July 10, 2008 morning update part 3

Sorry for so many updates today so far. I talked to Mark, Brandon's nurse, around 8:30 to see how he was doing. Mark was his nurse the first two days after he was born and I really like him a lot. I feel much better after talking to him. He explained to me that the new thing is a nasal IMV. He told me that he looks no different than he did before. The nasal IMV gives 50 puffs of air a minute to stimulate Brandon to keep him breathing. It is very common for a baby born as early as Brandon to have something like this. He also still has the CPAP. The IMV is not instead of the CPAP. He just has both now. Mark said he was going to have to give Brandon a vitamin a shot today. Mark also said that Brandon is back to being his rambunctious self again since he got the IMV in.

July 10, 2008 morning part 2

I did forget to mention some good news in my last post. Brandon put on some weight! He is not up to 1 pound, 9 ounces. His night nurse said she weighed him 3 times to confirm this since it was a pretty big weight gain.

July 10, 2008 morning

I called the hospital this morning to see how Brandon was doing. His nurse, Mary Jane, told me that he had three epidodes prettyn close together in the night that required stimulation so they had to put him on an IMC which looks like a ventilator. It gives a puff of air every so often to remind him to breathe. Stu called back a little later and talked to a nurse practitioner who told him it is only a step behind a CPAP. So he is still doing some breathing on his own with it too. The nurse also told us that he had some green stuff in his stomach. She did not seem concerned about it because his stomach looks okay and he does not seem to be in pain. I will be going to the hospital after the doctors are done with rounds so I will talk to his doctor then and see what is going on. We had been told in the beginning that there would be forward steps and backward steps. I guess this is one of the backward steps.

July 9, 2008 Night

Stu and I went to the hospital at 4:30 when he got home from work. We thought that Stu might be able to do the things that I did yesterday but they seem to only let you do that at 8:00 at night. It is too much on the babies if they do it more often. When we got to the hospital I saw that Brandon had white gaze wrapped around his chin and head. I asked about it and was told that it is too keep his mouth more closed since Brandon loves to sleep with his mouth open. It sometimes makes it a little harder for him to breathe. We got great news. Brandon's heart murmur closed! The cardiologist did a scan today and saw that it had closed. So if he has a good night tonight they will try to give him breast milk tomorrow. He will get it through a tube and will be fed 1 cc every 3 hours. One teaspoon is 5 cc's so he gets 1/5 of that which is hardly anything. If he tolerates that then they might try 2 cc's the next day. The biggest thing right now is trying to get Brandon to gain weight. He lost some weight from birth like all babies do so now they want him to start putting on weight. They are going to increase how quick he gets the fluids that he has been getting. I was going to try to go back to the hospital tonight at 8:00 but I am exhausted after being home for my first day. It is important that I take care of myself too so that I don't get too run down and I can go and visit Brandon. I am going to call the hospital before I go to sleep and I will call in the morning and I will go visit him during the day and then when Stu gets home from work.

July 9, 2008 Afternoon

I was discharged from the hospital this morning. I got home around 10:30. Hershey was very happy to see me. I went to see Brandon this morning around 7:45. He was sleeping on his back and stretching his arms and legs. He has been mostly sleeping which is a good thing because it will help him to grow. I also realize if he was still in me he would be sleeping and stretching so what I see is what would be going on anyway.

I called his doctor around 11:45, after rounds this morning, to see how he was. She said he is still doing okay not under the bilirubin light and she is still not hearing the heart murmur. He will be seen by a cardiologist tomorrow to see if it really is gone although she said the cardiologist may see him today instead since she will be there for another baby. He will still need the third dose of the neoprophin but after he is done with that tomorrow he can eat if the murmur is gone. They will feed him 1 cc of breast milk through an eye dropper. Brandon's blood count is also the same today as yesterday so he does not need a transfusion yet.

July 9, 2008

I spoke to Kate, Brandon's night nurse, a few minutes ago to see how his night was. She said he was great. Nothing new to report which is actually a good thing.

His doctor called yesterday afternoon around 5:00 p.m. to tell us that he will probably need a blood transfusion in a few days. This is completely normal for preemies. They get blood taken constantly to check for different things and at such a small size it is hard for the blood to come back so sometimes the red blood cell count goes down which is why they do transfusions. They said that babies respond very well to transfusions. I found out that Brandon has AB positive blood.

We had an exciting night at our 8:00 p.m. visit. Kate showed Stu and I how to take Brandon's temperature, how to weigh him, how to change his diaper, and how to lift him to be weighed. I did everything that Kate showed us how to do last night. Stu is going to do it this afternoon. It seems we will get to do it everyday when we are here during one of the times that they do these things. They do it at 8:00, 12:00, and 4:00 (every 4 hours). It was so nice to be able to do some things with Brandon. I also got to give him a kiss before I put him back down. We got to see Brandon naked for the first time and without his hat. He has a full head of hair but not too thick so he may lose some. You can see his hair in some of the pictures that I am posting from last night. We also had our first family picture taken.

July 8, 2008

I want to first thank all of our friends and family who have been here to visit, call, and send us email messages. It is amazing to see what wonderful friends we have. Your support means the world to us and is helping us through this time.

Stu and I went to see Brandon last night around 8:30 before Stu was going home for the night. Brandon was on his back when we got there and had spit out his pacifier since it is harder for him to keep it in on his back. His night nurse, Kate, showed us how to put it back in his mouth but he didn't seem to want to suck on it. He was crying a lot so Kate showed us something that we can do to soothe him. By the third time I did it, it seemed to work. I was able to cup one hand around his head and one hand around his feet and gently give press so it would feel like it did in the womb. He really seemed to enjoy that. Kate told us to come back tonight a little before 8:00. She is going to show us how to lift him to weigh him and let us lift him with her as well as how to change his diaper and do a few other things she does with him.

It is 5:30 and I just woke up. I just called the NICU and spoke to Kate to see how Brandon's night was. She said he was doing great. His levels were all great. She said he started crying but she had given him his pacifier and he had been sucking on it for the past four hours. He is on his side so it is easier for him to keep it in his mouth when he is on his side.

I just got back from seeing Brandon. I got to walk to the NICU by myself for the first time. It is a little after 1:30. Brandon was sleeping when I was visiting him. He kept stretching his legs. It was really cute. I talked to his doctor when I was there. He is off the bilirubin light for now because his jaundice levels are good. She told me not to be surprised if he has to be put back on. She said that is common. She said she did not hear his heart murmur at all. She said sometimes one dose of the neoprophin closes it. He will have another scan of his heart on Thursday to see if it closed. He also has a scan of his brain on Thursday to see if there is any bleeding. This is something that they have to check all preemies for. Brandon's nurse gave me some pictures that she took of him with the NICU camera. She took some really good pictures. When I was there I was talking to his doctor and I mentioned to her how amazing it is that all of his features are so perfect even though he is so small. She commented that when he is two it will be hard for me to remember how small he once was. It is so great how positive the doctors and nurses are.