The Cubby Chronicles XLIV

Jake's a little apprehensive heading into surgery

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Looking back on things, it probably wasn't the best time to take a break from the blog with the last post noting that Jake was heading into surgery. The Twitter updates, of course, were made on schedule & posted on the side column on the front page. However, if you forgot about them, if you were new to the blog, or if you just read the posts it would be quite a cliffhanger.

Thankfully, everything turned out just fine. Of course like most things at the hospital, the actual process took way longer than they needed to. We had to show up at 7:30 AM--two hours before the surgery was even scheduled & he didn't even go back to the OR until 10:20. Finally, around 1:00 we were able to head back to the recovery area and be with him.

In the recovery area, drinking some glucose water

The Recovery area is an interesting place as its just a large room with a bunch of beds & monitors with nothing but curtains between them. We were assigned a nice nurse & chatted with the surgeon (who went to undergrad at Michigan) who said that everything went well.

It was bizarre to see Jake strapped again to all the monitors (heart rate, breathing, oxygen saturation, & blood pressure) and certainly made me think of all those weeks he was hooked up to them just 4 floors above the recovery room. Thankfully he was as stable as could be--a far cry from his early days & constant & consistent proof of how he's come.

We were in the recovery area for about an hour & a half & then we were released to his private room on the 7th floor. The little guy did great with the surgery & the recovery & slept most of the afternoon & evening.

He was certainly hungry when he woke up but the overnight stay was uneventful--at least for him. Since there was only one bed available & I wasn't going to leave my wingman, I spent the night on an egg shell crate on the floor. Good times...

We got up early & after a couple of hours to get us discharged (everything takes longer than it should in hospitals it seems) we were on the road back home. Since it was Halloween he left the hospital in his costume....

6 Months!

Jake turned six months old yesterday. Hard to believe. A couple weeks ago he passed the mark of more nights at home than in the hospital. That's hard to believe too. He's happy and growing and starting to roll over (tummy to back).

November is prematurity awareness month, and so we've added the March of Dimes prematurity petition to our sidebar (look to the right). If you're so inclined, take a moment to sign the petition and pass it on. Hope you're all doing well and getting ready for Thanksgiving!

The Cubby Chronicles XLIII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

When we brought Jake home, my buddy Ben remarked that we had excellent baby timing. Since we were going to be shut-in for awhile at least we'd be able to watch the fall sports, specifically lots of college football.

Being Michigan alums, Kristin & I are both big fans of the football team & were excited to see how the new coach & offense would play out. Unfortunately, if you follow college football at all you know its not going so smoothly.

Overall, things are in stasis here in Raleigh, although not for long. Jake still has symptoms of MSPI though there are small signs that he's getting better. Kristin says that he's been less fussy at night & he's now only having blood in every second of third diaper.

We were due for a doctor's visit this morning, but we pushed the appointment back to Monday. Apparently the presumptive President-Elect (is that capitalized?) is staging a rally right outside Kristin's office & all the streets were blocked going in & out of downtown.

The big news happens tomorrow as we take the Cubby back to Duke Hospital for his hernia surgery. For those unaware, Jake was born with a small Inguinal hernia & needs a quick operation to get his intestines back where they belong. We've been assured its a simple, common procedure & the surgeon has done it many times.

He'll go in tomorrow morning for the procedure, recuperate & stay overnight, then finally be discharged on Halloween. I don't think there will be any blog updates for the next couple of days (real out of the ordinary, I know) but I'll probably put out some Twitter posts that can be read right here on the site (in the right-hand column under 'Jeff's Twitterings').

We actually had the option to get the surgery done while we were in the hospital but nurses told us he'd do better under anesthesia when he was bigger (he barely met the weight minimum when we left) & we just wanted to get him out of there & home. As mentioned, it's as simple as operations get & older toddlers who have it done leave the same day in the afternoon.

So we'll be back at Duke though the accommodations will be a little different. Since the Cubs is a big boy (& has been exposed to the outside world), he'll have his own private room on the pediatrics floor instead of going back to the intensive care nursery.

While this has its strong points (each room has its own lounge chair, tv, etc...) it also means he doesn't have his own nurse & while we can stay overnight apparently the hospital thinks only one of us needs to rest or sleep at a time (the lounge chair converts into an [uncomfortable] bed for 1).

