So Strong!

We had our first try at tummy time today and it went really well! I expected him to get really frustrated and only last a few seconds, but instead he laid comfortably for almost 5 minutes. I was so surprised at how strong he is too! He lifted his head and turned it to the other side and laid it back down....pretty impressive I think, considering he is not even supposed to be born yet!

In other Cade news:

In addition to nursing regularly, we are also giving him a bottle of fortified breast milk twice a day for added calories. I have been giving him 38mL like they were in the hospital, but today I thought I would offer him more in case he wanted it...I made the bottle with 70mL and he devoured it! Not only does he eat soooo much now, but he will nurse or take a bottle, take the bottle from Chris or I, drink breast milk or formula and doesn't even notice when we add his vitamins! What a champion eater! Just like his daddy :)

Settling In

So we have now been home from the hospital for a week. Life is sort of getting back to normal, at least our new normal anyway. We spent the first few days after we got home doing laundry, unpacking suitcases, organizing important papers, making phone calls, paying bills, etc. I guess I should say that Chris has done most of this while I sit on the couch with a sleeping ball of love in my arms :)

Cade is doing wonderfully despite his somewhat worried and anxious parents. He is eating on demand, which tends to be about every 2 or 3 hours and sleeps when he is not eating. I did notice though that in the last day or so, he has been awake and aware for much longer periods of time. It is so fun to see his eyes open and watch him explore his new world. We took him to meet our new pediatrician on Monday and he had already gained 8 ounces since Thursday night, making him a whopping 4 pounds 12 ounces! Dr. Tedford was great and put us at ease regarding Cade's susceptibility to illnesses and also in regards to immunizations. We feel that he respects us and truly has Cade's best interest at heart. We have another follow-up appointment on Tuesday to make sure Cade is still gaining weight and doing well at home.

Sleeping arrangements are not yet perfect, but could be a lot worse if you ask me. So when Cade was in the NICU, he slept in a little bed and was always swaddled tightly. He never had a problem falling or staying asleep that way. When we were getting ready to take him home, they informed and really stressed how important it was to put him on his back in his own bed without any blankets or toys at all. SIDS has become a huge problem and it is thought that babies suffocate on these things and therefore we should not use them in bed. However....how is he supposed to go from being tightly swaddled to flat on his back in a cold bed, flailing around and sleep comfortably? Yeah. Not so much. As a result, he will only sleep when up against one of us. He loves to sleep laying on my or Chris' chest or laying right up against me when I lay in bed. I know many of my fellow parents/blog followers will tell me to put an end to this right away, but i love it! There is nothing better than sleeping with a baby, especially your own. Not to mention that we will likely not have anymore children or at least no more infants and I want to soak it in while I can and enjoy every moment of his sweet little being while he still wants to sleep with me.

On the other side of it is my poor husband. Because the NICU nurses freaked us out about our baby dying in their sleep if they are in our bed or with any blankets on, Chris has been hesitant to sleep in bed with us for fear of rolling on Cade in his sleep. He has been sleeping on the couch and then coming back to bed in the early morning when I get up with Cade. Between this and Cade waking me up every 3 or so hours to eat, we are not sleeping as much as we would like to be. However, I would like to say that there is no crying or screaming baby or having to get up and go to another room to change his diaper or walk to the kitchen to make a bottle so I guess it could be worse. Plus, the lack of sleep is so worth it!

Chris' mom Judy arrived on Tuesday. She has been a huge help in making meals for us, keeping the laundry going and it has been nice for Chris to be able to spend time with her before he has to go back to work. She will be here until a week from Sunday and then my mom and Elizabeth will arrive. We love having family here and are so glad they are able to come and get to know Cade!

I just realized today that Cade will already be 1 month old on Monday and it made me sad. I am frantically trying to soak in every little moment I have with him because I know how fast it will go and before I know it he will be grown up. I know people always say it is amazing that you could love someone so much, but I really never thought it would be this amazing.

Me and Grandma Precious

Our Days in the NICU

Cade arrived in the world when he was 34 weeks and 3 days old. Because he was born prematurely, he was taken right from me to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or NICU. Babies born this early often have respiratory problems, trouble eating because their sucking reflexes have yet to develop and a variety of other problems. When Cade arrived in the NICU and was assessed for these problems, the nurses found that he had none of these! He took a breath on his own right after birth, was able to drink from a bottle AND latched on to the breast the day after he was born! He had no infections or other issues and they told us that his only downfall was his size. He needed to gain weight and maintain that weight.

