No News and Good News

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Jeffrey’s doing fine. There really hasn’t been anything remarkable over the past day or so. Danielle and I are relaxing here in the NICU-annex while he sleeps. I’m finishing homework and surfing the net while she works on a cross stitch piece for him. It’s just about time for his 9 PM changing and feeding, so I’ll have to keep this quick.
It’s really nice to have ‘net access now. I can post updates and keep up with school work while being by his side. We can even set up the webcam – maybe tomorrow. There are more chairs to sit on, and it’s pretty quiet. We’ve been able to adhere to the “2 visitors to a bedside” while still being able to hang right outside the window.
Last night we had a new milestone… sort of. As Dani and I drove home, we thought about it and realized that yesterday was the first day we were really able to “play” with him. He wiggled all over, was wide awake, and we made silly faces. We had fun dressing him up in his “I Love My Daddy” outfit. He’s getting bigger and able to turn his head left and right when he’s on his back. He kicks and throws his arms about wildly. In short (no pun intended)… he’s getting to be fun! And louder!
(Short pause)
OK, I’m done feeding the boy. He fell asleep on me and was curled up into a little ball. Normally that would cause him to drop his oxygen saturation levels, but he did really well tonight. We made it all the way through the feeding, and then his monitor ran low on batteries. It turns out that the power cord was broke and kept falling out of the unit. Enter MacGyver Dad… Jeffrey in one hand and a roll of medical tape in the other. A few minutes later, we had a working monitor back on AC power, and all the cables secured in place with enough medical tape to withstand a minor earthquake. Hey, I like to feel useful.
Mom’s hanging out with the boy for a few minutes before we head home for the night to our other neglected children: Pixel, Berkeley, Cisco and perl.
Vitals: Nurse Sonya on duty tonight. 1325g (down 15g since last measurement. That’s OK). He’s feeding at 25cc, 8x per day. He had to stop for a little bit last night because of a slight residual (7cc), but x-rays showed no concerns. It was a cool x-ray machine, painted like a giraffe! He really doesn’t like having to wear a nasal cannula. Perhaps tonight during rounds the doctors will suggest trying him on room air.