Camping at Pawtuckaway State Park

Last year, shortly before we learned that Tyler was on the way, we bought a small travel camper. It's very small but was plenty big enough for the two of us. Now we needed to see if it is big enough for the THREE of us. We 'camped' out in our driveway one night to make sure Tyler found the accomodations acceptable... We headed out to Pawtuckaway for two nights. The campsite was gorgeous --right on the water. We went for a little 'hike' down to the beach where we tried to take Tyler for a swim. He loved the walk through the woods but didn't care for the water...at all. He would scream the second his toes hit the water. The rest of our stay was spent relaxing at the campsite and sitting by the campfire. Tim found Tyler his 'moose chair' at the camp store. Clearly he's still a bit too small for it but I'm sure he'll grow into it for next year.

First trip to the ocean

Tyler doesn't care for riding in the car. In fact, it's safe to say he hates it. He has been doing much better though so we were finally able to get him over to the coast. At first the sound of the ocean startled him a little but he quickly got used to the noise and then just became fascinated with the crashing waves.

3 Months old

Hard to believe that Tyler is 3 months old now. It seems like time has gone by so fast yet looking back it's hard to remember what days were like before he was here.

We had a bbq at our house with Grammy, Nana, Aunt Jenn, Uncle Joe and cousins Shaun, Jayla, and Brandon. It's fun to see the babies together. They still don't really know what to make of each other... they still just stare at each other and occasionally reach towards each other.

All of the fun at the bbq proved to be a little too much for Tyler. We brought him inside and he crashed out on the couch almost immediatly :)

Tyler's first 4th of July

We always get together for a family bbq at my aunt and uncle's on the 4th of July. This year it was a chance for many of my realitives to meet Tyler for the first time. I was especially excited to show him off to my cousins Mary and Todd and Uncle Rick because they hadn't seen Tyler since he was 'cooling' in the hospital. Now 2 months later Tyler was greeting them all with big smiles, giggles, and 'talking' to them. This was also the first time my Aunt Gail and Uncle Gary got to see Tyler when he was awake.

June 25th -- Tyler is 2 months old :)

Everyone said time goes by much faster when you have kids -- We had no idea how right they were. The past 2 months have gone by SO fast. Tyler had his 2 month checkup and he weighed 10 pounds! He got his first shots which he didn't care for too much. He did ok while he was getting the shots but a bad reaction to one of them sent us back to the doctor's office a few hours later to get his leg looked at. By the time we got to the doctor's office the swelling (and crying) seemed to be getting better. He just had a mild reaction to one of the vaccinations --a little Tylenol and he was just fine.

June 19th Meeting Uncle Andy

Tim's brother Andy stopped by to meet Tyler. I love this picture of the 'Mortimer Boys'. Andy brought Tyler his first pair of sunglasses too :)

June 6th Trying to catch a smile

Not only is Tyler getting more and more alert but he's really starting to respond to you when you talk to him. We caught him smirking in his sleep a few times but this was the first time I actually saw him smile with his eyes open. He got a real funny look in his eyes and then gave me a big grin.

Memorial Day BBQ at Nana's

Tyler went to his first bbq at Nana's house on Memorial Day. He got to play with his cousin Brandon again. It was fun watching the two babies interact --they weren't sure what to make of each other.

May 25th Tyler is ONE month old!!

I wanted to take some pictures of Tyler on his 1 month 'birthday' but he slept through the whole thing. At one month he was weighing 8lbs 3oz.. up a whole pound from his birth weight.

May 22nd Tyler meets his cousin, Brandon

Tyler's cousin, Brandon, was born on March 24th (almost exactly one month before Tyler). The boys were finally able to meet each other at my niece Jayla's birthday party.

May 15th Settling in at HOME

We finally felt like a family. It was so nice for all of us to be home. Tyler instantly became much more relaxed and we could really see a little personality emerging. He needed a bottle every three hours which meant we were up at 11pm, 2am, and 5am. Tim was a trooper and got up with us even though he had to be into the office by 6am.

