Doing great at home

Wyatt is adjusting well to his new home. Jeremy and I are also trying to adjust to our new sleep schedule. I actually took a 2 hour nap yesterday. I never slept when Noah napped, but I may need to do that with Wyatt.

We took him to the doctor yesterday and he weighed a big 5 lbs! Wow what a chunker! Dr. Lee seemed pleased with his progress, which thrilled me and Jeremy. We also gave him a bath when we got home. He was not happy with this idea.

It has been so nice having Jeremy home this week. It is wonderful to get to spend this time together as a family. We've just been through so much, so it is nice to have some down-time together. I think it is helping Noah adjust to his new brother as well.

I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to juggle working after Spring Break and the boys. I guess most moms do this, but not with a 5 pound baby. Please pray that everything will work out.

Home

We are HOME! That's all I really need to say!

Wyatt is now sleeping in his bassinet in our room. It is a beautiful sight. He is wrapped up because his temperature is a little low, but other than that he is absolutely a perfect 4 lb. 13 oz. baby boy.

Thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement. They are greatly appreciated. God tested me the past 10 days and I truly feel I came out of the scary, crazy, madness a stronger Christian.

Going home....I think

The doctors made an announcement during rounds that Wyatt may be going home tomorrow if everything today goes well. The nurses were instructed to treat him like a "normal baby." So he needs to maintain his body temperature and his billirubin levels need to stay where they are. Everything else has already been checked off the list. My only concern is the temperature. He has been wrapped up for so long that I'm afraid he might have some problems adjusting. I don't know if they will send him home having to be swaddled. But I guess we will see.

We are very anxious to head home and be "regular." I do hope that the last day ever in a NICU for a Johnson baby will be tomorrow.

Loving it at Pitt

We are so happy to be back at Pitt. Everything there is just relaxing as compared to Duke. We had a wonderful nurse today. Wyatt is turning a bright shade of orange. I wouldn't be surprised to see him baking in the lights in the morning. He also had a couple of bradys today but he was able to self-recover them. He didn't need any assistance coming out of them. He was snug as a bug in his little pod. Maybe tomorrow I'll post a picture of his new little house.

The best part of the day was when my dad brought Noah over to the hospital. We were all smiles while we visited. We were able to spend the day together and it was very nice to feel "regular" again. Unfortunately we were unable to get into the Ronald McDonald house so we decided that it would be best if we came home. There was a lot of dirty laundry! So tomorrow night Jeremy and I will stay at a hotel if we can't get in the Ronald McDonald house. I don't think I can be this far away from Wyatt again. Noah will go to school tomorrow and then my dad will bring him to Greenville on Thursday to spend the rest of the week/weekend with us. That way my dad can have a break because we will really need him again next week if Wyatt is still in the hospital.

Please pray that Wyatt will have brady-free days and that he will not need treatment for jaundice. Pray for Noah as he is adjusting to all this madness.

Back in Greenville!

We had a great day today! Things seem to be going our way.

Last night Wyatt was transferred to the Special Care Nursery at Duke. We didn't know what to expect but we were surprised when we got there. I couldn't believe we were still at Duke when we entered the nursery. There were 6 babies in this nursery and the room was the size of a closet. One of the babies was going through drug withdrawal. It really was awful but the good news was that we were leaving. We were told shortly after our arrival that we were being transferred back to Pitt this evening. We were ecstatic and relieved! I would have had a hard time leaving him in this new nursery. By going to Pitt we knew then we could see Noah more frequently and that the facility would be very nice as compared to the Special Care Nursery. Don't get me wrong, we were very happy with Wyatt's care at Duke especially in the NICU. The nurses and doctors were wonderful and thorough, but we just needed to be closer to home.

