Wild Anders

Anders had another good day. He has plateaued for the time being. He's still on 3 liters of oxygen and weighs 3 lb 4 oz. He might get moved to Nursery Six this evening. It is shaped like a bowling alley and it is quieter and less stressful than Nursery Three. I hope 6 is a brief way station before the Southdale move.
Anders had a great hold with Anna, but then turned on me after a while. I think he was getting hungry. First, he tossed his hand up on my chest, then he sort of scratched my chest, then he started pulling my chest hair...HARD. As he was yanking my chest hair, he pulled it as a means of turning his head to the other side! Yes, he managed to turn his head to the other side. It was pretty impressive and also a bit scary that he can already do that. He also seems to breath best with his face planted in my chest hair, which is rather strange. Chalk it up to the restorative power of my chest hair. Anders, by the way, still has a bit too much back hair for my liking. He needs to smooth out in the next few weeks.

MN State Fair

Last night I went to a Twins game. It was a cold, gray evening with a brisk wind and temps hovering just south of 60 degrees, a perfect evening for indoor baseball at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. On the way, I called my friend Minnesota Steve--a resident of Worcester, MA and expert on all things MN--to ask him what I should eat in lieu of a Dome Dog. The Dome Dog goes down smooth, but about 5 innings later you are hating your life. It's the hot dog version of eating at Taco Bell or Toxic Hell.
Anyway, MN said, "Don't eat anything at the Metrodome. It's all awful." This from a man so valued as a customer at Soulvaki's Mediterranean Garden in Athens that Mr. Souvlaki spent the first months after Steve's departure gazing into the middle distance, hoping Steve would return. On the rare times MN returns to Athens, Mr. Souvlaki treats him like a prodigal son, "Hey! Big Guy! Good to see you!"
Steve also told me in that phone call that the only reason he read my blog was for the MN references. Well, hold on Steve, here they come...
Anders is doing really well again today. We saw him in the morning, but took a day off from holding him. We were getting pretty uptight and not out of sight with the relentless visits.
Today was for the fair.
We drove by, unable to find a place to park. We drove back here and then took the bus from Southdale. Never drive to the Great MN Get Together on the weekend.
I had a firm food agenda. We started with the Deluxe Pickle: pickle with cream cheese wrapped in pastrami. Then we waited in the mammoth line for the new pot roast sundae aka "Sunday Dinner in a Bowl: two scoops of mashed potatoes, fresh made pot roast, corn, and a cherry tomato on top. Then it was the Pickle Sampler: Cajun deep fried pickle chips, regular deep fried pickle chips, and deluxe pickle chips--2 pickles glued together by cream cheese (sensing a cream cheese theme?). Then we washed it down with some 1919 Root Beer from Spring Grove, MN. This treat reminded me of Decorah since we would have that with pizza at Mabe's. Anna had some pineapple Dolewhip along with way too, but that stuff is an abomination I would rather not discuss.
I finished off with a deep fried Snickers bar sprinkled in powdered sugar. This dessert was probably one of the five best things I've eaten in my life. I will be returning to that booth when we see "A Prairie Home Companion" on Friday.
There go you Steve, more on Anders tomorrow.

House on Fire

We found out why Anders came early. The placenta showed Anna had an infection (good thing I didn't eat it! (The audience for a good placenta joke is much smaller than that for a Brett Favre joke, but I keep trying...)). She had some infection with a long name. Anders sensed it and left the building. It was a random early stage infection that, had it developed, could have caused severe respiratory problems or, worst case scenario, stillbirth. Anders might be suffering some effects of this infection in his slower than expected lung development.
Fortunately, Anders is above average, so he left the house when the upstairs was burning (the analogy used by the nurse practitioner).
We are glad to have some explanation for what happened. Yet, it is still a bit unsettling since we could have done nothing to predict or stop this infection. On the plus side, this infection does not predispose her to another infection on a similar kind during subsequent pregnancies.
We will stop giving Anders a tough time for coming early. He's even wilier than we originally thought!!!

We Won't Get Fooled Again

I assertively but politely voiced my displeasure at the disconnected tubes that have come with taking Anders out for kangaroo care the past couple days. He didn't even destat a bit today!
I'm not sure what percentage is the runner's high from going all the way around Lake Nikomis, the regular eating of the fresh white frosting donuts Dan brings home, the crisp smell of fall in the air today, or that Anders is doing so well, but all the percentages add up to feeling great today!
Anders is steady as he comes. Nothing new to report. He weighs about 3 lbs 4 oz. They are increasing his calories to try to get him bigger. They are testing his urine for an infection. They don't think he has this time of infection, but they haven't tested for it yet. The results won't come for a couple of weeks.
We have a time horizon for Anders' transfer to Fairview Southdale in Edina. The nurse practitioner said that if he can stay on high flow (casino tubes) for a week, then he can flee to the 'burbs. One week off the high flow would nicely coincide with the end of our current parking pass and more importantly Anna's 30th Birthday!!! What a great birthday present that would be! Better than the "Prairie Home Companion (at the State Fair) tickets I gave her!
Anna is holding Anders now. I just held him. I figured out a trick to keep him from desating when he goes low. I massage his back around his lungs and he usually perks right up.
Anna and I have been in better spirits today than perhaps any time since Anders arrived five weeks ago today. I might have to celebrate under the Teflon sky tonight by going to a Twins game! We shall see...
Tomorrow we are going to the State Fair. I am particularly excited for the jalapenos stuff with cream cheese wrapped in pastrami on a stick. Anna is looking forward to hotdish on a stick with cream of mushroom soup dipping sauce (not really!).
A great day so far.

fool me twice...and...uh...uh...

