Jacob's Page - December, 1997

Welcome

We would like to take this opportunity to formally announce the birth of our son, Jacob Paul Steblein. Jacob came into this world weighing 4lb 9oz and 17" long on December 24, 1997. His birth came eight weeks earlier than the due date of February 17, 1998.

The Birth

After four hours of labor, Jacob came out with a scream. It was a great sign, but he struggled after that. The neonatologists intubated him, which gave him oxygen directly through a tube from mouth to lungs. They also gave him a surfactant to keep his lungs from collapsing. Jacob experienced very common preemie events. He had a low and irregular heartbeat, respiration, and blood pressure. He was intubated a few days and then breathing on his own again. He did the 'two-steps forward one-step back' thing, which of course, scared us. He needed more help breathing, so they took him out of the oxygen tent, and put him on a nasal CPAP (continuous positive air pathway). The CPAP brings oxygen, through his nose, constant and flowing. Within a few days he was breathing on his own again. He also experienced a bout with Jaundice for several days, and required additional supplementation of sodium, calcium and other electrolytes. At that point, they labeled him predominantly a 'feeder & grower'. He just needed to learn to intake/digest food and gain weight. At first Jacob was given an IV of fluids into his belly button for nutrition. Then, they moved him to a gavage for tube feedings, through his mouth, of breastmilk. After almost two weeks, he was able to breast-feed (quite successfully). Just before his anticipated discharge they identified to us that he had 'apnea of prematurity'. This is a common ailment of preemies. Sometimes it disappears in a few weeks, others months. They determined he should come home on a monitor which alarms if he forgets/has difficulty breathing for greater than 18 seconds. Typically, after an apnea session, they also experience low heart rates. The monitor watches for this too. In addition, he suffers from some low heart rate 'episodes' after eating. That's because he also has, again another common preemie thing, gastrointestinal reflux (GER). After 21 days in the neonatal intensive care, the doctors felt he was strong enough to come home on a monitor.

Homeward Bound

Since his homecoming, January 15, 1998 Jacob continues to feed & grow. He is now 12 weeks actual (4 weeks corrected). He is the size of a typical newborn - 8lbs 8oz's. He has battled four colds since his homecoming, the last one, not so well. However, he now seems to have fought that cold off too. They added a second monitor during this difficult time, but we just discontinued its use. Jacob gets bigger and more handsome each day. At 12 weeks, he still has beautiful blue/violet eyes, dark brown hair, and overall daddy features. He has beautiful hands and long fingers that curl around your finger when touched. He loves to be held. He has just started to smile, with and without coaxing. He is much more alert now, and you would never guess by looking that he was a preemie. With a premature baby you take each step at a time. We don't compare him to other full term babies. We just love on him as much as we can.



Love from all - Paul, Tina Marie, Savannah Marie, and Jacob

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