Friday, August 17, 2007

Ethan is coming home

Ethan is scheduled to come home this Sunday! He's doing extremely well and is drinking about 50ccs of milk every 3-4 hours. He is no longer in the incubator and is in a regular crib, the IV was taken out yesterday! Today we brought his car seat over to the hospital so he can sit in it for an hour or so. The hospital requires that discharged babies be able to sit in the car seat w/ out any problems. We're looking foward to him coming home, he's a really good baby and loves to chug milk then fall asleep. He'll close his eyes after he eats, then will give you a huge smile :)

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Ethan is 5 days old today!


Ethan is continuing to do well. They took him off the blue light today and he’s now a happier baby! He didn’t like to sunbathe too much according to the nurse. He always wanted his binky while he was sunbathing. Now that he’s off the blue light, he feels content having a shirt on and being swaddled that he hardly needs his binky at all.

They have been increasing his food intake to 3ccs every 6 hours. He was at 25ccs this afternoon. I tried breastfeeding him today and he did well! The nurse weighed him before I started breastfeeding and weighed him after to see how much he drank! The nurse measured 14ccs intake! (Isn’t it amazing how they can measure something like that?) I fed him 11ccs more breast milk through a bottle and he wanted to sleep right after! (I think he is definitely taking after his Daddy, who always overeats and goes into a food coma!)

I was so happy to see how he’s progressing well today! These are all great milestones, which gets him closer to going home with us! The nurse says they will start weaning him out of the incubator into an open crib soon. I’m hoping we’ll be able to bring him home soon. It breaks my heart to leave him in the hospital all by himself. I felt so empty coming home after being discharged from the hospital this past Sunday. It’s not the same without Ethan at home. Even though he’s only a couple of days old, it seems like he’s been with us forever.

It’s true what everyone says, your life will never be the same after having a baby. I can’t explain it…but it’s true. When I look back on the 7 weeks of bed rest and the long labor, it all seems like it was from a distant past....and definitely all worth the sacrifice for our beautiful son!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Wow, Fatherhood is a trip

Ethan is doing great, his magnesium levels are normal, and they have increased his intake of food to 13cc instead of 10cc which means he has a healthy appetite. I stopped by to visit him today and was able to feed him and get a crash course on how to change a diaper. Since this was my third time feeding him from a bottle, I'm at lesson," Baby feeding 103" and now I know that you have to wait until his tongue is down before you stick the nipple in his mouth. He drank 1/2 a bottle w/ his tongue above the nipple (shame on me for not knowing), then we took a quick break and the nurse told me to check the location of his tongue. He quickly chugged the rest of the formula down, turned a little red and looked like he wanted even more. I turned him to his side and he let out a big burp. He reminds me of myself back in my old college days during parties.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Just Visiting


Ethan is still under the blue light and hopefully will be taken off tomorrow. Today we attended a support group for premature babies and were able to ask questions and relate our experience with other parents and nurses. Many of our questions were answered and we have a better idea as to what will happen from this point. Ethan's in good hands at the hospital. He' been eating about 10ccs of milk during each feeding and is on a fixed schedule as to when he eats. It feels so weird not being able to take him home, however we know that he has to hit certain milestones before we can. This gives us some time to prepare the house for him. Today we got a taste of it when we were cleaning and drying the pump, we can just imagine the amount of work parents to when they clean bottles, diapers, clothes, etc...

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Ethan Hunter Tran

We've decided on a name, Ethan Hunter Tran.

Ethan; in Hebrew means strong/firm and safe
Hunter; The name of many of my old Role Playing Characters when I use to play AD&D and Top Secret and a derivative of my favorite character class, Ranger. A "Hunter" in sales is also a person who goes out and finds and brings in business.

We fed for the first time today through a baby bottle and we're practicing natural feeding as well. It has seriously been quite an experience because as Christine was changing him in the incubator, she took the diaper off and lifted his legs to wipe him, he sprayed his weapon everywhere. So I was running around getting wipes as she was cleaning him off and changing his diaper. I can't imagine how parents do this at 3am in the morning on limited rest.

According to the Doctor we have a pretty good shot at taking him home at the end of next week. There are no guarantees however the tests came back and he is negative for infections. He just has to chill out at the what we call the beach until the jaundice goes away (blue light at the hospital).

Ethan has started to open his eyes as well and loves to peek around and see his Momma and surroundings. We are so blessed that we have been able to make it to this point and really hope we'll be able to take him home next week. Christine is being discharged from the hospital today and we'll be taking trips back and forth to the hospital to spend time with Ethan.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Doing Well

Mother and baby are both doing well. Christine finally got off of the Magnesium today and is recovering nicely, she was able to eat solid food so she had salmon, rice, organic green beans and a bean burrito for lunch!