Well, the breathing tube that "never comes off" came off again. This time in two places! Fortunately, I knew the drill from yesterday. The respiratory therapist came over along with 2 nurses for a crowd of 3, smaller than yesterday's four person crew, which I think had 2 respiratory therapists. This time he only desated into the 50s rather than the 30s, but his heart rate went under 100, so I did get the scary sirens that come with these belly scraping episodes. I think it would be safe to say the honeymoon is over here at the NICU after 5 weeks.
The good news is that Anders is down to 3 liters of oxygen from 4 liters yesterday. He has been extubated for a week. Anders is 32 weeks today. He really enjoyed his hold with me today. Anders stretched out quite a bit and did he patented collar bone grab. He's enjoying a hold from his mother right now.
If these nurses could just figure out Anders' series of interconnected tubes, we would be good.

Reek is the Word

Anders so stank up his isolette this morning that his nurse had to give him a bath. I later overheard her giving report to the next nurse: "Either I had to go, or he had to go in that tub!" A chip off the old block!
Do you remember that Levi's commercial from the late 90s with the dude who stops breathing on the operating table as they sing Soft Cell's "Tainted Love?" Wait a minute, this is what youtube is for...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK7kUe1KMFk Anders had a moment like that today!
Sorry to pull a Larry King (if you ever read his USA Today column, you'll understand), but if Gary Puckett's music came out today they would throw him in prison IMMEDIATELY. Anna turned me on to pandora.com so I'm taking it for a spin.
So anyway, I was holding Anders and he was turning the color of my 2008 KU National Champs t-shirt. The nurse couldn't figure out why for the longest time. She took him off my chest, put him in my lap, and tried to prod his breathing upward. No dice. She called the respiratory therapist. She and about 2 other people came over, so four people were there at Anders isolette. Anna walked in on this scene after pumping and almost immediately turned around and left. It was too much for her.
The first rule of the NICU is that you don't want people at your incubator. The smaller the crowd the better. You never want people coming over to help with things or say "I gotta see this." They slapped the full-face oxygen mask on Anders and he brought it back up in pretty short order. I eventually found Anna. The nurse told us that something that never comes unplugged came unplugged at the base of the isolette. I heard her talking to the other nurses in report and they seemed surprised that this particular backwater tube had come undone.
While Anders had another great day, the stress of this event would have made it another 3 Grain Belt night were I still at Matt and Mandy's place. I took a Yog instead.
From my first week there, I've thought the place resembled a war zone--today more than most days.

Digital Der Der

Blondes Have More Fun

Anders is having a blond day and a good day. His pic line is out, meaning the only intrusions he has into his body are the casino tubes and (during feeding time) the feeding tube.
He is up to 3 lbs 3 oz. His color is really good. Just fleshy, no eggplant or radish coloration. He's not desaturating his oxygen level much anymore. He's still at the highest setting the casino tubes go, but he's far happier on them than the cpap.
He still has the partial collapse and cloudiness on his right lung. It's being treated with a big orange nebulizer.
We will try to post some pictures from the past couple of days tonight.
I think he will be at Southdale by the end of the State Fair (which started today).

Casino Royale

Anders is back on casino tubes. He likes those much better than the cpap. It's a more comfortable way for him to breath than cpap scuba gear. I don't blame him.
Anders has done really well on them. The only time he desaturated his oxygen levels was after the new triplets were admitted to Nursery 3. I imagine Anders being the Clint Eastwood character in "Gran Torino," saying "Get off my lawn!" as he flicks a cigarette in the corner while the unit rushes the new babies in place. Anders is by far the grand old man of Nursery 3. He has another giant baby right next to him. This time it's a boy. Even though Anders hasn't gained any weight for a couple of days, he looks bigger and more mature than earlier this week.
Anders will have his pic line taken out today as he is no longer on antibiotics. They are giving him a new steroid for his lungs. The cloudiness on the right lung remains unchanged.
So, Anders is half way through Day 6 of extubation. We are excited that he seems to be doing better than yesterday even with a lower flow of oxygen. His color is better than yesterday and he seems calmer. Yet, Anders has a bit of Bill Clinton in him. Those desats were like 42 singing "Don't You Forget About Me" on the "Solid As Barack" pre-election sketch from last season's "Saturday Night Live." No word yet on whether Anders will team up with Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright for a power trio ballad ala Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, and Sting.
Anders is looking more human everyday, as a result we are feeling more human.