Wyatt went for his kidney study around 2. The results were very positive. He didn't have any urine reflux back into his kidneys, which is exactly what we wanted. The kidney specialist does want to track Wyatt and see him for another study at around 3 months of age. I liked this plan because we want to stay on top of this kidney problem. After the study, we were told that the Life Flight transport team from Duke would be transporting him at 7. Fortunately they moved up the transport to 5. It felt so good to be heading towards home. Jeremy and I were all smiles.

Wyatt was admitted to the Pitt NICU and they were very pleased with his progress. He is feeding extremely well for his age. He was starting to look a little orange this evening, so they will see if he needs to go back under the lights tomorrow. He is also continuing to have "brady" episodes and he really needs to be brady-free for about 7 days before he can go home. So we will be here at least another week, but that is ok. I don't want him to forget to breath when he gets home. Plus the Pitt NICU is just a beautiful facility. It really felt like entering a totally different world from the Special Care Nursery.

So tonight we are staying in a Greenville hotel, but we hope to get in the Ronald McDonald house Wednesday night. Jeremy and I decided that we should probably spend the night at home on Tuesday. We are out of clean clothes and I want to work on the nursery. It wasn't quite done, so I need to do a little work in there for Wyatt. Also I think it will be really good for Noah.

I want to thank my Primary School friends again for their generous donation. We weren't able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, but a local hotel gave us a great rate. We were able to stay for 4 nights and have meals on that gift. It really meant so much to us.

Please pray that Wyatt will start having brady-free days and is able to increase his feedings. Also pray for me as I start to try and breastfeed tomorrow. This will be my first time and I'm a little bit nervous. Most mothers don't have to be on display when they are learning to breastfeed. Noah never would because he spent so much time on a bottle in the NICU.

Kidney test tomorrow

Everything with Wyatt went pretty well today. His billirubin levels continue to go down and he is beginning to look less orange. He was able to feed from the bottle well with me today. He tires out pretty quickly but he is able to coordinate his suck and swallow efficiently. He does continue to have these "brady" episodes where he forgets to breathe, especially when he is sleeping hard or very comfortable.

Wyatt will see a radiologist tomorrow to do a study of his kidneys. Since he has this horseshoe shaped kidney, there is a risk that his urine could go back up into his kidneys and cause damage. So the radiologist will insert dye into his system and then watch his kidneys and bladder work. Hopefully he will perform well on the test, but we won't have the results until they are read by the urologist. I'm happy that we will have this connection with a specialist at Duke. However my mind just races that there could be something else wrong. I need to have more faith that everything will be ok. Unfortunatly I have read too much on the internet, which is always a big mistake.

He will be moved to the "Special Care Nursery" tonight. I know that means he is doing extremely well. I need to focus on that and not on the possibility of things that most likely will not even happen (my internet research). I hope that his billirubin levels will go down tomorrow and they will send us back to Greenville. I miss Noah so very much. I just want my boys to be at home and to be completely healthy.

Keep sending me those positive words of encouragement. I love a positive text message and so does Jeremy. Our cell phones are 571-5607 (jeremy) and 571-5608 (ashley).

Good news this morning

Really quick before we are off to the hospital....Wyatt's billirubin levels are down from 11 to 9. Yeah! Headed in the right direction. The doctors may remove one of the lights. That wouldn't hurt our feelings because he has to wear eye protection with the lights. His face gets all smooshed up and I hate that. Also my feet look like regular feet this morning. For those of you who have seen the movie "Walle", my feet looked like the people up in the space station thing. And by the way, those people really weird me out!

Up and down day

There is not a better way to describe today other than up and down. We started the morning with a call to the hospital and received some good news. Wyatt's jaundice levels were down as compared to yesterday. Yeah! We were riding pretty high.

Then down again. We went outside to get on the shuttle and use our cell phones (we have no service in the hotel) and my dad had left a message that Noah was sick. He had thrown up in the bed last night and was very pitiful. We called him and he cried saying he missed us so much. We have never been away from him when he is sick but I know my dad will take great care of him. It just broke my heart hearing him cry.

