NICU Observations. :-)

Before I talk about my NICU observations, let me update you on Samuel's progress!

He is doing AWESOME with no oxygen support.  Please pray that he continues this way!  We have noticed that Sam tends to drop his oxygen saturation level just before and during a feeding.  I think he does it just before to let us know he's hungry (he also cries a little, wiggles around and thrusts his tongue). The doctor thinks he does it during because he exhibits signs of reflux.  NOT a big deal at this point.  It hasn't caused him to drop his oxygen to really low levels and he seems to be handling his food well.  This seems to be something pretty common with preemies, so it is a matter of him developing more and that should go away.  If it doesn't, well, we'll cross that bridge when it comes.  :-)

He had another head ultrasound on Monday (not because the doctors are worried, just more of a follow up check) and that came back with 2 grade zeros (referring to the intraventricular hemorrhaging that started as grades 2 and 3).  So that was good to hear that it is still nothing to really talk about.

We are looking forward to few upcoming changes.  One is to transition him to a crib.  Currently he is still in the same kind of isolette he started in, but is getting very little support from it.  It started with giving him 80% humidity to help his skin.  Well as of last weekend he has been in room air humidity.  It also was changing the temperature to help him regulate his body temperature.  So for a quite a while he had a temp probe on that would constantly tell the bed his body temperature, then the isolette would adjust its temperature according to how hot or cold Sam was.  They have since taken the probe at and set the bed at a constant temp.  Currently it is at 26.5 C or 79.7 F.  They have slowly been turning that down, which it is already closer to room air than it is average body temp.

Another change is to take him off of his caffeine.  Yes, he's on caffeine.  I'm sure I mentioned it before, but he's a refresher.  The caffeine is meant to help him to keep his heart rate up and keep him from having too many apnea spells.  Well, he's been doing pretty well awesome at both, so now it is a matter of deciding when is good to stop the caffeine (which one doctor told me, that if you increase the amount to match an adult's body weight, he receives the equivalent of 6 cups of coffee every morning).  The doctor also mentioned that it will take about 5 days after he's off the caffeine for it to fully leave his body.  So that will be exciting to see how he handles it when they do that!

Of course we are continuing with upping his milk feedings based on body weight.  He started at 3mL and is already at 30mL and taking the feedings quite well!  Between 33 and 34 weeks gestation (he'll be at 32 weeks on Saturday) is when they start figuring out the suck, swallow, breathe rhythm, which means we'll be started to try some nursing!  YAY!  That means eventually I won't have to pump as much!




Alright some observances about life in the NICU.  Currently there are around 10 babies here, but almost all of these babies are different than the ones that were here when we arrived.  They take on babies because they're early, but also if they were full-term and sick.  So the turn over rate is high.  However there are some that have been here longer than us.  We said goodbye to one on Monday.  She went home!  Which is exciting and sad at the same time.  You form bonds with the other parents of preemies that are here and when they leave it's kind of sad (besides we walk by their now empty room to get to ours, so it is a constant reminder).  Another one of those families will also probably be going home at the end of the week.  So we are starting to look like the old timers in the NICU and hopefully be able to provide the encouragement and like minded conversation that we had with those families.

Something I've also notices is how babies cry.  Samuel is in an isolette, which muffles his cry to the outer world some, and besides he isn't really loud yet either.  So he doesn't get to add to the chorus of cries you hear just outside your room.  However, we have noticed that there is one baby (and I have no idea which one, nor have I tried to figure this out) that cries like a cat meows.  When I first heard this baby, I thought there was an upset cat in the NICU, then I realized that that is silly and it is a baby.  Yet every time that baby cries I keep thinking cat!  We're just glad Sam's cry sounds like a baby and less cat like....