Extubation Day 5

We will see tonight whether the Twins can match Anders 5 day streak.
I have the divider closed in the NICU "lounge" (it has a Brown House type set-up for those who know the Institute) because the loony infant massage lady has some fresh meat in her den.
Anyway, Anders remains extubated on cpap. His settings are rather high, leaving the chance of reintubation. Yet, reintubation is not imminent. He has a small infection from the tracheal tube he had while intubated. They will continue antibiotics for a couple more days. They talked about taking his pic line out tomorrow, but I don't know if that has changed due to his infection.
Apparently his problem is not his youth, but the cloudy spot on his upper right lung. Once they get that haze to clear, his breathing should really take off.
His sodium remains good. Nothing else bad to report. His feedings are still going well. He just needs to get that right lung firing on all cylinders.
I walked to the U of M library for the first time today. It's only about a 10 minute walk. Not surprisingly, their political history section is not picked over as is ours at Alden Library. I got some useful information from a Michael Deaver book.
My goodness, the infant massage lady is nuts. She has the cadence of a drunk Bob Woodward.

Another day extubated

Anders remains extubated. He is back on cpap. Sounds like the plan is to have him split time between the cpap and the casino tubes. He's not quite ready for the casino tubes all on his own. His CO2 was high on the casinos, hence the switch. His next gas after the switch to cpap was good again. After he got the good gas report, the nurse allowed me to hold him this morning. Anders went down from a 50% to a 30% oxygen rate. It's awkward to hold him with the cpap, but he is keeping the tubes in his nose better than before. They gave him a little piece of clothy plastic (I have no idea what it is) to keep the tubes from falling out. The most important thing is that he remains extubated. Every day that he's extubated is a day his lungs get much stronger and the one major roadblock to his transfer erodes.
His sodium is where it needs to be. He has another day of antibiotics. The results of his battery of tests should come in today. Anders is ending his hydrocortazone treatment for his lungs today. Provided he doesn't have an infection, his pic line will be removed tomorrow. He's getting old enough now that if they need to run a new IV, then can now get it in his arm.
So far, another good day. Hopefully Anna will get to hold him this afternoon or evening.

Refuse to Lose

Perhaps Anders will be a bit like the 1995 Seattle Mariners and refuse to lose. The '95 M's basically couldn't lose for the last 2 months of the season in order to catch the CA Angels and save baseball in the Pacific NW. Thanks to their good play and an Angels collapse, they did so.
I'm not going to say Anders is a Ken Griffey, Jr. or a Randy Johnson (thankfully) or even an Edgar Martinez, but he refused to be reintubated! He isn't even on cpap. He's on high flow nose cannula. His breathing has been excellent today. His gases are good. He still goes below 85% on his oxygen rate pretty frequently, but he doesn't crash as frequently as yesterday and he usually self-corrects quite quickly.
They are checking for infection so he had a battery of tests and they started him on antibiotics. Owing to all the tests, he hasn't slept much today so we didn't hold him. Chances are that he doesn't have an infection since his temperature is high, while babies with infections have low temperatures. It might just be that breathing on his own or the heat of the cannula (which, I guess, are hotter than other implements) has raised his temperature.
His skin looks a lot better today as well. It's fleshier in color, not purple at all. Speaking of purple, Anders loves his Purple Pride Pacifier. I think they are selling them with gold #4s on them out at the Mall of America!
The unexpected Anders Peterson left us guess yet again, but this time in a good way. Thanks Anders!

We Have Seen the Future

Anders was down to slot player tubes for a few hours today. He tired and they had to bring back the cpap. He was also having trouble regulating his breaths and remembering to breath, so chances are, he has been reintubated. I told the nurse not to call us if that happened. I guess we got a bit greedy with all the progress he has made in the last week: breaking the 3 lb barrier, going up to full feedings, nipping his sodium problem in the bud.

One of the positive things about being reintubated at 31 weeks rather than a couple of weeks ago is that he will only have to miss one feeding for the reintubation procedure. After that, he will be back up to full feedings. Like his father, Anders gets cranky when he doesn't eat.

I asked Amy, his nurse, if Anders was particularly cranky for a preemie. She said no. What makes Anders different is his strong willed personality. He raises hell in his isolette if he is not allowed to do things his way. Sounds familiar.

I could be discouraged, but I chose to be encouraged by his rather remarkable progress over the last week. If he didn't still have his breathing to work on, there wouldn't be much point to summering in MN anyway!

extubation!

eeetubayayaytion is making me wait, making me craaa-zay. My apologies to the Carly Simon fans out there. I hope I haven't left too many clouds in your coffee.
Anders was extubated today. He is back on the cpap.
He weighs 3lbs. 2 oz now. He's up to 28 mils every three hours--fuller full feedings.
The down side of extubation is that he keeps pulling the tube out of his nostrils. Anna held him today and he had a bit of trouble being out because it was hard to situate the tube to get a proper amount of air flow. They might try the old slot machine lady tubes for his nose tomorrow when we hold him. If he does well on those, he might graduate to slot machines earlier than expected. He shouldn't have to be reintubated since the only reason he's resating on the machines is the awkward angle of the tubes. I hope this message makes it through all the shift changes tonight. I think we are going back to get more milk bottles this evening, so we will pass the message along. He's doing so much better overall than last time he was extubated that this one has a better chance of sticking. Last time there were about 11 things wrong with him, this time it's just breathing and slightly low sodium (It's still 128, but they need to keep the IV open, so giving him sodium to keep that open is as good as anything).
Another good day, but a short visit due to his anger at the tubes.
Also, Brett Favre's first preseason game as a Viking is tonight. I'm about to have a whole lotta fun. Not sure if the roof will hold on the Metrodome tonight!

