Aaaah. Today was a better day- definitely still a ways to go- but better. We called the hospital first thing in the morning and Julie told us that they had given him more medications and that he was doing well- he had an 'uneventful' night. We went up there around 5pm- he looked pretty good- he was quite red when we first got there but it was because he was really irritated- its kinda cute actually! They had turned him over onto his stomach (they occasionally change their positions to prevent problems from being in one spot)... anyway.. he was angry about being disturbed and moved, and then he got angry again when they did an ultrasound of his head- they do that to check for bleeds (don't panic- it's routine). The neat thing though is how he calmed down when Matt had his hands on him. NICU babies can't be stroked but they do something called 'bundling' or 'nesting' which is putting a hand on his head and a hand on his feet or bottom and just stay there- the nurses do it from time to time and Matt and I did it this afternoon. Julie said that Dr. St Charles is going to extubate him and take him off the vent in the morning- hopefully he will do well on his own... if he does, then they will remove the chest tubes the next day. They had significantly reduced his sedation medicine too. This played into his being easily agitated because he is a little more sensitive to stimulus than he was when he was sedated.
Well, we just got back from visiting him again and he looks even better than he did during our first visit! They had flipped him back over onto his back and he was just sleeping. Annie (the night nurse) said he didn't get upset at all during the position change and that he had no sedation since before she came on at 7pm- YAY CAELAN! His blood work looks really good. They also started feeding him again- through the tube still, but that is fine- it is still a step forward. The other thing he did today was suck on a pacifier.... now this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. They can forget how to suck and have problems taking a bottle when the time comes- he did beautifully with it- in fact, he was sucking on the pacifier while he has the tube in his mouth!
So it was a really good day for him (and us) and hopefully tomorrow will go well when they take him off the vent.
Well, we just got back from visiting him again and he looks even better than he did during our first visit! They had flipped him back over onto his back and he was just sleeping. Annie (the night nurse) said he didn't get upset at all during the position change and that he had no sedation since before she came on at 7pm- YAY CAELAN! His blood work looks really good. They also started feeding him again- through the tube still, but that is fine- it is still a step forward. The other thing he did today was suck on a pacifier.... now this may not seem like a big deal, but it is. They can forget how to suck and have problems taking a bottle when the time comes- he did beautifully with it- in fact, he was sucking on the pacifier while he has the tube in his mouth!
So it was a really good day for him (and us) and hopefully tomorrow will go well when they take him off the vent.
Notice how red his skin is! This is when he got mad about them doing the ultrasound.
Bundling/ nesting- hands on his head and bottom- very calming for him at times. Notice his skin is going back to normal.
Daddy is doing a great job!
Grandma and Grandpa came to see (literally to see- no touching yet)
My precious friend Sharon came up yesterday (the afternoon of the not so good day!)
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful........
Beautiful Caelan....
His balloons on the mailbox- waiting to welcome him home!
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