Pampered for sure! Zane got his first massage yesterday! I'm pretty sure he loved it. Tasha the occupational therapist came by and taught Kelly how to give a baby a massage. This technique is very important for preemies. When babies are in the womb they stretch out. As space in there gets cramped they start to "ball" up. Hence the term "Fetal Position". (Not just a blog, but a real learning experience!) Unfortunately preemies aren't in the womb long enough to start "balling up". Although Zane was in the "pike" position at birth. (that's a diver term for all my rodeo buddies) In fact Dr. Lombardi signed Zane's board and gave him a perfect "10" on delivery! He's a real comic! Being in the womb in zero gravity aids in the baby's ability to ball up and stretch out. When they are born gravity takes over and they lay stretched out a lot....see photos from other blog entries below. At around 32 weeks gestational age the baby begins this 'balling' up process. In the NICU at 32 weeks Tasha starts coming around and teaching the massage techniques. Ned will get his lesson today at 2:30. Tasha actually said the daddy's tend to do a better job! Isn't that amazing! They not only learn massage but they learn relaxation and calming techniques. Today's babies are soooo lucky! At 34 weeks (gestational age) the speech therapist will come by and work with Zane on his suck, swallow and breathing, all necessary to eat from a bottle instead of his feeding tube. He is 33 weeks today. That is something we have had to get used to, using his gestational age as opposed to his birth age. He is 2 weeks old by his birth age and it has been a wild and crazy 2 weeks. We all have learned so much. Not the least being how many wonderful friends and family we have been blessed with. Zane was weaned out of his giraffe bed again Wednesday. Was moved into the open air crib during the night Wednesday night. Thursday night his body temp dropped again and it was back to his giraffe bed. He just can't decide where he wants to sleep. He may be a little too young to go to open air but by weight he qualifies. He weighed 4 pounds and 10 ounces last night!!
If you haven't entered our
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And by the way.... I'm back in Alabama today working at our store. We don't have air conditioning. It is hot. I am hot. I am sweating. It's definitely not like this on the 'Lilly Pad' at Centennial Women's Hospital. We get to the hospital early and leave late so we've missed all this heat wave mumbo-jumbo that I kept hearing about. Now I get to experience it first hand. My weather bug just started blinking....Heat Advisory.... I knew it! I'm going to melt......
I do have photos today! Can you believe how much he has changed since birth! It totally amazes me! Enjoy!
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Hey Mrs. McGee,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Ali (Nicholson) Todd, my husband Lee Todd and I both high school rodeoed for TN and I knew who Matt and Kelly were because they were the best ropers around!! Anyway, I happened upon your blog one day through Kathy McCloys website. My husband rodeoed for Otey at MO Valley, so I always check out her site. Okay, enough rambling. We just welcomed a baby boy Kyler Lee on May 3 at 35 weeks, 1 day. He was breech for my entire pregnancy, so we had to have a c-section. When he was born they took him to the well baby nursery, so we thought everything was in the clear. As I headed to recovery, Lee went with Kyler to the nursery and about an hour later he started having trouble breathing and was sent to the NICU. He was immediately put on a cpap, iv and feeding tube. We were there for eight days, and they were the longest and most emotionally draining days of our lives. We would cry one second and laugh the next!! Luckily, like Kelly, we had the amazing support of our parents and other family and friends. My husband went back to work, so my mother and I, like you and Kelly, would head up first thing every morning and sit with Kyler and spend time loving on him. One of Kylers main problem was learning how to take a bottle. He had trouble learning how to suck, swallow and breath at the same time. He would do good one day and take a whole bottle and the next would be on the feeding tube. It was hard to see him do so well one day and bad the next, but they say preemies take one step forward and two steps back. We also went through moving back and forth from bed to bed like Zane. Zane is such a handsome little cowboy and seems to be doing extremely well!!! I check back every day for updates.
Okay, enough of my story. I just wanted to let you know that I am thinking about and praying for Zane. Hopefully he will keep progressing and get to come home soon :) It took Kyler til day 6 in the NICU to finally take 2 ounces and those bottles would sometime take almost an hour to get down, and now he is devouring 4 ounces eight times a day!!! He is somewhat of a porker...haha. Please feel free to contact me if yall have any questions or just need the support of someone who has been in your shoes. My email is Tess4882@hotmail.com. We also have a blog, so you can follow us on our journey as we went through the NICU at Baptist Womens Hospital in Memphis. It is leeandalitodd.blogspot.com.
On a funny note.....Kyler was always called a "wimpy white boy" while in the NICU. They always say that little white boys are lazy and dont try hard and get used to doing things the easy way......haha!!! Sorta sounds relevant to when they grow up, huh? If he would have any issues, the docs would just laugh and say "he's just a little wimpy white boy". Anyway, from one wimpy white boy to another GOOD LUCK and STAY STRONG!!! Some days are harder than others, just remember that God is watching over Zane and keeping him safe!!!
With Love~Ali Todd