Written September 23, 2013 8:57pm
Evening!
I think I will probably move to posting once a day in the evening. Since Evan has been so stable, there hasn't been a huge need to have two posts every day.
Andrew calls me whenever he leaves the hospital every morning (he visits with Evan before work.) Today, Andrew called to tell me how productive Evan was this morning. The morning nurse was pleased to share that Evan had somehow managed to projectile poop all over her arm. He was pretty pleased with himself too. If there is anything positive about Evan being in the NICU, I guess it's that I'm not experiencing projectile arm poop (yet).
The collapsed lung hasn't gotten any better - but it's not really any worse either. Instead of weaning today, the doctors wanted to see how the collapse looked after some time spent propped. They also spent a lot of time suctioning down his vent tube today.
Evan's feed was increased from 12 mL to 14 mL today. The milk still has the steroid mixed in with it. Evan's glucose levels are checked before each feed and have all been great.
Andrew and I were determined to make it to Evan before 8 pm. The 8 pm rotation is when Evan gets a fresh diaper, is weighed and fed. I figured if we were there we'd be able to help out. When we arrived, the respiratory therapist was checking the jet vent and assisting with suctioning the tube. This kinda ticked Evan off. Once they were done suctioning, I changed his diaper - twice. Yep, good ol' mom put the first diaper on backwards. As I was taking it off, he was mid pee in the new diaper. So I had to start over and put a second diaper on him. As soon as I got him all snuggled in the second diaper, we remembered we needed to weigh him - naked. So I had to take the diaper back off and lift him up naked to weigh him. I was so glad he had already peed otherwise I'm sure he would have loved the opportunity to show his displeasure. It took a bit of jostling to get him settled back in. Unfortunately, this left him really ticked for the rest of the visit. While his stats were all good, his face was really red and squnched up like he was trying to yell at me. We felt bad, but it was a little comical.
If Evan wasn't upset already, we also tried lotioning him. His skin has been so dry from the bili lights. It's bothered me and it just looks like he's been wandering the desert. We weren't able to put lotion on him before as it would have fried his skin under the lights. Since Evan has most likely outgrown the bili lights, it's safe to lotion him up. Except that he hates it. Hates lotion. Again, I tried not to laugh as he waved his arms and legs at me while his face was turning red from anger. I managed to smear a little dab on his arms and legs. I didn't dare do anymore incase he decided to desat to get his point across. Maybe he's just a typical guy and doesn't like using lotion. Maybe he didn't like the lavender scent. Or maybe, he just felt like being feisty!
The night nurse asked the doctors if Evan's glucose needed to continue to be checked before every feed. As the levels have been constant and stable, she wanted to make sure it was necessary to poke his heel for blood every 3 hours. Thankfully, the doctors determined that it would be fine to check him every 6 hours. So that's less heel sticks! Yay!
All in all, a great day for us and Evan!
I think I will probably move to posting once a day in the evening. Since Evan has been so stable, there hasn't been a huge need to have two posts every day.
Andrew calls me whenever he leaves the hospital every morning (he visits with Evan before work.) Today, Andrew called to tell me how productive Evan was this morning. The morning nurse was pleased to share that Evan had somehow managed to projectile poop all over her arm. He was pretty pleased with himself too. If there is anything positive about Evan being in the NICU, I guess it's that I'm not experiencing projectile arm poop (yet).
The collapsed lung hasn't gotten any better - but it's not really any worse either. Instead of weaning today, the doctors wanted to see how the collapse looked after some time spent propped. They also spent a lot of time suctioning down his vent tube today.
Evan's feed was increased from 12 mL to 14 mL today. The milk still has the steroid mixed in with it. Evan's glucose levels are checked before each feed and have all been great.
Andrew and I were determined to make it to Evan before 8 pm. The 8 pm rotation is when Evan gets a fresh diaper, is weighed and fed. I figured if we were there we'd be able to help out. When we arrived, the respiratory therapist was checking the jet vent and assisting with suctioning the tube. This kinda ticked Evan off. Once they were done suctioning, I changed his diaper - twice. Yep, good ol' mom put the first diaper on backwards. As I was taking it off, he was mid pee in the new diaper. So I had to start over and put a second diaper on him. As soon as I got him all snuggled in the second diaper, we remembered we needed to weigh him - naked. So I had to take the diaper back off and lift him up naked to weigh him. I was so glad he had already peed otherwise I'm sure he would have loved the opportunity to show his displeasure. It took a bit of jostling to get him settled back in. Unfortunately, this left him really ticked for the rest of the visit. While his stats were all good, his face was really red and squnched up like he was trying to yell at me. We felt bad, but it was a little comical.
If Evan wasn't upset already, we also tried lotioning him. His skin has been so dry from the bili lights. It's bothered me and it just looks like he's been wandering the desert. We weren't able to put lotion on him before as it would have fried his skin under the lights. Since Evan has most likely outgrown the bili lights, it's safe to lotion him up. Except that he hates it. Hates lotion. Again, I tried not to laugh as he waved his arms and legs at me while his face was turning red from anger. I managed to smear a little dab on his arms and legs. I didn't dare do anymore incase he decided to desat to get his point across. Maybe he's just a typical guy and doesn't like using lotion. Maybe he didn't like the lavender scent. Or maybe, he just felt like being feisty!
The night nurse asked the doctors if Evan's glucose needed to continue to be checked before every feed. As the levels have been constant and stable, she wanted to make sure it was necessary to poke his heel for blood every 3 hours. Thankfully, the doctors determined that it would be fine to check him every 6 hours. So that's less heel sticks! Yay!
All in all, a great day for us and Evan!
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