Forrest's Next Battle

I don't remember if I ever told everyone that while he was in the NICU they found what they thought was just retained fluid in his groin area. They set up an appointment for him to go see a urologist to make sure the fluid was absorbing correctly. I took Forrest to the appointment today and it turns out that it is not fluid, but a hernia that needs to be repaired.

The doctor should be how to push the hernia back up into the correct place when I find that it is out. Unfortunately it is not something we can wait to fix. Sooo, he is scheduled to have surgery next Friday at Children's Mercy Hospital.

Usually it would be an outpatient surgery, but since he is so young he will have to stay overnight to be observed after the surgery. Needless to say, I am nervous about our tiny baby having surgery. I know this is common, especially in boys, and even more common for a baby born as small as he was but it is still surgery.

Please pray for Forrest, that he will be strong during the surgery and that he will be in as little pain as possible. Please also pray for the surgeon as he prepares to operate on our precious baby boy.

I will keep everyone updated as we get closer to the surgery and after it is over.

Forrest's Photo Shoot

My sister took a lot of pictures of Forrest when she was in town a couple weeks ago. They are so good. I can't wait to have prints made of them.
Here is her website where you can go look at them. Just go to the Order Online option at the bottom of her home page and then choose Forrest 1/10.

www.dragonflyphotodesign.com

Here is one of the pictures she took. I love it!

Look Who Came To Visit

We just had a great weekend with my sister Abby. She flew in Friday afternoon to meet Forrest for the first time. She got to stay until Tuesday afternoon, but it was still too short of a visit. Little Forrest LOVED his Aunt Abby. I am pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

Here is Aunt Abby and her new little nephew...





Aunt Abby also made something to put up in Forrest's room. Doesn't it look great?



We already miss Aunt Abby and can't wait to see her again.

A boy and his dog...

Everything is continuing to go really well with Forrest. He is starting to get on a schedule and is starting to sleep better at night in between feedings. He is awake more during the day, which is a lot of fun. He has a few toys that he loves to stare at when he is awake.

We are really excited about Aunt Abby coming to visit on Friday. I am sure that Forrest will be spoiled by the time she leaves. :)

So yesterday Forrest and I went to his room to play on the floor a little bit (his tummy time). About two or three minutes after we went in there Daisy came in to check out what we were doing. She very gently laid down next to him. I grabbed some pictures of it because it was so cute.


Daisy and Forrest hanging out..



Forrest wide awake...


Forrest having a staring contest with the panda...

Getting Settled...

Forrest has been doing really well since coming home last week. Slowly he has gotten to meet his grandparents and a few friends. Last Friday he had to go to the doctor for a weight check and his 2 month shots. In the two days that we had been gone from the NICU he had gained 2 ounces. His weight on Friday, January 22nd was 5 pounds 8 ounces. He also was 17 3/4 inches long. I can't wait to take him back on February 16th to see how much more he has gained.
He has been getting used to his new surroundings. The first few nights he slept well at night and then all of the sudden on the third night he decided he would rather be awake and crying. He seems to have some gas/colic at night from around 11pm - 1am. I talked to the doctor and she said that this is normal and not to be too concerned. I have been using some gas drops every once in awhile and that seems to help some. Then all of the sudden last night he slept well again. So he is a little bit of a mystery still. :) He does however sleep the best in his swing so we are kind of going with it for now so that Mommy and Daddy can get some sleep.
I am working to get him on some kind of schedule during the day. It seems to be working some and I know that as he gets older it will get even better.
We go back to have blood work done next Friday and then back to the doctor on February 16th for his next RSV antibody shot. Other than that he just goes for his four month check up in March.
Thanks so much for continuing to pray for our little guy. He is truly a miracle and I am in awe at how God has already worked in his little life.

He's Home!

I am very sorry that there have not been any updates in the last week. Things started to get so crazy as we got closer to bringing Forrest home. On Friday last week I started driving back and forth to the hospital for almost every feeding. He had started to really do well with nursing so it seemed like the best thing to do for him. By Sunday morning, the NICU nurses had found a room for me to board in so that all I had to do was walk from my room to the NICU to feed him. This made things so much easier for me but it meant that I really didn't leave the hospital much. By Sunday evening several of the nurses told me they thought he would be going home soon, but I tried not to get my hopes up. But when I went in to feed him on Monday at noon, they told me I could take him back to the room with me and he could board out there with me as much as I wanted. I didn't know what to say or think. It seemed so weird the very first time I pushed his little crib down the hallway of the hospital to my room. It seemed as if I was doing something wrong. He had never left the NICU. By Monday night, they had scheduled his circumcision for the next day and we were getting him ready to get his RSV Antibody shot. He was circumcised on Tuesday morning and when I went back with him to the NICU where he was monitored after that his nurse Patty said he would be going home the next day. Needless to say, we were both thrilled. We left the hospital Wednesday around noon...after lots of goodbyes to all of our favorite nurses both Tuesday night (night shift) and Wednesday morning. Forrest got dressed up for everyone in his onesie with a tie on it. By 12:30pm we were home and introducing him to the dogs. Also,Garrison got to see his brother for the first time last night and kept saying how tiny he was. :)
Forrest did well his first night now. He slept all night except when he got up everything three hours to eat, but every time he went right back to sleep. He seems to be adjusting well to his home and honestly nothing phases him. The dogs can bark, we can grind coffee and the hairdryer can be on and he just keeps sleeping...something good that came out of being in a noisy NICU for almost eight weeks.
Here are some pictures from the last two days as we left the hospital and got home. Hope you enjoy them and again, thank you for all of your prayers for little Forrest. Please continue to pray that he gains weight as he should and stays healthy now that he is home with us.

The pictures are all out of order but I hope you like them.


Samson...his new personal guard dog.

The dogs were very sweet with him...love to smell his head.

Mr. Fancy Pants getting ready to leave the hospital.

His full outfit...his shirt was made for him by Aunt Abby.

Forrest and I the night before being discharged...he's is obviously tired of pictures.

Forrest's new room...

Nana Karen comes to visit...

Daddy and Forrest right after we got home...

Daisy checking him out...both dogs love to smell his head.

Doing Much Better...

Forrest has gotten much better over the last few days. They decided that he had a viral infection in his intestines. They have been taking x-rays every day to determine whether it is getting better or not. Yesterday it started to look better so they decided that he could start feedings again today. He had 3-4 feedings today and he took 10 cc's each time. For now, we are feeding him by bottle so that they do not have to put the feeding tube back in. This has been working great so far. We are still working on the breastfeeding but not pushing it too hard right now.

He is still being watched and will continue to have x-rays daily until they are sure that everything is 100% back to normal. The good news is that since the blood transfusion his hemoglobin has been way up and is no longer a concern.

He does have a new midline (IV) in since he needs nutrition in addition to the milk he is getting. In addition, they have left the IV in his foot just in case it is needed for anything else. Our hope is that he will not need these two IV's for very long.

We have also been so fortunate with the nurses at Shawnee Mission in the NICU. They have all been so nice to us. I have had several nurses come and find me when they hear I am there just to tell me they have been thinking about us and were concerned to hear about Forrest. He definitely has a fan base with the nurses....already the ladies man. Honestly the nurses make things a lot easier and are never too busy to answer my questions or explain things to me.

Please pray that the feedings continue and that is intestines will cooperate and not flair up again. Please also pray for us as we continue to deal with our crazy schedule and me having to be up at the NICU so much. Thank you so much for all of your kind words, emails and calls. I am so sorry that I haven't been able to answer everyone, but please know that it all means so much to us.