Sunday update

We had to start Gavin over again on the 5 day Brady watch. (Boo Hoo) We'll find out Monday or Tuesday what the GENERAL, TENTATIVE plan is for his 5 day count and if they will count the eating bradies. Keep your fingers crossed!!! We are making progress!!!

BRADY FREE ZONE WATCH IS ON!!!!

I have bad news and good news....and even better news.

Here's the bad news-Gavin HAS had several bradies while eating.

Here's the good news-The eating ones are the ones that are not as big of a deal, it's the sleeping ones that they won't let him go home having. He has to be brady free for 5 days. I am assuming that they will let him go home if all he's doing is the eating bradies. Drum roll please......

Here's the even better news-Gavin hasn't had a sleeping brady in 42 HOURS and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no pictures this time, I am still at the McD House and can't download pics. next time!

More pics

Quick update, Gavin is doing fine but still has that annoying habit of forgetting to breathe from time to time. I met with a speech pathologist yesterday to help him with the whole "suck, swallow, breathe" process. The Dr. says it's nothing to be concerned about, and we'll just have to wait and see as far as how soon he'll get coordinated. For those of you that were wondering, he DOES have one dimple! He's now 5 pounds 12 ounces, maybe more by now and is almost 19 inches long. Here are some more pictures....

Saturday 6-21-08

The good news is that Gavin has no more nasal cannula and NO MORE FEEDING TUBE!!!!! He has NO tubes attached to his cute little face any more! The IV you see on his hand in this video was only in for a couple of days. It's been out for a while. So now the only wires connected to him are the leads that measure his heart rate, respiration ect. The bad news is that he "bradyed" again this evening after his 9:00 feeding. I'll have info soon on how much he weighs and how long he is now. He is (and eats like) a growing boy!

Hello from Ronald McDonald House

So I am writing you from Ronald McDonald House. We're in! It's no Hilton, but very nice! So far, I've had a 30 min massage and a free HOME COOKED meal!!!! (Not hospital cafeteria food!!!)

Gavin is doing well, they took out the nasal cannula!!!! He only has ONE wire (NG tube) going in his nose. He"bradyed", dropped his heart rate, once yesterday *boo hoo*. He has to have NO Brady's or Apnea's for 5 days before he can go home. So, I might be here for another 6 days if he turns himself around today. I think that if he keeps doing this they will seek a speech consult. The nurses say that he can't get any A's or B's for a week. I told Gavin that this is the ONLY time I'm gonna say not getting A's and B's is OK.

Oh and Gavin had his first "tub bath" yesterday and I gave it to him!! He actually seemed to like it but got sick of it, or was hungry after a couple minutes and wanted out. A couple times, while screaming, he pushed his feet into the corners of the tub base and pushed himself up like the Hulk or something. His discomfort was hilarious to me!!

He's been doing well with the bottle feeding except for the brady-ing! He ate 95ml yesterday!!!! And now is allowed to eat as much as he wants when it is his feeding time. Last I checked he weighed 5 pounds, 9 ounces! And at first I didn't see it when I looked the other day, but last night he gave me 2 BIG smiles and I think I saw a very faint dimple on the non taped side of his face!!!!

I'm going home tonight (Dave will be here) so I can get some stuff done and I PROMISE, I will upload more photos video etc on his website!!!

Tuesday update 6-17

Gavin had a great day today! They didn't find anything with the cultures so he's off the antibiotics, or will be off tonight or tomorrow. His feet are the requisite pink color and not purple anymore. He didn't have ANY apnea or Brady episodes ALL DAY today (from 7am to 7pm)!!!!!! He drank his WHOLE 6:00 bottle for me and was wide awake afterwards. He was still awake and playing when I had to leave at 7 for the shift change!!! He actually started crying when I put him down. At 3 o'clock today he drank only about 15-20ml, but the nurse said that he drank his whole bottle in the previous feeding. I am on top of the world again!! I should know better than to get my hopes up, but I really hope that he'll turn the corner from here! YEY! I took more video of him with the hiccups, will post it later.
I signed up for Ronald McDonald house to start Thursday night (if there is an opening). Dave tells me that a statue of Ronald himself is in every room. If so, I'm not staying there!!

