Day 21 and our little man is three weeks old today. I cant believe its been three weeks!! The days are so busy they just fly by. Every day when I wake I decide Im definitely going to need it have an afternoon sleep that day but then its so busy I just dont get a chance. I know this will sound ridiculous to most people. Jack started his day today with an X-ray. He is still having green bile and a small amount of old blood sucked out of his stomach. His stomach is also looking swollen on one side. The doctors decided to do an x-ray before considering restarting his feeds. The doctor was really great and showed me the x-rays and went through them with me. She explained that his lungs arent very dark which shows he has chronic lung disease (which can repair itself over the next few years). Healthy lungs are really dark which shows they are full of air. The small dark area below is wind showing he really needs to fart! His stomach looks like there is still a bit of air but shows no other problems at this stage. There is still some concern about NEC (which I posted about the other day) but all is looking good at the moment. After reviewing the x-ray the doctor decided to start Jack on feeds of 1ml every 6 hours. He has had three feeds today and tolerated them all so far. He still hasnt pooed so the nurse gave him a suppository which she had a lot of trouble getting into his tiny bottom. He started getting stressed but settled when I put my hands on him for an incubator cuddle. It was a bit upsetting for mum and I watching the nurse trying to get the suppository into Jack. It still hadnt taken effect tonight so we are hoping for a poo tomorrow! Tonight Jack was opening his eyes again. I was talking to him and he seemed to respond to my voice by opening and closing his eyes which was exciting. His oxygen saturation levels were really low after his cares tonight but we got it under control eventually with some changes of his position and incubator cuddles. Im getting to know what positions he prefers lying in and those that help his levels so I am able to suggest these to the nurses which is very cool. Jacks first weight tonight was 1150grams, obviously a problem there! We had another try and it was 820 grams. There is a rule here that you have to make a cake for the nurses when your baby reaches one kg. The baby opposite Jack is called Logan and he reached one kg this week so his mum, Jo made her cake yesterday. Jack and Logan are weighed around the same time each night so it has been fun waiting for Logan to reach his one kg. We all had a laugh tonight when Jack weighed one kg! If only it was true. I went for a blood test today. The guy went for one arm then the other then commented on how bruised my arms were and said I looked like Id been used as a human pin cushion. He asked if I was on blood thinners because that would cause me to bruise easily. I had to explained that over the last 5 weeks Id had numerous IV lines put in. Luckily Im still doing really well with the expressing. Im now on my third shelf in the freezer and there isnt a lot of space left. One shelf holds 54 bottles! The lactation specialist has asked me if I would consider being a donor. I cant imagine Jack will ever catch up as long as I keep going as I am, so I am going to do this. There is no donor milk available at the moment so it will be nice being able to give something back to the place that is doing so much for us. I have decided however to wait and see if I will be having surgery first just in case there are complications. However I will go through the screening process for being a donor in the mean time. Thanks again everyone for all the messages and generous offers. I am really struggling to reply to everyone but promise I will get there in the next few days. Please know how much we appreciate you taking the time to let us know you are thinking about us and our baby Jack.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 12:41:34 +0000