Cozy in August?

Yesterday afternoon as we were listening to Cities 97, DJ Brian Oak suggested that listeners turn on the radio and be cozy in their homes. This comments set me off. One should not be cozy in August, one should be hot and sticky. I know summer is short up here, but it usually has enough juice that we don't break out words like cozy until Sept. 20 rather than August 20! Anna, however, loved the idea of being cozy, ESPECIALLY in August. Also yesterday at the hospital, we were looking out the window and the rain was starting to look like snow. You know, how rain looks heavy before it turns to snow? August 20!!! We might be taking Anders home via sled dog in October at this rate.

Anders-on Starship

Nothing's gonna stop us now?
First of all the good news. Anders is going down from 17 breaths per minute to 14 breaths per minute at 4 am tomorrow morning. His sodium level is up to 128 as of the last reading at 3 pm this afternoon. Also, the rain has stopped and I think the weekend will be nice.
They are moving toward extubating Anders in the near future. I would guess either tomorrow or Saturday. He will either get the cpap or the regular nostril prongs you see on the slot players at the casino.
It's interesting that his sodium would be low since it was high a couple of weeks ago. They give him a little dose of sodium right before the feedings. He is up to some ridiculously high number of mils per feeding--24 I think.
The bad news was the only I got to hold him. I'm about to sound like a real blogger, trashing someone on the internet. Anders' nurse today was old, overweight, and tired. She was more concerned about her meal breaks than letting us hold him.
A couple of days ago, we had a socially awkward nurse who usually worked nights. She was a bit off, but she gave valuable information and her heart was in the right place. I would take her any day over today's offering.
Today's nurse wanted to sit down with a Davanni's pizza, put in earplugs and forget about the world! She wouldn't let us hold in the afternoon because of the shift change (that happens, so I could wait the 15 minutes for that), but then she tacked on another 30 minute wait for his feeding to finish.
Other times with other nurses, we had held Anders while he fed. I even held his feeding tube one time! So we left and went to the Mall of America where Anna bought Mandy a gift from the "As Seen on TV Store." When we got back to the hospital another feeding was occurring.
The nurse was trying her darndest to not allow me to hold Anders, but I got a little surly and let my displeasure be known. I made a lactation nurse cry a couple weeks ago, so I hope I'm not getting a reputation here.
The nurse decided that if his gas was good we could hold him, it was and I held. Yet, even after Anders was out, she was grousing about what a bad idea it was to take him out. She also implied that only one of us could hold him. Anna was so tired by this evening that she didn't really care, but it's the principle of the matter.
I feel an immeasurable sense of frustration when I can't wait to get away from my son because of the person taking care of him! So much about how the visit goes depends upon the nurse working that day.
Tomorrow will be better, extubation awaits...

Watch that Sodium

Anders has a slow sodium level. Fortunately, his initial tests have come back negative for infection. They have stabilized his sodium level at 121. Anything below 120 and they start worrying about health problems, seizures being the worst case scenario. It seems like the initial tests are showing that he was just low on the amount of sodium he was getting, nothing more. They have boosted his amounts of sodium so that should be reflected in his next lab work around 6 pm. It's funny how things change from babyhood to adulthood. Most adults would love to have low sodium! Needless to say, we took deep breaths when that initial test came back.

Correction: Roger Bannister ran the 4 min. mile, while Floyd Bannister was a pitcher for the Royals in the 1980s. Caught that mistake all on my own without a google. Interestingly, he son Brian now pitches for KC.

The move to Edina is going smoothly. I am, however, having a bit of trouble finding the internet. That problem should rectify itself soon as Becky has promised to call Bill Curtis for me. I also could not figure out how to get the downstairs shower door to shut completely this morning, but received the lesson on that one. Also, I have a bag of shoes and slippers that has "gone rogue," so hopefully those will turn up between Minneapolis and Edina. I also need to find a running path in Edina.

We had a nice visit from Anna's grandma, uncle, aunt, and cousin today.

Also, yesterday, we attended a friend's bbq right in the path of the storm that hit MPL, which you may have seen on the news.

I still don't have my Brett Favre jersey, but we are working on that. Brett Favre causes Anna revulsion, so we might go with an Adrian Peterson onsie for our A. Peterson instead.

Anna also wants me to now post my updates on caringbridge, but I fear they might be a bit too whimsical for her taste...

