Crib

Max got to move into a crib today!! His nurse had his new bed all ready for him when he got done nursing this morning. 

He had a good night last night, eating 3 oz every 3 hours. He gained a little less than an ounce when we weighed  him at 9. He has had quite the appetite lately! 

Tomorrow, Max will have an MRI at 10 am. It's just something they do because of how sick he was for so long, to make sure there was no damage done to the brain, and to get some baselines in case something would come up in he future. 

Depending on how Max does in his crib today and how his weight gain is tonight before his bath, Dr F may do his circumcision tomorrow and possibly home Thursday or Friday. 

Backfire!

So, here I thought since Dr F knew Max's background from day 1 that he would get him on the fast track out of the NICU, but my idea backfired. Since he knows exactly how sick Max was, he is concerned about putting him in a crib today because he thinks that he will use too much energy maintaining his body temperature and not have enough energy to eat and continue to gain weight. So, no crib today, probably not going home on Wednesday. Insert sad face here.

The good news is that Max's blood work all came back great. Dr F was a little concerned because Max had his urinary catheter in for so long that there may be some sort of fungal infection and he may need more antibiotics, but everything came back clear! He would have been able to go home on the antibiotics though, but because everything was good, Max got his IV taken out of his hand this morning. 

Now it's just a waiting game. Waiting to see if Max continues to gain weigh so he can get put in a crib. Waiting to see how long he has to stay in the crib before he gets to go home. I hate waiting! But, I'm sure his doctor knows best, just seems silly to keep him in the NICU when he doesn't need anything but to continue to grow!

Two weeks

Our sweet little Max is two weeks old today. It's so weird because it seems like I was still pregnant yesterday but it also seems like we have been in Bismarck for months! 

As of this morning, Max has NO TUBES on his face! He was down to his ng tube this morning and after I nursed him at 9 and we left, he pulled his tube out. He has been taking all his feedings by breast or bottle so his nurse just left it out, and hopefully it doesn't have to go back in!

Neil and the girls left this morning for Baker after we fed Max so Neil could go back to work. A good friend is going to keep the girls during the day so I can stay here with Max until he is ready to come home, which will be sometime this week. He needs to get out of his isolette and into a crib, get circumcised and continue to gain weight from taking all his feedings orally and we will be headed west! I'm hoping tomorrow he will go into a crib and if his blood work comes back clear he may get his circ done tomorrow or Tuesday. It's hard to say because they switch doctors tomorrow, so this is just what the nurses are telling me they think will happen! 

It's been quiet here since everyone left, but I got some great snuggling in with Max this afternoon and I'm just going to enjoy the calm before Max and I go home to find a new normal.

Room air

Max had another good day today. He got his cannula taken off so he is breathing room air. His antibiotics are discontinued as of 11 pm tonight, but his nurse said they will probably leave his IV in his hand for a bit to make sure they don't have to do another one if something would come up. 

He did all right nursing. This morning he was pretty sleepy and didn't do much and this afternoon he took 40 ml, or 1 oz. Neil bottle fed him the rest of his milk this morning and we tube fed him at 6. Their
shift change messes with his 3 pm feeding so we push it back go 3:30, then we are getting into their 7 pm shift change if we feed him at 6:30 and he's not hungry at 6 so we thought we'd just let him rest and get tube fed, and I'll go feed him at 9.

I'm hoping with him taking the bottle he will get out of there a little faster. I'll switch him to breast when we get home, that's my plan for him anyways! 

Plugging along

Max ate great last night. They weighed him before and after he nursed and he ate 2 oz each time.  

He has nursed every 3 hours today and not ate as well as he did last night, but he is doing better than everyone thought he would for as sick as he was. He took 1 oz this morning, slept through his noon feeding, ate 1 oz at 3 and 6. 

They want him to be taking 2 oz each time so they tube feed whatever he is short after he nurses. 

He is still on oxygen, but his doctor is planning on taking it off tomorrow or Sunday. It isn't hurting anything having it on, it actually helps him heal  if he doesn't have to work as hard to breathe, and he has to be in the NICU until Sunday because of his antibiotics anyways so if it's helping him heal, it's a good thing! 

After Sunday, when he will get out will depend on how he is nursing. In order to go home, he has to have completed his 10 days of antibiotics, which is done on Sunday. He has to be breathing room air, which he will be doing, and he has to be taking all his feedings orally. I will keep going up for all the daytime feedings and will have them give him a bottle at midnight and 3 am. Hopefully we will en outta there shortly!!

Best day yet

Today was another huge day for Max, mom and dad got to hold him! He was so relaxed and slept when we held him, it was awesome! He got his umbilical line removed this morning so he does have an IV in his foot. 

 He is weaned down to 1/4 liter flow on his cannula and 40% oxygen. They are going to try and get him down to a regular cannula this afternoon. 

Max got a new bed today too, he got moved into an isolette after we held him and we can take clothes up there for him to wear now. 

Tonight, we get to go in and see if Max will nurse. Dr B said to not get upset if he just wants to snuggle and sleep, or if he tires out after a short while of nursing because he was so sick, he's not going to have a lot of stamina, but we have to start so we can get him out of there! 

He just continues making strides in the right direction. Before we know it, he will be home snuggling with us! 

We went up and saw Kynlie's doctor and nurses this morning, it is so great going up there, they all came out to see her with big smiles on their faces! Of course , she want the most social of little girls. When we were walking up there though, she asked where Locklyn's nurses were, we go see Kynlie's nurses and Max's nurses, but where are Locklyn's? It was pretty cute!

We found Kirsten's ornament on the tree at the hospital for babies that were taken too soon. 

Happy New Year

Max is continuing to improve. Today he was off CPAP and on a hi-flow nasal canula. He was only at 1 liter flow, 50% oxygen so it isn't giving him too much pressure. His oxygen saturations have been excellent and his nurse said she wouldn't be surprised if he is on a regular nasal canula tomorrow.
They took out his UAC, which was the line that went into his umbilical cord and into an artery. His UVC, which is the line to a vein isn't sutured in anymore and his nurse said it will probably be out tonight or tomorrow. There is great and bad to that- the great is, we will get to hold him when it is out, the bad is he will have to get an IV put in to get his TPN, Lipids and antibiotics and they will have to poke him to draw blood.
His CRP level in his blood that is an indicator of inflamation that they have been watching did not come down today, which isn't good- but, the inflamation could be caused by a number of things other than the infection. He was intubated for quite a while, which can inflame the throat, the CPAP went into the back of the nose and can iritate that. He has had a urinary catheter, so they didn't even have to change his diaper when he was very sick, and he has had that in since Dec 24 and that can cause inflamation as can the UAC and UVC. By eliminating all those lines running into him, they can tell if the inflamation is still from the infection or from one of those irritants.
Max was resting very peacefully both times I was there today

We get to see more and more of his face every day

But he likes to sleep with his face covered up!