Settling In

We are in the process of finding our new normal. It involves lots of baby snuggles with Maverick



Questions from Jaeger about the baby



And fun moments at Jaxon's school

Breaking Free

I got a wonderful surprise when I got into the NICU this morning: Maverick was ready for discharge 😄. Such a great feeling to get him dressed (surprisingly in the same outfit that Jaxon came home in), in the car seat and out the door!!


We had some very excited people greet us at home too.



Welcome home Maverick!!!

Big Steps Forward

Maverick has done so well these last few days

• Started bottle feedings on Tues morning 
• Removed the nasal cannula on Tues afternoon 
• Removed the feeding tube on Tues evening 
• Removed the IV on Wed afternoon 
• Successfully nursed for 2 feedings on Wednesday 
• Had 2 days of phototherapy
• Got to put him in real clothes on today (this means that he's doing a good job regulating his body temperature)
• Urology signed off on no more cathing 
• Discharge is planned for Monday!!

I'm having problems attaching pictures so I'll do another quick post later with some shots of Maverick now that we can clearly see his cute face!

Marvelous Maverick!

Maverick is now 4 days old and has already had quite the busy life!  He had his back closure surgery at UW/American Family Children's Hospital (AFCH) on Saturday and did really well with that and the recovery.  They were able to extubate the breathing tube on Sunday morning and he pretty much went right back to room air with a nasal cannula (same as before surgery).  He got only 1 dose of pain meds at 2 AM Sunday, other than that he tolerated every thing else - my little tough guy!

They however wanted to keep him at AFCH in order to monitor him and have some of the other specialty physicians round and do assessments.  Because of this, I pushed for my discharge on Sunday and at 4 PM, almost exactly 48 hours after Maverick entered this world, I was cleared to go be with him!  Josh picked me up and within 15 minutes, we were at AFCH with Mr Maverick.  

We got to hold him for the first time on Sunday, both Daddy and Mommy were over the moon with that :)

Maverick also began breast milk feedings on Sunday afternoon - they were kind enough to wait for me to arrive so I could be there for his first one.  He has a feeding tube in his mouth so there wasn't much to the actual feeding but he took them really well and kept them all down.  He's had some visitors as well - big brothers and both sets of grandparents.

Jaxon's first time holding Maverick (don't mind the tired looking Mommy)

Grandma Roos got to hold and feed him!

By Monday afternoon, he was cleared for a return to St Mary's NICU so while they did the transfer and paperwork, Josh and I headed home for some time with the big kiddos.  I actually had my first home-cooked dinner in 2 1/2 weeks - very delicious - and a mostly restful night in my own bed (minus a few night time pumping sessions)!

Maverick had a good night and day today so the transfer couldn't have been too rough on him.  As of this morning, he is off the nasal cannula and has done fabulous breathing all on his own.  They also upped the amount of his feedings and started doing bottle feeds which he has excelled at.  Awesome part of those is that we get to help out as well!  I actually got to take his temperature, change a poopy diaper and do most of one feeding this morning.  Fantastic mommy moment!!  They did start him on some phototherapy today as his bilirubin levels are a little elevated.  They will re-check his levels tomorrow morning and decide if he needs another day under the lights. All in all, the little one is doing fantastic.  I'll end this post with a cute little Maverick foot :)

Maverick's Adventures from his First Day

Alright, so Maverick is now 1 day old!  And has been through quite a bit in that day.  First, let's start with a picture of the cutie and man is it ever nice to finally see the little guy who has been the center of this all :)

He came out screaming and breathing room air (they have given him the nasal cannula to essentially make it easier for him to take in the oxygen).  At birth, it was noticed that his back closure wasn't completely healed and further evaluation revealed that his original defect was 2/3 open and would require another surgery to close it.  The pediatric neurosurgeon works primarily at another hospital so Maverick was transferred to American Family Children's Hospital last night.  The surgery was this morning and lasted around 3 hours as they re-opened the whole defect before completely re-doing the repair.  He had some scar tissue that required some delicate clean up but overall had a successful surgery and now just needs to be monitored.   We are hoping he'll be transferred back here to St Mary's tomorrow morning if he has an uneventful night.  He's been able to lay on all sides, back and tummy and appears to have his mommy's high tolerance for pain.  The big brothers stopped by with Grandma and Grandpa Roos to meet him for the first time:

Since he was leaking spinal fluid, we have not yet had the opportunity to hold this sweet boy but am hopeful for tomorrow.  Also with the surgery this AM, Maverick technically hasn't eaten anything yet but will hopefully get to try some breast milk after he is extubated.

