NICU Diaries: Week 2
I’m putting updates here as we progress in the hospital.
Read about Week 1 here!
Day 8: One Week Older
Baby is moving up to 3-4 feedings / Care times per shift starting tonight! His night nurse said he gained about an ounce. Grandma Monica came to visit him and saw Mom changing his diaper through the port holes. He was so calm and happy to have skin to skin with Mommy again today for an hour and a half. She did leak all over him though as the milk is coming in.
Day 9: Making Progress
Baby is doing so well! His CPAP level went down from 8 to 7, so he’s a little stronger without as much help from the breathing machine. His feedings are going up so he can grow. Most of his medication and food is being taken orally, so maybe his IV can come out in a week or two. Sodium is also being mixed into his feedings since his immature gut isn’t sure how to handle electrolytes yet. Doctors are giving him a hormonal shot “Ddarbepoetin alfa” weekly to increase his red blood cell count, which all preemies need more of to prevent anemia. The highlight of my day was that Henry held my finger the entire hour we were skin to skin.
Day 10: Tummy Time
Baby was very content all day even during Cares and especially during skin to skin time with Mom. Baby loves being on his tummy! It seems like there’s less air in his stomach, less residual from acid reflux, and he is eating more. More calories will be added to his food. The night nurse called to say Baby gained weight and he’s now 2lbs 8oz! Small victories!
The little nick on his nasal septum is healing, and they are taking measures not to irritate it. His glycerin enema will be every 6 hours instead of 12 to help move food in his gut as he eats more.
A NICU therapist came and tested his reflexes today, she said he’s doing great with his hands grasping and opening.
I’m exhausted from the lack of sleep and pumping with rushing home to the kids and evening activities. Not sure if being tired is also making me more emotional, but I’ve found it hard not to bawl on the drive home when I’m missing baby so much and have all the feels. I miss his smell, the weight of his little body, his little wiggles, his breathing. I still put my hand to my tummy and it feels like something is wrong and missing—where is my baby? I try not to dwell on my feelings of missing out on the last weeks/months of my last time being pregnant- like it was so short and there’s so much we didn’t get to do or experience, but now I get to see it all outside of the womb. Being with baby Henry at the hospital is my quiet solace from these weary thoughts, and seeing him comforts me and keeps me going. He’s absolutely perfect, just very early.
Day 11: Cheesy
My sister Adelynn visited Henry with me, and I held him for 2 hours in Mama bliss. He was so calm that his mouth was open the whole time that he slept on me. His food is being fortified, and it takes about an hour for him to absorb 12mL. I’ve started wearing breast pads because being near him makes my milk leak haha. Today I thought it funny that to me he smelled like pepperoni pizza.
Day 12: Squeaky Boy
Baby gained weight and is now 1200 grams (2lbs 10oz)! The nurse told me he’s just above his birth weight which they have recorded as 1170 grams (2lbs 9oz).
I witnessed Henry pooing while I was changing his diaper! He has a little diaper rash that is getting much better, but since he’s pooping in every diaper after getting enemas every 6hrs, the diaper rash cream is a preventative measure. I got his stomach juices on the back of my shirt while enjoying skin to skin.
He gets so squeaky when he hiccups, it’s so cute!!
Day 13: Goodbye IV!
One of our day nurses Kiah says, “Henry is the only baby in the NICU who doesn’t know how small he is. He uses a big voice to tell us what he thinks and big lungs when he cries, he sucks on his binky like a Big Boy, tries gripping his feeding tubes like he’s about to rip it out.” Haha! Yeah, that sounds about right… We’re just all on his program!
The hospital is switching over to a new system today, so the live stream showing Baby is down and I’m kind of going crazy not being able to check on him every time I pump. I planned to go to my friend’s baby shower, but I dropped off her gift and went to see my baby instead because I haven’t seen him or heard anything in 24 hours and Care Time is during the party.
Lily and I visited Baby! She performed all of his Cares and the only thing she asked for help with was changing his diaper.
They removed his PICC line!! That means no more IV’s or TPN (Total Parenteral Nutrition)—a big step forward! Everything is now orally given through his feeding tube, and it’s easier to hold him without those extra wires and IV stand. He’s also back to prongs in his nose for the CPAP machine now that his nasal septum has healed. Back to 0-2 glycerin enemas per day as needed. His day nurse called him a “Pooping Machine!”
I got to experience baby Henry’s feisty side today haha! His night nurse Ashli says that we love the feisty ones because they are SPICY! He was not a fan of the tummy position he was put in while doing skin-to-skin with me, and he let me know it until he was more comfortable lying on his side.
Day 14: Happy 30 Weeks!
Jer hasn’t seen Baby for a week, so he was eager to do Cares like changing diaper, applying creams or powders, taking temperature, switching monitors, and any excuse to touch or hold him. Jer got to see how Henry has changed into a slightly chubbier less wrinkly baby. Henry enjoyed Daddy’s firm holds while the staff helped us get ready for skin-to-skin.
Baby Henry is now the age of our formerly earliest baby! This is the developmental age we were aiming for at the earliest, and now we’re celebrating that we made it one more week in the NICU. No changes to his treatment, but his dried umbilical cord stump has fallen off and now we can see baby’s cute little belly button.
Daddy held Baby’s tiny hand while baby was happily on Mom for an hour of skin-to-skin.
Baby measures 34cm long (13.3 inches). The nurses are thinking that when he was born he got measured really quickly and don’t think that birth length was accurate.
Read about next week: Week 3!
Check out more weeks from our NICU journey here.