My guess is Kristin will stay with him overnight & I'll sleep over at the Deans' place. Then, he'll be back home in time for some Halloween fun (to save the suspense he'll be a pumpkin) & ready to watch this weeks Michigan game. Check back tomorrow for the Twitter updates (of course it's completely elective) and...

The Cubby Chronicles XLII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

As has been the trend since the blog started, it's once again been awhile between posts. I'm not sure how often any regular readers (or at least those of you that are left) check for updates, but given their sporadic nature, I'd suggest using an RSS feed if you haven't been already. The feed will automatically send updates once a new post has been made & can be a lot easier than manually checking the site every day.

Stop me if you're heard this before but its been quite busy around here. Kristin has gone back to work & for the past week & a half I've been at home running the show with the little guy. Of course the very first morning of the very first day I was alone with him he had little flecks of blood in his diaper.

Trying not to freak out too much, I consulted our friend, the well-used Baby Book by our trusted resource Dr. Sears. For those that are unfamiliar, basically Dr. Sears is the authority on kids & if he suggested that we throw Jake out with the bath water we'd at least give some pause before just tossing out the water.

The book said that all babies have some blood in their stool/diaper at some point & its usually caused by constipation or a small tear in the intestines. This was a bit of a relief until the second diaper came back with some blood & the third one did as well. I called the nurse line at our doctor's office & while they said it wasn't an emergency (again, the amounts of blood were small) they made an appointment for the next day.

Well, it turns out that Jake has a condition called Milk & Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI) which is somewhat common but not always diagnosed accurately. The symptoms are similar to acid reflux (which Jake has as well) and thus MSPI usually isn't considered until there's blood in the diapers which is sort of the definitive symptom. Basically his system is having trouble breaking down the larger proteins that are in milk & soy products and they upset his stomach & can cause fissures in his intestines.

Keep in mind that his body is simply sensitive to the protein molecules--the condition is something that he should grow out of as his digestive system matures & doesn't indicate any long term allergies (many people confuse MSPI with lactose intolerance). The good news is from what we've read online he doesn't seem to have a terrible case of it. Apparently some children have a very hard time eating enough to gain weight & that's one thing the Cubby is good at. The bad news is someone's diet needs to change & since Jake doesn't get much choice in what he eats (milk), the change must come from the source.

That means Kristin has been off of all dairy foods & products with soy (no tofu, soy sauce, or garden burgers) which for someone who doesn't eat chicken or beef can be a real issue. The deeper, more sinister problem is that some variation of milk & soy seems to be in everything, from pasta sauce to baked goods.

K has found some solace in buying some things at Whole Foods (the store with natural food that's outrageously expensive & they annoyingly refuse to sell Coca Cola--I'm sure you've been there) which is a good start; the question is how much variety can she find & if we'll go bankrupt in the process.

Babies usually outgrow MSPI around the 1 year mark (& can go as long as 3 years, yikes) & his follow up checkup is next week. Once the mother clears her system of dairy & soy (which typically takes 2 weeks) the changes filter down to the kid. Hopefully he'll improve and we've already seen some small gains (he's been less fussy around meal times & overnight). Of course well keep everyone updated, if not always on the most timely schedule.....

The Cubby Chronicles XLI

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

It's just starting to feel like fall here in Raleigh and we're excited that Jake is getting to experience his third season. Of course he was in the hospital for all of spring & most of the summer but regardless, we have to keep an accurate count.

As the days will be getting cooler, we've tried to get the little guy outside as much as possible. Last weekend we had an impromptu picnic over at nearby North Hills park and you can see above that Mr. Cool was rocking his Baby Banz sunglasses.

Of course this may smack of elitist yuppie consumerism gone a muck but you have to admit, he looks pretty good in them. He also doesn't mind wearing them though he's never had a problem with things on his head (be it Billirubin goggles or his CPAP harness).

Health-wise, Jake is doing great. Last week we took him back to the Duke Special Infant Care clinic (I can't decide if the clinic itself is 'special' or if it's just for 'special' infants) and the doctors & physical therapy were thrilled with his progress. Jake's report has been posted below, we're especially pleased with his cuteness quotient.....