Tornado Anders

We were at Davanni's Pizza with Dorene, Kari, and Grace when Mandy called to say a tornado had been spotted in Downtown Minneapolis. As a native Kansan, I'm pretty familiar with the warning signs of a tornado and they didn't really exist where we were east of Downtown. I think the damage was relatively small.
Anders, meanwhile, is on full feedings, which are about 16 mils every 3 hours. They are keeping the IV line open just in case they might need it later. He now weighs over 3 lbs! 3 lb 1 Oz! Three pounds is a HUGE milestone for us, sort of like the 4 minute mile was for Floyd Bannister. Perhaps he can be 4 lbs by his mom's birthday in 2 weeks. We were just hoping for 3 lbs for her birthday.
They are scaling back the breaths he takes from the ventilator to 26 per minute. They will try to go down to 23 per minute for the overnight and consider going down further tomorrow. He needs to be somewhere between 15-20 breaths per minute on the ventilator to be extibated. Breaths per minute are the measuring stick for extibation, not the level of oxygen he is receiving. He's around 35% O2 right now (21% being room air), but the percentage of oxygen he is receiving has no effect on whether or not he's extibated.
I had good weather this morning for my run. I made is a bit over six miles round trip, to the west end of Lake Nikomis. I will have to find a new route now that we are out in Edina.
Only an act of God like this could knock Brett Favre of the top of the newscast or the front page.
The tornado hit at the convention center and Central Lutheran Church where the ELCA is having their big church assembly. I think it took down their beer tent (no joke, they actually have a beer/wine tent for the convention). Perhaps God is not as cool with drinking as Jesus is...

continued progress

Anders is basically the same as yesterday with only some slight changes. His IV feedings are basically done. He has a placeholder auxiliary bag that they will take away in about a day at which point he will be on full feedings--16 mils every 2 hrs.
Anders also graduated to a larger diaper size. The diapers now go up to his armpits!
Anders' alarms now go off when his oxidation level dips below 85% rather than 80%. They are challenging him more than before. They are also trying to slowly decrease the number of breaths the machine gives him.
We both held him today and he loved it. He looks so funny after we hold him--a total state of relaxation. He was grabbing my collar bone tonight, which sort of tickled.
It was a doubly good day because Brett Favre signed with the Vikings. My delivery room joke about Anders making up his decision faster than Brett Favre is topical again! Yes, Favre has set the NFL record for incomplete retirements, but I don't care. The Vikings are relevant again for the first time since the Love Boat.
We are moving out to Edina tomorrow morning. Anders will remain in Minneapolis for another couple weeks at least before he heads to the suburban hospital in Edina.
Anders also has a new neighbor next to him. I think the preemie girl formerly next to him transferred elsewhere. The new girl is a 37 week old giant baby.
I guess more happened today than I thought.

Jonders

Anders had another good and growing day. He should be off the lipids and other IV nutrients tomorrow. He his getting some medicine to help inflate his partially collapsed right lung. I don't know the name of the medicine. He is still on hyrdacortazone for his breathing, but that should be ending soon. There is not much new to report, which is a good thing!
I think we will be moving out to Edina on Wednesday. Anders will still be at Riverside U of M, but I now have my dissertation books and we need more room. I actually started again working on my dissertation today. That action seemed a bit more normal.
Anna also now thinks Anders bears a strong resemblance to me, which led to this sisterly conversation.
Anna: "Anders now looks a lot like Jon."
Mandy: "Good."
Anna: "What?!"
Mandy: "It would be a lot easier to see me as a man. Your features are just too feminine."
Anna: "What?"
Mandy: "You know how some women you can see as a man? It would be hard for him to be so small and also look like you. It's better that he looks like Jon."
I missed out on a lot by not having siblings.

Gordon Sumner

I think Anders looks a bit like Sting this morning with his wispy blond spike. Now, if he makes a lute album, we will have a problem.
Anders now weighs 2 lbs 14 oz. He has fewer wires and tubes in him now, which allowed him to wear clothes for the first time today. He's in preemie pajamas. His skin temp is more regular now. He has fewer IVs. He no longer has the aqua green board on his right leg to keep the tubes in place. Anders was shaking and kicking his newly freed right leg last night. Anders was pretty active last night. He was even awake this morning when Brad and Martha visited. His hair is having a blond day (some days are brown hair days). I know that sounds weird, but his hair color changes from day to day.
He grew a lot in the four days I was away. I was sad to miss a fifth of his life, on the other had I was better able to see the progress he continues to make.
Anders' lungs are still lagging behind. He gets 40 breaths per minute on the respirator. They might take that number down to 38 per minute today. He needs to be at 15 per minute to get extibated. He probably won't be extibated for a few days at the earliest.
He's being fed 4 mils per hour. The medical team is considering 12 mils every three hours because it's more physicalogically correct. It's the same about of food, but on a different pattern.
All things considered, another great day.

Greg Finally Leaves Midwest

During our trip yesterday, Greg (my father in law) periodically complained that we had traveled hundreds of miles but the scenery hadn't changed and he still felt like we were in MN. Part of that may come from not stopping between Champaign, IL and Lancaster, OH.
Athens vets know where this is going...
How many times has a great SE Ohio story started "Right around Nelsonville..."
Well, right around Nelsonville, Greg's car started having an allergic reaction to the hills and humidity. The car fogged up and we could not see much the final 15 miles. We opened the windows, tried regular AC, vent air, nothing.
Then, today he was watching the news and I had to define a boil order for him. Must be nice to live well into your 6th decade and not know what a boil order is. That said, I really missed Athens and will be sorry to leave after just two days. I would have liked to stayed at home a bit longer, but the Wild Man calls... Anders is doing quite well from what I hear. He has nearly doubled his feedings today. Anytime I start feeling sorry for myself, I think of all the tubes and wires he's hooked up to and I snap out of my funk right away.

