Sneezes, Snots & Smiles

So it has been quite the ride here lately. First Jeff and I got sick and then of course James Dexter did to. With him being a preemie we have to take extra care with his lungs. Of course the doctors can't really give them anything it just has to run it's course. Well he went downhill and last Friday we ended up in Children's ER at 6 in the morning. He was pitiful. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't play, showing signs of dehydration...they said his right lung looked cloudy so it wasn't pneumonia YET. They said he would "take a turn" one way or the other over the weekend. We are happy to say it was a turn for the better! No more snotty nose, just a couple sneezes and the cough is slowly going away. As you can see from the pictures below taken a couple of hours ago he is feeling much better!

Such a bad blogger...

Since going back to work I have been way behind on blogging. I am going to try to update this weekend but can't promise anything. Lots has been going on with little JD. We recently found out he has somewhat rare heart condition...here is that explained in an email that I sent out to family as soon as we got the news:

So we had our cardiac appointment today. The hole in the heart is fine, nothing to worry about however Dr. Romp discovered a more concerning problem. JD has a “Right Aortic Arch with and Anomalous Left Subclavian” and he is pretty sure he has a vascular ring (to be explain in detail further down). Basically when a heart is forming it has and aortic arch, around 10 weeks gestation the right arch dissolves and the left one takes over all function. About 1 in a thousand people have the opposite happen, which is what happened in JD’s case. His left arch dissolved and he has a right aortic arch instead. This causes the blood vessels on the left side of his body (mainly in his left arm) to form irregularly because they have to re-route themselves to get to the aorta on the other side from where it is suppose to be. This can cause the vessels to wrap around his trachea and esophagus causing a vascular ring (which the doctor is pretty sure he has this already, however we will be seen again in 3 months at Children’s Hospital downtown so he can use his more detailed equipment). If the vascular ring is severe enough it could cause him trouble breathing and being able to swallow food. In that case they would do surgery to snip the connecting “ductal ligament” to release the tension on that ring. He says don’t worry about it right now (yeah right) and we will see how he is in 3 months. He wants us to watch for any signs of breathing problems or eating problems (Which he isn’t having because he weighs 11 lbs 6 oz now!). So we are in a wait and see kind of state now.

Here is the definition of a vascular ring from the internet…

A vascular ring is a congenital defect in which there is an abnormal formation of the aorta and/or its surrounding blood vessels. The trachea and esophagus are completely encircled and sometimes compressed by a "ring" formed by these vessels, which can lead to breathing and digestive difficulties.
Most often this is because of persistence of the double aortic arch after the second month of fetal life.
The two arches surround the esophagus and trachea which if sufficiently constrictive cause the breathing or swallowing difficulties.

THIS IS JD’S CASE --> A less common ring is present with a right aortic arch instead of the usual left-sided aortic arch which compresses the esophagus and trachea because of the persistence of a ductal ligament (from fetal circulation) that may connect between the aorta on the front and the left subclavian artery posteriorly going to the left arm.

We will be keeping everyone updated on this as we find more out! In the mean time here is the latest picture of the not so littler James Dexter...my future tree hugger! More pictures to follow soon...I promise!

Santa Baby!

Okay, so you may think that I torture my child because of all the pictures I take but I just can't help it...trying to get those Christmas photos are always fun! Here are just a couple of my favorites from that day!


I call this the Not so Jolly Santa look


And my favorite after he calmed down (although seconds later he ripped the hat off and started screaming!)


Where in the world does this child get his temper from? I wonder....

Couldn't resist

This is one of my favorite pictures of him so far!

Catching up...

So we are back tracking here a little bit...wanted to be sure and include James Dexter's first Halloween, which happens to be Jeff's birthday! Nothing too exciting...just a few cute pictures!

Waiting patiently for Mom to take my picture...he looks like a little elf!



How cute am I?!?!?!

Say Cheese!

I take so many pictures of this boy it isn't even funny...here are my latest favorites!