He's been completely healthy so far & we certainly hope he stays that way. To help him stay germ-free we received our first shot of the Synagis vaccine today. The shots (at a whopping $1,000 each--score one for health insurance) help him fight off the Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV goes around from the fall to the spring (depending on the region) and the elderly & weaker infants such as preemies are the most vulnerable. We'll get the shots every month until April or so.

We've enjoyed having him home & we're pretty sure he feels the same way. Jake's graduated to smiling all the time & coos & gurgles as well. He's still sleeping well & I personally hope he continues his easy going state. Kristin heads back to work next week & I'm going to get my chance to be alone with the little boy at home. I'm sure we'll have a fun time....

The Cubby Chronicles XL

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

A warm welcome to the 40th edition of the Cubby Chronicles, which is kind of hard to imagine because A. Even in 'a post once or twice a week' mode, I'm amazed it's lasted this long & B. The only reason I knew the Roman numeral for 40 was because there's already been similarly-numbered Super Bowl. In a few weeks I'll have resort to googleing the title numbers....

In any event, for our Ruby celebration (or feel free to run with the 'Extra Large' theme) we'll have a few pictures & a couple more videos soon to be added as well as some updates & general stories. We had strong feedback from the initial video we posted last week so we'll try to load more going forward.



As for the little man himself he's doing a very good job of losing the 'little' portion of his namesake. I'm proud to announce that as of this morning he officially weighs over 8 pounds; he was actually almost 8 pounds, 5 ounces with all of his clothes on. We were back at Duke today (more on that later) & the nurse thought he could even be 8 pounds, one ounce.

This of course means that he's quadrupled his body weight in his short 4 months on the planet and Kristin & I are really noticing a difference when we carry him around both in his size & heft. Of course we have a somewhat warped perception of how large a baby is--if we saw a baby that's Jake's current size when we first moved over to the TCN unit we'd think it might eat him.

Here's a fun experiment to see how much larger the Cubby is after only 6 weeks at home. You may recall one of the first pictures at home we posted involved Jake in his swing. If not (& no one's pointing fingers), here it is again contrasted with a picture taken yesterday:

Here's the old pic little guy that was accompanied by some bad Jeff Foxworthy reference

The larger (if still little) guy just less than 24 hours ago.


Continuing the trend, here's an early picture of Jake in one of his favorite places--his vibrating Boppy chair that his aunt Kimberley & uncle Michael got for him:


And the same treatment from yesterday:


So its pretty easy to see that he's now safely in the 'newborn' size realm & he keeps getting bigger. Generally premature babies will 'catch up' in size & weight to full term babies by their second birth day so for his age he's still going to be a small guy for awhile but each day the gap will shrink. And judging by his appetite, it will be sooner rather than later.

Of course the idea of what his 'true' age is somewhat fuzzy, at least for now. The Cubs is already 4 months old physically yet he can be classified as only 5 weeks old developmentally. The doctors & books say that Preemies should look to hit their milestones (such as smiling, learning to crawl, etc...) from their original due date & not the day they were born. And often they are even delayed from their due date so we'll see what happens.

Speaking of development, the most exciting news (besides weight gain & general good health I suppose) is that Jake has started to smile! In the past couple of days he's smiled at Kristin six or seven & on two separate occasions for me.

He's smiled in the past but it takes kids awhile before they purposely/socially smile (before then smiles can be gas-related or the 'sleep smile' when babies are about to doze off). It was so exciting that I was unsure he really smiled at me. Kristin's response was 'did your heart melt when he smiled? If so, then he did.....'

To end on a festive note, I might as well go with a short blooper. As seen above, Jake still loves to look at his black & white animals (in both book & crib bumper form) but he's also graduated to checking himself out in the mirror. That is when its not falling on him....



(Kristin did want it to be clear the mirror was made of lightweight plastic & neither the star nor cameraman was hurt.)

What a difference 12 weeks makes

You'll note that this isn't a "Cubby Chronicle," as I leave those up to Jeff. I just wanted to make a short post to demonstrate how much Jake grew from the time he was about one week old to the time he had been home about one week (13 weeks old). That's Jeff's wedding band...




As of last Friday he was up to 8 pounds, which means he's quadrupled his weight in exactly 4 months. I'm sure Jeff will tell you all about it once he finally finishes the post he's been working on...

