First off, to make up for yesterday, some pictures!!!This one shows you how we take naps together. I have to be careful not to fall out of my chair, but Ethan looks pretty comfy, huh? The one below shows how they have us "hold" him while he's in the incubator. The idea is that by securing his feet/legs and placing my hand over his head, I'm mimicking some of the security that the womb offered. Ethan really likes this, or also a variation of this where I hold his legs and he holds my pinkie.


The reason that these pictures are all blue is from the light they are using for his phototherapy. He's been responding really well! After the first day, his billirubin levels plateaued, and then today they were down to 7.8 from 11.2. Our hope is that he will be off the treatment within 24 hours or so.

This picture above is from Kangaroo Care time with Katie and Ethan. He LOOoooves his mommy... This look is the reason that he has his nurses wrapped around his finger. He really does, every time I go in there, the nurses go on about how he looks at them so cute when they change his sunglasses!
Today Ethan was bumped up to the next level on NICU. This is a great sign! Kimberly (his nurse today) told us that he's what they call a feeder/grower, that all he has to do is eat and grow, and he'll be coming home in no time! This is great news for Katie and I, we were really encouraged by our visits today. So far we've been holding our breath, waiting for something to go wrong, but day by day, as he gets stronger and stronger, we're getting more and more excited!

I am running to head back up to the hospital. More to come tomorrow,

- Ken

First Day of Commuting

Hello Family and Friends! Before I really get going, I just want to say thank you for the texts, emails, and comments on this blog that you all have been sending. We're so encouraged by the support that God has raised up around us.

We've made it through the first day. :-) I'm a little tired, but Katie is more so. I ran up to the hospital late last night to make a milk delivery, and hung out with Ethan for a couple hours. His nurse claimed that he is a little feisty, I'm wondering how he got that, since Katie and I have such cherubic natures! (FYI - yes, I'm being facetious) His nurse today mentioned something about him being a fighter too, so it must be true...

Ethan is doing really well. His billirubin levels started to plateau, so we're anticipating that tomorrow morning they'll be on the decline. Once they're down enough, the doctors will take him off the phototherapy, (probably take away his cool Oakley sunglasses too...)He's still on the nasal cannula, and he seems much more comfortable with it today. Yesterday, he was constantly pulling at it. Today, I didn't see him grabbing at it much at all.

I make an effort to discuss with the nurse on shift when his "hands on time" is going to be, and then try to coincide my visits with one or more of them. This afternoon, I was there for one, and got to change another diaper. That made 4. Oh, that reminds me of a story I wanted to tell!

Yesterday, I got to change him for the first time. I prepped the diaper, slid the back side under his bum, and took off his dirty (wet) diaper. As I was wiping him down, I noticed a little brown on the wet-wipe, so I wiped again. Apparently, my wiping him stimulated a need to "poo". The nurse and I stood there, and waited for him to go. After he went, I wiped him down again, which caused him to finish going! This time, it got on the new diaper, so I had to get a new one down there, wipe him down again, and strap the new diaper on. Just as I was finishing doing the straps (what are they really called?) Ethan felt the need to water his horses. Of course, I felt the need to chuckle hysterically for a moment. Then I cleaned him again, and put a new diaper on, while holding my breath that he was done!

Many of you have encouraged Katie, telling her your own stories of emotions, or sharing verses, etc. Thank you, as she has been blessed by them! Of course, we're still having to take those moments as they come, but reading what you've sent has been perfect for her.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures today, I know you guys would much rather look at Ethan than read my reports, but hey, variety is the spice of life, right? ........ No? Ok, tomorrow I'll be sure to take more pics :-)

- Ken

Kangaroo Care

I mentioned in my other post this morning that Ethan's UAC (Umbilical Arterial Catheter) was going to come out today. It did!
We were so excited about this because it meant we will now be able to hold him! We had to wait a few hours until his belly button closed up a bit, but around 2:15 this afternoon, Katie was able to hold Ethan for the first time! We both cried a bunch, it was so special to us! Here are some pictures of that time.

Hump Day

For those of you who aren't familiar with the expression "hump day", Katie and I sometimes use it to refer to Wednesday, since it's the middle of the week, and once you get past it, it's downhill to the weekend! Katie had a student that used it while she taught at Yellowbranch Elementary in VA, and it has stuck with us since!

