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LOGAN IS COMING HOME TOMORROW!!!!!!! We are a big mixture of emotions right now...happy, relieved, excited, scared, nervous and just a little sad to leave our wonderful caretakers (aka Logan's girlfriends) behind. He is coming home on nothing at all. No feeding tubes, no oxygen, no monitors! There were a lot of days early on in all of this that we didn't know if this day would ever arrive. We are so very grateful for all of the thoughts and prayers. God works in his own way and his own time. Logan is definitely going to be a handful. He still takes a very long time to eat (about 1 hour to take 3 ounces) and gets fussy during his feed, but he can do it. He just has some problems he needs to outgrow. And even though we could never have received better care than we did, what he needs now is to be home with us since we can provide the care and attention that he so badly needs. He will be 2 months corrected age on Friday, so he is ready to start playing. He is very social! His girlfriends will all miss him (and we will miss them) but we all know it's best for him.
We will keep you updated on his progress, although the updates may be fewer and further apart. We apologize in advance for that! Please continue to pray for Logan as the winter season approaches and we do everything we can to keep him out of the hospital.
Much love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Go Bucks!

Not really a whole lot new to report on Logan. The most exciting thing for both him and Dad was that they got to watch Logan's first OSU/Michigan game this past Saturday. Logan wasn't nearly as interested in it as his dad would have liked, but he did look adorable in his OSU gear(his shirt says "Poop on Michigan" by the way. Sorry uncle Chris!) . And since OSU won, Dad was happy for the rest of the day and that is always good!

Logan is still off his oxygen all the time when resting. He is starting to not need it during feeds either. He really loves life off of the cannula so he gets really upset when we put it in his nose. He is still having a really hard time with his feeds. The volume he takes has gone down over the last few days which has been frustrating to say the least. It is obvious to us that something hurts him when he eats, so it is painful for us to try to feed him because we know he is in pain. We had really hoped that by this point he would be done with pain, and it never gets easier to hear him cry. They started him on medicine for acid reflux, even though his case is mild right now. He is also on medicine for thrush, which is sores in his mouth and throat. We are not convinced that this is the what is causing his pain, but at least we are being proactive about a possible problem. His hernias seem to be a growing problem because they hurt him all the time and he always seems so uncomfortable and unhappy. We are supposed to be talking to the surgeons this week about possibly operating on the hernias in the very near future. If this happens, hopefully he will be more comfortable during feeds and therefore start eating more from his bottle.

Please continue to pray for Logan's feeding and pain - whatever the cause may be. We just want him to be happy and comfortable. And most of all, we want him to come home to us soon.

Love,

Meghann, Lance and Logan

No more oxygen...well, while resting!

Logan was taken off his oxygen today when he is resting! It still gets turned on when he is eating, but the rest of the day, he is breathing room air for the first time in his life. He will be 5 months old (well, 5 months alive anyway!) next week. We are still holding out hope that he will be home for Christmas, especially since it is taking him so long to eat. His eating is the only thing keeping him in the hospital, especially since he is not on oxygen all the time anymore. He is starting to take more out of a bottle, but he is still a long way from taking everything like he needs to. There was some talk about sending him home with a feeding tube, but we are not interested in that at all. It is just not something we feel like we would be able to manage. Logan is defenitely getting much bigger. He is about 6 pounds, 13 ounces and about 18 inches long. He's still short and chubby (well, chubby for Logan!). His rickets have resolved themselves, and the eye doctor thinks is eye disease may be starting to resolve itself as well. Most of his medicines are gone now too, which is nice because he was on so much medication. Logan has definitely started showing even more of his personality lately. He loves his bouncy seat and seems to be all right with his swing (as long as mom and dad aren't there to hold him instead!). He also loves the physical therapist who comes in a few times a week to work with him. He follows things with his eyes and has great head control. He is also starting to explore things with his hands and grab onto a few things. He especially loves to grab onto our clothes and Meghann's hair! He still loves to be read to and really likes listening to his music. The only problem with all of this (other than the eating!) is that because he is doing so well, it is so hard for us to leave him at night. So we have been spending even longer hours there than we were for awhile. We usually get there around 5 and get home about 11. It all makes for a very long, tiring day. But we love being with him so much that it is all worth it. He has been more than worth everything we have been through.

