gotten better faster than any of my doctors expected!!!

Birth details

Type of delivery: Cesarean section
Duration of labor: NA
Weight @ birth: 7lbs 11oz
Length @ birth: 19 inches

Tyler-Lucian`s birthstory

On 1/23 I hadn`t felt Ty all day. We went to L&D for monitoring and the NST was fine. We had a scheduled NST and u/s on 1/24. After having both of those we talked to the doc and she told us to go home, get our stuff and head to the hospital. She was planning on starting our induction that afternoon. Once we got back to the hospital we got back on the monitor and were waiting for them to determine how they were going to induce. Well I had ONE average contraction and his heart rate dropped down from 180 to 100. At that point the doc decided we were having an emergency c-section right then and there. About an hour later I was in the OR getting my epidural. Eric came in to be with me and then they performed the section. At 5:24 PM Tyler was born! He was crying before he was all the way out! The NICU team evaluated him and his APGAR was 8 and 9. The docs finished me up and took me to recovery.

Ty was in the NICU at the birth hosp for about 2 hours and then was taken over to Children`s Hospital. He is there now, 48 hrs old and doing really well. The docs all say that everything is going as well as it possibly can given the intestine situation. They think all the intestine will be back in in about 5-7 days, then he`ll have surgery to close the abdomin. Once it`s closed then we can hold him and start him on the road home.

1/29/07 - Today Ty is 5 days old. We've been to see him in the NICU everyday. That's hard to do since I'm recovering from a c-section and there seems to be so many other things that still need to be done as well. No where near enough time in the day. I'm sure all new parent's feel that way, but it is harder to have to get up and get dressed, etc and drive 30 minutes to get to him. Enough complaining... Ty is doing great! His intestine has been reduced 4 times, which means that the docs have pushed it into the body 4 times. Now there is only about an inch or so outside. When we started the stack of intestine was about 6-7 inches tall. He's making wonderful progress. The doctors think that they will be able to perform the surgery to close up the opening late this week, Friday or Saturday. We'll be thrilled once that is done so that we can FINALLY hold him. The other issue is with his kidneys. He is refluxing urine from the bladder back into the kidneys, which isn't good. But he is peeing enough that it isn't a major concern. The doctors will keep him on antibiotics for a few months and watch the kidneys via ultrasound. They say that this type of problem tends to go away on it's own in time. So I'm not even thinking about this one right now.
As for me, I got my staples out today. I was scared to death of that, but it wasn't at all painful. We revised my disability paperwork, so hopefully I'll get that money soon. Yesterday I had to go to the ER as the docs were afraid that I'd thrown a blood clot, but after 4 hours in the hospital they decided I was fine. I did have to get a CT scan with contrast which meant that I had to pump and dump for 24 hours. Because of that, I went ahead and took a laxative. I lost 6 pounds just from taking that little orange pill. Nice! To say that I felt better afterwards would be a MAJOR understatement. LOL! Pumping is going much better. When I first started I had the wrong size flanges and ended up with broken open blisters on both nipples. I wanted to just cut them off and pretend I never had breasts, the pain was so bad! But a lactation nurse came to my rescue and now things are going well. I'm still not producing a ton, but it's getting a lot easier to do it. I'm happy with that for now.
Looks like I have about 30 pounds to loose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm going back to weight watchers this week and hope that will make a difference. I'd love to be able to wear my real clothes when I have to go back to work. We'll see how it goes. I'm prepared to eat cereal and apples for the next 2 months if that's what it takes!
It's amazing how much I've changed in the past few days. I can't believe how much love I feel for my son. I feel more connected to Eric now too. It wasn't exactly love at first sight with either of them, but it certainly came quickly and strong with both of them. Ty looks like both of us so far. He has Eric's ears, chin, hair and dimples. He has my nose, lips and cheeks. He'll have brown eyes, since both of us do, but he hasn't had his eyes open much yet for us to really check it out.
That's all for now. Tomorrow will bring more good news and more discoveries about our son.

