Day 58 - Holding the line!

 Friday, February 26, 2021

James is doing good! He is responding well to the conventional ventilator and weaned settings on his oxygen. We have been able to lower the pressure and volume into the lungs down to 11 and now 10! Today he has been between 32-37 on his FiO2. We just need Baby James to hang in there and hold steady! 

Jimmy has gained more weight! Last night weighing in at 1790 grams (3lb 15.14oz) and tonight another 10 grams at 1800 (3lb 15.49oz)! He is up to 34 mls for his feedings and tolerating them well. 

A couple of highlights from this week:

• Tuesday night(?) his feeds transitioned from the Prolactin fortifier to Similac^® Human Milk Fortifier Powder. This is typically done once they reach 34 weeks gestation.
• Yesterday James took out his own OG tube (thin orange) for his feeds!! Yes he tongued it out and then used his hand while in the mitten to help pull it out further. Crazy baby! The hardest part was watching the nurse put the line back in. He gagged the entire time and then it took a while for him to calm down. 
• Yesterday James hit his 8 week milestone (34 weeks gestational). It's crazy to think that babies born at 34 weeks are just as much a preemie. James has been doing this for 57 days already! This letter written by a MicroPreemie Mom is very relatable, still working on the latter part of the letter. An Open Letter from Micro Preemie Mom

As we write this update, things change by the minute here... Jimmy knows when his nurse is going on break, that's when he typically likes to desat. This evening, his heart rate plummeted and his oxygen went down as well (like both to around 58). A nurse quickly suctioned his tube and Mom rubbed his body trying to stimulate him. As we took him out of his swaddle his arms were lifeless (normally he is very feisty, swinging punches). His numbers then came back up. It was the longest minute ever! No idea why this happened yet. Normally he will de-stat because of a dirty diaper, get upset, and hold his breath turning red. This time he was pale. Terrifying.

Now he is just snoring. You can hear it because there is a leak, which means the tube carrying oxygen is a little smaller and allowing air to come through around it. Eventually he'll get a bigger size ET tube again.