The Bourque Family: December 2011

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Conner = Ladies Man

I couldn't help but to most Conner's latest picture. Check out this pose he was giving his nurse :)

He loves nurse Amy.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

As the boys grow and develop they have started to truly show their natural male instincts. Chase will literally hold his breath, make the monitors go off and as soon as the female nurse comes he starts breathing again. Conner will hold off on pooping for a day just until their about to give him a suppository and as soon as the diapers off he explodes everywhere. Conner had to get a new incubator because his old one needed to be hard core sanitized. Boys will be boys :)

The boys both were started on steroids yesterday for their lungs. Conner is now officially a 4 pound baby and has been given the clear to wear clothes. So, I am doing laundry as I write this. They have called in a GI(gastrointestinal) specialist for Chase's liver. He has been struggling with eating and as long as he's not on full feeds he's been receiving TPN's through his IV. Well, TPNs can cause liver damage from long term use. I will keep ya'll posted on what the specialist says. On a happy note Chase is up to 4ml every 3 hours so slowly he is catching up to Conner who is off TPNs and all IV fluids with 30 ml every 3 hours.

Here are some super cute pictures of them taken this week.

Chase Michael Bourque

December 2011

Conner James Bourque

December 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Two Months Old

Chase Michael

Two months old

3 pounds 12 ounces

Chase fighting his C pap on December 14th

Crossing his heart December 22nd

Tummy time December 25th

Conner James

Two months old

3 pounds 14 ounces

Sucking his fingers December 14th

Peeking at Daddy December 22nd

Holding Daddy's hand December 22nd

A True Christmas Blessing

I know I haven't posted in awhile and I apologize we have had family in and out along with some house issues.

The boys are now two months old and Michael and I got a true blessing today. The doctor gave us the clear to hold both boys today.

I got to hold Conner for about an hour and half. He was so calm and fell right to sleep until he got hungry then he was trying to help himself to lunch :) Conner is still on the conventional ventilator. He has tried the C pap twice now and did pretty good but he ended up getting a case of pnuemonia and the doctors felt it was best to keep him on the vent while getting antibiotics. He will be getting another round of steroids to help with lung development later this week. Conner is up to 30ml (an ounce) every 3 hours.

Michael got to hold Chase for about 45 minutes today. Chase enjoyed snuggling with Daddy and was very interested in his chest hair :) Chase is now on what they call high flow oxygen. He is breathing on his own but the oxygen is pushed in through his nose to remind him to breath. Chase has started to eat a little bit more since his surgery. He is now getting 2ml every 3 hours.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

One Step Forward....Three Steps Back

So, Chase's surgery was a success and his blood pressure and breathing rates have improved, however his feedings have regressed. The doctors had stopped feeds for his surgery. The day after they began feeding him again and they kept getting back up in the tube. They had to drop back down to 1ml every 3 hours to actually get it to go in. We are up to 1ml every hour now, so it's a start back to where we were.

Conner was doing amazing on his vent settings last week he spent last Saturday and Sunday on the c pap but Sunday night it proved to be to much and he needed a break so they put him back on the conventional vent. Tuesday he was back on the pressurized oscillator. The nurse said today that she expects them to put him back on the conventional vent tomorrow to get back to where we were on the c pap.

Parenthood has proven to be a very serious roller coaster ride and we aren't even 7 weeks in yet.

Chase's Surgery

I didn't get time to post before his surgery, but Chase has his PDA surgery Tuesday, December 6th. He did amazing during his surgery. He was able to stay on the conventional ventilator the whole time and the doctors/surgeons were very impressed by his resilience. Michael and I were there to be with him during his surgery and to watch Conner act up the whole time.

Here are the pictures I took that morning

Conner James

December 6th, 2011

Go LSU! Conner loves to snuggle with the tiger his daddy brought him.

Chase Michael

December 6th, 2011

Pre Op

His mouth is hanging open cause of how the vent is sitting in his mouth. Rest assured it does close fully. :)

Chase has a mighty tight grip for being so small. Every time I went to walk away he would grasp harder.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Forward Progress

This week has been another week of forward progress. Both boys are continuing to grow. Chase is continuing to increase his feeds and coming down some more on his oscillator settings. Conner has been Conner, he has finally managed to pull every single medical device off/out of him. Friday night Conner successfully removed the adhesive around his ventilator tube and removed the whole tube from his body. The nurses were unaware of Conner's activities until he managed to get it fully out and panicked. Saturday morning they moved Conner to a c-pap. It basically just shoves oxygen into his nose to encourage him to breath and he did great with it. He is back on the conventional ventilator now, but they will continue to extend his c pap time until he manages to hold his own continuously.

Chase is scheduled for surgery again this week, a vein in heart commonly referred to as a PDA has gotten bigger and is requiring a clamp. The doctors will go in between his ribs and insert the clip around the vein. When we find out the exact date I will update ya'll. Conner is getting an echo tomorrow to check his heart for the same thing, but last echo he got showed it was closed so fingers crossed.