Day of Recovery

Well, it has certainly been a nice day after all the shenanigans that happened yesterday. Jack did gain about 20 grams, up to 3 lbs 14 oz, getting oh so close to 4 lbs. By the end of the day/afternoon today Jack was very tired. He had another chest x-ray, it was a little hazy in the lungs so he is getting some antibiotics. They should clear up anything in there and protect against infection. He got an IV for that. Then he got a nice bath, because he was a little stinky. He seemed to enjoy his sponge bath for the most part. Jack also had his eyes checked today. The doctor says that all looks good now, but they will repeat the test in about 2 weeks. They have taken his feedings down to 28ml for the time being to make sure he is digesting and handling what they give him. They also put his oxygen flow back up to 4 liters per minute.

Aside from all the changes he did well today. He didn't have any major incidents of bradycardia or apnea. He had his slight dips, but came back up. We were very glad he didn't give us any scares today, we hope it was just an isolated event.

Ventilators and PICC lines.

Today was Jack first official day off of the photo therapy lights. All of his organs are processing things and, for now, jaundice is not an issue. We showed up and he had a blanket over the top of the incubator to keep it nice and dark for nap time. Originally the thought was to keep Jack on a very low ventilator setting. But the doctor and respirtory assistant decided that since the setting were so very low they would remove it entirely. He has now been place on a NcPAP system that keeps positive pressure in his lungs (to keep them inflated) but he is breathing on his own. He has a tiny head gear that keeps a mask in place over his nose. It looks like he is training to be a fighter pilot.

We also learned that he is taking caffiene to stimulate his breathing. Preterm babies will more than likely have apnea, because the brain is so immature it forgets to tell the lungs to breathe. The caffiene helps keep apnea to a minimum so that he does better breathing on his own. Also it sounds as if his PDA has closed. Hopefully everything has been taken care of with his doses of medication and we can put that part behind us.

We were also happy to get to be a little more "hands on" with Jack. I took his temperature and changed a diaper, and cleaned up some gunk around his mouth. Mary got to change a big poopy diaper, and do some mouth cleaning of her own. When little Jack got his PICC line put in I had to excuse myself from the room (because I'm a sissy and hate needles, IV's, shots, etc). Mary stayed in and watched the procedure....because she's a pro at that having had the procedure about 2-3 weeks ago. We are very thankful for another good day and positive strides made by Jack today. Fingers still very much crossed for more days like this in the immediate future.