Quiet day in the NICU

This is what Jac looked like when I got here at noon. So comfy!

Jac and I are having a nice, quiet day in the NICU.

When I got here at noon Jac was fast asleep on his right side. He looked so comfortable I did not want to wake him up. Unfortunately he is no longer in the womb, and out here we have to change his diaper and do various other things periodically. So - I slowly woke him up - and then his nurse and I performed his cares. This includes: diaper change, SpO2 sensor change, change in position, cleaning his mouth if necessary, measuring his tummy girth and listening to his chest and bowel sounds with a stethoscope.

After his cares we decided to put him on his tummy - he tends to like to be prone and his breathing is very good there. We also upped his continuous feeds to 2 ml / hour at noon. This is major food for such a little guy.

Around 1:45 pm I went to lunch - Jac's nurse was at lunch also and returned shortly after I left. When she got back she found that Jac had gotten himself out of his prone position. She put him back and wrapped him back up. When I came back at 2:15 pm I found him flipped all the way to the side of his isolette. It must have taken quite a bit of muscle to move himself that far. I was worried when I first saw him like this and I went and got his nurse.

We put him on his back, and then checked his diaper - which was quite dirty - probably what made him move! We fixed that, changed his bedding and then decided to leave him on his back. He was wide awake and seemed to be in a quiet alert state. I spent several minutes talking to him through the porthole - very, very quietly.

And then he appeared to start foaming at the mouth and retching. I was very scared and called his nurse immediately. She suctioned out his mouth but he was turning redder by the moment and he was crying. His nurse called for a different type of suction tube and a resident. We got both and he started to calm down although he continued to foam a bit. They think he started gagging on his OG tube and that started the spit up. Once his nurse suctioned his mouth out for a few minutes he settled back down. I was very scared and I told the nurses that. They were as usual not as concerned as I was - good thing they are calm when I am not! I am usually good in a crisis but this feels so different - it is very hard.

He hasn't really settled back down yet - he doesn't seem to be able to find a comfortable position - we will do his cares again in a little bit and see if we can find him a comfortable position. We are also considering doing Kangaroo this afternoon if he is still tolerating his feeds and his belly looks and sounds good.

One nice change is that two of the kids in the room we are in moved out yesterday and so there are only 2 kids in this room - Jac and a girl - both with the same nurse - so it is pretty quiet in here - although the other child's monitors go off a lot. Fortunately Jac's don't!

Medical changes for today

Electrolytes look good - bilirubin going down - this should mean that he is starting to produce more red blood cells and the ones he has are not dying off as quickly.

Total volume of feeds up to 4.5 ml / hour - up from 4.0 / hour which he has been at since he was admitted.

Weight: 770 grams last night - up from 698 grams (his birth weight) - up from 730 grams the night before. The doctors would like him to gain 30 - 40 grams / day. They weigh him every night.

Feeds increased to 2.0 ml / hour.

A good day so far with a little scare in the middle of it.