Tuesday 2/6

Well, we had a bit of a rough night last night. We got a roomate who had quite  a bit of activity going on in our room until about 5am so we settled in to sleep around 6 when it all died down.  Then we were up at 8 for the day. We are having a sleepy day which is not ideal for Gideon to eat and grow. He didn’t take anything from his bottle this morning which is quite a bummer. When I asked the cardiologist last night how much weight he needs to gain, he laughed and said “any!” As long as he continues to gain every day,  that’s all that matters. Yesterday, he gained 5 grams and the team was very excited about that. They changed his feedings today to be more in line with what we will do when we go home (feed every 3 hours) so we’re hoping and praying for a successful feeding day between his 2 bottles, 1 boobie and all the NG tube feeds. They decreased the amount of time for his feeds so rather than getting a slow drip 24/7, he is now eating for 90 minutes every 3 hours so his tummy can grow a bit and we can get on more of a newborn schedule. He is currently taking his first 90 minute feed right now and either needs to poop or is having a bit of discomfort with it, I’m not quite sure which. He keeps falling asleep but grimaces every once in a while and pulls his legs in so either he has a bit of a tummy ache from it stretching out for his first big feed (45  ml over 90 min) or he has to poop which he hasn’t done yet today and is quite possible.

We  did get him off of the high flow air yesterday and he did great. Yesterday. He is showing a little more work to breathe today but that’s also to be expected with his increase in feeds so hopefully as he digests, he will calm back down again. In order to get discharged, which could now be as early as Friday if he does well over the next 3 days, he needs to gain weight everyday as well as not have any added work of breathing. We got to take his ‘dots’ off today which was good, those are the round stickers next to his eyes that held the nasal cannula on his face so it was good to see those go and the pole was just removed from his room that had the oxygen/air/humidifier on it so now we have more room in here to party!

I also attempted, unsuccessfully, to place his NG tube yesterday. We wanted to give his right side a break and attempted to get it in the left nostril instead and I couldn’t get it so the nurse tried and she couldn’t get it either. I tried again on his right and couldn’t get that one either so had her try and she of course got it to go in after some magic on her part. I’ll have to try again today to make sure I can do it successfully before we go. I am comfortable with how to check placement of the tube now and feel good about that and flushing it out and checking the PH balance of his stomach contents. Plus I have  a NICU nurse friend who lives pretty close and has offered to help if need be who can probably place the tube sleeping with her eyes closed. THANK GOODNESS for all the help people offer. I was a sweaty, shaky mess trying to get that tube in yesterday. I knew he would cough and gag and choke but I didn’t think I would get stuck with resistance so bad and not figure out how to get around it. Hopefully today will go better.

Prayers for the day:
– Rest for both of us. He needs to eat and get fat. I need to sleep and get skinny. LOL.
– Respiratory comfort for him. A good rate with no work of breathing.
– Cardiac stability. He is still throwing PAC’s but hasn’t had a scary rhythm since we got here to the floor so I’m glad that seems to have been a 1 time thing.
– Prayers for daddy with the big boys at home. They all got a break today while Nana & Poppi had the boys for the day but they will be back home soon and it’s a lot of work. Prayers for peace and joy in our home please.

THANK YOU!!!

Here is his cute little self right now. He had a big feed and I snuggled him right to sleep. It’s time to wake up and eat again now though. The less stuff he has attached to him, the cuter he looks!