Each day we are seeing small “improvements” with Micah! I can’t believe he will be one week old tomorrow! His weight is back up to 4 lbs. 10 ozs, which is REALLY good! He is now off the IVs, and his diet is exclusively breastmilk at this point. Needless to say, the pumping has been going great (with the hospital’s Medela Symphony pump), and I am now producing enough that they don’t have to supplement with formula any more.
Another bit of progress is in the area of his ability to suck. Yesterday they gave him a bottle, and he took 30 cc’s (by mouth)—47 cc’s would have been an entire feeding, so they only had to give him 17 cc’s in the feeding tube! That is a huge step forward. Because feeding is progressing so well, the drs want me to try to nurse him once/day. It is going okay. . . he tries to suck, but it’s very inconsistent and sporadic. You can tell he wants to, but he is just so immature still. It is slow progress, but they keep saying to remember that he is still not “old enough” to “suck” yet–that skill is not usually developed until week 35. So he has over a week before we really want him to start sucking–so he is doing great!!
As far as his body temperature goes, tomorrow they will start to bring the temperature in the isolette down, one degree (or was it 1/2 degree?) each shift. They monitor his body temp, and as long as it stays up, they continue bringing the temp down, until it’s room temperature. At that point, if he holds his temp for 2 days, he could go to an open crib, instead of the isolette.
His bilirubin levels are down a bit due to his phototherapy. They don’t think he will need the phototherapy tomorrow, but they will check his levels again in the morning. . .
My recovery is going okay. I think I have tried to “sit up” too much, instead of laying down. I have had a lot of abdominal pains today. But honestly, I don’t know what I should expect, since Mara was born vaginally–it was a totally different experience in every way! (I certainly see pros and cons with each.) Today, Mara crawled across the bed and “pounced” on me–RIGHT THERE!!—and it KILLED!!! She totally didn’t mean to. She was just crawling up to sit on my lap like she always used to–but unfortunately, I didn’t see it coming quickly enough to stop her. . . I know the recovery takes time . . . it hasn’t even been a week yet!
Today was the 1st day that I really had a hard time leaving Micah. Until today, I kept reminding myself that there wasn’t anything that I could do for him, that the nurses couldn’t do better. . . well, today, for the first time, the nurse was saying, ideally i could be there round-the-clock for his feeding, and try nursing him, every time he was awake and alert. . . . Of course, that’s not feasible, so the nurses are giving him the bottle when he wakes up. But for the 1st time, I’m struggling a bit w leaving him there and not being able to care for him like I wish I could. . . This too is part of God’s perfect plan, so I’m trying to be surrendered in my heart and know that God’s way is best for me and best for Micah! 🙂
Every time we go to the NICU, we are thanking God for our blessings. A couple was in there today, who just had a baby boy, born with Downs syndrome and intestinal problems–so he was in the NICU too. They actually watched Mara for Daniel, so he could come in the NICU with me to see Micah for a few minutes. (Kids under 2 aren’t allowed in the NICU, so Daniel has to sit in the lobby w her while I’m in there w Micah.) But ANYWAY, we were thinking how much more complicated their situation is, since those are long-term challenges they will probably be dealing with for life. We are blessed that Micah’s prognosis is so good right now!