Please continue to pray for Logan's feeding so we can get him home sooner rather than later and really be a family. Bogey is very eager to meet whatever it is that he smells on us every night after we leave him alone for so long! We know he will love his little brother - it is impossible not to!

Love to all of you,

Meghann, Lance and Logan

Step Down Unit

We are officially out of the NICU. Logan was moved to the stepdown unit at Rainbow Babies and Children's on Wednesday. He now has his own room, complete with a bathroom and shower, TV and refrigerator (all for mom and dad of course!). It is a much quieter, calmer environment and he seems to be responding to it very well. He actually sleeps now, which is a change from his sleepless days and nights in the organized chaos of the NICU. He misses his girlfriends of course, but he is making new friends with the new nurses. And his old girls come to visit when they can, so that has helped. Logan is now 5 pounds, 1 ounce. He is actually filling out his preemie clothes, and we think it won't be too long now before he is in the next size up. He is four months old today, and we hope that he doesn't spend too much more time away from us. He has gotten even cuter if that is possible! He now has real fat on his little body - we especially love his chubby cheeks!! In order to come home, he has to be completely off the feeding tube, and we have some work to do before that happens. He takes about 12 mL twice a day, so he is trying. We pray for patience every day. His nutrition is starting to go in the right direction also. His rickets are not as bad as they were, so that is encouraging. He did have to have more laser surgery on his eyes last Saturday. The eye doctor is optimistic, but we will not know anything more about it for awhile. Hopefully we have seen the last of the laser surgery! The new prediction for bringing him home is about 8 weeks, so that would put him home around the beginning of December. We were hoping to have him home for Thanksgiving, but since he has his own room, we will just eat our dinner with him there.

Please continue to pray for Logan. Specifically, that he he does not have to go through any more eye surgery. We are forever grateful for the love and support and continuous prayers.
Love to all of you,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

As we have been promising for awhile, here is a new picture of our little miracle. Logan had a pretty good weekend. He still has his desats (when he drops the oxygen saturation in his blood) and that is what is keeping him in the NICU. We have not been given another date that he might go up to the stepdown unit. We have decided that it is better that way because then we don't get our hopes up, and we will just be that much more excited when he finally does move up. We are still holding out hope that he will be home before Thanksgiving. We have been doing this for a long time, but we constantly remind ourselves that things could be so much worse.

Logan is full term today. Meghann has had a tough time dealing with this being her due date, but we are thankful every day that we have such a wonderful little boy, regardless of the challenges we face. He is up to about 3 pounds and 11 ounces and is now 15 inches long. He has come a long way in 16 weeks. He has grown 5 inches and gained almost 5 times what he weighed! At this rate, he will be playing linebacker for Ohio State by the time he is 10! His nutrition continues to be a big challenge. His bones are still very brittle and every time they try to give him more fluids to increase the amount of calcium and phosphorous in his feeds, the more he holds onto his fluids and then has to be given Lasiks...which then results in him getting rid of all of the supplements he had just gotten. It is a vicious cycle. We have been reassured that we "will get there." He is still trying to eat from a bottle and does pretty well with it considering his size and other problems. Like everything else, this too will just take some time.

We thank everyone so much for all of the prayers. We pray every day that we can continue to be as strong for Logan as he has been for us. It is truly inspiring to watch him fight every day because we don't think that anyone ever told him that he wasn't supposed to live through this. He has given us such a lesson on living in the moment and enjoying every blessing - no matter how small it may seem. We are blessed to have him and blessed to have such an amazing support system. We have been shown an overwhelming amount of love and compassion and we can never say thank you enough.

