A better day

I had a better day today. This morning my blood gas was pretty good and showed that my CO2 level had gone down slightly. It was still higher than the previous few days, but the doctors assure me, mommy, and daddy that preemies tend start out life on a roller coaster.

I'm not sure what a roller coaster is, but mommy says it's a really fun ride where you go up and down and all around. The only difference is that roller coasters are fun and short lived....the preemie equivalent is not so fun and takes a lot longer to get off the ride. Can you believe that my daddy has never been on a roller coaster??? Mommy says we'll have to take him to Disney World or Adventureland when I get bigger. What's Disney World? What's Adventureland?

Anyway, I maintained a pretty even level for my O2 today, but they also had me set at 80% which is a lot higher than the previous few days when I was down to only needing 40%. So I did have a set back, but right now I'm doing good holding my own needing 66%, and according to mommy I'm bouncing back pretty quick.

The doctors keep assuring mommy and daddy that varying levels and little set backs are very common with all preemies, and I am doing considerably well. We had family rounds today and mommy talked with the team because daddy had to be at work. Mommy was told that my two main issues right now are respiratory and nutritional. The doctors say I'm doing great nutritionally. I'm so good that now I get to eat 5 CCs of mommy milk every three hours and I'm digesting pretty much all of it!!!!! Respiratory wise, I'm not doing great, but I'm doing okay. My new goal is to continue weening me from the ventilator, only the weening will happen much slower this time. The doctors keep getting me chest x-rays so they can see how my lungs are doing. Right now the doctors say my lungs look really good, and are opening up good. Ther are concerned that some of my Alvioli (lung sacs) will collapse, or else my lungs will over expand and spring a leak. That's why they watch me really closely. Mommy explained to me that since I was born so early, my lungs were ready because they are one of the last parts of me to develop. Daddy told me that the doctors gave mommy two shots of steroids in her bottom in order to help my lungs develop quicker before I was born. Mommy jokes that the steroids didn't help me very much, but they did make her bottom look bigger! I don't get it. What's a Steroid?

Tonight my nurse is Sue. She was my nurse last night too and we didn't have a good night, but that wasn't Sue's fault. Just now Sue was taking my vital signs and changing my diaper. She decided to weigh me before putting a new diaper on and I accidently peepee'd on her hand and the blanket beneath me. So now I get a free turn and a new clean blanket. The doctor wants me to have a gram stain, which is something to do with some secretions that are in my lungs. The doctor told mommy and daddy that it's just a precautionary measure.

Tomorrow I'm getting another brain ultrasound. I had one of those last week and mommy asked for a print out of my brain for the scrapbook that she's trying to make. She didn't get one, but tonight the doctor said that if mommy couldn't get one from the ultrasound people, the doctor would print one off for mommy. Daddy thinks mommy is crazy for keeping every little thing that I or the nurses use. Of course, daddy still thinks mommy is extra-special-crazy for taking a picture of my first bowel movement. Mommy doesn't mind people thinking she's crazy...she says that someday I'll want to know about my birth and she'll be able to show and tell everything. Besides, a first bowel movement is a once in a life-time event. Mommy says you can never have two "first bowel movements!"

The nurses tell me I'm becoming a regular little boy. Like I just said, I peepee'd on Sue's hand and the blanket just now. Earlier in the day I had a bowel movement in my diaper and when the day nurse, Denise, took the old one off to put the new diaper on, I accidentily pooped on the blanket. The nurses told mommy that little boys kind of don't have control over where and when they go to the bathroom some times.

The highlight of the day was when I got to hold Mommy. I waited almost all day before it happened. First the nurses and doctors needed to make sure I was stable. Then mommy and daddy's friend Janelle came and brought a huge basket of stuff from a religious organization that works with children who are really sick. The basket had lots of really cool things in it for me to have! Janelle was so nice that she took mommy to the Social Security Office to fill out some form that A worker told mommy she needed. It took a long time at the Social Security Office, but finally mommy got to the window and made sure that tomorrow I would have a Social Security number because the hospital wants me to be on SSI while I'm in the hospital. When Janelle brought mommy back to the hospital, mommy had to talk with the doctors for Family Rounds. Grandma and Grandpa Hewlitt were here with me, so they got to meet Janelle.

Finally the doctors told mommy to get ready to hold me. My nurse Denise and the Respiratory Therapist got mommy all situated and then put me on her. We sat there for a whole 2 hours just holding each other. Daddy came home (that's what mommy and daddy call my hospital room now) right after they put me on mommy so he sat next to me and mommy and rubbed mommy's leg. Daddy worries that the Kangaroo Care is too risky because they move me to mommy while I'm still on the ventilator, but I really love holding mommy.....and she's way too big to lay down next to me in my cave.

Daddy read a whole bunch of studies on Kangaroo Care today and finally decided that he would let me hold him tomorrow. See, Kangaroo Care is mostly about the skin-to-skin contact so both mommys and daddys can do it. Mommy is excited to have me hold daddy because she thinks it may help daddy not worry so much. I'm just excited to hold daddy and have him all to myself!!!

Tomorrow is Friday which means daddy can stay at the hospital for three whole days and nights. Daddy doesn't worry as much when he gets to be at the hospital with me. And my Auntie Rachel (otherwise known as OCHO) is coming to see me this weekend too. I may be little, but I'm a popular guy!!!

Mommy gets off driving restriction tomorrow. Since I was born mommy's doctor told her no driving a car for one whole week after she was discharged. Since mommy couldn't drive, Grandpa Hewlitt took her car to his house and fixed her headlight, it was missing. Now when mommy does drive, she'll have two headlights like everyone else. I think that's a weird rule, the no driving thing, because mommy was allowed to be a passenger in a car, just not drive it. Mommy said that sometimes when daddy or Grandma Hewlitt would drive her places, they would drive over bumps that made mommy's insides want to fall out. But she thinks she's getting better fast. She has a doctor's appointment next week and she really hopes the doctor will say she can go back to work. Mommy really doesn't want to leave me to go back to work, but she wants to make sure she can build up enough vacation and sick leave that she can be home with me for some time when I get out of the hospital. She's really hoping that everyone cooperates and she is able to take off time when I get to go home.

Well, mommy says it's time for me to go to sleep...so Good Night! :)