I think today is the start of "hump day" for Ethan. He's been so great; he's alert, has been breathing on his own, and digesting all his food. We're such proud parents! There were a couple things that we've been expecting to happen at some point. This morning, I talked to Dr. Alexander (Ethan's NICU doctor) who explained that Ethan is a little jaundiced. It's something that is very common in premature babies, so on some level we were expecting it. As I type this, Ethan has on his Oakley's and is sitting in the tanning salon! (Phototherapy is the treatment for jaundice)

The other thing is that Ethan's breathing is a little faster and shallower than Dr. Alexander would like, and although his oxygen saturation is within the acceptable range of 85-100%, it's been hanging around in the lower part of that range. Ethan is now on a nasal cannula. They currently are giving him 23% O2, which is very close to room air (21%), but they'd like to wean him off that over the next day or so.

The good news (GREAT NEWS) for today is that the IV in Ethan's umbilical cord will come out today! We will have to give his little belly button a chance to close up for a few hours, but we'll be able to hold him either today or tonight! That is such a joy for us to look forward to.

Katie is still doing great, she's walking around at 90% normal speed, and is doing extremely well with the pain. Its to the point she might better start pretending like it hurts more, or she risks losing a few sympathy points from me. (I'm just kidding of course) She's producing enough now that she's keeping up with Ethan's intake, so that is an answer to prayer of course.

Thoughts for prayer:
1) We pray that Ethan will respond well to the phototherapy, and will do well with his breathing
2) Katie is experiencing some hard emotions right now. Although she knows the truth, the notion of her body "rejecting" Ethan is very difficult for her to handle. We've spent some time in prayer, and she certainly understands that this was out of her control, and was simply God's plan for Ethan's birth. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would minister to her emotions, especially if we get to go home today.
I will edit this post and put some pictures here in a few hours. (done now!) Thanks for your love, know that we love you too and appreciate the support you all offer.
- Ken

P.S. - Below are some pics from late last night, I got to hold him in the air as his nurse changed the sheets under him!

More benchamrks

The last 24 hours have been exciting for us! Ethan came off the CPAP machine and is now breathing on his own! He's started eating this morning, they're feeding him every 3 hours. There is a line going into his mouth all the way down to his stomach. They give him about 3 cc's each feeding to start with. Before each feeding, they syringe out the tube to check if he has any undigested food left, and so far, he's digesting all or nearly all each time. This afternoon, the nurse gave him 4 cc's and he ate it all! They will slowly increase his amount over time.
They don't want to overstimulate him, so the nurses schedule "hands on time" every 4 hours to change him, check temperature, etc. Katie was able to be at the last 2, and has changed his diaper twice. (Mommy-hood here she comes!)
It's certainly very fluid based on how he does, but if everything goes well, we'll likely get to have Ethan come home in about 4-5 weeks.



Katie is off all IV's, and is just on one med for her blood pressure. They were able to take out the epidural last night, and after a shower, Katie felt much more human. She's alert, and doing very well, walking around, sitting most of the day today in a chair not in a bed. Katie is so busy eating, sleeping, and pumping! We've heard that this is going to be a time of very little sleep, but we're experiencing it first-hand now.

Dr. Iurcovich came in today and told her that he will most likely send us home tomorrow, so we're excited about that.
We love you guys so much! I know many of you are anxious to come see us and visit. We'll let you know as soon as Katie feels up to visitors. Thank you all for your support, love and prayers!
- Ken

Pictures are up :-)

A few people have mentioned hoping to see some pics, so just for clarification, the pictures are under the big "Ethan Marc" at the top of this page. or click here and here :-)

First Post

Hey Friends and Family! Updates should be here from now on, so feel free to RSS subscribe to this page, or check back as frequently as you like. I'll plan on posting every day for a little while, so... (new father syndrome I'm sure)

Ethan is doing great. He had a good night, he's now breathing normal air (no extra O2) on a CPAP machine, which is not the same as a ventilator. As the nurse described it to me, it simply puts a little air pressure into his lungs to make it easier for him to fill the alveoli when he inhales. I just came up from the NICU, and his nurse just told me that they were going to consider taking him off the CPAP today!

Katie is doing well, she just came off the magnesium-sulfate! We're excited to have reached that goal, as she'll now start getting more alert, and have more freedom to interact with Ethan. As far as her eating goes, she still is on full liquids, so the epidural is active for the time being. (The epidural is the only form of pain meds she can have right now, until she's able to eat solid food.)

I am tired, but I'm just being awake when Katie is, so my body isn't having to struggle for survival or produce milk, so I have very little to complain about! While I was just down in the NICU, Ethan woke up twice, once crying and another time just looking around. I got to hold hands...well, pinky and hand with him for a while! We're about to start another pump session, so that's it for now!