Love to all of you,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Moving along...slowly

We have decided that Logan just really likes to do things on his own time. He has his own adgenda it seems. He decided he was ready to be born way before it was time, and he has not stopped controlling everything around him! We were told at the beginning of the week that he would be moving to the stepdown unit this week because he is doing so well...but then he decided that he wasn't ready to leave all of his girlfriends down in the NICU and made it so they have now decided not to send him until next week. It is a little disappointing. We are very attached to the nurses in the NICU, but we are also eager to get him home. Everyone in the NICU is not talking about him leaving because they don't want to admit that he's actually going to leave either!
Logan has now been in the NICU for 101 days. Meghann's due date was this Sunday, so we are hoping he will move upstairs around that time. He still has a lot of work to do before he can come home. He is now in an open crib and still in a cannula. He is able to eat a little bit from a bottle (about 8 mL) once a day. Because of his lung issues and small size (still only 3 and 1/2 pounds) he gets really tired when he eats, so it is taking awhile. Patience is a virtue, right? We have been able to put him in the bathtub a few times, so that has been fun. He makes a lot of noise when we do it, but we don't think he really minds. Just likes to hear his own voice! He still likes to be read to and rocked. He really likes his bouncy seat and took a 3 hour nap in it yesterday! And he is now loving to be held. At night, he fusses just so the nurses will pick him up and cuddle with him (which they do of course! We are so lucky to have them). We have a feeling Meghann andLogan will be spending a lot of time in the rocking chair when he gets home... His nutrition is still a major issue for him. His bones are still very brittle, so we get a little nervous about participating in his care. But we still do everything we can with him. It is getting harder and harder to leave every night. He is getting cuter by the day. We promise to get some new pictures up as soon as we can.
As always, please continue to pray for our wonderful little boy. And thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Goodbye SiPAP...Hello Cannula!

Logan was taken off SiPAP and put into a nasal cannula today! This is a huge step because he is now officially breathing all on his own. He is only getting a little bit of oxygen to help him out. He seems to be doing really well on it. The SiPAP squeezed his little head and made his eyes swell, so he is loving his new freedom! He is 3 months old today, and becoming more and more like a real baby. He fussed so badly last night that 2 of the nurses had to hold him and rock him all night. Something for mom and dad to look forward to... He is also using his voice more, so that is something else for us to look forward to! We can't wait for him to come home and keep us up all night!!
Logan now weighs 1500 grams which is about 3 pounds, 5 ounces. It seems like something has just clicked for him. He is still doing a great job maintaining his body temperature and may be in an open crib by the end of the week. We're not in a huge hurry for that to happen, but when it does, we will be able to do more with him.
This past Thursday, Logan had laser surgery on his right eye. He has ROP, which stands for Retinopathy of Prematurity. This means that the vessels around his retina are forming abnormally. The laser surgery fixed these abnormal vessels so that he should not have any problems with his vision. We don't know for sure if he will have to have the same surgery on his left eye or not. We are going to assume that he will have to have the left eye done too since he seems to be getting everything a "normal preemie" gets. He also now has some kidney stones because of the high levels of calcium he has been getting for his brittle bones. The good thing is that kidney stones in babies are not like they are in adults in that he will not have to pass them like an adult does. They should dissolve on their own as he grows.
Overall, Logan seems to be doing very well. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful baby and fantastic support system. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of the love and prayers. Please keep them coming!
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

A Kilogram!

We have to apologize again for not being as good about our updates as we try to be. Life just gets so hectic! Especially since we can now say that Logan is doing really well and we are spending even more time at the hospital.
Logan hit a kilogram on Lance's birthday (Wednesday, August 29). He is now about 1100 grams which is about 2 and a half pounds. He is still on the CPAP and is doing even better with it. We think that he will be off it altogether within a few weeks. The broviac (the line in his chest) was taken out last week because it had caused an infection. So right now he is on antibiotics for that infection. But other than that, he has not had too many bad days. He did have to get another transfusion (number 15 we think...we've lost count!) last week because he was anemic and having a harder time breathing on his own. He stopped breathing a few times, and we think he was just checking to make sure Mom's tear ducts still worked. He just wanted to make sure he could still upset her enough to make her cry (which he certiainly did!) But the blood really helped out and he was much better the next day. Logan is now stable enough that we can hold him every day. And we don't just have to kangaroo with him, we are actually able to hold him like a real baby! And he is wearing clothes! He has a bunch of preemie clothes that we bought him, and even though they are WAY too big on him still, he looks really cute in them. We were able to hold him yesterday and today for about 4 hours each day. The only bad thing about that is that it is now harder than ever for us to leave at the end of the day. He is just so darn cute! He is starting to really get even more of a personality. Now that he doesn't have the ventilator down his throat, he smiles all the time. He loves when daddy talks to him, and that is when he seems to grin the most. He also likes to smile at the pretty young nurses who take care of him. He has more girlfriends than he can count. Every nurse who has him is absolutely smitten with him. As are we (and he'll get all of you too when he meets you!) The other big step forward he has taken is that he is no longer in an incubator that keeps him warm. He is being weaned off of that and is being challanged to maintain his own temperature. If he is able to do so while still growing and breathing on his own, he could be in an open crib soon. We are still looking at the beginning of November as a possible time to bring him home.
Thank you all so much for the love and prayers. The miracles we have witnessed take our breath away. Our little boy is such a blessing to us and is really the highlight of every day. Even the bad days no longer seem so bad because we love him more and more every day. We have made friends with another couple in the NICU and if you are praying for Logan anyway, maybe you could say a prayer for their little boys. They have twins who are about Logan's age and are having a tough time with their respiratory status. We know they would appreciate the prayers just as much as we have.
We promise to be more diligent with our updates!
All of our love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

