More Hurdles

The post made it in a little earlier than yesterday's. Jack lost 2 oz overnight probably just burning more calories maintaining body temp and stress from his head ultra sound (we hope). The ultra sound was good. All previous problems are getting better or have resolved, and nothing new has surfaced. Today he had his follow up to the bottle feeding evaluation. The nurses were surprised by how much better he had gotten and are recommending he get 1 or 2 bottle feeds daily. As he gets better they will increase them until all feedings are on breast or bottle. When that comes he can have his feeding tube removed and be a little closer to going home. Jack also got moved to a regular hospital crib and out of his isolette. It's not quite as roomy as his last bed, but it's for the bigger boys. One last improvement was the doctor discontinuing the monitor that check his oxygen saturation. They felt that his breathing and heart rate was doing just fine. He also hasn't had an apnea or bradycardia episode in 5 days (2 since switching to room air).

Last but not least Jack got a visit from Grandma & Grandpa Passalaqua who were very surprised at the progress he has made since their last visit. Keep up the good work Jack!!!!

A Breath of Fresh Air

First off I apologized for not having a post up until now. I had to go into work for some training on a new computer system (and to conserve time off). Anyhow, Jack is still making great strides. Overnight he was weened completely off of his oxygen, so he is now breathing just room air. That is one giant tube off his face and only one more to go (but it's a little smaller). Hopefully we can start to get him bottle/nipple feeding. So, Jack makes it over another hurdle (maybe he'll end up being a track star after all these hurdles). He lost a little weigh, but still technically at 5 lbs 3 oz (the weight loss maybe from them taking off the oxygen tube). Like I said I was at some training so I only got to be there for the first part of the day, but when I checked in with Mary she said he was doing fine.

I'm starting to get a little nervous at the thought of him coming home, but a good nervous. I hope he keeps making these strides the next few days to weeks.

PS--Just got an update from Mary that his feedings went up to 47ml.

....and Going, and Going, and Going....

Well folks, another late post. We are back at the house for the night resting and getting things washed. Now that Jack can wear clothes we need to wash a load every few nights along with his isolette blankets. Jack had another huge weight gain yesterday. The nurses told us that he is now up to 4 lbs 12 oz (maybe he hadn't pooed yet when they weighed him). We hope that it's his true weight and he'll gain some more today. We'll get him plumped up before he comes home. The doctor increased his feedings to 40 ml, and have decreased the oxygen flow on his vapotherm machine to 2 liters per minute. Hopefulle he keeps up the good work and doesn't have any problems or repeats of last Monday's incident.

Other than that, nothing much is new. Mary and I each hold him once a day and it's so great that he is getting big enough to interact with. It's also nice to see that his eyes seem to move around with purpose now and not just randomly moving around.

Status Quo

Not much new to report to the World today. Jack maintained 2 lbs 6 oz (1070 g) throughout the day. He got his first sponge bath early this morning. His nurse said he tolerated it fairly well, but we know he was probably a little fussy. His oxygen saturation has been pretty good with the SiPAP set at 21% oxygen, but that setting goes up from time to time to about 26% (we take it a little higher during his care time also). The doctors have increased his feeding to 15 ml, which he's digesting all of (no surprise us Passalaqua's know how to eat). They are taking him off of his IV nutrients and from now on will be on strictly Mary's milk.

We also learned that Jack loves his new found pacifier. The nurse put a couple drops of milk on his pacifier and in his mouth, and he went to town on that thing. I don't think he even noticed us changing his diaper! Mary also had a some down time and crocheted him a nice hat.