In His Hands: The NICU

On Sept 22nd, Beau was 1 week old.. weighing in at 1730g = 3 pounds, 13 ounces, 43 centimeters long = 17 inches, cranial circumference of 28.5cm = 11 inches and a belly circumference of 26.5 cm. He as put back under the phototherapy lights again for an increase in his bilirubin levels. My teammate at school, Patty and her husband Joe came to meet Beau tonight. Beau has started having bradycardia events (drop in heart rate) which is common behavior for premature babies. They ran an x-ray and blood work that both came back normal. Beau's feeds were increased to 12mL today.

On Sept. 23, Dr. Mattingly did another echo on Beau's heart and the PDA is still open. This is a duct that takes blood out of the heart and bypasses the lungs during the womb. It normally closes within days of birth but Beaus is still open. He does not feel that it is contributing much to his oxygen saturation at this point. His bilirubin levels were back up today so he went back under the phototherapy lights again. He weighs 1690g = 3 pounds, 12 ounces. Beau is still getting the diuretic evert 12 hours which ay contribute to his slight drop in weight. His cannula air was turned up to 4L/min. They stopped his feeds today as well.

On Sept. 24, Beau was taken off the phototherapy lights for the final time - woohoo!! They began his feed again at 11am and this time began giving them over time beginning with 6mL over 20 minutes. After the doctor.resident rounds, they increased his feeds at 5pm to 12mL given over 30 minutes. His cannula air was decreased to 3mL today. When Beau doesn't go poo on his own for 24 hours they give him a suppository to move things along so he got one of those today. Beau is still having 'Brady' episodes. He weighed 1680g = 3 pounds, 11 ounces.

my little piggy :)

On Sept. 25, we were now given the 'okay' to hold Beau as much as we want. He continues to ave brady episodes but they have decreased his cannula air to 2L/min. His bilirubin maintains to be low enough not to need more lights. They increased his feeds up to 18mL. He now weighs 3 pounds, 12 ounces.

On Sept. 26, the occupational therapist (Donna) and speech therapist (Tracy) came to visit Beau. They checked his readiness for oral feeds and muscle stability. He is showing no sucking or rooting skills. :( His feeds were increased to 24mL over 30 minutes. The micro-ray chromosome test came back positive for down syndrome and they also plan to do a chromosome analysis to see the 'location' of the extra 21st chromosome. They began adding 2g of calories to Beau's milk. Normal breast milk has 20g/ounce so this will give him 22g/ounce. He continues to be on lasix and as a result, is losing sodium in his body so this is being replaced (through sodium chloride) and given 2x a day. He is being taken off lipids (fats) becasue he is getting enough from his milk. Today he was 1720g = 3 pounds, 13 ounces.

On Sept. 27, Beau's air cannula was turned down to 1L/min. He officially is OFF TPN!! He is being given sugar water with heprin to keep his picc line open incase it were to be needed in the coming few days. His feeds were increased again today to 30mL. His weight today was 1740g = 3 pounds, 13 ounces still.

father & son

On Sept. 28, Beau had several drops in oxygen saturation so his cannula was increased to 2L/min. His calories were increased to 4g addition = 24g/ounce of milk. His feeds are still at 30mL. Today's weight was 1770g = 3 pounds, 14.5 ounces.