2 Months Old

We apologize again for not being as timely with our updates as we try to be. Things get crazy, and Logan definitely puts us through a lot on a daily basis!
Anyway, Logan turned 2 months old on Thursday. We would like to tell you that he is also over 2 pounds...but he is still working toward that goal. He is about 852 grams or 1 pound 14 ounces. He is about 13 and 1/2 inches long, so at least he is growing. Slowly, but he is growing. He is also still off the ventilator. He has been off the vent for 10 days and about 8 hours. We know that because of his size, there is still the possibility he could go back on the vent, but we are praying every day that he doesn't. He is still getting 10.5 mL every 2 hours. His breastmilk is now fortified with Vitamin D, Potassium, Calcium, Phosphorous and a Human Milk Fortifier. It looks similar to the consistency of a strawberry milkshake. We were told on Saturday that he is so low in phosphorous that the calcium is getting drawn out of his bones and he is now at an elevated risk of rickets which is (we think) when the bones become brittle. So everyone has to be much more careful with him so his bones don't fracture. Hopefully his phosphorous levels will start to come up so we don't have to worry about that anymore. He is starting to get his voice. We feel bad because we like tol hear him cry so we always listen to how cute he sounds and let the nurses worry about what's wrong with him! That will have to change when he comes home, but for now, we just appreciate that he has a voice.
Please keep up the prayers. We are amazed every day at what the prayers and love have been able to do for our little boy.
Love to all of you,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Back off the Vent!

Logan got his second try on the SiPAP today. He was scheduled to be extubated yesterday, but he had an eye test that was pretty traumatic for him so they decided to wait again. So far, he is doing well off the vent. We try not to get our hopes up too high, but it is encouraging and we hang onto every good day we get. We really hope that we have seen the last of the ventilator. He is also off his IV fluids and is getting all of his nutrition from his feeds - 8.5 mL every 2 hours. Mom's milk is fortified and also has potassium and sodium added to it. His incubator area in the nursery looks so different without all the equipment around it. We like it! Now it just needs to stay that way... We also got the results back from the labs they drew looking for infection, and there is not one right now. They thought he might have had an infection because his white blood cells were up. But so far, so good on the front.
Our major concern right now is keeping Logan on the SiPAP and off the vent. Your prayers are, as always, very much appreciated.
Much love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Logan is getting another shot at life off the ventilator. They are looking at extubating him tomorrow (after 3 days of trying to decide). He is on the lowest settings he can be on his vent and the tube seems to be causing a lot of problems for him. The nurses think it is gagging him and causing him to drop his oxygen saturation and heart rate more than normal. We will see when he gets onto the SiPAP. He got another blood transfusion today - number 13. We're hoping that is the last one as he will be able to start getting a drug to help his body create its own blood. He is also getting checked out for infection again because his white blood cell count was high again. Hopefully he is still infection-free! A second eye test is planned for tomorrow morning. It probaly won't show anything yet, but they will do the tests weekly until they are able to see something (or nothing if we are lucky!). He is up to 8 mL on is feedings which is the most they can feed him until he gains some weight. As of Monday night, he was down to 780 grams or about 1 pound 11 ounces. Gaining weight is really his biggest challenge. He's good at eating and cuddling...it's everything else that is hard for him! Mom got to hold him again last night for about 3 hours. He does amazingly well while kangarooing - and it is good for Mom's spirits as well!
For now, we could use the extra prayers that we have seen the last of the ventilator. That would be one big obstacle out of little Logan's way.
Thanks for the love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Logan is back on the ventilator. By Monday night, he was just too tired to continue breathing on his own. Although we were disappointed, he did make it off the ventilator much longer than anyone thought he would. And even though the vent is causing quite a bit of lung damage, he needs to be on it so he can grow. Right now, the most important thing is that he grows because he is still so very small (about 1 pound 9 ounces) for being 31 weeks gestational age. And when he is off the vent he uses all of his energy and calories breathing and not growing. So for now he just needs to eat, sleep and grow. We told him that this is the only time in his life when everyone will tell him to eat as much as he can, sleep all day and gain weight! He had is first eye test today. His eyes are still too small to be able to see anything so he will get eye tests every week for the next few weeks. We're really hoping that the eye tests don't show anything and that will be one less thing to worry about for once. Dad got to hold Logan for the second time today. The two of them took a nap together and seemed to enjoy themselves very much. Logan just loves to cuddle! Logan is also almost back up to full feeds (7 mL every 2 hours) so he is getting almost all of his nutrition from his breastmilk (along with a few supplements they will add).
Meghann started back to work this week. Although she is getting worn out from getting up and going every day, she has said that she needs a distraction from everything that has been happening. Plus she needs to be able to take time off when Logan is able to come home.
As always, thanks for the continued prayers and love. Keep them coming!
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Off the Ventilator!!!

