Birth - May 21, 2011

5/11
Ricky Lee Collins III "Tripp" was born at 10:55 am via csection at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.  He was 11 lbs 0.3 oz and 22 inches long.  Shortly after being born, the staff decided that while I would go into the recovery room that Tripp would have to go down to the newborn nursery because he wasn't breathing as well as they would have liked to be monitored.  They said that this would only be for a short amount of time but he would be ok.  Little did we know that he would be soon be sent upstairs to the NICU and diagnosed with Pierre Robins Syndrome, which has caused him to have a cleft palate and a recessed chin--this is his main problem because it causes his tongue to block his airway so he is not able to breathe. 
5/12-5/15
Tripp remained in the nicu at Roanoke Memorial.  Here he was monitored.  Each doctor that saw him here recommended that he should have a trach. to open up his airway so we would be able to bring him home, opening up his airway would be the only way we could bring him home.  However, in these few days we had also done our own research and found that their were other ways to treat his condition that our hospital did not offer.  After talking about these with Tripp's attending doctor he did some research for us on hospitals in the area that offered the 2 treatments.  He had found out between sat. and sun. that wake forest and uva both offered the tongue lip adhesion however, wake forest also offered the jaw extraction it was unclear whether they did the jaw extraction at UVA as well but we decided then since we weren't sure which one Tripp would need that if Wake Forest could come and get him that day that we would go ahead and transfer him there and if they couldn't then monday morning we would see if UVA could do both as well and then chose between the 2.  It turns out that Wake Forest could come and get him and that night he was flown to Brenners Children Hospital while we drove behind him. 
5/16
At this point plastics had decided that they would be observing Tripp for a day or 2 to decide which if any operation that he would need.  This in itself was frustration because we have already waited 5 days at the previous hospital and we know that unless he is on his stomach he is not able to breathe. 
5/17
We talk with the plastics attending again tues. evening and he has decided that Tripp's condition is not severe enough for the jaw extraction, but he does need the tongue lip adhesion and this should open up his airway.  This surgery is also less invasive so he likes to try this option first, but if it does not work then we would see about the jaw extraction.  He scheduled his surgery for friday morning. 
5/18
Tripp saw a speech therapist and drank 4ml out of a Haberman Bottle.  This is a special bottle that doesn't require the baby to suck as hard, which he is not able to because of his cleft palate they say it would be like using a vaccum with a hole in it, you still have some suction but it isnt as strong.  I also refer to this as his "cadillac" bottle, because if bottles were cars it would compare to the price of a cadillac.
5/19
Tripp drank 10 ml from his cadillac bottle :).  However, after this he had a little tummy trouble, spit up some and also had a hard time breathing and keeping his oxygen rate up.  After this happened doctors thought it would be best to hold off on the bottle further until after his surgery. 
5/20
He became NPO at midnight, which makes a very fussy 11 lb newborn, but also necessary for his surgery the next morning.  Tripp had his tongue lip adhesion and had no complications during the surgery except it was hard for them to get a secure IV.  Because of this they just decided to place a central line in his groin.  After his surgery he was very swollen from the surgery and all of the IV fluids that he had recieved.  He was getting fentenyl for pain, and he was also sounded pretty congested. 
5/21
Swelling has gone down some, but not completely.  Feedings were started back at noon at 15 ml to see how he was going to tolerate food on his stomach and were increased by 5 ml each feeding (which is every 3 hours).  Starting to wean off of the fentenyl, decreased this amount by half and added tylenol.  Doctors also said that once he was interested in sucking on his pacifier that we could try bottle feeds again.  The best news is he could finally lay on his back and breathe!!!