Thursday, January 15, 2015

Finally an update

Hello all!! Yeah, probably not many people even checking my blog anymore and I don't blame you! That's okay though because it's as much about documenting my life as it is anything else. And what a crazy life it has become!!

Last night, for the first time since coming home December 18th, Thomas slept for over 5 hours!  That means LL slept for over 5 hours!! And so did I!! Outstanding. What led to this change? Well, Thomas has had some reflux unlike anything we ever had with Marissa, so we called in our lactation consultant on Monday. She worked with LL to adjust the feeding angle and help change our feeding schedules.  He seems to be adapting well and we hope the reflux and throat clearing will be greatly reduced if not gone soon.  Sleeping for 5 hours was certainly a great start!!

The 11th, 4 days ago, was LL's original due date, so he should just be getting home now and he's already been here five weeks!!!

Here's the little guy on his 1 month birthday. Love him!!

"In case you were wondering, I'm one!"

Can't forget about Marissa. She's so freaking adorable and seems to get more so every day. I genuinely miss her if I don't see her during the day or get to put her to bed. I've come a long way in 2 years!! Tonight we Skyped with my folks and Bee because Marissa asked to do it. She's great, running around, screeching, laughing...just generally being awesome. Bee gave her a set of zoo animals, one for each letter of the alphabet, and not only does Marissa know them all, she can put them on the correct letter. She's 4 days past 22 months and has been able to do this for at least 2 weeks. So smart!!!




She loves to stand on this tower while I cook and "help". I let her scoop stuff or place things on the cutting board or generally do whatever she can to help. It's so sweet!



Briefly, some whack job muslim brothers took umbridge with the French satirical paper, Charlie Hebdo, and decided to storm their way in killing 17 people including the editor and much of the writing staff as well as two police officers. Pretty crazy, but fortunately they were killed the next day. Hoping this doesn't blow up into something bigger, but these extremists need to be hunted down and removed from society. No place for them in my world.


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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Facebook Redux Part Deux

To catch you up since Sunday!

Joe Sutton
December 14 at 9:09pm · Chicago, IL · 
Sunday update on Thomas Donald: so after the great night Friday and promising start on Saturday, TD had a little set back in the afternoon. He threw up a little after the 2:00 feeding (in part because they upped his milk volume to 45 cc's) and had to go back on the cannula, though at the lowest level. The 5:00 feeding went much better and he breast fed for 15 minutes or so. This morning he had another great feeding (20 minutes) and was handling 45 cc's well. The thought is that tomorrow they will take him off the cannula again and move him to the less supervised portion of the NICU since he's doing so well. It's the last stop before coming home!!
Like ·  · 


Joe Sutton
December 15 at 5:08pm · Chicago, IL · 
The stalking continues.

Joe Sutton
December 16 at 12:17am · Chicago, IL · 
Thanks to my boyz Gar Bowlin and Doug Punke) for co-hosting a tailgate for me this week! Outstanding job and much appreciated. I tell you, no matter how much money you have, there's no replacing good friends. I also got many congratulations and much love from: Andy Koeppel, Ben Bonnell, Ryan Mendenhall, Nick Alena, Nick Thompson, Stephen Fedor, and Jim Spinozzi. So good to see you all. When the Bears suck, it's worth going just to party with you guys.

Joe Sutton
December 16 at 1:22pm · Chicago, IL · 
Thomas says, "Notice anything new?" No tubes. No air or feeding tubes today!! Feeding are either by bottle or boob and he's on his own for air. Big day again!!!


Joe Sutton
22 hrs · 
So lots of news today: Jay Cutler is benched in favor of a 1-9 starting QB. Wait, the REAL news is that Thomas is doing VERY well and will come home tomorrow (Thursday) unless he has a sudden drop in weight for some reason. Needless to say, we are pretty psyched!! I'm going over to the hospital for his next bottle feeding tonight and maybe, if you're good, I'll take and post a picture.


Joe Sutton
7 hrs · 
Bringing home Thomas today. Very excited!!
 — with Laura Caisley Sutton atNorthwestern - Prentice Women's Hospital.

Our stay in 1084-E of Prentice is over!

Joe Sutton
2 hrs · Chicago, IL · 
Young Thomas is home!
 — with Laura Caisley Sutton.


 Caisley Sutton is with Joe Sutton.
1 hr · 


Today we got to bring home our early Christmas present, Thomas Donald Sutton. We feel extremely blessed! We can't wait to introduce him to his big sister for the first time when she wakes up from her nap. Thanks for all the prayers and support while Thomas was in the NICU.
 — with Mary Parsons Caisley and Joe Sutton.



And that's where we are! Marissa loves him very much, we can tell. She calls him "baby Thomas" and "Little One" and loves to try changing him and wants him to be happy. It's very, very cute!!


