Jacob Paul Steblein, born 12/24/97 - 10 weeks old!! Approx. 7lbs 4oz's
OK, so mom had trouble getting a good pose! It's hard to get a good picture unless someone is holding me!! Go look at Savannah's page. She's holding me and I think I look much cuter in that picture. Gee, mom didn't even hide one of my monitor wires in this picture!! Personally, I think I am much cuter in person!!
If you like "mushy stuff", then click here -- LOVE, STRESS, & COPING
Jacob Update as of 4/7/98 - Jacob is getting HUGE. He just lost the majority of his hair in the last 24 hours. It's coming out in CLUMPS! He must be near 11 pounds now! His last doctors appointment went well. The doctors have said that he will probably remain on the apnea/heartrate monitor until he his about 8-9 months old. They also indicated that he should NOT be put in any daycare environment for another 3 months. That would put him at about 6.5 months (or 4.5 months corrected) old. That might be tricky with work, since I am not sure how much longer they will continue to let me work from home. Jacob still sleeps 16-20 hours per day, much of the time. On the other days he sleeps only 12-16 hours per day. He is gradually increasing his wakeful periods. He's smiling much more now. He loves to be played with, but he is quite content just sitting and staring at the views. His only tough part is the evenings (usually). He has been pretty colicky, crying on and off, between 4:30pm-6:00pm or 6:00pm-7:30pm. At least it's not constant. Coincidently enough, it's almost always during dinner
Jacob Update as of 3/26/98 - Finally got those birth announcements out! Jacob is now 3 months old (+2 days)!! He is getting bigger and stronger now. He weighed in at 9lbs 8oz's, double his birth weight, at his 3 month pediatric visit. He is still battling a cold, but you can see and hear that he is much stronger now. He coughs with 'umphh'! He smiles pretty regularly, as does a typical newborn at 4-6 weeks old, which gives us great joy on a daily basis. He is starting those energetic kicks, pushes, and movements which will ultimately having him rolling over. The days are going by so fast.
Jacob Update as of 3/14/98 - Just thought I'd let you know that we made it ALL the way through the night without any 'audible' apnea/low heartrate alarms. Audible apnea alarms start when he forgets to breath greater than 18 seconds. In-audible alarms are recorded when he stops breathing for 15-18 seconds. All I know is that any stoppage of breathing does not seem good to me. There may have been some that were not audible, but it's a start. By the way, have I mentioned what an excellent pediatrician we have. Dr. Kessler of Kids Care, in Egg Harbor Township, NJ has the best bedside manner, and has called us every day, since Jacob has been sick, to check on his status and give us test/neo' results. He's wonderful. Jacob slept pretty well from 8:00-1200pm last night, while mommy fell asleep reading to Savannah. We think she misses sleeping near mommy. Since Jacob has been on the extra monitor we have changed sleeping patterns. Mommy and Jacob sleep in one room. Daddy and Savannah in another. Noone sleeps in Jacob/Savannah's crib. What a waste!! But we enjoy each others company. It's extra quality time that working parents can have with their kiddies. By the way, Daddy was commenting today on just how brilliant blue/violet Jacob's eyes are. It would be wonderful if they stayed blue. Savannah has big, beautiful brown eyes, and hers were never this blue as a newborn, so perhaps they might stay blue. (Mine are brown, Paul's are bright hazel) Who knows. Whatever color they turn it is just perfect! Jacob is resting, ok sleeping, laying on my chest. His lungs and sinuses sound clear and he's just beautiful!! We'll try and take some pictures this weekend so you can share in his growth.
