At Home With Colby!!

Well Colby is now at home with us and we all survived our first night!! Yeah! Colby did great at home. He enjoyed trying out his new swing and some visits from family and neighbors. He slept great last night and we had to wake him up every four hours to eat. He went right back to sleep shortly after each feeding. Today he woke up and tried out his bouncy seat while Scott and I got ready for the day. He was fascinated with the lights and sounds on the bouncy seat. He also enjoyed visiting with his grandparents and family. Colby had his first bath at home today and boy was that an adventure. He was not happy about his bath and right when we were almost finished he poopied in the tub. Way to go Colby. I expected him to tee tee on us, which he did not do, but did not even think about him pooping. Fun stuff! Well we all survived and he was tuckered out afterwards. Tomorrow we go to see his pediatrician in the morning to check and see how his jaundice is doing and make sure everything else is still ok. We want to thank everyone for all your thoughts and prayers. We feel truly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We love you all!

NICU Update

Well, another day down. A good day and a sad day. Colby spent most of the day with us. It was wonderful. The grandparents got to hold him along with several of his Aunts and cousins and some good friends.

On the flip side, we were told today that Colby would not be going home with us tomorrow. He will not be released until Wednesday at the earliest. His blood sugars have stabilized on 22 cal formula. However, they want him to be able to hold his sugars on a 20 cal formula.

The hospital has been great. Margaret will be discharged tomorrow and they will let us stay in our room until 11PM tomorrow night.

Hello Friends and Family!!

Hello to everyone, this is Margaret! I am feeling much better after a much needed day of rest. I still don't quite feel myself yet but Dr. Mckenzie says that I am much further along than he expected me to be at this point. Colby, Scott and I got to spend a lot of family time together today in our room and it was such a special and sweet time that I will never forget. I am truly blessed to have such a loving and wonderful family.

They are expecting to discharge me on Tuesday and we are hopeful that Colby will get to go home with us then to. There is a chance that he may have to stay a little longer if he is still having trouble regulating his blood sugar. It is very comforting to know that they are keeping a close eye on him and taking such good care of him. We will let you guys know more as the information is passed on to us.

We love you all and thank you so much for all of your prayers. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Love Margaret

Threads of Love

Threads of Love is a group of elderly women that make hats and blankets for babies in the NICU. Here is a picture of Colby with his "Threads of Love" hat.

Margaret Combs Colby's Hair

Check out the part!

Day Three

Today was a tough day. Margaret has been exhausted. Dr. McKenzie told her to get some rest and to try to cut off visitation. It ended up being the right thing to do. She was able to get some well needed rest. In addition, Colby was able to come to the room this afternoon and stay for about two hours. Margaret fed Colby, changed some diapers and even took a little nap with him. It was a joy to sit here and watch the two at peace with the world.
They took Colby back to the NICU around 5:30 PM. We miss him already. They do a shift change, patient updates etc. from 6-8 so they are closed to all visitors. In addition, from 5 am - 10 am there are also no visitors.
We were moved to a suite today. Good thing, the walls were closing in on us. The room now is a lot like a Mariott Courtyard. Plenty of room for visitors tomorrow.
We did get a report from the NICU that his blood sugars were still getting lower than they would like. It is tough. Colby wants to eat but they have to try to stretch out his feedings. They want him to be able to go 4 hours between feedings and maintain a blood sugar over 50. After three hours today, his blood sugar was 36. They are going to see if they can get him to eat more. So he is back on a three hour schedule.
When we get him home, he will be eating about every 2 hours. I know he will be happy.

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" Jer 1:5

Every time that we look at Colby, we see God's blessing to us. He is an answer to our prayers.

Tonight was a great night. Around 9 PM, While Margaret was asleep, I was able to go see Colby in NICU. Hold him and, well, eventually got to feed him. That came after a round of taking his temp and "assisting" one of his first "dirty" diapers.

Around 9:15. Nancy (the nurse) looked at me and asked me if Margaret would be up to a surprise. Colby was about to go on a field trip to room 246. Colby made it to the room around 10:00 and boy did Marg light up. She held him on her chest and he opened his eyes and looked at her like they were long, lost best friends.

It was my turn again. Colby and I ended up rocking for about an hour. What a feeling.

11PM came and Colby had to return to the NICU.

Colby's Second Bottle

It was about 1:45 PM.

Took 40ml. What a great sign. His lungs are getting strong. They took his IV line out so he is on his own. His blood sugars have started to stabilize.

If all goes as planned, he will get to visit us tomorrow in our room. He will have to return to NICU for meds, blood sugar checks, etc.

We are hoping for a Monday release. However, Tuesday may be more realistic.

P.S. Uncle Gary and Aunt Bett just left. Gary said that it was bound to happen. A hippie Fancher boy! His hair is about an inch long on the back of his head. He has side burns like Elvis.

His First Bottle 10:30 AM 7 26 2008

Colby sure is tough. He took his first bottle around 10:30. He drank about 30ml. Not bad for a first timer. The Dr. is excited about his progress. They have put in the orders to move him up from the warmer to a "crib" after his next bottle.

Marg is doing great. Exhausted. Not sleeping but maybe one hour total last night has finally caught up with her.

4:45 AM

Marg and I could not sleep so we made a trip down to the NIC-U. They do not allow visitors from 5AM to 10AM. It was a great trip. Marg got to hold Colby for about 15 minutes. He was perfectly happy. He is doing well. Oxygen was good. Blood Sugar was Good. If all goes well, they are going to get an order about 12PM to bottle feed him.

11:15 PM

I just made a trip down to the NIC U. It is the shortest, yet longest trip that I have to make. Colby is doing GREAT. They are possibly going to be giving him a bottle tomorrow. Right now, he is just on the I-V.

The little man loves his pacifier.

They said that his vitals look good. He never had to go on a CPAP. That is a good thing.

The NIC-U nurses are great and you can tell that they really care about each and every baby in there.

I am excited about tomorrow. If all goes well, Marg will be able to get up and go in a wheel chair to see Colby.

Colby Ryan Fancher is Here

Colby is here and boy is he a handsome baby. Marg is doing great. She was a real trooper during the c-section. I think she was more worried about me passing out.

I felt comfortable and actually looked over the sheet four times. The first time, I saw a foot, the second...two feet, the third....a little fanny, the fourth....a head full of hair.

I was doing fine until the NIC U nurses kept saying, "come on buddy, you can do it", he was not crying. A couple of minutes passed, no crying. He was a little "shocked" and lazy. He never cried. Something came over me and I started sweating, started to pass out. I held it together. Marg was just looking at me.

He kept "Grunting". The nurses describe it as trying to blow a balloon up. Well, he ended up in the NIC U. We kinda expected it. Low blood sugars and breathing problems. Good thing, he has been breathing on his own the whole time.

Marg got to hold him for about a minute and we took him to "see the family". It was not until about an hour later when Marg got to actually hold him for the first time. The look in his eyes, he knew it was his mother.

We are now in room 246. Marg is trying to get some sleep. I went to see Colby around 8PM and ended up getting to rock him for about 30 minutes. One of the highlights of my life.