1/31/08 - Today was Ty's surgery. It was scheduled at 7:45 but he went in a little later than that. It took about an hour and then we were called by the doctors. Everything went really well! We went back up to the NICU to wait for him and then got to see our little boy with his intestines all inside where they belong! The surgeons removed his imbilical cord stump and made him a surgical belly button, but they promise it will be nice and round like a real one would be. He is on a ventilator for the first 24 hours and that's normal. They don't want him to have to struggle to breathe with the added pressure of the intestine up against the lungs. Hopefully tomorrow we will get to hold our little guy for the first time!
Everyone at the hospital has been great, but what else would you expect from Children's? It is hard though, having to go somewhere to see your new baby. And we can only manage to stay for a few hours as there is nowhere for us to really sit and rest. We have so many other things to do as well that it's feeling impossible to me to get anything accomplished. Eric does so much and is making this as good of an experience as possible. I just can't help but feel that if it had all been normal, people would have been coming by the house and helping us with things. As is, we have to go to the hospital to see our son as well as find the time to take care of ourselves and run our normal lives on some basic level. It's tough. I don't know how I'll be able to do this next week when Eric goes back to working during the day. I guess maybe that will help to normalize things, but somehow I doubt it.
Enough of that. This is about Ty, not my whining. Ty is doing great! He's doing better than the docs expected and that's the most wonderful news we could ask for. We know that he is strong like we are and that he will continue to do well and recover as quickly as possible. Ty - We love you so much buddy!

2/1/08 - Ty had a rough morning today. He had a bunch of phlem from his breathing tube and was not getting enough air from it. After they suctioned the goop off his lungs he started doing better right away. When I checked in on him tonight he was breathing over the vent and awake. So it looks like the vent will come out tomorrow. They will also be taking the catheter out tomorrow as well. All good news. Other than the goop in his lungs causing some trouble with the vent all has gone well post-surgery. We are waiting for the second that they tell us we can hold him for the first time. Hopefully that will be tomorrow. He sure is a trooper!
I'm still not making enough milk and met with another lactation consultant today. Hopefully changing the size flange I'm using will make a big difference. It's possible that I won't be able to make enough for him and that we will have to supplement with formula. I'm just happy to do what I can to give him as much milk as possible. I hope it's enough to make a difference.

2/3/08 - Yesterday and today have been GREAT! Yesterday Ty got his breathing tube and catheter out! Then we got to hold him for the very first time!!! Eric was kind enough to let me hold him first. We each had him for about 45 minutes or so. He was doing great when we left. Then today we both got to do "Kangaroo care" for the first time. That's where you hold him up directly against your skin. It's very good for both you and baby. So Eric went first today and then I had my turn. He was fussy when he was first moved out of his bed, but by the time he got settled on our chests he was a very happy little boy! Again we both had him for about 45 minutes each. It was amazing! So the last two days have been the best yet. He's doing so well. He isn't draining as much out of his belly and what is coming out is yellow rather than green which is a big improvement. Also he is having small bowel movements which is another great sign. The docs want to give him another day or so but they are already talking about feeds! They told us to expect a couple weeks before he would be able to start feeds, so he is doing so much better than anyone expected. We don't want to get our hopes up, but if he does continue to do this well, we hope to not be in the NICU as long as anticipated!!!

2/4/08 - Eric is back to work today so we began what is supposed to be our "normal" schedule. I got up and went to the hospital from 10-2. Came home, took care of a couple things, made dinner and then Eric left to go into the hospital. I'm guessing that this is going to become problematic after a while, but it does give us more time with Ty and that's what matters most. Ty is supposed to have another Kidney scan done either today or tomorrow to see how the left kidney is doing. Hopefully it is improving. The docs are talking about starting him on feeds in the next couple days. I'm crossing my fingers that it all goes according to plan. He was doing really well when I was there today. I held and rocked him for about 2 hours total. Towards the end of the time I was there he started to wake up and look around at me. He's really taking to his pacy and I think that means that he is ready to get some food in his little mouth. He looks so big, healthy and strong in comparison to the other kids on his pod. Good thing he's a big strong boy!

2/5/08 - Today was a big day for Ty! He got his repogal (tube down nose into stomach) taken off suction and put to gravity feed. That means that it will come out tomorrow most likely. One more tube down!!! His oxygen was turned down from 1 liter to 1/2 liter and the nose canula will come out soon, possibly tomorrow as well. While I was holding him his nurse Tiffany switched him from the isolet bed to a real crib. Then I gave him a bath! He HATED it and screamed the whole time. For some reason this struck me as most funny and I laughed at him most of the time. He did attempt to pee on me, but I blocked him in time so that I wasn't wearing any tinkle. After bath time I held him for another hour or so, then he had to go for a renal function test. I'm waiting to hear the results of that now and am going to go back up to see him again tonight when Eric goes. The docs are still talking about starting feeds soon but Tiffany was telling me that someone from Speech will come to see him and test how well he does coordinating suck, breath, swallow and will make a recommendation about how best to start the feeds. Could be via a tube, dropper or bottle. We will have to see what comes of that, but I'm guessing he will do well since he loves his pacy so much.
I'm doing better with pumping, making some more progress. Right now I would have to supplement him with formula for sure, but it's getting better everyday. It's just really frustrating to not get as much as I would like to get. I'm doing well on weight watchers also. If my scale is to be believed I've lost about 12 lbs since coming home from the hospital. By my count I still have almost 30 lbs to loose to get back to where I was when all this started. I'm not sure I can accomplish that in the remaining 10 weeks, but we shall see. I'm going to start doing my post c-section pilates dvd today and try to do that daily. Hopefully that will help!

