Stinker Dylan

So I usually update with all the data things that happen to us, but today I thought I would share a little about how our day went:

Dylan has been a stinker all day! It's good, I guess, because that means he is healthy enough to be a stinker!

I gave Dylan a bath last night around 6:30 & then Derrick & I left around 10:30. This morning when I got back to the hospital at 10 I picked up Dylan & he had peed out his diaper, all over his clothes & through 3 blankets! That's a lot of pee, especially since the nurse had changed him at 7! So I changed his clothes & the nurse changed his bedding. He was pretty good the rest of the day while I was there. I fed him at 4 & then went home for a little bit. When Derrick & I came back at 7:10 pm, Dylan was screaming his head off! We couldn't figure out why – he was unswaddled (he hates being swaddled), the respiratory guy had tried to give him his paci & his food was going in through his feeding tube...so we thought. The nurse came in & realized that something was wrong with his feeding. Turns out that he had pulled his feeding tube out of his nose & the formula was all over him, his outfit & his bedding. So he had another outfit change, new bedding & he needed more food. Derrick fed him a bottle & he actually did really well. He took about 40 cc's from the bottle (he gets 58), but we have no idea how much he actually got through the feeding tube. I figure it will all even out at some point. He really is being a stinker today though!

As for the data stuff, Dylan is 6 lbs. 10 oz. & is 19 inches long. A friend of mine on my pregnancy board just had her baby this morning & she had the same measurements that Dylan does today! It's funny to me that he is the same size as a regular newborn finally! He is now allowed 4 bottles per day & seems to be doing well with that so far. Dylan is still on 25% oxygen – I am not sure when they will start making changes to that again. I really hope they make some changes soon. It would be awesome for him to get off the oxygen completely.

That's about it for us today. We are still just waiting on Dylan to learn to eat better. I told Derrick the other day that since Dylan is not supposed to be here yet & if he was born on his due day (January 6th) he would still spend a couple days in the hospital, I am allowing him until January 10th to get out of here! Otherwise Dylan will be in trouble :)

So that's today's update. Besides that Dylan has been ornery today, it has been a pretty good day! I hope you have had a good one, too!

Dylan says, "But I can't be naughty - I'm too cute!"

Christmas Update

Wow, it has been a long time since I updated last time!

It is now after Christmas & I just keep thinking about how Dylan isn't even supposed to be here yet. He is such a fighter & he is truly our “Best Present Ever,” just like the shirt my best friend Amy got for him says. We are thrilled that he was with us this Christmas & even though we spent this Christmas in the hospital, we are so happy that he is here. 

Since my last update, Dylan has been transferred to Davenport. Besides the bottle feeding issue & being on oxygen, there was no reason he had to be in Iowa City. I came & toured the NICU at Genesis & realized that the people here could give him the care he needed. I toured the NICU on Monday the 15th & we moved on Wednesday the 17th. It has been nice to get home. I can take care of things around the house & we are finally starting to get things ready to bring Dylan home. Hopefully we will finish his room soon! The weather has not been so cooperative regarding the move. In IC I was driven back & forth to the hospital by the staff or volunteers at Ronald McDonald house or Derrick was around to drive me places. Here I am driving myself & I am not really much of a fan of winter driving. It seems like all it has done since we moved back is snow or sleet! 

Dylan is still not tolerating the bottle very well. He has recently been cut back to only 2 or 3 bottles a day because the dr. thinks Dylan is developing an “oral aversion.” I get really frustrated about the drs. though because as far as I know, none of them has ever actually seen Dylan eat. I can usually get him to eat pretty well for me. It is just hard to have people who don't know you or your baby telling what to do all the time. Derrick & I have decided that we will play their game & feed Dylan when they tell us & in the position they tell us & hopefully we'll be out of here soon & we can do things more our way. 

Dylan is now on only 25% oxygen (21% is room air) & if he continues to do well, he should be off the oxygen sometime soon! So far he is doing very well. We were sure he was going to come home on oxygen, so we are excited that he might not have to. The only bad thing is that we won't be getting the apnea monitor. The apnea monitor would be nice because it would alert us if he stopped breathing, cutting down the chance of him dying from SIDS. 

I am extremely tired. I think I am just overwhelmed by everything right now. We have been at this for a long time & it is starting to really wear on me. Dylan is 83 days old today, so we have been doing this for almost 3 months. I trust that God is taking care of us, but it is hard to stay continually “up” when things are going the way they are. I have always told myself that I am going to be honest in what I post here because I want others to know that feelings are normal. I am not always happy & encouraged, even though I know God is helping Dylan. I don't know if it's the holiday or the fact that no one really understands what we are going through, but I can feel myself starting to shut down. I so much want things to just be normal & they aren't. All I have ever wanted is to grow up, get married & be a mommy to my kids. I am doing that, but it is just not the way I expected. I want to be able to take my baby places & visit with my friends & do all the things that normal stay at home moms do. Even once Dylan comes home we won't be able to do much because of his respiratory problems. I am just feeling kind of down & lonely this week. I know that sometime we will look back & realize that this has only been a short period in our lives, but right now it just feels like an eternity. 

