Day 43 - 6 wks Postpartum

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Update:  James is 6 weeks old today (32 weeks gestational) and is staying steady.  He is tolerating his feeds, he is having bowel movements, his blood levels are pretty solid, his oxygen levels have been fairly consistent, and he is growing. At the moment, we are holding onto the cautious optimistic approach that we have had since the beginning. 

A few specific updates: 

HCT 27.9 (looking at this number to determine blood transfusions) 💉

FIO2 range between 45-55% 🌬️

27 ML of feed 🍼

Weight is 1300g (2lb 13oz) 💪🏻

Morphine increase by 20% due to slight restlessness overnight. 💊

Kangaroo care (skin to skin) 🤱🏻 is on the horizon very soon. They would like to do this during the day when several doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists are around because of the oxygen support needed. It's been 43 days and we still haven't been able to hold our son for the first time. We understand that it is a process and want to make sure he is healthy enough to handle it. Obviously, we want to do whatever is in his best interest to get him healthy. 

Evening Update: This evening (11pm) Jimmy is struggling with his O2s. They made some changes to his settings so that he would need to do some work on his own, since his most recent xray showed his lungs were slightly overly inflated. He also tends to desat after his feedings, so it's hard to know what is causing this. Right now, his FiO2 is up to 70 and he is drifty. 🙏🏻 The doctor came in to listen to his lungs and decided they are going to resort back to some of the previous settings (increasing the pressure). Possibly may be looking at giving him some blood as well.