Owen has officially spent 1/4 of his life in the hospital. Crazy! But we are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Last night he stayed on 3L of flow at 28% FiO2 without any drops in his oxygen level. According to my babysitter (thank you Jolene Petersen!) he slept pretty well. Dr. Bradshaw saw him this morning and was encouraged. She apologized for his slow recovery but said it's also as expected. In her words, "RSV sucks!" She guessed another two nights. Sure seems like we said two nights... two nights ago!
For the first time this morning they turned his FiO2 down to 21% (room air) and his flow down to 2L. He does excellent while he's awake but then needs a small amount of oxygen when he's in a good sleep. As soon as he can be on room air while asleep we should be able to remove his support completely. That will make for one happy Mama and Baby. Owen is constantly trying to rip the cannula out of his nose.
Another goal for today is to increase his volume of feeds. He is doing well with 30 ml (1 oz) but the pediatrician would like to see him take 60 ml (2 oz). They decreased his IV fluids to 5 ml/hr since he is able to take more by mouth. The final step before discharge will be to get him back to breast. I tried that today and after his breathing was pretty labored, so for now we'll continue with the bottle. But it was good to know he didn't forget how to latch.
Little by little he is settling back into his home routine which was: Eat, play for about an hour, then sleep for 1.5 hrs. Owen's form of "play" is to look around the room at all the cool lights and new objects. Before coming to the hospital we were just starting to perfect his home routine and he was able to put himself to sleep. I hope he is able to get back on track at home.
Today the goal for myself is to get some fresh air. Jesse will be on babysitting duty while I go for a quick run. Did I mention three days before we came here we had started a 10 day cleanse of strict clean eating? Ya... I might have eaten a huge cinnamon roll for dinner one night. It's pretty much impossible to eat clean in this environment. But I'm very proud of Jesse for staying on track and already losing 5 pounds.
For the first time this morning they turned his FiO2 down to 21% (room air) and his flow down to 2L. He does excellent while he's awake but then needs a small amount of oxygen when he's in a good sleep. As soon as he can be on room air while asleep we should be able to remove his support completely. That will make for one happy Mama and Baby. Owen is constantly trying to rip the cannula out of his nose.
Another goal for today is to increase his volume of feeds. He is doing well with 30 ml (1 oz) but the pediatrician would like to see him take 60 ml (2 oz). They decreased his IV fluids to 5 ml/hr since he is able to take more by mouth. The final step before discharge will be to get him back to breast. I tried that today and after his breathing was pretty labored, so for now we'll continue with the bottle. But it was good to know he didn't forget how to latch.
Little by little he is settling back into his home routine which was: Eat, play for about an hour, then sleep for 1.5 hrs. Owen's form of "play" is to look around the room at all the cool lights and new objects. Before coming to the hospital we were just starting to perfect his home routine and he was able to put himself to sleep. I hope he is able to get back on track at home.
Today the goal for myself is to get some fresh air. Jesse will be on babysitting duty while I go for a quick run. Did I mention three days before we came here we had started a 10 day cleanse of strict clean eating? Ya... I might have eaten a huge cinnamon roll for dinner one night. It's pretty much impossible to eat clean in this environment. But I'm very proud of Jesse for staying on track and already losing 5 pounds.
Morning Snuggles
FINALLY seeing a normal respiratory rate!!
My blogging buddy
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