Hopefully my next update will be more full of happiness & things, but right now I am just relying on God to bring us through this time. 

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas & that you took time to remember why we celebrate Christmas. It isn't about Santa & presents. It is about the birth of God's Son who gave his life for our sins. 

Have a great day & I will try to update again soon.

~Renee

Christmas Letter 2008

December 20, 2008

Dear Family & Friends,

I pray that you have had a blessed 2008 & are looking forward to 2009. Our family has had many changes over the past year & God has been with us through all of them. 
In January we celebrated my 23rd birthday. As part of my present, we adopted 2 cats named Peanut & Lucy. They are sweet & have been a fun addition to our family. We also started our foster parenting classes. 
April & May were exciting months for us. We were accepted as foster parents & received our first placement, 2 little boys. They were with us from May until August. We also found out in April that we were expecting our first child! We were thrilled! We had been trying for two & a half years & had somewhat come to the conclusion that we were not going to have biological children. I really feel like once I told God that I would do things His way instead of just believing it had to be my way in my time, He chose to bless us with this pregnancy.
We also got to meet our newest nephew in May. Kayden was born in May & he has been a blessing. We now have 4 nephews & one niece. What a blessing it is to be near them & to see them all grow up!
In August Derrick & I went to Indiana for our annual “visiting the Daulton's & going to GenCon” trip. It was good to spend 4 days just having fun with friends. Derrick & I enjoyed the trip & were able to spend some time catching up on the drive there & back. We also started back up the quizzing program at our church. Our church is now running both a children's & teens' quizzing program. It has been a joy to watch the children & teens learning God's word. We were also able to experience 2 of our teen quizzers accepting Christ as their Savior. We are so proud of them & are hopeful that they are able to share Christ with their friends. 
In September we celebrated Derrick's 27th birthday. We also had an ultrasound to find out if our baby was going to be a boy or a girl. We found out that we were going to be blessed with a little boy. My due date was January 6th, 2009, but we soon found out that we would not be waiting that long to meet our little guy.
Dylan Jay Sindt was born by c-section on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 6:05 pm due to my preeclampsia. He was born at 26 weeks, 6 days. He weighed 2 lbs., 3 oz. & was 14.5 inches long. He has been growing bigger ever since. He is a blessing & a miracle. God has truly been with us & with Dylan. Besides a few small setbacks, Dylan has done great & has been progressing the way he should be. I am feeling better, although we are still fighting with my blood pressure. 
In November we received word that the college I graduated from was closing. It was a shock to me & was very sad. Although Vennard is now closed, God will continue to use those who graduated from the college. There are Vennard alumni all over the world & God is blessing the work that they are doing.
Derrick & I have so much to be thankful for this Christmas. I was sick enough that if I hadn't gotten care when I did, Dylan & I could have not been here this Christmas. God has truly taken care of us & has been with us through all the recovery that has gone on. Dylan is still in the hospital, but we are hoping that he will be coming home soon. 
How faithful God is – last year we asked to be blessed in 2008 & we truly have been. God has given us the child that we prayed for & cried for for the last few years. He has given us wonderful family & friends to support us. He has blessed us financially – while things have sometimes been tight, we have never been in need of anything. How thankful we are! 
As I finish this letter, I want to take time to thank all of you who have thought of us throughout this year. We have been blessed beyond measure & the prayers & support we have received have been worth their weight in gold. Please know that your love does not go unnoticed.
We are looking forward to 2009. We hope that we continue to grow closer to God throughout the next year & that we are able to see God's hand at work. God has blessed us in many ways this year. We can only guess what He has in store for us next year! Merry Christmas to you all!!!

Love,

Renee, Derrick & Dylan

Update - December 12, 2008

Here's the update: Mostly, I'm just tired. 

Dylan has made lots of great progress over the last 9 weeks. He went from 2 lbs., 3 oz. to today being 5 lbs., 4 oz. He is now on 50% oxygen & is sleeping in a crib. We aren't having residual problems anymore. Dylan is now in Bay 5, the NICU for the least critical babies. I praise God for all the growing Dylan has done over the last months. 

It seems like we have now hit a wall & continually running into it wears you out. Dylan is supposed to be bottle feeding, but it is not going well. We started on bottle feeds on December 1st. The drs. thought that he would be heading home in about a week from today & that we would be home before Christmas. I am starting to not think so. Dylan is just not interested in taking the bottle. He either falls asleep while eating or just stares off into space with the bottle in his mouth, but doesn't suck on it at all. He can do it though – that's the frustrating part. There was one day last week when he took half of his feeds by bottle. Now he won't do it anymore. I feel like we have tried everything & he is just not interested. 

On the positive side, now the Dylan is older, he can have music in his room. I may have to try to buy the same CD that is in his CD player b/c even though it is supposed to be “lullabies,” it has a lot of hymns & choruses that we sing at church on it. It is just the instrumentals, so if you didn't know the songs, you wouldn't know, but I am starting to love this CD. I will probably buy it for Dylan, but play it at home because I like it :) Hopefully I can track it down somewhere.

Anyway, that's our update – I will be getting picture posted later today!