She was able to see the baby today and hold him in her arms. This has been the first time since she gave birth and briefly saw him for a few minutes. Once she held him he started smiling and it looked like he was trying to open his eyes. He is also feeling the Magnesium so there are trace amounts in him as well from the labor. This makes him very sleepy so the nurses are not surprised that he is sleeping so much.

According to the nurse Nona who has been taking care of him, he doesn't like to be touched and gets fussy when she changes his diaper. He has been sucking on a pacifier as well which is really good since he will have to be able to suck and eat before he can be discharged from the hospital. He is slightly jaundiced, this is very common for Asian babies so he may need to chill out under the blue sun tan light for awhile. I guess the blue light cures it and it takes 1-3 days dependent on how jaundiced the child is.

Christine will be discharged tomorrow so I'm unsure what time we'll be checking out of the hospital. We're hoping our son will be able to go home soon, and are still deciding on the name. We're very close though and will keep you posted!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Happy Birthday Baby Tran


Hi everyone! I was born at 11:18am at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View California on August 10,2007. I am 4 lbs 13oz. I'm 17 inches long and have large bellowing lungs, My Mommy and Daddy and Aunties have heard me scream.
I can't wait to meet all my new family and friends soon!

It's Time


Time to start pushing....


Nurse is preparing the room.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Epidural Time

Dr. Tan stopped by around lunch and at around 6:00pm and Oked the epidural. Christine's not quite dialated to the 4cm mark yet so looks like we've got a ways to go. From what I hear the first 4cm are the toughest and from there it's about 1cm an hour 'till whenver. I guess contractions really hurt because she doesn't like my jokes :) she just tells me to shush.

She tooks some narcotics through the IV that helped the pain however they were short term fixes that lasted about an hour. Geez preganancy is tough because she's been vomiting and just not feeling well at all.

So to ease the pain she's going the natural US route via epidural. Hey if they got it then use it. So now her BP has dropped from the 150-160s to the 120s after the epidural and she's not feeling pain. Hopefully she can get some rest for the main event, according to the doctors once the epi is applied then it will last throughout the labor.

As for me, I've had a large coffee and I'm working on a Venti Latte to make it through the next step. The video camera is ready to go and the elph has batteries...

Broken Water

Around 9:30am Dr. Tan broke Christine's water, so we're moving along the process. Her contractions are more frequent so NOW she knows what they feel like. The baby should come out sometime today according to the nurse, Dr Tan will be back around lunchtime to check on Christine.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Induction

We've begun the induction process. According to the Doctor she should be delivering by tomorrow so we've moved rooms and we are not in the maternity ward. Christine is now on an IV drip just in case we need to do a C section but so far it should be a natural delivery...

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

We've been Yelping

Lately we've been spending a lot of time on www.yelp.com , it's kinda like myspace but you write reviews about places you've been such as restaurants, stores, etc. I try to bring Christine different foods that we find on Yelp, today we had Frozen Yogurt at "I Love Yogurt" in Cupertino. I'm probably gonna give it 3-4 stars when I write about it :) In any case we are alllllmmmost there.

Check out our yelps at:

http://seasian.yelp.com

http://tinytinc.yelp.com

Monday, August 6, 2007

We're almost there

As of Saturday Christine was 34 weeks along. We checked back in the hospital at approximately 32 weeks. The plan of the Doctors was to induce at the 34th week because it was the optimal point for both Baby and Mother. The reason for the induction is not the overall bloodpressure which has been creeping up and averaging in the high 130/low 140 over 80/90s. The reason for induction is for excess spillage of protein into the urine. This essentially means that the kidneys are working overtime to support mother and baby. Normal protein levels are below 150 and Christine's has gone from the 600s to 700s to 800s and most recently 1100s. This is still considered mild, nevertheless concerning. Quite frankly the doctor has asked us what we are waiting for because many babies are delivered at the 34th week, so we had every intention at delivering at 34 weeks.

Now the Doctors have told us it should be ok to push it back to 36 weeks unless a severe headache sets in which is always a symptom of pre-eclampsia. So I would expect us to induce within the next 12 days.