A Happy Anniversary

Judging by those pictures, Anders is developing the eyebrows of a Shakespeare scholar! Anders is having another good day, even if it is Monday. After last Monday, I thought about nicknaming Anders "Garfield" since neither baby nor cat likes Mondays.
I ran 6 miles this morning. Well, "run" might be too strong of a word. I labored/jogged 6 miles. I had another great MN Moment. A bathroom emergency sneaked up on me between Lake Hiawatha and Lake Nokomis. The bathrooms were still locked at the Nokomis Community Center bathrooms, but there was a door to the building proper ajar. The janitor waved me through. Her only admonishment was to watch my step since the floor was still wet from mopping. I love this place!
I also found Anna the perfect anniversary gift, short of Anders coming home, a powder blue hoodie of the first Twins logo--Old Man Minneapolis and Old Man St. Paul shaking hands across the Mississippi River. The hoodie even has the red trim of the uniform at the end of the sleeves and the bottom of das hoodie (one of the few things I remember from German class is that hoodie is a gender neutral noun).
Grandma Ingrid headed back to Decorah after her weekend visit to Da Cities.
Tomorrow it's Wagons East for me. Let's hope Wagons East ends up better for me than it did for John Candy!

Cloud 9 City

Ando Calrissian

Lazy Sunday

Anders had a great Sunday. He was awake and had his eyes open for a lot of the time we were with him today. He was fidgety and squirming around. It was nice to see an amount of energy from him that we had not see since the middle of last week. He got really excited when he heard his mother's voice today! We both held him. His vitals were good.
We ate the tasty Omaha Steaks sent by Andrea, Cita, and Jeff this evening for supper. As much as I liked the impatient Target lasagna, these were much better as grilled by brother in law Matt.
Tomorrow is our 7th wedding anniversary, didn't expect to spend it this way!
I leave for Athens on Tuesday with Greg, my father in law. I'll have to hold Anders an extra long time since I won't see him again until Friday night. I'm excited to get some peaches at the farmers' market on Wednesday. I am sad that I will miss peach season in SE Ohio. I LOVE the fresh peaches. We are way north of the peach belt here.

impatient lasagna and well behaved geese

I can't remember all the medical hooha I was told today. Just know Anders is doing better and his mother held him for one priceless hour today.
Am I supposed to know who "Mike" from the Ford commercials is? Does he have some connection with the A-Team?
When Anna pumps, she goes for 10 minutes and usually gets impatient with about 2 minutes to go and asks how much time she has left since I time her. Tonight, I had a lasagna cooling in the kitchen for 10 minutes. With about 2 minutes left to cool, I almost called out "2 minutes left" to the lasagna. It's been a long fortnight!
Every few days, something really "Minnesotan" happens, meaning something neat and orderly like the motorized chair guy directing traffic on Lake Street. Well, today in Maple Grove I saw a bunch of geese walking down a sidewalk next to a busy road. They didn't stray into traffic, just kept walking on the sidewalk next to the road.
They may start feeding Anders again tomorrow. Anna now has enough extra breast milk that she has a plastic container in the big freezer in the NICU!

Anders in the Morning

Anders blood pressure is up to higher, more normal levels. He is off the Billy Reuben lights again. His temperature still fluctuates too much. We won't be taking him out for kangaroo care since he temperature needs to stabilize. He is on a variable rate breathing machine rather than the constant rate machine he had been on up to this point. He has responded well to the switch. His last blood gas was much better after the switch. Anders is slowly doing better than yesterday. His tests have still come back negative for infection. Later this morning, they will test the cultures again for infection. I sort of hope they find an infection so we know for sure what's the matter with Anders.
Grandma Ingrid is coming up for a visit this weekend. I'm not really sure what we are going to do all weekend since one can only stand to be in the NICU for so long.
I'm leaving for Athens with Greg on Tuesday.

encouraging signs

Anders had a higher blood pressure this afternoon. His temperature was normal rather than low as it was this morning. He had a catheter in his penis, which was painful on many levels! It looks like they didn't clear up the infection he had earlier this week. He went off antibiotics on Wednesday, but is back on them now. I think signs are good for a rally this weekend. Putting things in perspective, everything he's going through is normal premature baby stuff, which makes us feel better. It's still tough, and we live and die with every report. I feel much more encouraged this evening than I did this morning. We didn't go back tonight, partly because we don't go three times per day anymore, and partly because I wanted to leave Anders on a George Costanza-esque high note for the day--showmanship, left me wanting more! Tomorrow should be better.

Anders' second tough day in a row

I had hoped that Anders would have a good day after yesterday's bad day. He's having another rough day. It seems like he might have an infection in his lung. At least that might explain his behavior yesterday and today. Anders is running a low temperature today. There is a cloudy mark on his lung that might be an infection such as pneumonia or perhaps a partially collapsed lung. I'm actually encouraged to know what might be wrong. Yesterday was disconcerting since he seemed so good other than the roller coaster oxidation levels Anders turned out yesterday. Tomorrow the cultures and tests will be back so we will know what sort of infection we might be facing. So, another down day, but at least we have a plan of attack since we have an idea of what Anders is facing. As downturns go, far better for his lungs to have problems than his heart or brain, which seem to be in the clear at his point.

In the Year 2000....

