Spotlight on the Boys (Vince and Luca)

It's been a busy few weeks, going back and forth to the hospital while also trying to keep the house together.  Vince knows that something's up and mom and dad are away a lot.  As a result he's been acting out and having some major temper tantrums that we are having to deal with.  We just keep trying to reassure him and give him love, and we are trying to keep him as involved as possible.  On the other hand, he is always asking about 'my baby brother' and says he misses him.  I feel sorry for the little guy.... we just need to keep giving him extra love and patience.  In the mean time, he's FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!!  We are so excited that Vince has finally decided he's ready to wear tighty whities and say good bye to diapers.  He's worked hard on his potty chart and managed to earn a few trains after he crossed off 15 poops and 60 pees in the potty! yay! 

We also have him playing soccer once a week.  Last week was the first time I was able to take him to his class, as I was on bed rest for the last class.  It was so cute watching him run around on the field, and WOW!  That kid likes to follow directions to a T (wish he'd do that at home too!)  He sits there and listens so keenly to the coach, and is basically the only kid that does exactly what she says (he HAD to get this from his Dad, it certainly wasn't me).  He'll be literally standing there doing what the coach wants, while the other kids are running around the field like clowns. 

Vince and his buddy Max

 practicing at handling the ball with his foot

 practicing at weaving through the cones

When I ask Vince what his favorite part about soccer is, he says 'being the goalie'..... 'cause then I get to touch the ball with my hands and no one else does!'

We also have Vince doing some drumming on Sundays at church with Daddy.... here's the latest picture of the two of them.  Oh yeah, he knows how to carry a beat! 

On to little Luca...

He's three weeks old today!  He continues to make small triumphs each day.  He now weighs 5lbs 12.9 ounces so he's growing!  He's able to take about half of his meals by mouth, and the other half still has to get down to his belly by his feeding tube.  He is still building his endurance and strength to suckle, and the poor little guy poops out and falls asleep in the middle of some his feedings(so adorable)!  He still has trouble with maintaining his breathing while he is eating and sleeping, and sometimes his heart rate dips dangerously low.  The nurses count how many of these "spells" that he has during the day, and when he is spell free for 5 days in a row that's part of the criteria for being able to come home.  He also needs to pass a car seat test.  This is done by him being strapped into his car seat for 90 minutes while his vital signs are checked.  They need to be stable the whole time.  He's probably about 2-3 weeks away from being able to come home.  It seems painfully far away right now, but each day we get a little closer.  

Here's cute little Luca during one of his bottles!

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And last but not least, Grandma getting to hold her Grandson

Our Family Finally Together

On Sunday Vince and Zoë were able to finally meet their little brother for the first time!  Since Luca's birthday two weeks ago.... either Vince or Zoë, or both of them, has had a cough/fever/GI bug.... you fill in the blank.  They've pretty much had everything that has prevented them from visiting our newest member of the family.  Vince has been wanting to meet him in the worst way.... and has lovingly nicknamed him two different names which he interchanges at his own will.  On any given day he'll either call him "the man in the yellow hat" or "curious george"(we still need to get him a yellow hat).

Vince was so incredibly happy and totally beaming when he finally saw his little brother, it was the sweetest thing I've ever seen!  He practically jumped through the window.....

Beth Israel Hospital allows siblings to come into the rooms to visit their little brothers/sisters, but here at South Shore Hospital there is no one under 16 years old allowed, regardless if they are siblings or not.  So, the first family photos of all of us "together" actually has us separated by a window.... but that's ok!

trying to get a comparison of Luca's foot to Vince's hand

 

Here's the latest picture, with Luca having graduated from incubator to crib!

And here he is sporting new threads from his Ralph Lauren Layette, the kid is already better dressed than the rest of the family!

Luca is Closer to Home!

On Thursday Luca was transferred from Beth Israel Hospital down to South Shore Hospital which is only 5 minutes from us!  It was a great day!  Since then he's continued to make leaps and bounds in meeting his milestones in order to go home.  They had been slowly turning down the heat in his isolette as he was more able to regulate his temperature, and today Luca graduated from his isolette to a crib!  No more little capsule that he has to stay in to keep warm! yay!  He also tried a bottle for the first time yesterday.... it was a dribbly mess but he managed to get enough milk in to impress the nurse for his first try.  Soon he'll be a champ at sucking from a bottle and they can get rid of his feeding tube.  He's also officially 4 grams over his birth weight, so he's managed to gain back the weight he's lost and he's on his way to getting beefed up. 

Here's some photos of his first bottle feed

We truly are blessed with this little boy.... and we can't wait to bring him home! 