Well I guess I have to start learning how to change diapers :) Christine and I still haven't decided on a name yet because we just can't agree on one. I'm sure we'll figure it out when he comes. So cross your fingers so we can make it another 12 days and wrap up this rollercoaster ride!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

A Surprise Baby Shower

Last night, my closest friends came to visit and threw us a little surprise Baby Shower! It was a lovely surprise! They brought food and even decorated our hospital room! They brought lots of wonderful gifts for baby! It was totally unexpected and opening the presents and seeing all the cute little clothes for baby made everything so real! I don't think it hit both Tom and me that we're actually going to be parents soon until we started seeing onesies, bibs and bottles! I can't believe we're going to have a baby any day now!

The baby shower was such a great surprise! It was the highlight of my week! We had a great time! Thank you all for your continued love, support and all the presents for baby! Our baby is blessed with such wonderful and loving Aunties and Uncles!

33 weeks + 5 days

I'm now at 33 weeks + 5 days today in my pregancy and still hanging in here in the hospital. We had another ultrasound this past Monday and the baby is doing well. However, his growth slowed down a little bit. Two weeks ago his growth was near average which was at 47th percentile (average is at 50th percentile). This week he is at 30th percentile. Our perinatalogist says this was expected due to my condition, but there is nothing to worry about. They are still monitoring the baby twice a day, and he continues to be a good sport. His heartbeat continues to be strong and he loves to kick his momma! Unfortunately, the protein count in my urine this week has gotten worse. It's now at 1100. My BP has been a little unstable and I have been getting occasional headaches. Dr. Tan and our perinatalogist seem to want to go ahead and induce me this weekend, but nothing is set in stone yet. We will know more in a couple of days. So we'll see and keep everyone posted.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

32 weeks + 3 days

I'm now @ 32 weeks + 3 days today in my pregnancy. As some of you know, I'm back at the hospital again. Last Friday night I had a really bad headache and my BP readings went up as high as 161/90. We called the doctor and she advised us to check back into the hospital so they can assess the situation. They monitored me the whole night and did some blood work. The following morning, Dr. Tan came in and told us that they might go ahead and induce me since my urine sample from the day before also showed very high levels of protein, which means that my kidneys are spilling a whole lot of protein than normal. The normal protein count in urine should only be around 150s. My protein count in my urine has been in the high 300s - 400s. However, in the past week it went up dramatically to 780!!! Dr. Tan consulted with our perinatologist and they both concluded that they didn't need to induce me that day, but that they will continue to keep me in the hospital to monitor me closely. They have set a cut-off period, which is at 34 weeks. However, if my symptoms get any worse before then, they will have to go ahead and induce me.

Despite my condition, the baby is doing very well! We had an ultrasound last week and it shows that the baby's growth is normal. Last week he was approximately 4lbs. +/-11oz. We have a very good profile photo of him from the ultrasound, which we'll upload soon. He had his hand on his head. You can actually see his little fingers resting on his forehead as if he was scratching his head or something (so cute)! He continues to be very active and his heartbeat is still very strong.

We are counting the days and hoping that we'll make it through 34 weeks. I'm hoping by then the doctors can re-assess my condition and we can buy more time to make it through a couple more weeks.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Day 16

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant! woohoo!!!

Dr. Tan told us last Friday that they could release me from the hospital on Monday (yesterday) if I continued to respond well to bedrest over the weekend! My BP readings were steady all weekend long and below the preeclampsia range. However, there was still higher than normal traces of protein in my urine, but she felt comfortable enough to release me and continue the bedrest at home (with strict instructions of course).

So I'm now back at home as of yesterday evening! Tom is now officially my 24-hour nurse! I'm still on bedrest and only have bathroom privileges. :( But at least I get to be at home now! We still have to monitor and record my BP 4-6 times a day. If either or both my systolic and diastolic readings reach > 150/90 we have to call Dr. Tan immediately and I could be re-admitted to the hospital. We are also suppose to call Dr. Tan directly if other signs of preeclampsia symptoms arise like persistent headaches, blurry vision, swelling, epigastric pain or if I start to feel any contractions or start bleeding. From here on until I deliver the baby, I have 2 hospital appointments each week every Monday & Thursday for blood work and Non-Stress Test (NST) to monitor the baby's heartbeat and activity. On one of these appointments (every Monday), Dr. Tan will see me for an update on all the lab work and our BP recordings. I also have to do a weekly 24-hour urine collection that we (or actually Tom) will have to drop off to the hospital lab for analysis. This sounds tiring already, I know...but we'll get through it and everything will be ok!

When I got home last night, I realized that there is so much to do before the baby comes! We need to clean out the guest room (soon-to-be the baby's room), which currently stores a bunch of our junk and a lot of dust, but Tom assured me that he will take care of everything! In fact, he's starting to clean out the baby's room right now! He's been a real trooper!