Cade was admitted to the NICU on May 3rd shortly after he was born and remained there for the first 2 weeks and 4 days of his life. It was the longest, most exhausting 2 weeks and 4 days of our lives. That place became our home during that period of time and the wonderful nurses and doctors who cared for him became our second family. Though this was a trying time for us, they made it seem less scary and relieved the stress we felt when we were unable to be there with Cade every second of the day. Leaving him was the hardest thing either of us has ever had to do and if it weren't for those people it would have been so much harder.

During our time in the NICU, we were lucky enough to have an amazing family who put us up in a local hotel for almost the entire time so that we could be near Cade and not have to drive back and forth from Chico. You know who you are and Thank You from the bottom of our hearts! Our days consisted of the following schedule:

7:00am - Wake up, shower, eat breakfast from the hotel lobby (yum!) collect the bottles of pumped milk, pack the diaper bag and snacks for the day

8:30am - Leave for the hospital, arrive, park the car, walk all the way to the entrance, down the long hallway, take the elevator or climb the stairs up a floor, ring the bell at the front door of the NICU, wait to be let in, complete the 2 minute hand washing process and FINALLY make it to see our baby

8:45 am - Meet or greet Cade's nurse for that shift, say hello to him, take his temperature, change his diaper (through the holes in the isolette), feed him, hold him and talk to him for about an hour, talk to the doctor about how he is doing that day and find out what he weighed, wrap him up and put him back in bed for a nap, Stephanie would pump, give the milk to the nurse and walk all the way back to the car. This whole process took about an hour and a half. Cade ate every 3 hours so you do the math for the amount of time to do anything else...including eat!

10:30am - Leave the hospital and either get something to eat or go back to the hotel to rest for a few minutes.

11:30am - Leave for the hospital and do the whole thing over again. We repeated this process to be there to feed him everyday at 9:00am, 12:00pm, 3:00pm, 6:00pm & 9:00pm. Because we both needed to get some sleep, we let the nurses feed him during the overnight feedings.
In addition to this routine, Stephanie got up every 3 hours all night long to pump to make sure Cade had enough milk to eat when we were not there.

Needless to say, it was a full time job and a tiring one at that. It was so worth every tear and tired moment though because we got to bring our beautiful boy home after less than 3 weeks. We feel so fortunate because many of the babies in the NICU have many, many health problems and most have been there for months. I really believe that Cade is so healthy and was able to come home so soon because we were lucky enough to be able to be there with him so much unlike other parents.

I just want to say a huge thank you to a few of our favorite and most wonderful nurses who cared for our son with such love and warmth. Thank you to Jessica, Bella, Jennifer, Maria, Beth, Tracy and anyone else I may be forgetting. We love you and could not have done it without you!

Cade came home with us on Friday May 21, 2010.

Cade's name tag on his bed....made with love by one of the nurses

His "big boy" open-air isolette


Under the jaundice lights. Nice mask!

Snuggling with mom after dinner

Me and my tired daddy

The Best Day of Our Lives

Monday May 3, 2010 has officially become the best day of our lives. It is the day our beautiful baby boy was born. After a rough and horrible 2 weeks in the hospital, Cade finally entered the world. He came out so fast that he earned the nickname "Rocket". Cade came into the world about 5 weeks early and although we were hoping he would be healthy, we knew there was a possibility that he could have a variety of problems. He proved us wrong the minute he came out. He took a breath right away, began to cry and even peed on the nurse :) Chris and I kissed him and then they took him to the NICU to make sure he was OK. He was under observation for about an hour and then we were allowed to go see him. I was under so many drugs that I was unable to sit up and keep my eyes open, but Chris went right in to see him. They told Chris that he was breathing on his own and seemed to be healthy and strong, but tiny.

I had been living on ice chips and chicken broth for 4 days and as soon as he came out, I begged for food. Chris and Elizabeth picked up Mexican food and I very much enjoyed my bean & cheese burrito and horchata! I was unable to see him that night while I was still recovering, but I began to pump right away. I got up every 3 hours that night and when I got a few drops of colostrum, Chris walked it over to the NICU to make sure Cade was getting breast milk at his feedings. What a great dad!

