Day 57 I almost ran over to the hospital to see Jack this morning. I couldnt wait to see how he had gone in his big boy bed overnight. His nurse had warned me that he may not cope and therefore need to go back into an incubator. I was pleased to see he was still in the thermo cot. His temp was 36.3 degrees, so he had cooled down from last night and I had to put his cardigan back on him. I was really pleased to see Jacks oxygen requirement was down to 29%, wow, even lower than yesterday. When the doctors came along on their rounds they said that if Jack continued making this great progress they would be willing to lower his pressure and flow levels and try him on 6 and 6! At 7am Jacks feeds moved to 3 hourly. He still has the same milk intake however, so every three hours he is having 30 mls (instead of 20mls, two hourly). This amount is worked out on a babies individual weight. Jack is on 165mls of milk per kilo of weight. Sometimes this amount changes if a baby is not putting on enough weight having this amount per kilo of their weight. I dont think this will be an issue for Jack somehow (just like his mummy!). Jack weight has gone up and he has been tolerating his feeds really well and has very little asprits (undigested milk) and no bile. Because of this Jacks milk intake will be increased to 34mls, three hourly, but will only increase one ml at a time, every 6 hours to get to 34mls. Jacks nurse during his 4pm cares said they were really impressed that Jack had been tolerating these feeds. He has had four feeds of 30mls so far and was doing so well. Often babies need to go onto a feeding pump at this stage to give them their milk slowly over 30 - 60 minutes but Jack wasnt looking like he would need to do this. Also often babies start having spills or bringing their milk back up and Jack hasnt done this at all (yet). After Jacks unsteady start with feeding, Im so happy that he is doing so well in this area. Jacks weight today is 1670 grams, up 22 grams from yesterday. Jacks seems to have discovered his tongue today. He is moving it around lots and this afternoon and again this evening he was using his tongue to work his feeding tube out of his mouth. He ended up with the tube sticking right out of his mouth in a loop back to below his bottom lip where it is taped to his chin. Then he started to grab it with his hand ready to pull! I quickly ruined that fun for him! Tonight he did exactly the same thing (so I got a photo!) Once again the nurse had to re-tape the tube. Now he is bleeding chin from the tape coming on and off all day. Jack and I had cuddles this afternoon. It was our first cuddles for a week and it was so nice to have him cuddling and close to me again. He was a little unsettled and his oxygen requirement slowly went up from 27% (again wow!) to 45% so it wasnt the greatest success although he did look really comfortable. Maybe he is just taking a while to get used to his new home! I also did some ink hand and footprints before his cuddle. He was looking at me with one eye as if to say what are you doing to me?! It was the first time Ive been able to do his footprints because his right foot has been in a bandage with the longline since he was born! Jacks feet are almost 6cm long they were 4.3cm long when he was born! Jacks eyes still quite swollen. Id really hoped they would go down by now. His stomach is still very distended also. His bowels are definitely working with a poo most cares and often filling a nappy immediately after its been changed! Tonight when I opened his nappy the poo had filled the nappy and gone over the top of the back of the nappy, all over his under duvet and on his new clothes. Shame I dont have to do the washing! Tonight Jacks oxygen requirement was at 35% so he is still doing well. There seems to be a lot of new people at Ronald McDonald House over the last week. A number of people Ive gotten to know have left or are leaving soon. The helicopters have been super busy today, they sound like they are landing next to my bedroom, they are so close. Actually I can see them landing from my massive bedroom window, its very cool. Apparently the Life Flight company has gone into receivership making the helicopters very busy while its sorted. I still cant get used to Jack being in a cot. Everyone who comes into the room comments and shares their pleasure at this big step for Jack, which is lovely. Cares took almost an hour tonight with all the dressing up and down added in, which I love. I also love that now, before I leave him, I can lean into his cot and give him a kiss goodnight.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 11:38:59 +0000
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