The Cubby Chronicles XXXIX

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Its been a tough week for me as I'm away from home for the first time since Jake's been out of the hospital. Of course that's easy to say considering I left Kristin alone with the Cubby for the week while I've temporarily returned to the land of uninterrupted sleep.

I left on Monday morning & hopefully I start heading back towards home around 12 hours from now. Even though I expected to miss him dearly I'm still surprised how often I think about the little guy or flip through his pictures on my phone. It'll be great to see him & K again but I'll have to share--his aunt Jennifer is flying into town for the weekend to check him out for the first time out of the hospital.

Which isn't to say that he doesn't return from time to time. Kristin & Jake made a trip back to Duke for a visit to his kidney doctors yesterday. In short, they were pleased with his blood pressure & even took him off of his diuretics. He goes back in a month for another check & they still believe he'll grow out of the high blood pressure. By the way, Jake is now over the 7 pound mark; pretty exciting stuff....

Of course while the week has been challenging for the family its meant good things for the blog. This post is the second entry of the week; a feat unheard of around here for quite awhile. Not to mention the previous post included video with the regular photos which was a first. Speaking of pictures, I like to call this series "Snooze Buddies:"

The Cubby Chronicles XXXVIII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Jake's been home three weeks & counting and its hard to express how excited we are to have him here. After a stressful summer of driving back & forth to Duke and constantly worrying about his health, we've really settled into what could be considered a 'normal' home life.

There's no blood pressure checks, heart rate monitors, or pulse oximeters; just a little guy that likes his tummy time & looking at his panda (check out the video below). He's now up over 6 & a half pounds & is steadily gaining weight. For the past few weeks we've been feeding him non-stop every three hours which is about as exciting as one might imagine. Especially at 3 in the morning.

At his last visit to the pediatrician, we got the news we've been waiting for. We can now let him decide when he wants to eat overnight--that is we won't wake him to eat (well, we would after 6 or so hours) and instead let him wake up when he's hungry. This hasn't bought us a ton of extra sleep as he seems to be wake up every 4 or hours or so but the process overall is much better.

Since he's choosing when to eat we don't have to deal with any grogginess when feeding him & its infinitely more pleasant to let him slowly wake us up versus setting an alarm. Not to mention that now we've got 4 hours between feedings which means a good 3 hours of sleep. That's key if you're like me & believe in the concept of 90 minute sleep cycles.

As you can see in the world-exclusive video below, Jake is like most babies in that he really likes looking at black & white pictures. He's especially fond of looking at the above picture of a panda bear in his favorite book, Baby Animals In Black & White. Feel free to play along, does the picture do anything for you?

The Cubby Chronicles XXXVII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Our apologies for the delay in the updates. Last Wednesday we switched over to Directv, mostly because they have the Big Ten Network. Since football season starts Saturday & we're pretty much home bound these days, it was a good time to make the switch. Of course in such a move there are winners & losers.

It seems that our friends at Time Warner Cable didn't take to the switch too kindly because they cut our cable internet at the same time they shut our cable down (Kristin believes they were just idiots while I enjoy a good conspiracy so I like to think it was purposeful). So after a few down days, today they sent a tech over to flip the switch back on.

Anyway, Jake is doing well & his weight last Thursday was a little over 5 & a half pounds. We've been to his pediatrician's office twice & she's quite pleased at his progress. We're heading back to Duke tomorrow for his first check up since his discharge & sometime soon we'll have a full update.

In the meantime, we've been taking plenty of pictures now that he's home & since everyone would probably prefer them to my meandering prose, here's a batch:

Snooze time is all the time these days...

Jake & his 'big brother' from his aunt Kimberley. Granted, he's a small guy but that's still one big bear.........

(Jeff Foxworthy Voice) 'If your head doesn't even reach the headrest in your swing, you might be a preemie.'

In general the Cubby just a happy go lucky guy. Other than when he's really hungry he doesn't really cry or fuss.

Mom, Ben & little Jake are out & about on his first walk. He's in there somewhere....


.....there he is.

The Cubby Chronicles XXXVI

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

It has been about a week since the little guy came home and we're all doing very well. For the first few days Kristin & I would stop ourselves in disbelief that Jake's actually here & not in the hospital, and it's still amazing that he's home for good. I remarked the other day as we sat him on the floor to roll around ('Tummy Time' for the uninitiated) that I felt we were normal parents, which is a wonderful feeling.