Logan was extubated on Friday afternoon! We are SO excited! He was put on SiPAP which helps him keep the pressure in his lungs and also helps with his oxygen. But he is now doing all the breathing on his own which is a huge step. He seems to be doing pretty well with it so far, although he wasn't too sure about the mask at first because it covers part of his face. But the tube is out of his throat and that is what we care about. The ventilator did damage parts of his lungs and have caused them to collapse a little, so he is not out of the woods yet. There is a chance he could be reintubated within a few days to a week. But if he makes it 7 days, he shouldn't have to go back on the vent. We keep our fingers crossed that he will continue to do well. The biggest concern now is that he needs to gain weight He lost about 120 grams when he was sick and following his surgery, so he really needs to put some back on. He is eating again and is getting 4 mL every 2 hours. His urine output is still not as good as they would like it to be which is a continuing concern. They give his diuretics pretty often, but the ones they give him can cause some hearing problems with long-term, continuous use. Mom got to kangaroo with him again today (she's having a hard time sharing with dad!). And we got to see his whole face with no tape or tubes or anything. He is SO cute. We'll get some new pictures up soon.
Please continue praying for our little boy. We are so thankful for the good days we have had lately, but we know we have a long way to go.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Doing better...

Logan is recovering from his surgery very well. He had a tough time on Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. His blood pressure was low and his heart rate was high. And he had stopped peeing again. But a remarkable thing happened last night that no one could stop talking about today: he was runnning everyone at the hospital to death...until Mom and Dad showed up and started talking to him. The nurses said you could see on his chart that as soon as we got there, he turned the corner and made a BIG improvement. So much so that they are thinking of extubating him this weekend and letting him come out and play with Mom! We are so excited and relieved. He hadn't been moving much from all the anesthesia and pain killers, but he was up to his old tricks again today - hitting the nurses when they poked at him and kicking Mom when she changed his diaper. His blood pressure is right about where it should be, his heart rate is back down and he is peeing a lot. He is off the antibiotics and Dopamine that he had been on and was very alert all day. He was so alert that we actually left earlier than we had planned so he would get some rest! We try not to get too excited because things change so quickly, but we can't help being very hopeful right now. We have to cling to whatever hope we can right now because there are a lot of hopeless days. We keep praying and know that God will take care of our little miracle.
Thank you so much for the love and support and continued prayers.
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Surgery

