DOC VISITS

We took Dexter in to see a couple of Doctors today. First, let's talk about the pediatrician. Dexter now weighs 6# 4 oz up 4 from his low weight after birth. He is eating like a champ. He still has to have a little coaxing to keep him awake but he is getting better at it every day. Everything else checked out fine there. We have an appointment for the VCUG on Thursday.
The plastic surgeon visit was interesting. Dexter has mild to moderate hemifacial microsomia. It means "half-face" "small-parts". Very original. Basically there is nothing to be done at this point except to monitor his eating habits and make sure he keeps them up. We have a follow up appointment for next year. Eventually they may have to lengthen the left side of his mandible via a device similar to a palate spreader, except on the outside of his jaw. Then when he turns six they will remove cartilage from his ribs and construct a new ear. Crazy.

No strings attached!

I've got no strings

To hold me down

To make me fret,

or make me frown

I had strings

But now I'm free

There are no strings on me



~Pinocchio



We are Home! Dexter did great last night. We got him up to 49 mL @ one feeding. The nurses hadn't gotten him into the thirties. I guess he just needed Mom and Dad pushing him to do it. He actually gained weight! They decided to hold off on the VCUG till his circ. heals. It was so nice to change our first diaper and not have to worry about and keep track of wires. We are so happy to have him home with us.

Update

Sorry, I was going to load a video but it was taking to long. I will try to get one up in the next couple of days.

First, I am going to tell everyone that Dexter is doing great. There is a lot going on so I wanted that to be the preface. We did not get to go home today. :( He has been struggling to feed and get enough, so, they didn't want him to slip backwards at home. He should be good to go to morrow though. They moved us down into the NICU and gave us our own room so we can take over his care for a night with the nurses nearby to monitor his vitals. His right ear passed the hearing test. We have been told not to plan on his left ear working later in life because like all things if you don't use it you lose it. His ultrasound showed an enlarged kidney and ureter. They won't do much about it. They are doing a VCUG tomorrow. Which involves putting a dye in his bladder then using an x-ray to track the flow. If urine is flowing back into the kidney he will go on some preventative antibiotics to prevent possible kidney infections. He will also be circumsized tomorrow and possibly a cat scan for the plastic surgen to look at. BUT, tonight is his test night. If we can keep him eating well and his blood sugar up he should be able to come home tomorrow. WE are scheduled for a PT to come to our home once a week for three months to help us work on loosening his jaw. he is winderful and we are enjoying finally getting to spend time with him. A lot of tonight is actually about us learning how to work his jaw and getting him to eat right. We would have loved to have gotten to come home but in the end we decided we needed more training for his special care. So I will update you all tomorrow on how he is doing. Thanks for all the prayers!

Announcing Dexter Royal Jenks

Hey everyone! It is not very often that I (Ashton) publish on the blog but as Ali is in the hospital and our laptop is under the weather you get to hear from me. Dexter was born @ 12:08 on June 9th. He was 6 lbs. and 2 oz., 19 1/2 inches long with a 13 1/2 inch cranium, or is it a neurocranium. He is also one of the few babies to ever be coughed out. Yep, you heard me Coughed Out. Ali hit a bit of a stall after he crowned and wasn't making much headway. A some of you know, Ali has had a cold recently and been coughing a lot. So between pushes she coughed which made his head lurch a little. So, the doctor told her to cough very hard twice, she did and his head came right out. It was funny. Dexter was also born with no left ear for some reason. All he has is the lobe, the rest didn't form. We are having a consult with a plastic surgeon today who specializes in ears. Apparently, they will be able to form a new one for him that will be a copy of the other side. They are also checking his hearing in his right ear today, they do not know if he has an inner ear on the left side yet. Also, they will be doing an ultrasound to check his kidneys because the ears and the kidneys form at the same time so they want to make sure nothing went wrong with them. Little Dex was not keeping his blood glucose up last night so they had to take him down to the NI CU and start IV fluids. Through the night his sugar went up and they are now weening him off the IV and onto bottle or breast feeding. Our pediatrician is hopeful that he will be able to come home with Ali tomorrow. He has a little tightness in his left jaw which is effecting how well he can suck. They are uncertain if he will be able to handle breastfeeding, we will see. Physical therapists are going to work with him to try and strengthen his jaw. He is doing great. We are fairly certain he can hear because Ali or I have only to say his name and he rustles up and tries to find us. He is such a joy in our lives all ready. I melt into a blubbering idiot every time we get to see him. He is so beautiful. I will post some pictures. Sorry I don't have any of his ear, I keep forgetting to take the camera down to the NI CU with us. If you would like to talk to Ali, you can call the hospital and ask for her, we aren't allowed to use our cell phones. It is the St. Luke's downtown.