David's House

While we were up there we were given a room at David's House. Each room has a theme and we stayed in the Circus Room. Tim and I were so grateful to be able to stay here. David's House is just a few minutes down the road from the hospital and it allowed us to be with Tyler during his whole stay. The people are amazing there --they make you feel very much at home. The refrigerator (which we would raid each night close to midnight after returning from the hospital) was always stocked with delicious home cooked food that was donated and prepared by volunteers. We met some pretty amazing people who had been staying there a heck of a lot longer than we did --some are probably still there right now. If you ever find yourself looking for a good cause to donate to, please keep David's House in mind.

http://www.davids-house.org/Page.aspx?pid=291

May 13th GOING HOME!!!!!

After 18 nights in the hospital, Tyler was discharged on May 13th. We said our goodbyes to the doctors and nurses that had become almost part of the family and packed all of our stuff AND our little boy into the car and headed home. No words can describe the feeling as we pushed his stroller out of the elevator and towards the exit doors into the parking lot. Tim and I were excited but it didn't seem to phase Tyler -- he was asleep before we closed the Jeep door to start our ride home.

May 11th Cleaned up and ready to go home.... almost.

The last few days of our stay at Dartmouth, we were transferred to the 'Koala Suite'. It's a private room where families can spend time alone with their babies before being discharged from the hospital. He was disconnected from all of the heart/lung/blood pressure monitors and it finally felt like holding a normal baby. Tim had to return to work so I spent my first night 'alone' with Tyler. I was nervous at first but realized the nurses were still just a phone call away so I was able to relax and enjoy just being a Mom to my new 'wireless' little baby. The next day we learned how to give Ty a bath (with the assistance of our wonderful nurse, Angela). All cleaned up.... just waiting for the doctors to give us the thumbs up to go home.

May 9th Our first Mother's Day

Well I had hoped to be home in time to celebrate our first Mother's Day and earlier on in the week it seemed like it was going to happen. Tyler was still taking his bottles with no trouble and was doing really well. I think it was Thursday before Mother's Day when the doctors discovered his sodium levels were a bit high. Basically it meant he was passing too much water in his urine which meant his kidneys weren't doing what they should be doing. They believed it was a temporary issue and that the kidneys would heal but wanted to keep him a few more days just to be safe. I was so looking forward to finally getting Tyler home; our stay up at Dartmouth was now over two weeks. I didn't want to take any chances and it was still looking like we would be home within the next week. SO we celebrated Mother's Day in the NicU. Mom, Gram, and Tim all brought gifts for me but I have to say the sweetest gift that day was watching Tyler gaze up at 'Nana'. He had been becoming more and more alert but had not really stared anybody down yet. She sat with him in the rocking chair and he looked up at her ... like really REALLY looked up at her. It doesn't get any better than that :)

May 6th Tyler drinks a bottle

After several days of trying to breastfeed we made the decision to try and bottlefeed. Amy, the nurse on the overnight shift, was able to give Tyler 3 bottles during her shift. She called us at almost midnight to give us the exciting news that Tyler finished his first bottle (THANK YOU Amy ). Ordinarily this may not seem that amazing but we were starting to think he may not have the 'suck/swallow/breathe' coordination necessary to feed himself. The idea of him going home with a feeding tube surgically placed in his stomach was starting to sound more and more likely. To hear that he drank a whole bottle was the best news we had heard in days. After several successful bottle feedings overnight, the tube up his nose was removed. After almost 12 days, he was finally eating on his own!!!

May 1st - 5th Tyler is starting to open his eyes

It would only last for literally a few seconds but we were quick enough with the camera to catch him with his eyes open now and then. We were told that they weren't sure if he was 'sleeping' so much because of the anti-seizure meds he was on or if it was a result of his brain injury... more 'time will tell'. Each time we saw his eyes flicker open was cause for celebration.