In other news, it snowed all day today and we took advantage of our neighbor's little hill to see if Vince and Zoë would be compatible in a sled together.  Well all I heard was giggling from the both of them as they were gliding down the hill together, so I think it was a success.  This was Zoë's first real play time in the snow... and she really liked it!  I can remember Vince at this age..... just standing in the snow and screaming/crying the whole time.

 she had a lot to say about what the snow was like

Family Updates

Luca is still in the NICU at Beth Israel, and is doing pretty well. He's started putting on weight, and he is doing well with his feedings. For a couple of days however, he still would have some formula in his tummy hours after a feeding, so they were concerned about his digestive tract being compromised. They did a series of x-rays which have shown no motility issues and no inflammation, and the nurse tonight said he had no formula left in his belly so that's great news! Apparently this is common with preemie babies, and it just takes their little stomachs a bit longer to tolerate food/calorie increases. We're still waiting for him to be transferred down to South Shore Hospital, which is only 5 minutes away from us. It will be so great to have him around the corner from us, so we can go and see him anytime we like. He's supposed to have been transferred there "any day now" for 3 days running, so we're always hopeful it will be tomorrow. Lisa started trying to breast feed Luca yesterday, and he was a total champion according to the nurse! I guess babies really aren't geared to try breast feeding until at least 34 weeks gestation, so when he turned 34 weeks on Monday... they said why not give it a try. The nurse saw him gnawing on his hand and looking like he was rooting so that was a good sign. Sure enough, he was able to latch on and start suckling a few times, which is more than we could hope for.

By the way, we still have two other kids! Zoë has been enjoying her music class on Mondays, and has really taken to the music. Whenever we put on the CD at home, she starts dancing along! She is also trying to sing along to some of the songs. She's getting good at saying please and thank you when she wants something, although some of her words still do need interpretation from mom and dad. She's getting so big so fast, we can't believe she isn't the baby in the family now.....

Vince has been doing really well with potty training. This past weekend, he wore underwear almost the entire long weekend, and he only had a couple of accidents. He even asked me when he would be able to wear underwear to bed! We're encouraged that he's going to be in underwear once Luca comes home, so we can avoid paying for diapers for three kids.

Our Miracle Baby

It's been five days since we had our little boy, and it's been full of emotions both ups and downs.  It's taken me a few days to be able to process everything that's going on without breaking out into a crying episode that won't stop.  It still breaks my heart that he isn't here with us in our home, and I could barely stand leaving the hospital without him on Thursday, but I know he's exactly where he needs to be right now.  I know he's getting the care he needs, and he's making good progress.

Mike's mother keeps calling him 'the miracle baby', and she's absolutely right.  This little being has brought me so much gratitude and hope, and has made me so acutely aware of how lucky we are and how blessed our life is.  For as much as I wish that he didn't have to be born so early and be separated from us right away, I realize how lucky we are that he at least made it to 33 weeks.  He was as healthy of a weight that we could have asked for at that gestational age, and there were no other complications and he's otherwise totally healthy.  He just needs a little more time to get his lungs in good shape, get some meat on his little bones, and learn how to use his mouth to feed.

Nonna getting to greet her new grandson for the first time

When we arrived in Luca's hospital room today, we had the good news that they were able to take his IV out!  This means he's getting enough nutrients from the formula feedings and doesn't need to get sugar water through the IV anymore, which is all great news.  They still have to increase his feeding dose one more time (tonight at midnight) but he's so close they just took out the IV earlier today.  They did have to slow the feedings down and give more frequent, smaller doses of formula as he was spitting up a bit more once they started increasing the amount of formula.  Give some time for his stomach to tolerate it!  I just have my fingers crossed that he'll stop spitting up and he'll be able to tolerate the amount of formula he needs every day.  Regardless, it was so nice to see one more piece of medical equipment removed from his body.  They also moved the nasogastric tube from his mouth to his nose (this is the tube that delivers formula down to his stomach-as he cannot use his mouth to suck formula from a bottle yet).  That means at least two good things:  #1 they are sure that they won't be needing to use a cpap machine in his nose again to help him breathe, and #2 they are getting ready for him to start learning how to feed using his mouth!

Here we are yesterday, he still had the IV in his arm

Today he snuggled with Daddy, no more IV! 

Luca, Day 3 and More Pics

Here's an update of how our little Luca is doing so far:

On Tuesday, his breathing tube was taken out, and he was put on a CPAP. The CPAP provided room air with a little positive pressure, so he did not have to work so hard to breathe. On Wednesday, the CPAP was taken off, and he's been breathing on his own since (yay!). He still has some apnea spells (where he stops breathing), but that's apparently normal for premies his age, and most of his spells are over quick and he's been able to correct it on his own without the nurses coming to help him out. It's sort of like his brain forgets to tell him to breathe-because it's not really supposed to have to breathe yet! The NICU is watching him closely, and hopefully he'll grow out of these in a few days. It's scary to think of him having episodes of 'not breathing', but we are hopeful that he'll get it soon!