We got to the hospital and Wyatt was doing great. We got to hold him and feed him with a bottle and he was being very successful with it. We were up again. Then down. The doctor came in and told us that Wyatt only has one kidney and that it is shaped like a horseshoe. It may cause complications down the road but right now it is ok. His kidney seems to be working because he peed all over us this morning while we tried to change his diaper. Still the news really worried me and Jeremaymand it weighed heavily on us especially since this shape of kidney is prone to kidney stones. Just great.

We had lunch and went back up to spend more time with him. I've been able to provide some breastmilk for him but not enough just yet so that he only has breastmilk. They are supplementing my supply with formula and that makes me sad. But I'm being realistic too. No mother could produce what they are asking me to produce this early on. So we are pretty up after spending the afternoon with him. He had a few episodes where he gets so comfortable in our arms that he forgets to breathe. It scares me and Jeremy but Noah had these episodes too. The doctor came back in this afternoon and told us that he would be transferred out of intensive care and sent to the special care nursery here at Duke, probably tomorrow. We know this means he is really getting better and that he isn't critical at all anymore. Otherwise they wouldn't move him. We are really up now. So we decide to leave the hospital on the up-swing.

So now I'm resting at the hotel, and trying to put my feet up. They are so swollen. They don't look anything like my pre-pregnancy feet, but I'm working on them. I know that I haven't been taking care of myself like I should. It has just been so stressful and scary. I miss Noah so much but I know Wyatt needs me more now. And Jeremy and I are so homesick. We just want to go home. It was hard being away today knowing that my grandmother's funeral was happening this afternoon. So it has been an up and down day. Please pray that my milk supply comes in for Wyatt, that my swelling will go down, Noah feels better, and that we only get good news tomorrow. Thanks for all your many prayers and words of encouragement. They mean so very much to us right now.

Answered prayers

We have had a great day! We arrived at the hospital in this awful weather not knowing what to expect from the doctors. When we got to the NICU the doctors were discussing Wyatt's condition and we went on in to see him.As soon as we reached his bedside the nurse rushed over and told us that he had pooped! Jeremy and I just cried we were so happy. I don't think I've ever cried over poop before today, but today I did. We knew that meant there was no surgery needed for little Wyatt. After the wonderful news, the doctors allowed me to hold him for the first time and to try and breastfeed. They also did some bottle feeding with very good success. He did get very tired and couldn't finish the bottle, but all in all it was successful.So today was terrific in so many aspects. Jeremy and I are much more high-spirited. We were pretty stressed about his health, but now we know that we can handle all these little problems that are left. The only big problem left is the jaundice. His levels were up tonight so we are praying that they go down tomorrow.We really appreciate all your words of encouragement. They really keep us going. Here is a picture of our little one.

Thank you

Well it has been quite a past 36 hours. But that's ok, I just have to march on. I've been pretty emotional through all this stress, but I am going to work on being stronger today.

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate all the prayers and words of encouragement. My friends at PCPS are just wonderful. Jeremy and I were just so very touched by your generous gift. It will help us so much while we are living here in Durham. As you know we have done this NICU thing before and we know how much it costs to eat out for every meal and for parking. So this will just help so very much. I really love each one of you and I hope you will continue to pray for my whole family.

Now for a Wyatt update...he was removed from the venilator last night and appears to be doing very well. He is very cute and looks a lot like Noah. We were transferred to Duke because there is a problem with his intestines and we are not sure if he will have to have surgery. We are waiting for the head of pediatric surgery to evaluate him. The doctors at Pitt didn't know what to do, so we are thankful that he was transferred. Of course we wish we were closer to home with our family and friends. We miss Noah terribly. Wyatt also has very high levels billirubin which causes jaundice. They are working to get that done. So please pray that the doctors are able to correct Wyatt's bowels and that his jaundice will go away.

Thank you all again for all your prayers. We will keep you updated.