Tom really has been super husband these days! He's my #1 nurse! He's been really patient with me too when I get cranky and hormonal specially since I've been on bedrest. One of our friends got married over the weekend (Tom was one of the groomsmen) and of course I missed the whole event, but he was super sweet and brought me back a wedding cupcake and told me all about the entire day!

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Day 10: Marking down the days


I've been marking down the days in a calendar and I guess no news is good news! Christine's blood pressure has been steady and it reached as low as 106/65 which is normal according to the charts that I google when I hear a number that I'm not use to hearing :)

Since it was the 4th of July I treated Christine to an order of food she was craving. In-N-Out Cheeseburger animal style w/ Fries (We shared an order of fries so we wouldn't overeat). After we had our delicious In-N-Out meal at the hospital bed our doctor, Dr. Tan walked it. She caught us red handed w/ an empty In-n-Out bag on the bed table with the room smelling of hamburgers and fries. I felt so guilty for feeding her it w/ the doctor there but Dr. Tan didn't look twice and said that we do not have any food restrictions to make us feel better :) . Once in awhile is ok I guess. Christine's been craving Falafal Salad from the Falafal drive in but I keep reminding her that iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value. I've been craving Butter Chicken +Naan from Amber Indian restaurant but I've been resisting.

My mom has been making low salt organic vietnamese meals with vegetables that she grows in her garden so we really have been eating well. My mom and Dad drop visit every couple days and drop off bags of food for Christine. Today we had Goi Cuon(sp) ,Chicken Sticky Rice (Soi) and Greenbeans and shrimp with no salt. Earlier in the week she dropped off a jug of freshly homemade soy bean milk. It's really good and less sweeter than the Silk vanilla soy bean milk that the hospital has. I got Christine hooked on soy bean milk when I introduced her to Trader Joe's Chocolate Soy bean milk. I personally got hooked on soybean milk when I starving at the office late at night and I raided the company refrigerator. I saw someone's chocolate soy milk and drank a cup, then another and another. I guess I owe someone some Chocolate soy :) , Yes I will eat your food in the fridge if it is not properly labeled, " Do Not Touch".

Thank you everyone for the e-mails, flowers, teddybears, movies, books, magazines, snacks, candles, music, warm wishes, prayers and support. The days have been flying by and Christine has been doing extremely well.

Happy 4th of July!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Day 9

I'm now 29 weeks pregnant! Yeeyy! The doctor says I'm responding well to the bedrest and my BP has been stably low measuring in the 120s-130s/70s-80s. The baby continues to be very active and his heartbeat is still strong!

The nurses here in El Camino Hospital are taking very good care of us! They have a very good staff and the nurses are very thorough with all their duties! We are also getting to know Dr. Tan very well now. She sees me a couple times a day and sometimes during odd hours....just the other day she stopped by around 1am in the morning! She's crazy! She almost seems like she lives here! She's in the hospital early and is here late at night! The nurses all say good things about her and say she's a very good doctor! Thanks Debbie for recommending her to us! We definitely would recommend her to all of our friends and family! Here's a link to her website: www.obgyn-tan.com

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Preeclampsia

In case some of you would like to know more about Preeclampsia, here's a very informative website: http://www.preeclampsia.org/about.asp

Day 5

We had quite a scare early yesterday morning. The monitor showed that I was having contractions and I was also feeling some cramping. The nurse immediately contacted Dr. Tan and she advised that they move me to labor and delivery right away! Dr. Tan came in immediately and checked my cervix and ran a couple of tests. Fortunately, I was not dilated and the tests came back negative. They kept me in labor and delivery the entire morning for observation. The contractions were initially 5 mins apart when I felt some cramping. Then, they gradually became sporadic, and I no longer was feeling any pain. My BP readings were also measuring a little higher than the past couple of days. Luckily, it settled down later on in the day and they sent me back to maternity ward for more bedrest. It's amazing how bedrest really helps a lot!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Day 4

My BP reading this morning was really good! It was in the 120s/64, which is the best BP reading I've had since I've been in the hospital. However, the readings throughout the day rose to the 130s/79 and the last reading was as high as 149/94. I'm not sure what caused it to climb up. I suspect and Dr. Tan thinks it's because I had a shower this morning. So, no showers for me anymore until further notice. She said to minimize it, maybe once a week! :( The only other thing I can think of is the massage therapy that I got today, but I don't think that could have raised my BP. It was actually the highlight of my day! Anyway, tomorrow I'll try not to move around too much.