Kristin & I were discussing how we thought the week had gone & for the most part parenthood is how we expected it to be so far. It's actually going even better than I'd hoped so far as Jake isn't too fussy & he's not much of a crier (clearly we're hoping that stays consistent). Even the dogs have adapted to him quite well (that's Chloe above) Of course the one thing we're still working on is feeding the little guy.

Since Jake eats every 3 hours I've told people that it seems we're always either finishing up feeding him or getting ready to feed him. Since the entire routine involves diaper changes, burping and keeping him upright to minimize the GERD, not to mention the actual feeding, its good for an hour. That only leaves two left until the process starts all over again.

The constant interruption isn't so hot for the sleep cycles but we're working on refining our technique. Jake eats at 12, 3, 6, & 9 so one of us takes 9PM & 3AM & the other does midnight & 6AM and its working for now. Check in with us next month...

A quick warning to all the non-parents here is that the rumors are true. Once you have a baby, you just can't believe how much you can love that tiny little person. I've seen Jake every day for 3 months but every time I see him I forget how precious he is & just have to give him a few kisses on the head (& I've never been much of a family kisser). Every day he either gets a little cuter or I get a little softer; we'll see how long it continues.....

The Cubby Chronicles XXXV

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

The Cubby is home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

And he even came home one day earlier than the doctors were planning to release him at that. We had heard rumors last night that there was a chance he could come home today instead of Thursday but we didn't quite believe it.

When scrubbing in this morning I heard the great news that they were releasing him one day early probably due to an equal mixture of his progress, a little less conservative practitioners on call today, & general need of bed space in the ICN.

Here's a quick re-cap in pictures of how it went down:


Here's the three of us standing with Kathy, one of our favorite nurses. In ICN terms, Jake is now considered 'wireless' as we just took off all of his leads that tracked his heart rate, breathing, & blood pressure. If you look closely you can see the monitor in the background that we used to constantly stare at finally showing no input.


As Jake leaves the nursery he gets the 'bubble parade,' an ICN tradition whenever a baby 'graduates.'

Here he's getting his first taste of being outside as he's strapped into his car seat leaving the hospital. His official 'going home' outfit was given to us by our good friends Lenny & Heather.


After a quick stop at Chick-fil-A (that will be a good bit of trivia in the future) Jake finally arrives home at 3:00PM on Wednesday, August 13, 2008. Maybe going home early was fate, today was his original due date.

*NOTE--Do not check yourself in to the nearest asylum or adjust your computer clock; the post has been backdated for historical record.

The Cubby Chronicles XXXIV

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Quick but important update--as you may have noticed in the photo above, Jake doens't have any feeding tubes. He's been taking all his feeds by bottle the past couple of days which is the last hurdle to him leaving the hospital.

The doctors have been pleased with Jake's progress & have chosen this Thursday, August 14 to send him home!!!!

The date is still considered tentative but he's on the mark to meet it. More information (including a countdown clock I imagine) soon....

The Cubby Chronicles XXXIII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Jake has had a busy day here at Duke Hospital. I was hanging out with him this morning & nothing much was going on. Just holding & feeding him (he's taking more and more of his feeds by mouth & eating greater volumes of them) and having some 'guy time.' Everything thing was pretty quiet until Kristin came in.

She brought a form letter from the Wake County child services that said according to their records Jake had failed his hearing scan. Obviously this was a little worrisome because A. we don't remember Jake ever having a hearing scan & B. everyone would like their child to be able to hear. As we sat talking about how Wake County would have such a record when we were never informed that he'd received a scan, much less failed one, the Audiologist walked in.

Sure enough, he'd never been tested & she went ahead and performed the screen right in front of us. She did an Auditory Brain Stem Response test which consisted of strapping plastic cups on Jake's ears & taping electrodes around his head (it was quite a get-up, see the picture below). The idea is sounds are played into the ear cups & the electrodes pick up the 'correct' brain activity for each ear. Thankfully, Jake passed the test quickly with both of his ears but not before we snapped some photos.

