Good days

Friday June 22, 2007
Nick is 35 weeks old (adjusted) and weighs 4lbs 2oz. I went to see him at the 2:30 feeding (tube) and just held him. He was alert and hungry and looking for a bottle but they are only allowing 1 bottle a day to start. He had a few beeps from the pulse ox* but not too bad. He can't have any of those desats if he wants to come home. Sometimes he has those when he's tired or if his neck is tilted too far back or forward. The Duke nurses would say he was looking for chest hairs. :)

We're hoping to increase it to 2 bottles in a couple days if he does well and drinks the whole thing. Went back for the 8:30pm feeding - Bri wanted to feed him. He drank the whole ounce yay! He was in a very good mood after that and Sean got to hold him too. He's MRSA + on the 2nd swab too. He's not infected with it - he just has it on him. Who knows why. Especially after 4 weeks being negative?!

*(Pulse Oximeter - The "pulse ox" continuously measures the baby's blood oxygen. There is a tiny light which is attached to the baby's palm, foot, finger, toe, or wrist by a piece of adhesive elastic. A cord travels from the light to a machine that displays the amount of oxygen being carried by red blood cells in the baby's body. Each hospital is different but 85-88% blood oxygen is the cutoff from our experience. Ideally we like 90%+.

Thursday June 21, 2007
Decided Nick was more awake and alert when we went at 8:30 so I went at that time tonight. He was wide awake and raring to go. He drank almost the whole ounce in about 3 min! Then he got the hiccups and tried to drink a little more but choked so that was it. But he only had 6ml left. Unfortunately he turned up MRSA positive again :( I don't know how that happened as he was negative for 4 weeks in a row. So he's on contact isolation which is basically for the nurses (extra gown and gloves) it doesn't really affect us. He just had the bacteria in his nose he doesn't have an infection and we definitely hope it stays that way. Nasty bug!

We'll get the results of the 2nd swab tomorrow night. He's off the reflux medicine (zantac and reglan) and seems to be doing fine.