Growing, growing

Beckham now weighs 1180 grams, or 2 lbs 9.6 oz

One month pics

March 22 was Beckham's 1 month birthday. We took some pics and haven't had a chance to post them yet, so here they are: (fyi- the 1 month paper shown is 8 1/2 inches, the width of a normal piece of paper)



Beckham was very alert and awake that night. Normally he spends a lot of time sleeping and closing his eyes, but that time he had his eyes wide open and was very content so I shot a video. Unfortunately it isn't letting me upload the video. I'll try again later.

Private Room

A few days ago Beckham was moved to his own private room. Here are some pics of what it looks like and what his isolette is like. The blanket that drapes over his isolette was made by Grandma Miller while she was here. It helps keep the light and sound out so he can feel more like he's back in the womb. Also, any kind of stimulus can startle him easily and can cause him to have difficulty breathing, simply because his nervous system is so immature still.

Weight update: Beckham most recently weighed 1110 grams, or 2 lbs 7 oz

Zaky hand

Beckham's grandma Miller gave him a Zaky hand. It is a soft hand filled with beans or something to give it a little weight. It can be used to put on his head, back, bum or anywhere else to give him the sensation that someone is holding him.



Beckham loves to lay on his belly. Since he is so small and in the NICU where he is constantly monitored it's okay for him to sleep on his stomach. The picture above is funny because the diaper goes all the way up his back. It's the same size preemie diaper that they always use on him, but this time the nurse didn't fold it down at all.


When Grandma was here she got to hold the little guy

One month old!

Happy one month birthday Beckham!

Yesterday when we went to visit Beckham he had gained some more weight, he is now 2 lbs 6 oz. That's a total of 1/2 lb weight gain so far! The nurse also measured him for us and he is now 14 inches long, 2 inches longer than he was a month ago.

He really looks good when we see him. He is looking more and more like a "real baby." His skin color, he's not as wrinkled, and some of his little baby gestures. We were amazed when he was laying on his belly in his isolette we turned his head to the left because he had been facing the right for quite a while. We thought he might like to change position a little. He decided he wanted to face the right again. He lifted up his head just enough to slide his little face around to the right side. Then he rested happily. It was so cute to see him taking control of his situation like that!

Beckham's new bed

Sure enough when we went in to see Beckham today he was wearing the High Flow Nasal Canula and doing well on it. It's giving him room air, so it's not actually giving him any extra oxygen, it just adds a little extra pressure to help him breath at times when he forgets.



Today the nurse wanted us to have him practice sucking on a pacifier. She was amazed that he sucked on it without much effort from us. He has actually been doing that since his first few days of life. The picture below shows him when he was 3 days old keeping the pacifier in his mouth by himself.


We gave Beckham a new bed today courtesy of Amber Zaug, a friend from church. Now he has his own little personal space that's not so generic. We love it! And I'm sure he does too. Thanks Amber!! (and we can't wait 'til he's big enough to put him in the kimono you made too!)



Speaking of gaining weight... today he weighed 1.03 kg, which is 2 lbs 4.3 oz. Getting bigger!

Winter swimming

I know it's technically still winter for a few more days, but it was 84 degrees out today, so we decided to go swimming! No we didn't take Beckham with us. This was a chance for us to finally do something fun with Avery and Elliot. Family together time has been lacking over the past few weeks, for obvious reasons, so it was great to get out together. The water was freezing cold by the way.

Does Beckham look like...?

Today Brittany took this picture of Beckham that we absolutely love. Over the last couple of days we've been trying to decide whether he looks more like a mouse or a bird. But today we were noticing that he kind of looks like Jack Bauer (from the TV show "24"). Maybe it is because we've been watching a lot of 24 episodes lately (thanks Emily!). Now we know where he gets his toughness.

Kangaroo time for Daddy

Today Nate got to do Kangaroo Care with Beckham for the first time. It was amazing to be able to hold him skin to skin. Both Daddy and Beckham thoroughly enjoyed it for an hour and a half! Brittany also got to hold him, kangaroo style, for about 2 hours. It was especially great because he was still off of SiPap. Instead of having a big breathing apparatus stuck to his nose we could feel his little breath on our skin.



Beckham was taken off of SiPap at about 10am yesterday. Today at about 4pm I got a text from his doctor saying they were putting him on High Flow Nasal Canula (HFNC) because he had a few too many apnea episodes today just breathing on his own. HFNC is just like the oxygen tubes that old people wear in their nose, but it provides some positive pressure, so it is basically a step down from SiPap. I still think it is amazing that he could breath on his own already for so long without any oxygen on at all.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Notice anything different today?! No SiPap!!! Today Brittany arrived in the NICU to find the best birthday surprise ever, they had taken Beckham off of SiPap and are letting him breathe completely on his own. As of about 8pm tonight he was still doing great without it and they were going to let him have his new freedom overnight. Hope he continues to do well, so he can keep it off for good.



This was the first time we've gotten to see all of his face, without a hat, breathing tubes, face mask, sunglasses, or anything else blocking our view. Although he still looks like a little baby mouse, he's starting to look a little more chunky in the cheeks and is gaining weight now. Today he weighed in at a whopping 2 lbs 3 oz!



Beckham finally opened up both eyes on 3/12/11, but today was the first time we were able to get a picture of them both open. He looks like he's having the time of his life. I think he's just celebrating having such a good day on his mommy's birthday.