I met my little man the next morning and fell in love. He was perfect. Sound asleep in his little incubator sucking on his pacifier. Here are some of the pictures from that wonderful day. We love him so much already and cannot wait until he can come home with us to start our lives together as a family. We love you Cade! You will always be our "Rocket Man"!

Welcome to the World Sweet Boy

Cade Christopher Rocket Plummer

Born May 3, 2010

at 3:20pm

weighing 3lbs 7oz

18 inches long

Preeclampsia Nightmare

On Monday April 19, 2010 I was admitted to Feather River hospital in Paradise, CA for severe Preeclampsia. I had extremely high blood pressure, large amounts of protein in my urine and severe edema (swelling). These are the worst, but only a few symptoms that can be caused by this horrid disease. That night we were told all about Preeclampsia and were also told that the only way to cure it was to deliver the baby and placenta. Basically the placenta was killing me by releasing toxins and causing all these problems.

Because they thought they were going to have to deliver Cade that night, they gave me the steroids to develop his lungs quicker. At this point he was about 32 weeks old and though this was early to be born, it was better than being in the 20 weeks. We were at Feather River under observation for 2 days and on April 21, the doctor decided that I was getting worse and because they didn't have the facilities to treat a baby under 35 weeks, they needed to transfer us to a different hospital. We were told we were going to Mercy San Juan in Sacramento and I was taken by ambulance that afternoon. The ride was uneventful and I was accompanied by an EMT and a nurse from Feather River. The ride was about 2 hours and they took by BP and listened to Cade the whole way there. Chris drove the truck right behind us the whole time.
We arrived at Mercy early afternoon and settled in to our new home with no idea how long we would be there. At this point I still felt OK despite my high BP. Our first nurse (who I remember) was named Priscilla and was so nice. She made us feel right at home and our room was not too small.

From this point on for the next 2 weeks, I do not remember much of what happened. I began to get sicker and sicker everyday. I was on so many different drugs and painkillers that the whole things is groggy. We had many many nurses, but I barely remember them. Chris has to fill in the details for me when I cannot remember how or why something happened.

I didn't realize how sick I really was. Talking to Chris and my mom and sister now, I learned that they were all afraid for my life. It was by far the worst, most horrible time in our lives. I never wish for anyone to go through what I did. Everyday I begged the doctor to "take him out" because I knew that was the only way I would feel better.

When we reached 34 weeks, they decided to induce me. That was the worst process ever and took 4 days of placing a pill on my cervix every 4 hours and giving me pitocin (to start contractions) and Magnesium (to prevent seizures, but stops contractions) It was a nightmare. When the doctor FINALLY broke my water, Cade came within 3 hours. I elected to have an epidural due to the fact that I felt dead and had no energy to deal with the contractions. This was the best thing that could have happened to me after all my body had been through.

The second he was out of my body and more importantly, the god-awful placenta was out, I felt instantly better. It was amazing. He is amazing. I was able to kiss him and then they took him to the NICU. He was breathing and that was all that mattered.

I began my recovery that night and it is still in progress today. I had severe swelling and it took over a week for all of the fluid to leave my body. I entered the hospital with not a stretch mark and now have enormous purple ones all over my stomach and inner thighs from the swelling. I broke out in a itchy red rash all over my body and in my mouth from the toxins leaving my body. I still have really shaky hands from the Magnesium they had me on. My eyes were totally blood shot from pushing so hard for him to get out fast because his heart rate was dropping. I sometimes have a little trouble getting words out which is a result of the swelling around my brain. I have stitches from having to be cut to get him out faster and the worst part is that I have developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the whole thing.

I am dealing with it pretty well, but I am definitely traumatized by this time in my life and after I post this, would like to avoid talking about it for a long time. The few little snippets I can remember make me cry and I start shaking and panic. When Cade comes home and we get settled, I plan to find someone to talk to about it and hopefully deal with it in a healthy way.

Though I hate the pictures of me from that time, I will share them because I love you all. I am so grateful that I made it through this and that I and Cade are healthy. I am eternally grateful to Chris and my mom and Elizabeth for being there for me and for being so strong even though they were so worried about me. I am also so grateful for the wonderful nurses at Mercy hospital. Without them all, I may not have survived. And now, I close this chapter of my life and focus on our baby and my family.

http://www.preeclampsia.org/symptoms.asp