I think Anders will be a virtuouso pianist with those huge hands and long fingers. Anna's parents and brother are very musical and my side is pretty musical except for me.
Anders will probably be somewhat sporty, but not a sports nut like me. I can see him playing and enjoying a thinking man's game like baseball. He'll like basketball, but not as much as baseball. He will probably have no time for football. He'll probably enjoy something weird like soccer, which he will probably call football.
He will be really good at school. He will correct his teachers when they are wrong, much to their consternation. Teachers will let him talk until he gets ridiculed, then he will learn to keep it in a bit. He might come to kindergarden with some facts about Grover Cleveland, as Anna always jokes he will. I imagine he will be a hit with the nerdy girls.
Anders will earn a partial music and partial academic scholarship to a jock school like Stanford. I will encourage him to fulfill his manifest destiny. Plus, I want to visit him at a place with great weather. Anna is more realistic, saying he will matriculate as Jon Teaches Here U.
Here's to Anders and the high school class of 2028 and the college class of 2032! (He will be held until the class of his erstwhile birthday(if Mom thinks that's alright)).

Just Breathe

Anders is having trouble keeping the oxidation level above 80% (the magic percentage) in his lungs today. If it weren't for all the damn machines beeping, it wouldn't seem like anything was wrong with him. More accurately, he was all over the place. He was have good oxidation, then it would fall, they would increase his oxygen, and then he would have too much oxygen so machines would beep, then they would lower the oxygen levels on the machines until he was again at room oxygen levels, and then he would go low again and the process would repeat. Faulkner would be proud of that sentence.
Today was a normal day in the life of a premature baby, but it is still hard on us. In the grand scheme of premature baby problems, this is a minor and expected blip. On an intellectual level, we understand what is happening as part of a larger process, but we live and die with each monitor and beep that goes off for our baby. Thus, we continue to try to limit our exposure to the hospital. It's hard because we love seeing Anders, but that environment is wearing on us. The shock is wearing off and being around all that intense beeping and medical business is becoming harder to bear than last week.
I look forward to the move to Southdale. I heard it's a lot quieter than here. Also, that will mean he's a bit more independent.
In other news, Anna's cousin and wife had their baby, a girl, which makes Anders the only boy of the three Carlson great grandchildren born this year, a distinction I'm sure he will wear well.
I've decided Anders has a mischevious glint in his eyes (imagine Anna's eyes were she capable of misbehaving).
I have planned Anders' future or created a story for his future more likely. I'll share that in another post...

Down Goes Auntie Mandy

One of the funniest things to happen during the Anders Delivery Adventure occurred on Sunday the 26th, or his 2nd day.
Anna's sister Mandy was at a Bachelorette Party in the north woods of Wisconsin that weekend. Despite the spotty cell reception, she was notified the same day of Anders' birth. She hurried home to see him the next day.
My friend Bill from Northern Wisconsin assures me that most of Northern Wisconsin is dehydrated on Sunday Morning after Saturday Night in Northern Wisconsin and so it was with Mandy.
Right after Mandy showed up to Anna's 5th floor room, Anna and I took her down to the NICU on the 4th floor to see Anders. Little did we know, Mandy has a history of fainting when giving blood. Medically, there is a lot going on in the NICU. Many tubes, beeps, machines, tubes, etc...
When we arrived, the glass door to the Nursery 4, the next Nursery over, was closed, and there was a five person consultation going on at the incubator next to us. We also had to wear earphones so as to not hear the classified medical information next door.
After admiring Anders for a while, Mandy said she was feeling faint and wanted to go. She took a couple steps and then stopped. I was sort of frustrated that she decided to stop. I remember thinking "If you feel faint, why did you stop walking?!" She then leaned against the wall. The next thing I knew, here knees had hit the floor and she was falling backward into me. I caught her body and Anna caught her head as Mandy's eyes rolled back into her head. Nurses descended on her straightening her legs and yelling at Anna to get away from Mandy. Obviously, the medical staff didn't want a hospital patient who had just delivered to lift anything heavy. Once we laid Mandy out flat, she came to pretty quickly asking "How long was I out? Did I hit the baby?" She was only out about 20 seconds and came closer to hitting the sink in front of her than Anders behind her. Mandy said she was dreaming during this time.
She was quite embarrassed and wanted to slink out of their, but the nurses wouldn't let her. The commandeered a wheel chair from a new mom and ordered her to be wheeled out of the NICU. Anna walked ahead and I wheeled her out of the NICU. Her parents and my mom, back in the room, got a big laugh out of the tableau.
We decided that Mandy would not go quietly into the night as the baby of the Carlson family. She needed one last hurrah where all the attention focused on her.
Her husband Matt, however, had the line of the day: "How does it feel to know that a 2 lb. baby is tougher than you are?"

good news

Anders heart murmur tests came back in our favor! Another small miracle. All of the big stuff has worked out for Anders so far. Now we just need to get him breathing more independently. He also looks like he's gaining some weight, so the fattening up is working well!

morning edition

Anders was in good spirits this morning. They are increasing his feedings. He responds well to kangaroo care. Sounds like he might have a little heart murmur. Depending on the severity, the treatments range from nothing to medication to surgery, if it is most severe. They are doing the EKG this afternoon and we should have results soon after.
I think I have convinced Anna to see "Bruno" with me at the MOA this afternoon.
I'll update again after the visit this evening.