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Sunday, December 14, 2014

Facebook Redux

I've been updating my Facebook page with all sorts of good info on our NEW SON!! Yep, 5 weeks early. So here are my posts:

December 7:
Well, I hope this is false labor, but at 35 weeks, the little fella may be coming!

— with Laura Caisley Sutton at Northwestern - Prentice Women's Hospital.



December 8
Joe Sutton
December 8 at 8:47am · Chicago, IL ·
Proud papa!!!


Joe Sutton
December 8 at 10:14am · Chicago, IL ·
Minor set back with the little fella. His oxygen levels were low so he's been moved to the NICU for some saturation. Too early to tell if there are any serious issues. 
At this point we didn't know the extent of his issues. Turns out his lungs needed some help for a few days at least and they had to make sure there was no infection.

  • So the intubation and application of medicine helped a great deal and his oxygen level is at 21%, that of normal 
  • air. A great first step. Need to keep it there over the next 24 hours.


Joe Sutton 
His blood gas and blood sugar levels are good and they reduced the air pressure pushing into his lungs again. He's 

responding really, really well. Laura and I are able to go see and touch him, though we can't pick him up yet. If he continues

 at this pace then they may only intubate him for 12 hours instead of 24. All the prayers and good thoughts (and medicine) 

are working!! Thanks!

December 8 at 2:38pm · Like · 30

Joe Sutton
December 9 at 10:12am · Chicago, IL ·

So no update yet on our little fella. Actually I have SOME info, but want to wait until the morning doctor rounds to provide more info.


Joe Sutton
December 9 at 12:24pm · Chicago, IL ·
Alright, here's the latest: our big guy was ex-tubated! So he had a tube going down his throat to his lungs so medicine could be put down there to help him breathe. He only needed the one dose but they keep the tube in for 24 hours in case he needs some a second dose. No need! He's breathing fine and now is much more comfortable. ETA on coming home is still probably the end of the week depending on eating and such. The doctor specified he is NOT a sick baby, just early. So a very good doc visit!

Joe Sutton
December 9 at 3:49pm · Chicago, IL ·

We have a name! T.D. Sutton. Thomas Donald. My father and Laura's fathers names.



Joe Sutton
December 10 at 11:01am · Chicago, IL ·

The latest on TD: looks great and is more and more responsive to stimulus. Loves the skin to skin contact with his parents. Breathing a bit fast still. They are upping his food intake today, possibly twice. Deciding in the next hour if he has to stay at least 5 more days or not. If he needs antibiotics because of a concern over pneumonia, then he'll be on them for another 5 days which means he's here at least that long. If they decide pneumonia is not the reason he's breathing fast, then he'll be able to come home sooner if his breathing slows to a normal range.


  • So the doc checked in after looking at Tommy's x-rays. She can't for sure determine if the lungs look as they do 
  • because of pneumonia or because he was born early. As such, to be safe, she's going to put him on the 7 day 
  • antibiotic pac, which means another 5 days in the NICU. The only downside is that if he turns out to be happy and 
  • healthy two days from now, we won't be able to take him home until the 5th day. We felt it's probably the right move, 
  • despite our desire to hold him and hug him all day at home.

Joe Sutton
December 11 at 3:57pm · Chicago, IL ·
Today's update from the NICU: Thomas Donald had a good night and a good day as well. His food intake was increased and his breathing support was reduced. Two wins in one day!! Mama and granny were here for a good chunk of the day and I'm going to hold him for about an hour or so until it's feeding time. Speaking of which, many thanks to Joisey Ken and Dawn Hancock for buying us dinner tonight (from Sappori Tratoria) as we have no groceries in the house right now and Marissa has to catch her meals.
Joe Sutton
December 12 at 11:10am · 

Status update for TD on Friday: he had another good night and his feeds are being increased to 30ccs, double yesterday morning's level. Apparently he is hungry and somewhat agitated when he wakes up because he wants more food....a very good sign! As for breathing, he's been reduced to a high flow nasal cannula, another reduction in air support. He's starting at 4 liters of air flow and when he gets to 2 liters, he can start breast feeding. So all positive news to start the weekend!! Thanks for everyone's well wishes, good thoughts and prayers.

Joe Sutton
December 12 at 10:12pm · 
Christmas tree a week after purchase. Such is our hectic life right now!
Joe Sutton
Yesterday at 10:23am · Chicago, IL · Edited · 

Saturday update for TD: another great night! His OG tube was replaced with an NG tube and if you know what that means and are not a nurse, stop getting sick so much!! Basically a really thin tube to release air from the stomach and is used for feeding was moved from his mouth to his nose and is much more comfortable. Feedings are going up 33% and the really big news: taking off the cannula today! Yep, going to give the lungs a shot on their own. Big day for the little fella!!


So that catches you up to yesterday!!


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