He's started eating formula. He's not developed enough to take it in by mouth, so they are feeding him with a nasogastric tube right now. He's up to 25 ml every 4 hours, and they are increasing it every day. As the feedings increase, they decrease the amount of sugar water that they give him by IV. Once he is up to the full feeding every 4 hours, they can take out his IV.... I can't wait for that day!

The NICU was worried that his peeling skin, which can still be seen in the photos below, was due to an infection. They have now ruled out any skin infections, which is a big relief to us. It was no fun hearing about all the invasive procedures they did to make sure he didn't have an infection though :(. Poor little guy had to go through lots of blood cultures, and even had to get a lumbar puncture to check his spinal fluid for infection! I'm just happy they didn't find anything.

Every day he is looking better and stronger. Once he's off the IV and he no longer has the apnea episodes, he can be transferred to another hospital. We're looking forward to having him transferred to South Shore Hospital, which is 5 minutes away from us. Much better than an hour plus ride into Boston.

Lisa and I have been kangaroo-ing him everyday. Basically, they take him out of the incubator and put him down our shirts so we can have some skin-to-skin bonding time with him. It's a nice way that we can start connecting with him more, since it's tough with him being in the NICU.

On Tuesday night our friend Joc came by and took a few pictures of Luca. Thanks Joc!
Here are some of my favorites:

Here he is when he still had his cpap to help him breathe

mom holding him

skinny legs

tiny foot

tiny hand

*** WARNING ***

*** Shameless plug for a friend's business ***

If you like the above photos, which we really do, you can find out how Joc can take photos of your family here.

Luca, Day 1

Luca is doing pretty well today. They took out his breathing tube and put him on a c-pap machine, which is much less invasive. He's been on an IV so far, and he probably will be for a while. They are going to start trying to feed him with a tube today, to try and get his digestive system working, and see how he tolerates eating. Hopefully he will meet that milestone soon!

We were there this morning while he was being examined by one of the doctors. When we took off his diaper, Luca peed and almost hit the doctor. Urinary function, check!

Here's what you really care about, pictures:

Luca last night in the NICU

Mommy taking a look

Luca on the c-pap machine. "I'm ready for my scuba diving lesson!"

Snuggling with Mommy

Luca Marshall Silvestro

Luca arrived at 3:51 pm today, seven weeks early. He rocketed out with one push, but he's a pretty little guy. He cried a little bit at first, but he's got really small lungs. He's breathing on his own, and he quickly went from blue to pink. He was whisked away to the NICU, so we didn't get to spend too much time with him.

Here are his stats:
4 pounds 10 ounces
17 inches

Here are the first few pictures:

Doing well!

Look at me Mom!

First cuddle with Mom

Today's the Day! (We Think)

We think that today's the day that our new son is going to make his entrance into the world. After being on bed rest for 9 1/2 weeks, Lisa's uterus has had enough. She started feeling very intermittent cramping the last few days, and after her normal OB visit on Thursday and a Friday night phone call, we decided to go to the hospital last night to get her checked out. Turns out that she's 4cm dilated, so they transferred her to Beth Israel.

Lisa got an epidural around 2am last night, and that stopped almost all of the contractions that she was having. When they checked her this morning, she was 6cm dilated, and now it's up to 7cm. Lisa is resting, and things seem to be moving along well. I expect the baby will be born in a few hours.

Lisa after her epidural. All smiles!

Ringing in 2012!

Happy New Year!  Mike was joking around that he was bummed we wouldn't get a tax break in 2011 now cause I've managed to keep this baby cooking!  That's fine with me, no premature babies needed for us.  Things seem to still be stable, as we inch closer to a healthy due date of Feb 27th!  We are excited and looking forward to meeting this little guy.  We feel he's going to be our luck dragon, as 2012 is the year of the Dragon according to the Chinese Zodiac.

New Years Eve was full of friends, laughter, and good eating; as we spent this year in what is now our 3rd annual tradition of having our friends the Bentzels, Ottavianos (complete with their 2 Portuguese Water Dogs), and Carr family over!  I'm getting EXTREMELY used to having people over, and just sitting on the couch while everyone caters to me.  It's scary!  All the kids managed to stay up to watch the ball drop... except ours.  Zoë was totally done at her normal time of 7:30.  Vince did make it till about 11pm which was surprising, but when we came downstairs to prepare for watching the ball drop, we came upon this. 

Mike woke up and carried a limp, sleeping Vince to bed; and we celebrated with champagne/apple cider

My good friend Kathryn is due with her second baby only a few days before me, we had to get the obligatory belly shot

Happy New Year to everyone!  The only New Years resolution I can think of is to keep this baby growing in me until at least the beginning of February!  Oh yea, and update Vince and Zoë's darn baby books before I have a third kid and none will ever get done!