Big Day

We are having a big day so far in the NICU! Stephen had a great weekend, aside from mysteriously putting on a bunch of weight (almost 200 grams) and having high blood pressure on and off, and as such, we were able to come off of CPAP this morning! Right now Stephen is enjoying some tummy time on the high-flow nasal cannula which provides him with the pressure his lungs need tom stay inflated, as well as the high humidity and heat for his airway and lungs. He's on a setting of 4, but we'll need to come down to a setting of 2 before we can introduce a bottle or try to breastfeed. Right now he's getting to much pressure forced into his airway to try a bottle. But he is really up on his nutrition and his feedings right now. So much so that I'm actually not able (pumping wise) to keep up with him. He's getting 18 cc's an hour which is just shy of 0.5 ounce.

We also hope that by the end of the week, he won't be on any IV fluids so they can take out his PIC (perifereal artery line). That is the line on his left arm. That means he'll be allowed to wear clothes and have blankets from home and be much more mobile.

The other bit of good news is that nephrology hopes to have him on a dialysis machine by the end of the week too. So no more manual dialysis and we might even be down to 12-18 hour dialysis instead of 24 hour dialysis. It will hopefully be the same machine we will use at home, so I'll be able to watch and learn from the nurses.

All of these things help us get one step closer to home!! Stephen also went to a big boy crib over the weekend, so we were able to put a mobile on his crib and he's been able to get some toys. Now that he's one month old, he's in need of some stimulation when he's awake. The poor little guy is getting b-o-r-e-d and I don't blame him.

Here are a few pictures from this morning with Stephen napping on his tummy with his nasal cannula.