May 13, 2012
Mothers Day meant getting to hold Max for 3 1/2 hours straight. PCMC made a nice effort to make me feel good, but it was still hard. Sundays are always hard, because I work Mondays & Wednesdays. I try and soak it all in on Sunday so that I can make it through Monday.
Max's hematocrit or "crit" level is back down again. Which means his body is not producing enough blood cells. It is normal for this to happen, but it should have gone back up by now. They are concerned, especially since it is causing problems with his resperatory rate, heartrate, and O2 requirements. The 3 things Max has to be able to do completley (in order for him to come home) are
1. Breathe on his own, he is almost there! They will allow him to come home on a small amount of oxygen if that is the only thing keeping him at PCMC. However on Sunday it was at 4 liters/ minute. This is still considered 'high flow' which means he cannot breathe on his own.
2. Maintain his own body temperature. The fact that I held him for 3 1/2 hours on Sunday without a drop in his body temperature means he may be ready to move to a crib very soon!
3. Eat all of his foods by mouth. Basically, be able to suck, swallow, and breathe all at the same time either from a bottle or nursing. This is why they have been giving him binkies, so that they can monitor his ability to suck and breathe at the same time, before introducing the swallowing part of it.
The hematocrit is affecting his ability to do all of those, except maintain his body temperature. He is still gaining weight, and doing well otherwise.
May 15, 2012
Max's Hematocrit is still too low, so they are giving him a medication called darbepoetin or 'darby'. This will help him increase his red blood cells, until he is able to do so himself. If the darby doesn't help, it means Max will have to have a blood transfusion. This would be quiet the setback. He has had this medication before, but for the first time it was a shot instead of through an IV. He wimpered a little, but handled it well. It was a learning experience for me, because he handled it better than I did. I'm sure this will continue to happen, meaning I expect it to be worse than it is and Max handles life like a pro.
May 17, 2012
At 5:00am The NICU team decided to move my Max into a crib. I was beyond excited. It was the second best day in the NICU for us, (the first being the day he came off the broncotron aka my worst nightmare) and I practically floated the rest of the day. The reason I was so very excited is because not only does that mean Max has checked off a step to going home, but it also means I don't have to get permission from someone else to hold my baby. It means I don't have to sit in a rocking chair by his bedside and wait for a nurse to disconect and reconnect every wire and tube he is attached to in order for them to place him in my arms. It also means that I no longer have to tell a nurse 'no' when she asks me if I wanted her to get him out, because I know if I wait until after his cares are done I can hold him for 30 minutes longer than if I held him when she asked. (I got really good at timing when I held him in order to squeeze every second I could out of my allowed time to get him out of the incubator) Also, the reason I was so excited to hold him for 3 1/2 hours on Mothers Day. He is making so much progress and doing so well. If only we can get the crit level undercontrol !!!
to be continued....
;)
Mothers Day meant getting to hold Max for 3 1/2 hours straight. PCMC made a nice effort to make me feel good, but it was still hard. Sundays are always hard, because I work Mondays & Wednesdays. I try and soak it all in on Sunday so that I can make it through Monday.
Max's hematocrit or "crit" level is back down again. Which means his body is not producing enough blood cells. It is normal for this to happen, but it should have gone back up by now. They are concerned, especially since it is causing problems with his resperatory rate, heartrate, and O2 requirements. The 3 things Max has to be able to do completley (in order for him to come home) are
1. Breathe on his own, he is almost there! They will allow him to come home on a small amount of oxygen if that is the only thing keeping him at PCMC. However on Sunday it was at 4 liters/ minute. This is still considered 'high flow' which means he cannot breathe on his own.
2. Maintain his own body temperature. The fact that I held him for 3 1/2 hours on Sunday without a drop in his body temperature means he may be ready to move to a crib very soon!
3. Eat all of his foods by mouth. Basically, be able to suck, swallow, and breathe all at the same time either from a bottle or nursing. This is why they have been giving him binkies, so that they can monitor his ability to suck and breathe at the same time, before introducing the swallowing part of it.
The hematocrit is affecting his ability to do all of those, except maintain his body temperature. He is still gaining weight, and doing well otherwise.
May 15, 2012
Max's Hematocrit is still too low, so they are giving him a medication called darbepoetin or 'darby'. This will help him increase his red blood cells, until he is able to do so himself. If the darby doesn't help, it means Max will have to have a blood transfusion. This would be quiet the setback. He has had this medication before, but for the first time it was a shot instead of through an IV. He wimpered a little, but handled it well. It was a learning experience for me, because he handled it better than I did. I'm sure this will continue to happen, meaning I expect it to be worse than it is and Max handles life like a pro.
May 17, 2012
At 5:00am The NICU team decided to move my Max into a crib. I was beyond excited. It was the second best day in the NICU for us, (the first being the day he came off the broncotron aka my worst nightmare) and I practically floated the rest of the day. The reason I was so very excited is because not only does that mean Max has checked off a step to going home, but it also means I don't have to get permission from someone else to hold my baby. It means I don't have to sit in a rocking chair by his bedside and wait for a nurse to disconect and reconnect every wire and tube he is attached to in order for them to place him in my arms. It also means that I no longer have to tell a nurse 'no' when she asks me if I wanted her to get him out, because I know if I wait until after his cares are done I can hold him for 30 minutes longer than if I held him when she asked. (I got really good at timing when I held him in order to squeeze every second I could out of my allowed time to get him out of the incubator) Also, the reason I was so excited to hold him for 3 1/2 hours on Mothers Day. He is making so much progress and doing so well. If only we can get the crit level undercontrol !!!
to be continued....
;)
2 comments:
oh, you are just the BEST mom in the world already!!! you amaze me, brit! with everything you guys have gone through in the past couple months, you are still so positive and hopeful and i LOVE it! max is so darn lucky to have you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love ya and still pray for your cute little family almost daily :)
Brit,
Thanks for your ongoing posts about MAX. He is doing so well. I love reading about him and the growth your family is making. Best wishes for his continued growth in the coming weeks.
Diane
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