The baby continues to be very active. He has been kicking a lot and his heartbeat is very strong! The hospital plays this lullaby everytime a baby is born. I can hear it each time, and so far I've heard it about 14 times now since I've been here. It makes me teary eyed sometimes when it comes on as I can't wait to meet our baby, but it's not that time yet.

Day 4: New Schedule


Christine is doing well her BP this morning was in the 120s. She's getting comfortable new routine. Wake up at 8:00am for Breakfast in Bed, 12:00PM Lunch, 6:00pm Dinner. She's been eating healthier than we usually eat, I am too for that matter. I suppose when you focus on the little things such as nutrition meals you want to make sure everything is balanced. Christine has tons of reading materials, thanks again everyone!
If I've missed sending this blog to any of our family or friends please foward it on.... i sent the e-mail list out really quick as I left the office.
I think we actually watch less TV since we've checked into the hospital. Probably because there's no TIVO in the room and the channel is limited. I kinda like it, maybe we'll downgrade our cable service when we get home and spend more Quality Family Time :)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Day 3 in the Hospital (continued)

We were hoping that the doctors would be releasing me today and let me continue the bedrest at home since my BP has stabilized (recent readings these past couple of days have been in the 120s-130s/70s-80s. However, they decided it would be best to keep me here so they can keep a close eye on me and the baby in case my condition takes a different turn. The nurses check my blood pressure every 4 hours and monitor any possible contractions along with baby's movement and heartbeat every 8 hours for 1 hour. As you can see in the picture that Tom posted above, they've attached "leg warmers" (as Tom calls it), which is actually a device that regulates blood circulation in my legs to prevent blood clotting since I'm lying down practically the entire day! I can only get up to go the bathroom and if I'm lucky and my vital signs are okay they allow me to take a shower!

It's actually not that bad being here in the hospital. I admit, it sucks being confined in the hospital bed, but it's what's best for the baby! Being confined in this bed is the only way we can make his environment suitable for him to stay in my womb as long as possible. We understand that the doctors are just taking all extra precautions and we're in good hands! They have injected me with 2 steriod shots to speed up the baby's lung development in case we need to deliver the baby early. Dr. Tan tell us that 1 day spent in the hospital equals to 1 week less the time the baby needs to be in the hospital if ever he comes early. So, we're taking it 1 day at a time.

I've been keeping myself busy by reading the magazines and books that some of you have given me during your visit! (Thank you so much!). I have a TV, DVD player and internet access too! So, it's not that bad at all! I have plenty to do!

Hospital food is okay. The portions are adequate, but like I said...it's okay! It's kind of like airplane food, but maybe 1 notch below airplane food. It's not that bad, but I know I'll probably get tired of it by next week after I've tried everything in the menu. Tom has been a very good husband and daddy-to-be and he has been bringing me food from home! Today he made some steamed vegetables, fish and some eggplant omelette (filipino style w/o the salt). Tomorrow he said he'll bring me salad and pepper steak! Yumm...

Day 3 in the Hospital

During Christine's last doctor's visit, she was diagnosed with Pregnancy Induced Hypertention (PIH) also known as Preeclampsia. There is no known cause of this disease, but it happens 5-8% in pregnancies. Obvious symptoms of this disease is raised blood pressure. Christine's previous BP readings early on in the pregnancy has been pretty steady and just spiked up recently. Her BP reading was pretty high, measuring at 156/103 last Friday, which alarmed our doctor, Dr. Connie Tan. Dr. Tan immediately took Christine off work and put her on strict bedrest and only gave her bathroom privileges as reason to be up and about. Other symptoms are swollen hands, feet and face, which explains Christine's swolleness in the last month or so. We suspect that this probably started early in June. Luckily, our doctor caught this on before her condition worsened as high BP could cause her to have seizures, which is deadly for mom and baby. The only cure is to deliver the baby, which we don't want to happen yet at her stage in the pregnancy. She is only 28 weeks along her pregnancy, which means that there is 12 more weeks to go until baby is scheduled to arrive. Average weight of babies at this stage in the pregnancies is only 2.5lbs. and approx. 15 inches. Obviously, we want to keep the baby in the womb as long as possible so our doctors decided that it's best for Christine and the baby to stay in the hospital until it's time to deliver. This way they can monitor her and the baby regularly.

So, it looks like El Camino Hospital will be our new home for the next 3 months hopefully! It's now day 3 in the hospital and we're getting accustomed to the routine and environment here. Christine has her own small private room complete with a full bath! It's equipped with a TV, DVD player and internet access! I have managed to set up a little office in the corner of the room too...so I can do some work from the hospital.