Logan had his PDA (the duct in his heart) operated on today. We know we said we would let everyone know the date when we knew, but it kind of got sprung on us yesterday and it happened today at about 1:30. We got to be with him right up until the surgery started and it was a relatively short period of time before we got to see him again. The surgery went well. He didn't lose much blood and they did not have to put a chest tube in him. Those were our 2 biggest concerns. It was hard to see him after the surgery because he is usually so active and he was not moving at all due to the anesthesia and painkillers. It will probably be about 24 hours before he starts moving again. The next 48 hours are the most critical. His vent settings have already gone way up because he just isn't able to do the breathing work right now. The doctors say that usually within 48 hours, babies start to turn the corner and get better. We are praying really hard that this is the case with Logan. He's a tough little boy and was strong when they did the surgery, so we have faith that he will do well. We will let everyone know when we know more about how he is doing. Now that we have fixed this problem, we are hoping that we can move forward and maybe get Logan off the ventilator. And we hope that this is the last surgery our little boy will have to have for a very long time.
Please say a few extra prayers for Logan over the next 2 days as he tries to fight his way back and make forward progress.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Kangarooing

Meghann got to kangaroo with Logan again tonight for almost 3 hours. He would have laid with her all day if she hadn't had to get up and go to the bathroom! Lance also got to hold him on Monday afternoon for about an hour. We have found out that Logan really likes to cuddle which we are pretty happy about. He gets as close to us as possible when we hold him and just kind of sticks to us. He loves it. We'll put pictures on here soon.
The good news is that Logan seems to be doing pretty well on his vent settings today. He did really well when he was kangarooing. He's also up to 5.5 mL every 2 hours and he's doing great with his feeds. He is just so darn cute and is still moving all over the place all the time. The bad news is that the hole in his heart didn't close with the last dose of medicine and is actually bigger than the doctors realized. So it has been decided that early next week, they will have to surgically close the duct. Although it is definitely a scary prospect for us and is not what we wanted at all, it will end up being better for Logan. He will be able to get of the ventilator finally and will start growing better. The bad thing is that it is surgery so he will be heavily sedated and on pain medicine, and he is still very small so the surgery is somewhat risky. And he will most likely have 3 or 4 really bad days after the surgery. But usually, babies turn around after a few days and improve relatively quickly. And the surgery is being done by the one of the best cardiac surgeons at Rainbows who comes very highly recommended by Logan's doctors. We will know more about when the surgery will happen after tomorrow. We will let everyone know when we have a date for the surgery. The other bad thing from today is that he was weighed on a more accurate scale and we found out that he is not as big as we thought. He is only 653 grams (1 pound 7 ounces). The nurses say that the scale in the bed was not as accurate because of everything else in the incubator with him. This time, he was out of his incubator. He'll be weighed again on Sunday, so hopefully he puts on some weight before then.
So Logan obviously needs a few extra prayers for the next few days, and we appreciate any extra love you could send his way. Thanks (as always) for the prayers and support.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

One Month Old!