2/6/08 - Today was another BIG DAY for Ty! This morning he got the repogal and oxygen removed!!! He looks like a real boy now since you can see all of his face! It's really amazing how much of a difference that makes! I talked with the urologist today and they are not going to do anymore testing with him while he is in the hospital. His kidney function is not up to normal, but is very close. He will have to take a low dose antibiotic for about a year and will be monitored via ultrasound for improvements. It is still possible that the issue could work itself out and nothing will have to be done about it. Also talked to Angela his resident and they will be putting together a feeding plan for him tomorrow. Not sure if that means he'll start with feedings tomorrow or not, but it's a big step! And the last big hurdle! Once he gets going on the feedings then we can plan on bringing him home soon afterwards!!!

2/7/08 - Today, another big day. Ty started on feeds today. He is getting 1 ml of breastmilk every hour via a tube into his stomach. The plan is to increase the feeds every day till we get up to 22ml per hour. They estimate that to take about 10 days total. Once he is up to full feeds they will remove the tube and he'll be getting milk via a bottle. So it looks like we've got at least another 2 weeks ahead of us. It makes me a little sad to think that we've got at least another 2 weeks, but I'm sure it's good in the grand scheme of things. BUT while I was visiting with him today he was VERY upset. I think that he is having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the sensation of food in his belly. He was screaming bloody murder for at least 15 minutes. The nurse brought him some Tylenol and he went to sleep after that. I'm really hoping that calmed him down well enough so that there isn't any question about working up the feeds.
I'm going back to the hospital tonight with Eric so that I can go to the breast feeding class. I'm not sure what I could learn, but it can't hurt to go. I've got an appointment on Monday to go to the breast feeding clinic as there is a medication that I can take to improve the amount of milk I'm making. Hopefully that will help.

2/8/08 - Ty's feedings went up today as expected. He is doing well with them. He gets pretty fussy mid-day and we think that it's gas or reflux, both of which are normal. So they are getting him some drops for gas and Tylenol to keep at his bedside if he needs it. That's pretty much it on his update. He's doing well and going according to plan. I on the other hand managed to back into a lady in the kroger parking lot today on my way home. Nice! So let's recap... Eric hit my car in the driveway in October, a guy hit me on the bridge and took off at the end of November and I backed into someone in February... Good! Comes in 3's, right? That means that if I can still afford insurance, all should be well for a while. I hope!

2/10/08 - Ty keeps doing well everyday. His feedings have gone up daily just the way that the docs have planned for him. He gets a little fussy while we're visiting, but I'm sure that's to be expected. We talked to the nurse practitioner today about how the feedings will be increased. Turns out that starting tomorrow they will likely increase feeds every 12 hours, but still increasing by 1ml every time. As we get closer to 10ml+ per hour we will start to talk about trying a bottle to get him working with a bottle. So that's good news too. I was thinking that it wouldn't be bottle till he was already on full feeds and that might take quite a lot of time depending on how he does with it. All in all a good weekend. Tomorrow is my appointment to see the people at the breast feeding clinic. I hope that whatever they want to give me doesn't have too many side effects.

2/11/08 - Today we started with the feeds going up every 12 hours. That means that today it's 5 and 6, so on and so forth. He wasn't as fussy today as he has been, which is good news. Not too much to say for an update since all is going well!
I went to the breast feeding clinic today to see the doc about the medication to increase my milk. Turns out that the medication that they could prescribe has some serious side effects, can only be used for a month and most importantly will not increase my supply to what it needs to be for Ty. Eric and I have talked about it and decided that I'm not going to try the meds and I'll keep pumping till he gets up to full feeds and then I'll quit and we will transition him to the formula that he'll stay on. Seems to make the most sense since he would have to be supplemented no matter what. That way we'll know that he tolerates the formula well since he'll be in the hospital when he starts on it. So that's that. I was really hoping that the medication would be the answer to my prayers but that just isn't going to happen. I honestly have to say that I'm relieved that there is an end in sight, one way or another. I'd love to be able to give him enough milk, but since that isn't the case I'm glad that I can stop pumping soon and with a clean conscience.

2/16/08 - While this website has been great for me to use through the pregnancy, I'm now going to stop updating this page. All updates about me and Ty will be on our personal website, www.ericloveslisa.com Feel free to check it out if you are interested. To all those ladies out there that shared with me while I was pregnant and supported me after the birth, Thank you so much and best of luck to you with your new little ones.

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