We Have a Date!

Thursday is the day! I went back to the doctor today and surprise, surprise my blood pressure is still high. It's getting too close for the doctor's comfort, thus he set Thursday as the day to be induced bright and early at 6am! Really exciting, really nerve racking, and kinda scary all at the same time. We also had another non-stress test performed where Dexter passed with flying heart rates.

Update

We went to the doctor and everything went great. The nurse was very impressed with how little Dexter performed. She said, "he did beautifully" and was very impressed with how active he was. I even had a contraction that showed on the monitor that I didn't know I was having. My blood pressure was high when we first got there but about 10 minutes into the non-stress test she checked it agian and I was normal.

We go back on Monday for another non-stress test, lab work, and blood pressure check and then once more sometime in the week. He said that I have gestational hypertension that is showing the precursers to preclampsia. He said they usually see a spike in blood pressure like they did, it come back down like it has, and then by the end of the week, he is expecting my blood pressure to be really high agian and have full blown preclampsia. Once that happens they only way to "cure" it is to deliver the baby. So, they will probably induce me by the end of next week. He is giving my body a chance to dialate on its own and is giving Dexter as much growing time as possible.

Turn of Events

This part of my life, this part of my life I call Bed Rest. It is never a good sign when your doctor walks into your room sounding like a fire truck. My blood pressure has been high throughout my pregnancy, but never too high for him to do anything about it. Yesterday changed that. My systolic pressure is high (just for you Ash) or in other words, the top number is high but the bottom number is normal (the diastolic pressure). So now I'm done working and on a leisurely bed rest. I'm not flat down in bed, he said it is more of a just kick back, relax, and keep your feet up rest.

I go back to see him on Friday where they will do a Non-Stress Test on little Dexter to make sure he is doing alright and they will recheck my blood pressure. I'll keep you posted on how things go...

What Will Ashton Name His Son?

Ashton was working as a math tutor this semester, and during the last little bit, he developed these equations (click on it to make it bigger):



He wrote it on the white board for any of his tutees to try to solve. The top equation is for his Algebra tutees and the bottom equation for his Calculus tutees. He even had some solve it. Everyone else was just amazed that he wrote it and always told me I had a genius for a husband. I won't make you solve it for the answer. We are naming him Dexter.

Bowling

Last weekend we were going to take the Castillo family geocaching. Well, it rained, and rained, and rained all day. So plan B... bowling! We had a lot of fun and yes Leigh, you did beat me by 2 pins.

Make a Smilebox scrap pages

Our Weekend Getaway

This weekend was a lot of fun! I finally got to do my Christmas/Anniversary present! WE WENT TO SEE "WICKED" IN SLC! It was a lot fun. We went down and saw some friends we hadn't seen for a while and then had a relaxing evening and morning 'till it was show time. For those of you who don't know what "Wicked" is, it is a Broadway show about the Wicked Witch's side of the story from the Wizard of Oz. Lets just say it put a whole new perspective on the Wizard of Oz. Now I only wish I knew the Wizard's side of the story...It was performed in the Capital Theater in downtown Salt Lake. It is a beautiful theater! Very ornately decorated. We were up in the balcony, about 3 rows down from the very top, but you could still see everything quite well.

Ashton made this weekend so wonderful. It was all about me. I had a hard time at first 'cause I wanted him to enjoy it too, but he made it be all about me. I have such a sweet, wonderful husband. I love him so much! Here is the ad for Wicked, The beginning set, and some pictures of the theater, and us in front of theater. One day I'll get brave and ask someone to take our picture, but for now Ashton's arm length will do.