We apologize for not putting out any new updates lately as our computer was having some issues. Anyway, Logan seems to be doing pretty well. According to his primary neonatologist, right now we just need to focus on him growing (kind of like a plant - one of the respiratory nurses has nicknamed him "Sprout"). As of last night, he was about 710 grams (about 1 pound and 9 ounces) and is 13 inches long. He is now stable enough that Meghann has been able to kangaroo with him twice. Kangarooing is similar to holding him except that it is skin-to-skin contact. So Logan lays in only his diaper on Meghann's chest and is covered up by blankets. He seems to LOVE being back with Mom and all of his vitals do better than ever when he is. Meghann absolutely loves holding him, to say the very least. The hard part is that he can only be held maybe every third day (although it is looking more like once a week) so it is hard to wait in between times. Lance will get to kangaroo with him for the first time on either Tuesday or Wednesday if he is stable. As for his health, he went up on his ventilator settings at the end of last week, but he has been able to start bringing them back down. The nurses can still hear his heart murmur, but the doctors have decided to not do anything with it unless it starts causing other problems. His kidneys were having a hard time last week as well and he was pretty swollen for about 3 days, but he has been able to turn that around too and has lost the puffiness. He is now eating 3.5 mL every 2 hours, which means he's up to about 1 ounce a day. Luckily, Mom is producing more than enough for now! Logan is definitely still as feisty as ever. He sure lets the nurses know it when he is unhappy! But they all still love him and fight over who gets to take care of him. He now has 2 primary care nurses, 1 primary neonatologist, 3 secondary nurses and about 15 other nurses who take care of him regularly, not to mention the receptionists and other nurses who just check on him and talk to him every day. He's never lonely... One nurse told us that she is surprised there haven't been fistfights over who gets to have him! It makes us very happy to know that he is so well loved there. It makes it a litte easier to leave at the end of the day. They are all really pulling for him and more than one has told us that they are praying for him. As hard as it is to be far from our families, the people at Rainbows have made it a little easier because they are so good to him. We got to see him without all the tape on his face too, and although we are a little biased, we must say that he is a beautiful little boy.
As always, we appreciate the continued prayers for our little guy. The power of prayer is an amazing thing to witness. We are truly blessed to have so many people praying for us.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Logan is 16 days old today! We had originally been told that if he made it past the first 2 weeks he would most likely make it. We know we have a very long journey ahead of us, but we are grateful to be past one milestone.
This weekend was a pretty big one for little Logan. He had a broviac put in on Saturday afternoon. The broviac is a long-term IV that took the place of the line that had originally been put in his belly button. This line had to be put in because his veins are just too small for the picc line that was attempted twice. The line will be used for giving Logan medicine and fluids, and is the best alternative to him having to be poked all the time with temporary IVs. Logan did great during the surgery - no problems at all. The looks of it scared Mom and Dad quite a bit, but he was feisty as ever yesterday! For the first time, he had a nurse we didn't care much for. But he gave her a hard time all day by constantly setting off his alarms, so we were proud of him for that : ) Logan also received the last of his medication for the hole in his heart. He has a chest ultrasound on it today to see if the hole closed or not. If it didn't, we are likely looking at a second surgical procedure. It breaks our hearts to think that he will have had 2 surgeries before he is 3 weeks old, but it will most likely have to happen to prevent other potential heart and lung issues.
Overall though, he did have a good weekend. He got his first feeding of breastmilk yesterday! A whole 1/2 mL, which is about 2 drops. Hopefully he tolerated it well. He also put on some weight. As of yesterday morning, he was weighing in at 530 grams! That's a whole 100 grams over his birth weight! He now is about 1 pound 3 ounces! Now that he's eating, we're hoping he will continue to put on the weight. We're pretty confident that he will like eating as much as his dad does : )
Please continue to pray for Logan as we enter another week of uncertainity.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Logan is having another good day today. He has had 3 good days in a row which makes life that much easier for right now. They tried yesterday to put in his pick line, but it didn't go in. So the only option left is a surgical procedure which they will perform tomorrow morning. He will be getting what is called a broviac, which is an IV line that will be inserted in a vein on the left side of his chest. This line has to be put in because the IV that is in his bellybutton was only supposed to be in there for about a week and tomorrow will be 2 weeks so the risk of infection gets higher every day. As nervous as we are about the broviac being put in, the surgeon at the hospital does not seem terribly worried about it and told us that it is a relatively common procedure. He will not be completely sedated, but they will have to give him some medicine through his IV for the pain. It breaks our hearts to know that he is already having a painful procedure performed, but we also know that it is the best thing for him right now. The broviac will allow the nurses to give Logan his nutrients and draw blood easier. Logan is also getting medicine to close the hole in his heart. He was given the first dose last night and will receive doses tonight and tomorrow night. Assuming he continues to pee and his platelet count does not drop, he will receive all three doses and will have an ultrasound on his heart on Monday. If the ultrasound shows that the hole is closed, they can begin feeding him on Monday and possibly take him off the venthilator.
This is a big weekend for Logan, so please say a few extra prayers for him.
Love, Meghann, Lance and Logan