I tend to take lots of pictures of the little guy every day so he's quite comfortable in front of the camera (either he's a natural model or he's just a baby who doesn't notice/care--you can be the judge). Regardless, his talent for looking cute & laying still served him well today when the nurse manager & people from the fund raising office came by & wanted to take pictures of Jake for upcoming campaign media.

Its somewhat of a toss-up on why Jake was picked--on one hand he's clearly the cutest kid in the entire place (I might be a little biased). On the other we do know the nurse manager & she had a pretty good idea that we'd be at his bedside so consent/release forms could be signed. I will note that there were at least 3 other families back in the TCN & untold numbers in the larger ICN that they could have chosen.

Anyway, the fund raising people said that they wanted to get some pictures of the chief of the children's hospital with a preemie baby for future brochures,etc... and Jake was the man for the job. Kristin changed his outfit & wiped his face off (potential stage mom alert) while the photographer set up her angles, flashes, & other camera equipment. We met the chief who seemed like a nice guy & they ended up taking 30 or so shots of him holding Jake in different positions.

The whole thing was pretty interesting & the media woman said she'd e-mail some of the pictures back to me which I'll pass along. The Cubby, to his credit, basically slept through the whole shoot which is exactly what he needed to do . In Hollywood that's called 'nailing it.'

Clearly he's going to be the next top baby model. Of course we're in need of an agent since we didn't negotiate any returns for his services. We're not suggesting that he get a cut of any money they raise, but it wouldn't kill them to at least have knocked something off of his hospital bill, right?

The Cubby Chronicles XXXII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

NOTE: The following is an experiment in mobile blogging. This post may (will) change after you've read it.

UPDATE: Well, I'm not sure that mobile blogging is quite ready for prime time. Originally the post didn't have any formatting, I couldn't include links, & the picture didn't come through. Now of course that's all taken care of. Also, since this was such a short post (hey, you try typing these things out on a phone) we've also included an extra picture. I know, I know, you're welcome....

We're sitting here in the hospital with the little guy and since Kristin is holding him I've got idle hands. My buddy Ben (who really was ahead of the curve on this blogging thing) told me I could post from the iPhone & of course I have to try it.

Jake's doing really well overall and is now officially 4 & a half pounds. He's taking some food by bottle or by Kristin every other feed or 4 times a day. He's still a little scattershot with them & sometimes he takes up to half of his volume but usually it's more like 1/3. The nurses & doctors say one day it'll just click & he'll be taking everything by mouth.

Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later so we can get the little man home. In other news his nursery is really coming together. We bought a glider that is almost lime green. It was on clearance so we got a good deal (what a surprise) & I was initially unsure about the color but it blends in perfectly with his beach themed room. We can't wait to break it in with him....

Cubby Chronicle Terminology

(Acid) Reflux --Gastric acid flowing from the stomach up the esophagus. Can cause A's & B's along with oxygen desaturation

Apnea (A's)--15 second pause when babies 'forget' to breathe

Brady (B's)--Slowing of the resting heartrate, usually under 100 beats/min

Nasal Cannula (NC)--Tubes delivering a flow of air (with or without supplemental oxygen) that gives a small amount of pressure to keep the lungs partially inflated

Nephrology--The study of the kidneys & urinary tract

Oxygen Saturation--How much oxygen the blood is carrying, above 90% is good. Under 85% is considered a 'De-Sat'. Measured by a pulse oximeter

Pulse Oximeter (Pulsox)--Device that measures oxygen saturation in the blood via an attached sensor

The Cubby Chronicles XXXI

Has the pacifier










Losing the pacifier












Lost the pacifier













Looking for the pacifier





Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

The big news out of Durham is that the little guy is now up over 4 pounds!!! While not just being double his birth weight its also the magic number for Jake to go home. We mentioned earlier that he's ticked off most of the things he needs to do (breathe on his own, keep himself warm) & now that his weight is above the magic number, its all about the bottle feeding.

Jake is currently getting fed by bottle at least once a shift & we're working with the Speech people each day. I'm not sure if they're too territorial, too sensitive, or we just got stuck with someone that we clash with, but we haven't been too impressed with them. The real issue is they never catch him when he's fully awake and when he doesn't eat a lot (say, only 6cc) they assume he's 'not ready' or 'not stable.'