Jacob Update as of 3/12/98 - Hi to all --
Thanks to all those that sent encouraging and supportive words about getting through these stressful times. Jacob's cold that sent him on a downward spiral last week is improving. We are, as a friend so kindly stated, 'cautiously optimistic' that his downward turn was a direct result of the cold. Between not having the stamina to fight a cold well, the respiratory distress the mucous was causing, and the pain the sore throat was causing, we think these were the primary causes of the SIGNIFICANT apnea and bradycardia's (A's and B's) he experienced. They were contemplating hospitalization, but thought they would try outpatient monitoring first. The Neo's were very concerned about his oxygen saturation, based on last weeks/weekends monitor downloads, so they brought in a pulse oximeter on Monday. They indicated they wanted to see 95-100
ideally. Since then, the pulse ox is registering 97-100 during awake times, 93-95 during sleep times, and drops into the 80's (80 was recorded once - most are high 80's) during a choking episode. His sinuses are still fairly congested. Fortunately, it does not seem to be in his lungs (hopefully no RSV). The good news is that the choking/A's and B's are happening SIGNIFICANTLY LESS than they were in the last 5 days, about once every 3-4 hours, rather than every 15-30 minutes. It appears it's a very slow, but steady recovery. Thanks again for your inputs. I'll keep you posted.
Jacob Update as of 3/9/98 (con't) - Just after I wrote the message below, I realized I spoke too soon. Jacob had what they call a desat into the low 80's for about 5 seconds, in conjunction with a low heartrate occurance!! Uggh. Just talked with the med. supply company. We are going to do a couple more downloads for a better average. One in 3 hours is better than the other day where they were 1 low heartrate every few minutes though.
Jacob Update as of 3/9/98 - Jacob is still status quo with a cold. He seems ever so marginally better this evening. The low heartrate/apnea's aren't happening with the extreme frequency that they were over the weekend. Wheww! The hospital neonatalogists and pediatrician had a pulse oximeter sent to the house tonight, courtesy of the medical supply company (that should be another wonderful non-covered insurance charge). We hooked this up to the existing monitor so that we can measure the amount of oxygen in his blood. Typically you want a reading 95-100. So far, 2 hours into it, we are seeing readings of 97-100 most often. This is good. If the readings were below 95 we would probably admit Jacob to the hospital for evaluation. Fortunately, from my non-professional opinion, it does not look like we will have to do this. Well, that's it for now. Just so you know, I think he looks quite a bit better, although, after I said that to myself earlier he threw up on me. Enough conjecture for now! Hugs.
Jacob Update as of 3/6/98 - We regret that we don't have uplifting news about Jacob right now. Seems his cold has progressed to the point of causing him extreme discomfort and some health problems. The discomfort is causing him to have periods of apnea and low heartrate, as often as every 15 minutes to half-hour. We think much of it is related to choking on mucous as he tries to decongest. We took him on an emergency visit to the doctor yesterday. The doctor increased his medications (caffeine - heart rate) (propulsid/cissapride - reflux). This seems to have helped just a little bit, but every bit helps. Unfortunately, the doctor could not substantiate our theory on what's making him worse, but did tend to agree that this could be the problem. So, at this point it's a waiting game The visiting nurse just got approval to come a few more times as a result of this episode. So, we are thankful for that. The monitor company said this setback and the increase in medications couild mean Jacob is on the monitor for quite a bit longer (sigh) -- granted they are not doctor's but their experience can be just as valid sometimes. By the way, his weight is up to 7lbs 12oz's. At least we have good news there! Hugs and prayers til next time.
Jacob Update as of 3/1/98 - Jacob is 9 weeks and growing big. The visiting nurse weighed him in at 7lbs 4 oz's on Friday. Additionally, he has really hit that full-term newborn look. It all seemed to start the day after my last post. He seemed to 'awaken' out of his newborn sleepiness. Since then, he has started looking intensely at objects, and even tries to follow them. We now feel comfortable saying he is doing good! The doctor has put him at about 4 weeks corrected age. However, for all intensive purposes, they recommend using his original due date (Feb. 17, 1998), when estimating his age for things like, rolling over, when he can go to daycare, etc. He is sleeping better and longer at night, usually 4 hours rather than 2-3 hours. We put him in his (Savannah's) crib last night, and he slept pretty well in there most of the night (meanwhile, Savannah slept in our room). He is tracking objects a little more now too. About every other day he sleeps a lot, then he's up more the next day. It's pretty cute! And, gives mom a little rest. That's it for now!
Jacob at 10 weeks
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