Father's Day Update

I wish I had better news for those of you pulling for Gavin's speedy return home. He's taken up a new hobby...apnea. Recently, he began scaring the pants off of us by forgetting to breathe. Consequently, his heart rate and SPO2 goes down. The nice people at Children's are trying to figure out what is going on with him, aside from regular premie development. They have done a complete blood count, blood gas test, chest X-ray, blood culture (takes 3 days for results) and a blood protein test (takes 24 hours for results). All of the ones we have results for have come back looking good. They have ruled out anemia, pneumonia, and some infections. While they are waiting for the cultures to come back, they have put him on antibiotics in case he does have an infection. They also will start putting thickener in his milk in case it is the acid reflux that is causing this problem. Making the milk heavier will hopefully keep it down in his tummy. He's still gaining weight-5 pounds 7 ounces and is a real trooper!

We are just so worried and frustrated. I thought things were going so well, it seems like he will never be home. Sorry we don't have a better update for you. Keep him in your prayers and we'll keep you posted!

There will be blood....

Kate showed me how to update this website so it's my turn to bring everyone to speed. Sunday Gavin's SpO2 still hadn't reached the acceptable levels. Again SpO2 basically measures the percentage of oxygen reaching the body's cells. So Gavin had a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. Course as little as the spud is they could've just held him up to a light bulb. The x-ray came back clear so they turned suspected him being anemic. As a result Gavin had a blood transfusion later that night. Kate spent the day there watching over him and later relayed the news to me. Initially it's scary news to think your kid is having a transfusion. I mean what if he now develops a taste for blood? Certainly there will be lots of explaining when the neighbor's dog goes missing. Or what if he's injected with a super blood that enables him to have super powers? Sure that's great if he can fly; especially with the airfare hikes. But what if it's some lame super power like ability to talk to fish? So every time we go to the pet shop my kid has his head in a fish tank speaking guppy. Despite having the risk of a vampire aqua man, he did just fine. By Monday Gavin's color looks pinker which makes his blond hair stand out even more. He's on O2 via nasal cannula (tube that wraps around his face and into his nose) but only at a very low level because his SpO2 seems to have improved. Gavin's appetite also has increased while his table manners decreased due to his habit of drooling when he eats. Finally proof he's mine! Gavin's weight is up to five pounds and four ounces. Granted he has a way to go before he's a defensive linebacker but he's heading in the right direction. Until then he's hanging out with the three other babies in his room talking about the world domination. His Cubs hat and Texas Longhorn hats are in his crib; just in case they need him to fill in for a game. The nurses hung up a couple of pictures they decorated of him. So it's obvious he has them conned.
Thanks again for all of the well wishes from all of you. Every email or call reminds us how lucky we are to have such great people around us. We can't wait for all of you to finally meet this guy when we finally break him out. Oh and if any of you need a ride in sixteen years let us know. I figure to make up for all of this driving we've been doing to visit him, I'm going to tally up the miles. Then when Gav is sixteen he's going to drive us and our friends around until the total is paid back before he gets the car. Course if he drives like me maybe you might want to skip this offer!!!

He eats, he sleeps, he cries

Update 6-8-08

Just a quick update and cute picture from the other day. Gavin is now just under 5 pounds, eating a little through the bottle. They put the nasal cannula back on because he's been having a hard time breathing while eating and sleeping. It's very common and not a huge set back. I'll give him your love when I get there this afternoon!

Oh no!

My parents are WHO????

Baby Cafferkey Update 6/5/08

Hi all,

I thought this website thingy would be an easy way to give you people what you want....updates on Gavin! He is changing and growing every day and (in my opinion) looking cuter each day too.


Today Gavin has only the NG tube(feeding tube thru his nose) helping him out. He has had a few episodes of apnea. These aren't a big deal but of course we want him to grow strong enough that he doesn't have to be reminded to breathe! He is able to get his heartrate back up quickly though. At lunch today, he had 27ml of milk through the bottle (the rest through the NG tube)! His weight is now back up to birthweight; 4 pounds 13 ounces. The ridges on his skull that made him look like an alien are now all smoothed out. He looks and acts like a real baby!