Of course when we're working with the nurses (who don't seem to be big fans either) he will eat 20 or so cc because he's fully alert & hungry. I imagine they're trying the best they can to catch him at his feeding time but its just not working. Luckily we get to practice on our own without them around at least half of the time.

I actually had my first bottle feeding experience last night (he took 16cc, BTW) and it went well. Of course when I was burping him mid-way through the feed he spit up on me but I guess its just the first of many. We were trying to figure out if I'll give him hundreds or thousands of bottle feedings in the future (given K will do some bottle feeding, there will be breastfeeding interlaced, & he'll eventually eat solid foods)--it looks like the latter but it could be right on the dividing line.

We also had some reassuring news yesterday from one of the lead attendings who believed that Jake would be home by his August 13th due date. While this is exciting news, we're getting less patient each day that goes by. As Jake has grown and matured our interactions & feelings have changed.

When he was young we were just so happy & relieved that he didn't have major medical issues & we constantly stressed about the challenges he did have. We would walk out of the hospital at night and hope he would breathe well overnight when we weren't around or wonder if his stomach would be able to handle his feedings.

Now that he's much more stable & we're able to hold and kiss him all the time, its tough when we have to put him back in his crib and know that he's alone (kind of like the extreme version of the Ferber method). We're excited to count the days down & each day it gets harder to leave the hospital without him. We looked at the calendar & we only have 2 baby-less weekends left, very exciting. Hopefully they go by quickly........

The Cubby Chronicles XXX*

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

I wonder how often I've started posts with 'its been awhile since...' but looking at the dates we're almost at a week since CC number 29. The main culprit in the delay was probably me traveling to Charlotte for a few days--actually, I doubt I'm fooling anyone. Of course, the main culprit of delays will tend be sheer laziness on my part. I was in Charlotte from mid-day Monday - mid-day Wednesday & even though he's doing well it doesn't get any easier to leave the little guy.

We've also had both my parents (over the weekend) & K's mom (during this week) in town & they really have helped us with getting some things done and running errands for us while we spent time with Jake. I think all of them were pleased/surprised with how big Jake's getting & the fact that they each were able to pull him out of the crib & actually hold him.

The Cubby has been hanging out in his big boy crib quite well over the past week. Though after a few shifts nurses have mentioned that his temp dropped a little, he's been fine for the far majority of the time. Jake's now up to 3 pounds, 12 ounces & we're excited as he's really entering the 'feeder-grower' stage.

From the last post you may recall that his last hurdle to heading home is eating on his own & he's done pretty well. The issue is the speech therapists come at scheduled times when he may or may not be awake. Naturally this directly affects his interest in/ability to eat which can be frustrating. We're hoping that his nurses will be able to work with him (as the speech people can be territorial) since they have the flexibility in their schedules to wait until he's awake & alert.

As the photo shows, not only is his weight up, he's really filling out & getting nice & chunky. I was describing him to a client yesterday & used the phrase--'he looks like a miniature baby' & its very true. His proportions & chubbiness are really starting to look like that of a newborn.

In some of the (many, many) pictures I take we'd be hard-pressed to tell he was about half the size of a full-term baby if there weren't any objects of scale in the shot. That's very exciting on its own, especially if one looks back at his older pictures, but we're looking forward to the day when he weighs the same as a newborn. Based on his excellent progress, that day is coming soon......

*--Vin Diesel-free

The Cubby Chronicles XXIX

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

If you happen to be amongst the few that read the amazingly inconsistent Twitter updates that appear on the lower-right side of the blog, you've been tipped off that Jake is now in a real crib. Of course, that's if your definition of a crib is something that looks like this. The rumors are indeed true & for the past couple of days Jake has been out in the cold, cruel world.

He's actually doing rather well with it for a guy his size. He's now around 3 pounds, 7 ounces & that's at the very low end of the crib eligibility scale. The hospital likes to make sure the babies are large enough to be able to manage their temperature well and Jake's doing all right with it. He has no problem keeping himself warm (ideally between 36.5 - 37.1C), but when he gets cold (after an assessment or examination) it takes him a little while to warm back up.

From our perspective its a big accomplishment & its exciting just as a growth milestone. Just being able to look at him in the crib makes him seem more like a baby & less like a hospital patient. And for a kid who still has a feeding tube & heart & respiratory leads that's comforting. The crib also give us much more access to him & since much of our time these days is spent holding him the added convenience is noteworthy.

