NICU Diaries: Week 8
Baby is 35 weeks corrected gestational age.
Read about last week: Week 7!
Day 50: Wound Care
I’m SO tired, mostly from pumping every 2-3 hours and commuting to Provo every day to visit Baby. We need each other, and I’m trying to do it while I can before someone in our family gets sick. Still holding onto the idea of breast-feeding if I just hang on a bit longer. He’s over 5lbs now, but still on a breathing machine and recovering from an infection and a head wound. Today was the 50th day in the NICU, and I’m realizing he probably won’t be home by his due date.
I arrived just as Wound Care came to check Baby’s head wound discovered yesterday. It looks like a pressure ulcer, which will take 2-6 weeks to heal depending on the cause (still unknown). They’re using a special ointment and bandage to keep it clean.
Baby Henry showed off how strong he is lifting his head, neck, and shoulders while lying on his tummy. One of these days he’s going to crawl out of here. Dr is making small changes to his meds to keep up with Baby’s weight gain: upping his diuretic and electrolytes, and reducing the extra calories from 28 to 26.
Our first skin-to-skin session since his infection was amazing.
Day 51
My sisters asked me how it feels to have 4 kids now, and I told them I don’t feel like I have 4 kids—I feel like I’m living a double life where my one child is in the hospital, and in the other life I have 3 kids at home. The two lives haven’t converged yet.
He looked like a little Baby Monk in his cute little blanket. I loved holding him in my arms, and he loved being held. ❤️ I couldn’t stay long today if I wanted to see the boys perform at their school’s Fall Dance Festival.
Day 52
Day 53
Day 54
Day 55
Day 56
Check out more weeks from our NICU journey here.