Coming Home!

After a 3 weeks stay in the NICU James Dexter finally got to come home! We loved all the nurses at Trinity and thank them for everything they did for us and our son...but I have to say, I hope we don't have to have their services again!

Getting ready to go home:


Getting ready to get out:



One Proud Papa!




Tired boy on his first car ride home!



Finally Home!!! I think I can see a little bit of a grin on him!




Cutie in his little preemie outfit.



Now it's time to meet the cats!

Hmmmm....wonder what they are thinking?


Time to investigate.




Overall they do very well with him. They will sniff at him when he is asleep but as soon as he moves or starts crying they leave.

James Dexter's stay in the NICU

Since he was born so early of course he had to stay in the NICU for a while, 3 weeks actually. It was tough coming home without him and even tougher having to ask permission to hold your own baby. He seemed so healthy to us, especially compared to some of the other babies in there with him, so we were extremely thankful for that. All the nurses fell in love with him from day one. He even made a friend while he was there...his name was Janari and he was born the same day James Dexter was although he was only 27 weeks gestation. Maybe one day these boys will meet up in the future...you never know!

Here are some shots of his NICU stay:

Daddy giving him some attention.


James Dexter had a little surprise for Daddy!


Laying with all those nasty mean wires connected to him.


Holding Mommy's pinky.


Holding onto Daddy's finger.




Love the faces...that is why the nurses loved him so much because he was so expressive!




Look at all that hair!


Sweetness.


I waited a long time to pinch his little butt cheeks but since he didn't have any because he was so small I had to settle for pinching the diaper!

Delivery Time!

This is what 4 days of complete bed rest, on magnesium sulfate and no shower look like during a contraction. I think I had my epidural shortly after this was taken...maybe it was already in...heck, I can't remember much because the magnesium makes you feel really out of touch with reality. This is not pretty folks...



This was of course right after he was born...little bit cone headed but he came out screaming and with great color.



Our very first family photo!

Lots to Update About!

Okay, so we haven't blogged in quite some time...as most of you all know the baby is already here, came 8 weeks early. I went into labor on Sunday (but didn't really know it, I thought I had just over done it cleaning the house...we went to dinner and movie that night, all the while I was miserable!) and went to work Monday morning still not feeling "right". I called my doctor and they told me to come in to be on the safe side and turns out I was already 4 cm and his water was about to break.

Since I was only 32 weeks they wanted to stop labor as long as they could. I was given steroids to help mature little man's lungs for when he arrived and I was put on total bed rest, which means no getting up to do ANYTHING and started on magnesium sulfate to stop my contractions. This stuff makes you feel like pure crap. They had to keep upping my dose to get the contractions to stop but it was making me violently ill. So they backed off on the amount of magnesium and everything seemed to be looking good. No contractions...low level of mag...so they decided to take me off the mag and see how I would do. I did great all day until I got woken up in the middle of the night by the nurse asking if I was feeling "that"? I said what is "that"? Apparently I was contracting again but was sleeping so hard I didn't feel it. Back on the mag I went and we finally got it all leveled out.

The nurse was talking to us about what would happen now...I would go upstairs to the maternity ward to wait out at least 2 more weeks then see what happens. We were asking all kinds of questions about "what happens when..." or "what if...." and finally after about a 30 min question session she said "Any other questions?" and I looked up and said "Uh yeah, I think my water just broke." And she said "Are you serious?" and I said "Uh, yeah, very." So we were taken to the delivery room and everything happened so fast from there...I had my epidural and waited it out until I was ready to push. I had no energy to push from getting no rest the previous 4 days but it took about 20 pushes and he was here!

James Dexter Weibelt was born on 10/09/08 at 2:11 pm weighing in at a whooping 4 lb 5 oz and 19.25 in long. A head full of dark hair like both of us when we were born!


This was right after he was born.



This was a couple of days old.


Such a tiny boy.

I will be posting some more pictures in a little better order here shortly! :)