Tomorrow

Cole's surgery is tomorrow afternoon.  When the surgeon did her clinical evaluation, she also found an inguinal hernia on the right side.  She said there may be one on the left as well but could not tell with a clinical eval.  She is going to fix everything while she is in there tomorrow.  Positive energy needed.

Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surgery is pushed back because of the surgeon's schedule.  It will be sometime after 11 tomorrow:(

Another surgery

Cole is scheduled to have his feeding tube put in tomorrow!  After it is in, it takes 5-7 days to get back up to full feeds and then.......nevermind, I'm scared to say it outloud.  Harper, Chase and Mommy went to the State fair and met Harper's friend Grandpa K there.  We saw all kinds of animals and had a great time!  Cole was just 1 oz shy of 7 lbs at his weigh in this morning!  I'll keep you posted on his surgery and progress!  As always, thank you for the love and support:)

Chase is on the Chart!

Chase had his big weigh in at his Dr. check-up yesterday.......10 lbs 12 oz!  That puts him on the growth chart for an average baby his age!  He's not a preemie anymore!  Cole Thomas is not far behind at 6 lbs 8 oz (and that's with a surgery this week:).  Cole is recovering very well from his surgery.  Soon he will have his feeding tube and be home with us!  Both Chase's Dr and Cole's Dr's are extremely pleased with the progress the boys are making! 

Doing Well!

Cole's surgery took about an hour and a half.  The neurosurgeon said it went well and he was doing fine.  He had the breathing tube out and was looking great!  He was still a bit sedated and was given some pain relief so he was pretty drowsy.  He is resting peacefully on his belly.  He will have to be in that position for about 2 days.  They will start giving him food again tonight.  Hopefully he gets the feeding tube next week and after he recovers from that he will be home where he belongs:)
Tethered Cord
When a baby is growing in utero, the spinal cord grows first and then as the body grows, the end of the spinal cord is at about L2.  (there are 5 lumbar vertebrae).  Cole's spinal cord was still at L4 and then was attached to the vertebrae.  The surgeon went in and lifted his vertebrae, cut the connective tissue that attached it to the vertebrae and then put him back together.  It's more involved than that, but that's a brief overview.

Surgery today

Cole is having his tethered spinal cord surgery today.  His neurosurgeon decided to do it now rather than later so he could recover in the NICU.  He will have to have the breathing tube put back in because it performed under general anesthesia.  Procedure should take about 2 hours.  Pray for him.  After he recovers from this, he will have the feeding tube put in and can finally come home.  Thank you all for the love and support. 

Big Boy

Cole Thomas is up to 6 lbs!  It's definitely time to come home.  The Dr. liked the way the MRI looked which was very encouraging.  We haven't gotten the final report from the radiologist so we're still keeping our fingers crossed.  We're hoping that the feeding tube goes in this week and we can bring him home soon after that.  They are doing another test tomorrow to make sure the tethered cord is not messing with his bladder function at this point.  Chase is doing awesome and slept through the night last night!  Not that we can complain, he was only getting up once a night before that.  Football was great this week and I'm looking forward to this season.  Harper hasn't stopped dancing since Uncle Richie's wedding!  On our way to see our sweet Cole right now.  We'll try to get pics up soon!  Thank you followers for all of the love! 

GREAT WEDDING!

Richard and Krista's wedding was wonderful!  Krista was beautiful, Rich was so handsome, and Harper and Emma were adorable.  Unfortunately, for now, I only have one picture of Harper (below).  We had a great time.  We ran into some issues Friday night with Cole.  He had been taking full bottles for 2 days and then Friday night did not take hardly any, so they put his feeding tube back in his nose:(  He did well for me today but would only take a little bit from his nurses.  He's on the schedule for a feeding tube, spine MRI and brain MRI all next week.  Hopefully home very soon after that.  I start football tomorrow!  Go Eagles!!!!!!

Getting Closer!

I apologize for the lack of updates.  Cole's ultrasound looked a little better.  He had a small bleed in the brain so they are watching him very closely.  His amazing nurses have been working diligently on bottling and he has been making small improvements!  He is on the schedule for next week for the feeding tube to be put in.  His nurse put a mobile on his crib and he was having fun playing with the zebra on it.  It was wonderful!  Harper and I are headed to Uncle Richie and Aunt Krista's wedding.  Big Chase is staying home with Daddy and Mona.  Pictures of Harper in a tux to follow:)

We've got a 5 pounder!

Cole hit 5 lbs!  He's still struggling with the bottling so they are going to put a feeding tube in soon to get him home.  Everyone involved knows how well he'll do when he is home so we're going to get him here any way we can.  He had a little bit of a change on his last head ultrasound and so they will do another one on Monday to see what's going on.  Please keep praying for him.  We need all the prayers, positive energy, and good thoughts we can get right now.  Looks like he won't be home before I go back to work but hopefully very soon thereafter!  Thank you all for everything!  Oh yea, Chase and Harper are both doing fantastic.  Harper and Mommy have been working on basketball skills all week:)

Big Cole!

Cole is 4 lbs 15 oz.  He's almost 5 lbs!  We've been trying all different methods for this bottling business.  He's very stubborn.  Chase is doing awesome as always.  He'll do even better when his brothers are both here!  Harper can't wait for Cole Thomas to be home.  So many babies in this family right now!!  They all need to be together for a picture:)