Sunday, February 14, 2010

Drake Dawg

I wanted his middle name to be Dawg, because it is just downright cool, but Brook wouldnt even give the name a tiny thought. I think just saying it out loud a few times and she would have been hooked, but I guess boring Allen will just have to do for a middle name. I tried my best for Noah's middle name to be Zark, but again she didnt take me serious? I wanted to be one of those parents with a sense of humor, you know to give your kids a good conversation topic, but Brook's a pretty straight shooter...Anyhow check out this pic of this big dude!



Drake's platelets are on the rise and he just got moved out of the critical care room in the NICU. They moved him into the 'time to get ready to go home room'. His new roommates are in much better condition than his old ones, these babies are just in the final stages of critical care and ready to get to their new homes. Much more relaxed atmosphere in here.

Brook got discharged last night from the hospital, she has been walking around all over the place, but at midnight they had to come get her in a wheel chair and wheel her out the door. Some sort of formality or something. So she fed Drake Dawg at 11 pm and then we were on our way home to our own bed. The nurses were all excited to be able to hold a baby while we were gone for the night. Not too many babies in that room got to be held, but Drake Dawg would wake up the whole floor if he didnt get held after a feeding. His new room most of the babies can be held.

I was dreaming about stretching my legs out and laying in my own bed the whole 8 mile car ride home. I had planned on just walking through the door and plopping right into bed, but realized how bad I stunk once I got home. Without Brook even prompting me, I took a shower and got all cleaned up before rendezvous time with my own pillow. To stretch out completely on my own bed without wearing dirty clothes was like the absolute best feeling in the entire world. For the next 6 hours I was like the king of the world in total comfort and serenity.

I dropped Brook off at the hospital in time for Drake's morning feeding and then took Noah over to church. My dad was over there early setting up for the Valentine's lunch today. Back to the hospital and the doctors now are questioning whether Drake has NAIT or if it was just a viral infection of some sort that caused the low platelets which led to the ventrical hemorraghing? They said that he just rebounded too fast for it to have been NAIT. We wont know for sure what happened until Brook and My blood is analyzed next week, but we do actually need to find out for the future if NAIT was the problem. If it is NAIT, Brook would have to do quite a bit of blood treatments if she would happen to get pregnant again. Starting at the end of her first trimester she would have to undergo a series of treatments to get the problem corrected before birth. We will wait and see.

As far as Drake goes, Dr. Tarantino thinks as far as his platelets go if he keeps making them at this rate, he should be good to go home in a day or two. The infection specialists though will probably want him hooked up to antibiotics for a few more days to make sure the infection gets killed out all the way. We have a meeting for later this afternoon with the game plan and timeline from this point moving forward. The boy is strong, eating, breathing, crying, and reacting great! He is ready to come home and hang out with his brother and sister!!!

2 comments:

  1. Nate, Congrats on the birth of your son! He is cute, Glad to hear he is doing well!
    I follow your blog almost every day!
    As a Dad of a baby girl (11 months) that was in the NICU for 10 days, I know how stressful it can be.
    My wife and I are on the NICU Family Advisory Board. If you have any question contact
    Megan Mutti, she is the parent path finder at OSF
    She can help answer anything!!!
    Her # is 472-4100
    Or Give me a call, If I can help with anything
    John Getz
    635-7305
    If you have any questions PLEASE give me a call!

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  2. Nate, Drake is a beautiful strong little boy! I'm so glad to hear he is doing better and out of the critical care unit! I can't imagine what you have all been through these last few days. I have always said that children show their character traits starting from the moment they are born. Drake is going to grow up to be a strong determined man! He is going to be a figthter! Congratulations to you and your wife and children!

    Sue Cruz

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