March 30, 2012

March 30, 2012

Weight: 3 pounds 9 ounces. He lost 10 grams.

Labs: none

Alarms: 9 total, all self-resolved.

Oxygen/Lungs: No change.

Belly/Bowels: No change

Skin-to-Skin/Holding Time: We didn’t go up til about 8 last night and held him til about 10:30. Long day of bathroom remodeling. (Actually a long day of house chores for me.)

Feedings: Because he actually lost a little weight, they increased his feeding to 35 ml per 3 hours. However, the dr. said he may just need a little more protein in the form of a supplement. They will watch him another day or two to see if he starts catching up, then consider adding protein. She said that this is strictly because he is a boy and boys need more protein than girls. Nothing to get worked up about.

March 29, 2012

March 29, 2012

Weight: 3 pounds 10 ounces.

Labs: none

Alarms: 6 total, all self-resolved.

Oxygen/Lungs: Still no oxygen needed!

Belly/Bowels: No change

Skin-to-skin/Holding Time: While Alex continued to work on demo’ing our bathroom, I went up and held E for a couple hours. He was very smiley tonight!

Feedings: Because he gained a few more ounces, they had to increase his feeding to keep up with that. So he is now up to 34 ml every 3 hours.

Side Note: Also, E got a roommate today named August. They are calling him “Auggie.” (Additional side note: Auggie weighed 11 pounds 3 ounces at birth. Holy smokes!) Apparently Auggie’s dad came in and noticed that his roommate was “Eddie” and said “Huh, Eddie and Auggie. They sound like they could be college roommates!” I thought it was cute.

March 28, 2012

March 28, 2012

Weight: 3 pounds 8 ounces. More about this in the “Feedings” section.

Alarms: 9 total, all self-resolved.

Labs: none planned until 3/31.

Oxygen/Lungs: Still on room air. Dr said that after a week of no oxygen and still doing well, he will be able to come off the oxygen (saturation) monitor. So hopefully by Friday he will have one less monitor!

Belly/Bowels: No change.

Skin-to-Skin Time/Holding: I went up at my normal afternoon time and held the little guy from about 2-4, then Alex came at 5 and held him til about 7. We also had some friends, Ali & Aaron, come visit.

Feedings: Because over the last week or so, E is still gaining weight, but not quite as fast he could based on his caloric intake. So today, they went ahead and upped his caloric intake per kilogram, so hopefully he will start really packing on the pounds. He’s now up to 32 ml per feeding. Grow, buddy, grow!

Side note: Eye drainage has self-resolved. Probably just a little clogged tear duct.

March 27, 2012

March 27, 2012

Weight: 3 pounds 7 ounces

Labs: none

Alarms: 9 total, all self-resolved.

Oxyen/Lungs: Still doing great on room air

Belly/Bowels: Still having stinky poops from the milk fortifier!

Skin-to-Skin Time/Holding: I held him from 2-4, and then Alex held him from 5-6:45. Little E got lots of ma’ and pa’ time today.

Feedings: He’s getting 30ml (ONE whole ounce) every 3 hours. He’s doing so well!

March 25, 2012

March 25, 2012

Weight: 3 pounds 6 ounces. I think I had yesterday’s weight wrong, it was actually 3 pounds 5 ounces. Don’t wanna jip the little man of the ounce that he earned!

Alarms: 7 total alarms.

Labs: None.

Oxygen/Lungs: Still room air.

Belly/Bowels: One thing that is VERY noticeable is that now that he is on the human milk fortifier, his poop STINKS. It is not a pleasant smell when his diaper needs changed. Uck!

Skin-to-Skin Time/Holding: Alex went up around 11 with some family to hang out while I was at our first baby shower. E got to meet some more family. He met Uncle Sam, great grandpa Eddie, and also saw Grandpa Koehn and Grandpa Fast again. Everyone seems to love him : ) I went up about 5 and held him till his next feeding at 8. I absolutely love our skin-to-skin time. And today he started really “rooting,” (I hate that word) which means he is “looking around” to start breastfeeding. He is such a big boy! I can’t wait til he can actually breastfeed. I think I will feel like I am directly involved in his care, instead of an innocent bystander. Not that I don’t feel like I’m his mom, but it will just feel more “real” for me. Make sense?

Feedings: Up to 29 ml every 3 hours. Almost an ounce at a time!

Side Note: He is having a small amount of drainage from his left eye. Apparently their tear ducts can clog very easily and usually clears up on there own. The doctor is aware and wants to just watch it for now. The nurse also said that they sometimes massage the tear duct and it clears all the gunk out. Poor little buddy! She said it doesn’t usually bother the baby. Let’s hope not.

March 24, 2012

March 24, 2012

Weight: Lost 10 grams yesterday, gained it back today. Still 3 pounds 4 ounces.

Alarms: Only 2 in 24 hours. Yesssss!

Labs: Results of state adrenal function test back, everything within normal limits.

Oxygen/Lungs: Still no oxygen, only a few self-resolved de-sats. Doing well!

Belly/Bowels: No change.

Skin-to-Skin Time/Holding: Lots of family here today. Grandma and Grandpa Fast and Grandma and Grandpa Koehn. Grandma Fast got to hold Little E today. She loved it! Except when he decided to sneeze and out came a little milk from his nose. She promptly instructed me to take him back : )

Feedings: Up to 28 ml every 3 hours. Can you believe his little belly tolerates all that?

March 23, 2012

March 23, 2012

Weight: 3 pounds 4 ounces. Holding steady.

Alarms: Only 2 for the day shift, self resolved of course.

Labs: None today.

Oxygen/Lungs: Because he has had a lesser amount of alarms, the dr decided to try him off of oxygen. Yay! No more nasal cannula!

Belly/Bowels: Doing better with the human milk fortifier. No need to change it to the more hypoallergenic kind at this point.

Skin-to-Skin/Holding Time: It’s becoming the “norm” for me to arrive at the hospital around 2 or 3 and then get him out to hold him at the 5 o clock feeding. Then I keep him out until Alex gets there, and he usually gets another hour or so of holding before we go home at about 7:30 or 8. Yes, it is a long day at the hospital, but totally worth every second.

Feedings: Still continuing to increase on feedings and tolerating fine. Feedings are fortified with human milk fortifier for extra fat, protein and calories. He was also started on iron supplements today.