Joey's Monday Update

Sunday night I was able to feed Joey his last bottle before bed - and change a nasty, nasty diaper.  With Melanie's birth, I was able to avoid all meconium diapers.  I was not so lucky this time, and it was also my first little-boy diaper.  He ate well, and I left him around 10:45pm.  I slept awesome; my first night of sleep since Thursday!  Jeff stayed home with Melanie (and his parents), and I got over 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep (gotta love formula feeding, which other people can do for you!!)

Monday morning, Jeff and I went in and were able to feed him and change another diaper; not quite as nasty as last night's.  During both feedings, he's been alert, it's fun to see his eyes!

While we were down this morning, we got an update on how Joey's doing, of course, and also understand more about the tests and results we're waiting for.  So, here we go...

First, the collapsed lung.  The third chest x-ray, which was performed this morning, continues to show shrinkage in the pocket of air continues to decrease.  The doctor seemed pretty convinced that it will be nonexistent soon.  He's not on oxygen anymore, and should just heal itself.

As for the possible infection....the tests they did yesterday were a CBC, which measures the risk of infection.  That is the one that came back slightly elevated, so they did a blood culture, which they watch for 48 hours.  If the culture grows, they know there is an infection.  In the meantime, they give the baby antibiotics as a precautionary measure.  In the last 24 hours, nothing has grown in this culture - and usually, if there is an infection, there are already signs of growth.  There is no sign of growth with Joey's culture.  There is still a chance it could grow, but we're hopeful he's in the clear.  We'll know more tomorow.

I just got the best perk of delivering at St. Vincent - my 15-minute massage!  So everyone is doing well, and we're enjoying the time with our new son!  Melanie woke up this morning with her first words of greeting for Jeff being "It's Joey's Daddy!!"  We're really excited for her to really meet him, not just through a window!  The hospital provides a birthday cake for all new babies; so we're having our celebration tonight with Melanie, complete with Elmo hats :) 

More on the name!

The photo above is of our neighbor Paula lighting a candle for us and for Joey's safe delivery at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem just one hour after he was born!  Amazing!

Joseph Pierce Worzala...JPW, just like his Daddy (Jeffery Phillip). My dad's name is Joe Coapstick Doan; his dad's name was Joe Taylor Doan.  Jeff's dad's name is Ronald Joseph Worzala; named from Ron's own father, Joseph Edward Worzala. From there, Jeff's brother is named Randall Joseph, and our nephew is Charles Joseph.  Jeff's maternal grandfather's name was Conrad Joseph.  So, can you see where our baby's first name came from?  :)

My beloved Grandma's parents' names were Pierce & Grace Coapstick.  Pierce started the insurance company that my dad owned and ran for 30+ years, and my Uncle John's (Dad's brother's) name is John Pierce.  My parents carried the tradition by naming my sister Julia Grace.  I did my part to honor my grandma in naming my children after her parents - Melanie Grace and Joseph Pierce.  I only wish she would have had the opportunity to meet these kiddos.  She would have been so proud.

Welcome Joseph Pierce Worzala!

We are thrilled to welcome Joseph Pierce Worzala to the world!  Joey joined us at 4:23am on April 25, 2010, weighing 6lbs, 15oz, and measuring 20.5inches.   He's got a ton of dark hair, and big feet!

On Friday night after the wedding, with Melanie staying with Gigi & Poppy, Jeff & I headed to the hospital around 3am.  My contractions were averaging about 3 minutes apart, and were painful.  After being monitored at the hospital - with no dilation - for a few hours, we arrived back home around 8am with the instructions that I needed to be in "more" pain for the contractions to be productive.  My parents brought Mel home around noon, and we were able to play with her & Molly for most of the day, before I called the doc back around 5pm and reported I was REALLY not comfortable, and didn't think I could make it through the night.

We arrived back at the hospital about 6pm, and found that I was STILL not dilated.  Dr. Mernitz put me on Percocet, broke my water, and we sat back to find out what would happen.  Throughout the night, my body finally started complying, and I started dilating.  My checks went from 0 to 2 to 4 to 7 - and then very quickly to 10!  I had the epidural at some point (it's all blurry now)....and then got an adjustment to it after I reached 10.  Somewhere around 5-7cm, the baby's heartrate was a little slower than we wanted, so they added some fluid and put me on oxygen to give him some added support.  Once I reached 10cm, the doctor held on for about an hour, since I had pushed so long with Mel (2.5 hours!) and he didn't want the baby to go through any undue stress. .

We started pushing just before 4am, and "baby Joey" entered our world at 4:23am!  His APGAR was 9/8, and within about a half an hour, the nurse decided that his breathing was more labored than she wanted to see, so she had a NICU doctor come down to take a look at him.  We got to hold him and feed him, and then they took him to the nursery and I transferred rooms.  Melanie arrived around 11am with Gigi & Poppy, who had stayed the night at the house Saturday night.  Mel had been VERY excited when her daddy showed her photos of Baby Joey Saturday morning at breakfast, and she was excited - and scared - to meet him through the nursery glass. 