I am doing well for being a day out from surgery.  The OBs needed a little more time to do my closure as they had to do some additional work related to the effects of the in utero surgery.  They have hinted that recovery may be more painful than past ones since they had to re-attch some ab muscles on one side.  I actually have found recovery to be slightly easier so far and I've been up walking since early this morning and am about to hop in the shower.  The hardest part about all this is not having Maverick in room (and even in the same hospital) with me

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Maverick Jamison Hughes
Born 4/17/15 4:04 PM
5 lbs 5 oz
18.5 inches

Pictures and an update will come tomorrow.

Delivery Date Set Take 2

This pregnancy has definitely taught me that things change constantly - the appearance of baby boy #3 is now planned for Friday afternoon so a delay of about 24 hours.  Looking for the silver lining in this - 1) my new high risk OB and my old OB (who delivered Jaeger) will be performing the c section and 2) according to one of the OB residents from this stay, 1 day in the womb usually equals about 3 days off the NICU stay.

Delivery Date Set

Short and simple update: baby boy #3 will be making his grand appearance on Thursday afternoon. I've got 2 more days until then which I'm sure will drag on (I've about hit my limit of TV/movie watching, book reading and internet surfing for the time being).   I'll post an update sometime after then!

1 Week Down

I've been in the hospital now for a week - it went by fast yet slow with time occupied by Netflix, Amazon Prime, books and visitors.  Not much has changed since my last update, my water is still leaking, I'm taking antibiotics and getting general monitoring to ensure baby boy is happily growing inside.  If nothing changes, then the plan looks like he will be arriving next Thursday but we're waiting to confirm until my regular OB returns from overseas next week.

The good news about being in the hospital here in Madison is that I get regular visits from some cute boys and with Jaxon on spring break this week, they have even come a few times a day :)

I also have some awesome friends who do things like send me flowers and treats:

And in case you're wondering about my living arrangements - here they are !  I have a nice view of a courtyard but since it's early April, it's not pretty out there yet.

Change of Plans

Just when you think you have a handle on things, life throws you a curve ball!  Rochelle, you think you're going to make it to May 8 for your just scheduled c-section?  Nope, we got other ideas in store for you, including having an April baby.

Yesterday was a normal day for me, went to work and then came home to the hooligans.  Josh ran to the grocery store to grab a few last minute things for Easter dinner.  While he was gone, I started to bleed bright red blood and the nurse on call suggested a trip in to L&D to get checked out since chances of uterine rupture are higher in my circumstances.  Josh returned and we gathered everyone up and headed down to the hospital.  Spent some time in the triage area but were unable to find the cause of the bleed.  The OB decided to keep me overnight for monitoring even though I wasn't having any contractions just to be on the safe side.  Fast forward through a primarily sleepless night and the bleeding has subsided; however the OB noticed how much fluid I was leaking and tests revealed that my water has indeed broken, just a small leak but that doesn't alter the outcomes.  I'm now on hospital bed rest, getting antibiotics, another round of steroid shots for the baby boy and general monitoring for the next 2 weeks until delivery at 34 weeks.  This of course assumes that nothing comes up forcing an emergency c-section before then.

While I'm disappointed not to make it to full term, I am thankful to have made it as far as we did without complications.  Let's pray for a quiet next 2 weeks since all bets are off after baby boy's arrival!

32, 7, 5

Does the title of this post confuse you?  Let me help you out!  I'm 32 weeks today, 7 weeks post-surgery and 5 weeks away from meeting this new little one!

I had a great appointment today and here are the highlights:

• Estimated weight of 4 lbs 5 oz
• No change in ventricle size
• Amniotic fluid levels remain constant
• Little one let us look at his spinal area and things looked good there (as much as you can tell with just an ultrasound)
• C-section is scheduled for May 8 when I'll be 37 weeks 1 day
• This is the last possible date and assumes no complications arise in the next month
• It also means he could be a full term baby!  

I now start weekly appointments so will post again sometime mid-week.  I'll end this with a few pictures of the big brothers (Jaeger was afraid of the bunny, hence a solo Jaxon)