Logan opened his other eye last night! We thought he was cute before, but those blue eyes just melted our hearts. He is just adorable. He had a pretty good day today. They did not attempt to put in his pick line and are waiting until tomorrow. So we are still on edge about that. But he did pee a number of times and is back off his dopamine. The number of breaths the vent is giving him is still high, but it has come down since yesterday. And he now weighs 460 grams! Some of that might be water weight since his is still not eating, but it still means that he is over his birth weight (430 grams) and we think he is now a few grams over a pound! One of his nurses swears he gained weight in his thighs. He did look great today. His skin was very pink and he seemed to be resting peacfully for the most part.
Meghann had her blood pressure checked today and it was good. It looks like the high blood pressure might have just been pregnancy induced, and she will end up with no problems except some soreness from the c-section.
Keep sending the prayers Logan's way as we head into another uncertain day tomorrow. And especially pray for the pick line to go in without too many problems.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Now that we are finally hooked up to the Internet at home, we are able to start giving everyone updates on Logan's progress and Meghann's health. Logan is settled into his (temporary) home at the NICU in Rainbow Babies and Children's hospital here in Cleveland. He is "critically stable" after having started life on the rather small side. His gestational age when he was born was 24 weeks and 6 days, but he was the size of a 22 weeker due to the HELLP syndrome that Meghann had (more about that later). So he came into the world weighing a whole 15 ounces (or 430 grams). He was 10 and 1/4 inches long, and he is a feisty one. The nurses at the NICU just love him and have said that he is the smallest baby they have ever had there. He's already leaving his legacy... He seems to have more of his dad's personality because he fights with the nurses all day long, but he is also very active and stubborn like his mom (who won't sit still even though she just had major surgery). He is a beautiful little boy - perfectly formed just very very tiny. Mom and Dad are in love, and Logan already has them right where he wants them - wrapped around his tiny finger. As far as his progress up to this point, he is about 20 grams away from his birth weight. After birth, he dropped to about 12.5 ounces (or 360 grams) which was pretty scary. Right now, his kidneys are not working as well as we would like, so he is on dopamine to get him peeing more. We never thought we would be so happy to have our baby pee, but we actually cried when he did! He also has a hole in his heart which is one of our biggest concerns right now. All babies have the same hole, but it closes when they take their first breath. Because of his size, it is not going to close on its own, so it looks like they will most likely have to operate at some point in the near future. Our other major concern right now is that Logan needs to get his IV line out of his belly and have a pick line put in. They attempted to put it in yesterday, but because his veins are so tiny, they weren't able to get it in. We are praying they will be able to get it in tomorrow because if not, it would require a surgical procedure and the line would be in his chest. So please pray that the pick line goes in and we have one less thing to worry about (for the day anyway). He did open his left eye on Saturday, so that was a big step. His right is still closed, but he's trying to open it! He is on a venthilator still and was only off of it for about 28 hours right after he was born. Right now, the vent is giving him about 4o breaths per minute which is a little high, but his oxygenation is good and his other vent settings are relatively low. He is not eating yet, but hopefully by Monday they will be able to start feeding him a little. For now, we really live our lives one 12 hour shift (that's when his nurses change) at a time, call and bother the nurses a lot, and say lots of prayers.
As for Meghann, she has been through a lot but is pretty stable. Her blood pressure was still high when she came home, but she is on medication and will have it checked tomorrow. Meghann had what is called HELLP syndrome which is the most severe form of preeclampsia. Pretty much, her blood pressure skyrocketed which put her at risk for seizures. At the same time, her liver enzymes were dangerously high and her platelet count was dangerously low. Meghann did her best to hold on for as long as she could, but to save her life, Logan had to be taken last Saturday night. By the time the decision was made to deliver him, Meghann was at the point where her red blood cells were breaking down and there was a possibility that her blood would not clot during the c-section. The c-section ended up going well, and both Meghann and Logan made it out which we are so grateful for. Meghann is recovering at home for the next few weeks, and is being as stubborn as ever. Although she can't drive for awhile, she spends as much time as she can at the hospital with little Logan. She is trying to pump so Logan can have breastmilk when they are able to feed him. It is taking awhile for the milk to come in partially because of Logan being so early and partially because of the toll the HELLP put on her system. But she's trying her hardest and isn't giving up!
We want to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for the support and love we have received. We didn't realize just how much people cared about us until all of this happened. Everyone has been amazing. We could not ask for better family or friends. All we ask is that you continue to pray for little Logan during the next few months. It is going to be a long hard road and your love and prayers mean more than we could ever tell you. Thank you again.
Love,
Meghann, Lance and Logan

Our Baby Boy is here!

Logan Anthony arrived this afternoon at University Hospital in Cleveland. Although he came much earlier than we had planned we are so excited (and nervous) he is here!

We are going to be using this blog to keep all of you updated on his progress and his growth, as well as how Meghann's health is improving!

Thanks for reading! Watch for pictures and information soon!