Based on Joey's breathing, they did some blood work and a chest X-ray, and the x-ray determined he has a collapsed lung.  This sounds scarier than it is, according to the NICU doctor.  What it means is that with his first cry/breath, he took in too much oxygen, and got too much air in his little body (of course, I'm modifying the story, and details could get lost in the translation).  The cure for this is to put him on oxygen for about 4 hours and monitor him closely.  The doctor said this is VERY common, and that once he's "fixed," he will not have any lingering effects of this collapsed lung.  No increased chances of illness, or anything else.  He was very positive about everything.  He said that Joey would be back in the "regular" nursery by Monday morning.

Then came the results of the blood work mentioned above.  The chances of infection that were detected were "just over" the line where they would be concerned, so they also decided to start Joey on antibiotics.  These are 48-hour antibiotics, and will keep him in the NICU for that amount of time.  Again, the doc was very upbeat about this turn of events, and assures us that this will all be a footnote in the baby book after we're done! 

At last check, Joey's oxygen mask had been removed, his follow-up chest x-ray showed just a touch of the air left, which should clear up by tomorrow, and he's still on the antibiotics.  Since he's no longer on oxygen, we are allowed to hold him.  He's allowed visitors (over the age of 14), as long as they're accompanied by Jeff or me.  Each of the grandparents have visited him, and everyone agrees he's pretty perfect!  He's eaten three times - and increased his formula intake from 1/2oz to 2/3oz to a full ounce.  Not so shabby!!

We ask for your prayers for Joe as he continues to heal and make his way out of NICU.  We have faith that he will be safely at home being tormented by his big sister in no time.  In the meantime, we are trying to get our own rest, and enjoy the help that all of the grandparents are providing!  My parents just got off of their 48-hour Melanie watch, and now Jeff's parents are at our house (with Jeff) for the evening.  They plan to stay through the week, which will be nice as we juggle keeping Melanie on schedule and keeping Joey healthy!

Congratulations Val & John!

We were lucky enough to help Val & John celebrate their new life together this evening.  Val is part of my small group that I've been attending for the past nearly three years, and it has been fun to watch her and John's relationship grow in that time.  Jeff and I enjoyed a night out while Mel stayed with Gigi and Poppy.  From all reports so far, the trip was successful; she ate well, went down to bed well, and hadn't made a peep as of 10:30pm.  Hopefully we don't hear differently in the morning!  Jeff plans to play in a golf outing with the wedding tomorrow (Saturday) if the weather holds out.

Only one more doctor appointment left??

Thursday's doctor appointment introduced me to the last in the rotation of the OBs in my practice - Dr. Paas.  I mentioned at the very beginning of the appointment that this little guy just doesn't seem as active as his big sister was while she was baking.  So they strapped me to a fetal monitor and I listened to the heartbeat for about 10 minutes, and pressed a button every time I felt him move.  I remember doing this a few times with Melanie.  It was funny to hear him hiccup through the monitor.  His heartrate averaged in the low 150s, and would spike to 170 every once in a while; the doc said this was a really good thing; and said that everything looked "perfect."  She did indicate I should have another fetal monitor test next week.

She would not check me, since I have been checked the last two weeks and am still not dilated.  Her reasoning was that if I were slightly dilated, I could stay that way for a long time, and if I am not, I could go the full 10cm all in one night - that checking yesterday would not get us anywhere.  So, despite my pleading, I did not get checked. 

She asked if I was intrested in being induced, and I said my main interest is in delivering no later than May 3.  Since Dr. Mernitz is delivering babies on 5/3, she said next week's appointment should be with him - and he can gauge how ready I am, and go ahead and schedule the induction.  Dr. Mernitz didn't have the availability for an appointment next week, so I see Dr. Dupler on Wednesday.  That, my friends, should be my LAST OB appointment! 

As previously mentioned, I have been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for weeks.  However, last night, I believe I was having the real-deal; but they never got closer than 10 minutes apart.  Jeff, of course, was freaking out; packing his bag, wanting to call my parents, etc.  I knew that they would pass; and I fell asleep with no issues and today the activity is non-existent.

Happy Birthday Grace!

Tonight we helped Grace celebrate her second birthday; all of Mel's neighborhood friends were there; Grace, Aya, Ellie, Mia, Arianna.  After several parties of being very interested in birthday hats but not wanting to actually touch one, she was really enjoying wearing her Elmo hat.  She had a great time, and wasn't even tortured by the dog in the neighboring yard, until the girls decided to run through that yard toward a swingset, and the dog of course ran with them.  That was the beginning of the end for Miss Mel, who spent the rest of the time trembling in my arms.  It was at the end of the party anyway, so I think she still had a great time with her friends!

15 days and counting

At Friday's doctor appointment, we confirmed the baby, while definitely "in position" has not made any progress in actually arriving.  I wasn't dilated, and was -I think -70% effaced.  It could all happen in one day, though, so I'll try not to get too discouraged :)    I've gained 30 pounds overall.

Mel is back to loving on her baby brother.  She frequently hugs & kisses my belly, blows kisses, says "hi" and "bye-bye" to him (before and after lifting my shirt to visit with him).  She told each of her Grandmas what his name is going to be.  The kid can apparently not be trusted with a secret.... :)