April 30th Tyler gets a feeding tube

After 5 days of IV fluids only, the nurses started feeding Tyler milk through a feeding tube they had put into his nose (and into his stomach). They started off with a tiny syringe full of breast milk they had kept in the freezer for him... gradually increasing the amount of milk when they were more confident that his digestive system was handling it ok. Although we were trying very hard, Tyler showed no interest in nursing so all of his nutrition was delivered through his tube.

April 29th MRI results are not good at all

First a little disclaimer about this post...We were given this news almost 4 months ago (at the time of this post) and Tyler has grown to amaze the doctors that gave him this prognosis. He is 3 months old now and doing everything a 'normal' 3 month old should. He is currently not showing any signs of the injury the MRI showed. The human brain is a pretty amazing thing and because Tyler's brain was pretty much a clean slate when the injury occurred, it seems he has been able to 'rewire' things to the healthy parts of his brain and this has allowed him to develop normally to this point. There is no answer to what the future will hold for him, all we can do right now is be amazed and thankful for the progress he's made so far and hope and pray it continues. He has had many different follow up appointments and everyone that has seen him agrees there is no sign of any concern at this point. If nothing else, it has just made us appreciate the little things... and it's made us very aware of what a little miracle baby he really is. That said, here's how that day went... We had been dealing with Dr. Little for our entire stay up to this point and he was always so warm , friendly, and pleasant. We knew the instant we saw the troubled look on his face that the meeting he was about to call us into would bring bad news. We did understand that there was a chance of brain damage but were so hopeful that the 3 days on the cooling blankets had prevented any damage at all. We were by no means prepared for the results that were given to us that day. I believe the words that started off the meeting were 'we do not believe Tyler is going to die'... that certainly set the tone for the rest of the meeting. The MRI scan showed that Tyler's brain suffered a severe injury. The doctors used words like severe, profound, and devastating when describing the extent of the damage. Looking back through his medical records now, the doctors describe it as a loss of 'nearly the entire left hemisphere and patchy areas of the right'. In literally minutes, we went from wondering if there was going to be any brain damage at all to hoping that his brain would have the capacity enough to regulate his body temperature, allow him to breathe, or eat without a feeding tube. The doctors were painfully honest with us which we very much appreciated. They described what they felt would be a very poor prognosis for Tyler. We had several doctors, nurses, and social workers with us for this meeting and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. Even Dr. Little who is a seasoned neonatoligist seemed shaken by the news he was delivering. Our only hope at the close of the meeting came from the fact that a newborn's brain is extremely resilient and capable of some pretty amazing 'rewiring'. The MRI scan showed the injury that his brain sustained but only Tyler is going to be able to show us what that means for him. I remember leaving the room thinking I'd slap someone if I heard the words 'time will tell' one more time. Tim, my Mom, Gram, and myself went back to be with Tyler and cried for what seemed like hours. We all kept saying 'how can anything be wrong with something so beautiful'. It was truly the hardest day any of us have ever been through but the love and support from the friends and family we spoke to on that day made us realize that no matter what, we were going to get through this.

April 28th Daddy gets to hold Tyler with NO ventilator

Later Wednesday evening, the doctors decided to try and remove Tyler's ventilator as it appeared he was breathing on his own with no issues. As wonderful as it was to know he was breathing on his own, it was quite scary not to have the safety net of the ventilator if anything did happen. They watched him closely but he continued breathing just fine without that silly thing... and we finally got to see all of his beautiful little face.

He was still very swollen and puffy looking because at this time his kidney's weren't working that great yet and he was retaining a lot of fluid. He still slept most of the time, wasn't real active, and didn't open his eyes yet. Tim finally got to hold him for the first time too. They suggested he take off his shirt so Tyler could feel the skin to skin contact they call 'kangaroo care'.