faux-hawk

Anna finally held Anders tonight. I think he may have helped stimulate the milk flow. He looked great tonight. Also, he kept the faux-hawk I gave him this morning. It was a good day.
We had a great casserole from the Other Amanda Ritz.

afternoon edition

I held Anders for about 1:15 min. today, while Anna chased paper and fought bureaucracy. This afternoon I chased down Anders' SSN. Despite being born in the State of Hockey, he has a Buckeye SSN.
Seeing Anders reintibated wasn't as hard today as it would have been last night.
I styled his hair into a little blond Mohawk. His color is still good. Billy Reuben has not returned. Looks like he will have the tube in for about a week now. The doctors are changing course by focusing on fattening him up before extibating him next week.
On the whole, Anders is doing well. I just wish he had healthier neighbors for my sake. The mom of the "I think he will make it" twins is on the other side of the glass and the lead singer of Anthrax and his old lady with their developmentally challenged daughter are on the other side. It's sort of like looking around at your friends in 7th grade homeroom and wondering, "Who are these geeks and nerds?!" Then you think, "Wait, maybe I'm one of them?"
Perhaps that's why I gave him the Mohawk. These aren't your people, Anders. Your real clique is in much better shape!

update

Anders seemed like he was improving on yesterday's progress. Then, out of nowhere, they reintibated him. It was a surprise to me. He seemed like he was doing well. I guess he had too much carbon dioxide in his gases.
They the back up lactation lady got all weepy with me. She thought I was taking her to task. I just wanted to the run around to stop. I think I give looks that make people think I'm angry with them when I'm not.
We were at the hospital for 7 hours today. That was too much time. I can't go back tonight for the evening shift. Also, I probably shouldn't drive after the 3 Grain Belts. The infant massage lady was totally in favor of self-medicating with alcohol. Of course she has the credibility of Torii.
We are going to try to do everything in the morning tomorrow in only one visit.
Even when we tried to feel sorry for ourselves about the reintibation as we waited for the lactation lady in the family lounge, the other family in there was waiting out a surgery for one of their twins. We overheard the phrase, "We think he'll make it."
Anders is much better off than those babies, but not ready the incubation country club of Southdale. He's on much more stable ground than last week, but he has a long way to go before fleeing to the suburbs.

evening update

Anders had his best day yet today! They took the Billy Reuben lights off. He was extabated again. We held him again. He was full of piss and vigor tonight.
This afternoon he grabbed a fist full of my chest hair and squeezed it between his hands. He also pooped five times (or did something in his diaper 5 times) while I was holding him, breathing deeply, laughing, and talking to him.
They are holding the feedings overnight to make sure the extabation takes.

Keep it Cool with Coolidge

86 yrs. ago today Warren G. Harding died. My grandma, who died at 104 earlier this year, was on a trip with her mom and grandma to Milwaukee when they heard the news. Grandma was talking about this event just a couple of years ago, describing the sadness of her family and their tears. She also described Harding as a "very handsome man." It's wild for me to think that someone I knew so well had a deep emotional connected with a gray, dull picture on a history textbook page.
Anders was born just little more than 6 months after Grandma passed away. I wish they could have met. There are things Anders will see and experience that I cannot imagine, just as my grandma experienced things I cannot comprehend. Both Grandma and Anders are exceptional and I am honored to know them both.

evening update

Anders is doing so well that he might no longer be intubated by the day shift tomorrow! He'll be back on the cpap as he was from Sunday to Thursday.
I sang Anders some song tonight including: Beautiful Boy, Der Kommissar, Hey Jude, Lady Madonna, Hello Goodbye, Band on the Run, Jett, Listen to What the Man Said, Silly Love Songs, and London Town.
I started One Night in Bangkok, but for obvious reasons that didn't work as a lullaby!
Another good day.
PS. Perhaps I'll break out the Madonna tomorrow...

Parents holding Anders

held

Holding Anders was indescribable. He was so small and cuddly and squirmy. It was so intense, I found it tough to say much afterward. I was so spent I took a massive nap. The pictures should be up soon on caringbridge.

holding

We are about to get to hold Anders for the first time. I am probably more excited about this than anything in my life, at least that I can remember. Also, it feels like my life started anew a week ago today.
Other big anniversaries... Six years ago today, we moved to Athens. I didn't expect to be back in MN six years later under these circumstances, or even one year ago when we were vacationing in Grand Marais during the first week in August.

Is this Heaven? No, it's Minnesota

I give Anna a hard time for her Minnesota Exceptionalism, but I might be a convert.
I finally found the yogging trail along Minnehaha Creek. I made it all the way to Lake Hiawatha and Lake Nokimis. I think Anna planted the people on the trail. I was wearing a Decorah Football t-shirt. An older gentlemen was run-walking by the creek, saw the shirt, and said "Luther College?! ALRIGHT!!!" I also saw a 60 something woman out with tongs picking up trash along the trail. She was followed 10 steps behind by a guy with a broken down cardboard box he looked to be taking to the recycling center. Most of the homes along the trail look like professor cottages. Imagine the east side of Athens without the rental slums. The smiles and positivity were a bit disconcerting. I have a tough time understanding how Minnesota Steve came out of this environment so angry.