In other news Jake is just starting to bottle feed and he's working with some specialists from the speech therapy unit (weird, I know) on how to manage sucking & swallowing milk while still remembering to breathe. He's only had a couple of sessions but he's had a good debut.

Essentially learning to eat on his own is the last major hurdle he needs to clear before he gets to go home (the other two being breathing on his own & keeping his temperature up) so we're exciting to see him progress. He's doing well with it so far and he really goes to town on his pacifier (showing strong ability) so we've got faith in the little guy...

The Cubby Chronicles XXVIII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Jake's been in either the ICN or the TCN for almost 2 months & its safe to say we're all a bit run down. When people see pictures of me & remark 'you look tired' its a pretty clear indication that more sleep could be used (though for the record Kristin always seems to look fine in pictures).

Of course, rest is at a premium because we're either constantly at the hospital, at work, or going to & from the hospital (~ a 45 min trip each way). Here's a quick average day for me in the past two months:

8:00AM - Wake up, feed dogs, head to hospital
9:00AM - Arrive at the hospital, hang with Jake & talk to doctors/nurses about morning rounds
12:00PM - Head back to Raleigh to work at the System Office building for the afternoon *
5:00PM - Drive back to the hospital
5:45PM - 6:30PM - Hang with Jake
6:30PM - 7:30PM - Dinner break--usually at Elmo's or Nosh (I recommend the Boo BLT)
7:30PM - 9:30PM - Hang with Jake & watch the evening assessment (when he's weighed)
10:15PM - Arrive back home, do house chores, feed dogs
11:30PM - Go to bed
3:00AM - Call hospital to check on Jake overnight

*--just as often I'll pick up Kristin & we'll both head to the hospital to visit all afternoon

First off the goal is to have at least one of us at the hospital most of the day. When I'm at work at the System Office Kristin would be at Duke & vice-versa. Kristin is working half-time at her job & while I'm working full time I'm often at the hospital all day.

I'm extremely lucky as I've got a job where I can work from anywhere for the most part & I have an understanding boss who lets me do so (and who's a big fan of the blog). We also have kind friends who help us out by letting the dogs out in the evening when neither of us are in Raleigh.

Keeping up this kind of schedule gets pretty exhausting & I suppose its starting to show. The driving also wears on us, especially when we're going back & forth multiple times each day. Its not cheap either--we figure each trip to go see the Cubby costs us $8.

Of course he's well worth it at double the price* & since he's bigger now we get to spend most of our time actually holding him instead of where we were 6 weeks ago--just looking at him or touching him. Looking back at previous posts, I haven't spent much time talking about his personality but he's a very calm & amenable guy. He hardly ever fusses about anything & its even rarer to hear him cry.

*--maybe even 3 times but certainly not 4

Since no one wants to see pictures of me (and for the record, I'm not actually sleeping in the picture above), here's a bonus Jake picture on the house.....

The Cubby Chronicles XXVII

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Its been a little bit between posts here as its been pretty hectic week in North Carolina as I drove up to DC for a work class mid-week. Thankfully, the little guy hasn't been bothered too much and for the most part he keeps trooping along. He keeps getting bigger & bigger, now up to a nice 3 pounds, 4 ounces.

In fact, he's only 14 grams away from 3 pounds, 5 ounces which is the magic number for moving out of the isolette & into a big boy crib. In preparation the nursing staff has been gradually lowering the temperature inside the isolette and he seems to do a good job of keeping himself warm. Contrary to the photo above, he's almost always in an outfit & when possible he's nice and swaddled too.

Jake's still having some issues with his blood pressure and the doctors are trying some lasix in addition to the Propranolol. He's also still having the acid reflux & the staff has decided to try him out on some Zantac to help relieve some of the acid after his feeds. Kristin thinks he has 'old man problems' more appropriate for a 60 year old than a 60 day old & I tend to agree.

Even though he's gaining a good amount of weight on pure breast milk, he's now back into the dangerous world of fortifiers. This time they're trying him on Ellecare, which is the gentlest one the hospital has. The idea is to not only give him extra calories but also protein & calcium. He's tolerated it so far, we'll see how it goes.