Tender Moment

On Saturday, March 12th, Brittany got to go see Beckham with Grandma Miller. They both were able to hold him. Brittany and Beckham did Kangaroo care for an hour! The previous time was only about 15 minutes. He absolutely loved it, as did his mom. Before that, Brittany held him in her hands as the nurse was getting all of his tubes and wires ready for him to cuddle up to her chest. As she was holding him there she said, "Hi Beckham." Immediately he turned his head toward her and opened both of his eyes, as if to say "Hi mommy." He seemed to actually respond to her, which was something new and beautiful.

Holding Beckham

Yesterday, for the first time, we were able to get Beckham out of his isolette and hold him! Brittany got to do the holding, Nate just helped with transport to and from the isolette. Brittany was able to do Kangaroo Care. That's what they call it when you take your preemie out and hold him up against your chest for skin to skin contact. Both Mom and Baby loved it. It took a minute for Beckham to adjust to being in a new position but he got so cozy and cute cuddled up to his mommy.



Here are a couple more pics we took of the tiny guy:

Eye Opening

Beckham opened his right eye this morning! As you may have noticed in his pictures, Beckham's eyes have been sealed shut since he was born. Apparently it is not uncommon for that to happen in very early preemies. We've noticed over the last couple of days that his eye has been trying to open, but today it finally opened all the way!

Doing well

Beckham has been doing well the past few days. He was weaned off the vent and put back on sipap, the same thing he was on before the surgery. This time his settings are just a little bit different, they aren't as high as before. He is tolerating his feedings well. He now gets 6 ml of breast milk every 3 hours (that is just over a teaspoon). That amount has been going up daily.

Diaper change

During our visit with Beckham today he became very agitated. The nurse suggested we check his diaper. Sure enough, he had a poopy surprise, so Brittany got to change it! I know, it may not sound glamorous, but neither one of us has been able to do that until today.



The picture above shows how huge the small preemie diapers are for Beckham. The picture below shows Nate holding one of the tiny, specially made super preemie diapers that they put on him.



The fact that he is having poopy diapers is actually a great thing right now. They have tried to feed him breast milk through a feeding tube for about a week. He spits it up every time. Since having his PDA surgery he has been a little more healthy overall, and they decided to try giving him breast milk one more time today before trying a special type of formula that is more broken down. The fact that he is tolerating the feeding today is great because he needs the nutrition to grow.

Speaking of growing ... They weighed him yesterday. They said that he weighed 1 pound 15 ounces now, that's 1 ounce above his birth weight. I don't know how he has gained weight, because he hadn't been tolerating his feeding until today. They have been giving him nutrition through the IV (called TPN), but it isn't enough to really make him grow much. If you ask me, I think the surgical clips that they used to fix his PDA probably gave him that extra ounce ;)

Proud Parents

These are a couple of pics of us visiting Beckham. Every time we go into the NICU we have to scrub our hands up to our elbows for 3 minutes and then put on a yellow gown. Got to keep those little ones safe.

Good day today

Beckham did well after his surgery yesterday. When we saw him today they had begun to wean the ventilator down so that hopefully by tomorrow morning he will be off again.

We got to spend hours with him today! I was off of work so we spent about 3 hours there. I love to hold him while he is lying in his incubator (actually I think I'm supposed to call it an isolette). We spend a lot of time just holding him by putting our hands on him. The doctor told us that we may be able to take him out and hold him soon! That will be a little bit scary because he is so tiny and fragile, but we look forward to it.



Another thing that made today so good was that it is he is 10 days old, so he had an ultrasound of his head to make sure he didn't have an Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). It is very common for very small preemies to have an IVH since the blood vessels in their head are so small and fragile. It is basically when a bleed occurs in the brain. Beckham's scan showed no sign of any bleed at all! Even if preemies have a grade 1 or 2 IVH it usually clears up on its own wihout any residual complications, but we were thrilled to hear that he didn't have any bleeding at all.

A few more recent pics

Mommy's hand over little Beckham. This is how we "hold" him for now.

Daddy's hand showing how little his arms and body are. His skin looks very red because of the large amounts of Magnesium that they gave Brittany in the days leading up to the delivery. The shades he is wearing are to protect his eyes from the bili lights, the UV lights he has been under 24-7 for the past few days to get his biliruben levels down. The apparatus on his nose is the SiPap. It has little nasal prongs that go into his nose and provides pressure to help him breathe. Also, they have put tegaderm, clear sticky plastic, on his elbows, chest, back, and other areas to help protect his sensitive skin and keep moisture in.

Surgery today

I apologize for not updating this blog for a few days, the truth is there has been very little happening, which has been a good thing. No news is good news when it comes to the NICU. Today Beckham had a major hurdle: a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA).

The pic above shows what a PDA is. It is an opening that shunts blood from the aorta into the pulmonary arteries, so it makes less blood go throughout the body and more blood go into the lungs. It causes the lungs to get overloaded with fluid and affects the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs in the body. Beckham was found to have a PDA (as do most preemies) and he was treated with medications on his 2nd day of life. It was felt that it had closed from the meds, but last night and this morning they realized that it was either still open or that it had re-opened. His doctor decided that it needed to be closed surgically, so the Cardiothoracic Surgeon came to see Beckham this morning and he agreed. They scheduled him for urgent surgery and did the procedure in the NICU today.

The surgeon said afterward that everything went well, no complications. The doctors said that the next 24 hours will be crucial time to monitor him and make sure that he is still doing well. So far they have said that he looks good and is recovering well.

They had to intubate him again and put him on the ventilator for the surgery. They plan to leave him on it overnight to allow him to rest and recover and then attempt to wean him back off of the vent probably tomorrow, assuming everything goes well.