Day 4 has been a real roller-coaster. Since we arrived, it has been storming off and on. At times the thunderstorms have been torrential. We woke to find news that this area has had major flooding including several rivers overflowing and many roads blocked off by flooded low areas. It was so bad that when we got out for lunch, we were told by one of the hospital staff that the road next to the hospital was flooded. The hospital is on the top of a hill. We walked to the edge of the parking lot and looked down the hill. The road went down and at the bottom, there was about a 3 block long lake and they had the road barricaded in both directions to prevent cars from traversing the flooded area. From the nearby buildings, it looked as if it might have been 5 feet at the deepest. So, all day long, we heard from various staff who had problems going home the night before and problems coming in to work. One nurse said that it normally took her 25 minutes to get to the hospital, but it took her 3 hours today as she had to keep detouring around flooded areas and then finding her alternate routes blocked. Thankfully, the hospital has allowed us to stay in the maternity ward here while our sons are in the NICU (as long as there are no mothers in need of the rooms...fortunately, this week has not been too busy and there are several rooms unused). This has been a real gift as it means that we are only down the hall from the boys and can go there easily for their feedings every 3 hours.
So, we went in the late morning for Dexter's feeding and wonderful news greeted us. Spencer had been weaned down to 21% oxygenated air (essentially normal air) and he was getting more oxygen in his blood than he had been with 40% oxygenated air before the surfactant. If he remained this stable, they would be able to remove the big uncomfortable CPAP tube and go back to the nasal cannula. And we were so happy with his progress. With his breathing easier and without having to work hard with every breath just to get enough oxygen into his body, he was a completely different baby. He was calmer and wasn't fussing as much as before. His color was better and things that had bothered him before were not bothering him as much and he was even able to sleep for periods of time. What a dramatic difference. When we went for Dexter's 3:30pm feeding, we found even more good news. Spencer's breathing had stabilized and he was getting much more oxygen in his blood (regularly between 96% and 100% of expected--before the cannula, he was struggling to get 88-91% of the normal amount of oxygen in his blood). So the doctors had taken off the CPAP and he was only on the nasal cannula and he was much more comfortable. Yeah! Now he's really making progress to catch up to Dexter.
Dexter on the other hand is still having problems getting the hang of suckling. He eats about 2-6 ml of formula on his own and then gives up. He gets the rest of every meal (up to 48 ml as of Thursday) via his feeding tube. The staff says this is not unusual for premies and that he'll learn (they remind me that in 10-12 years, I'll look back longingly at the days when he wouldn't eat!)
Every week the doctors, nurse and hospital staff sit down to review each patient in the NICU, their status, treatment and prognosis. The prognosis is good for both boys. Neither is facing anything unusual for a premature infant and they say that infants need on average 36-37 weeks of gestational age before they're ready to leave the hospital. We just hope and watch for progress each day, which we've been getting.
When I went in for Dexter's midnight feeding I got more good news. Spencer was doing so well, they decided to move him back from the special bed to the incubator which means he's more stable. I even helped move him and at one point, the various cables had gotten all tangled up. They ended up disconnecting his breathing cannula and for the 1.5 to 2 minutes that he was off of the augmented air, he was breathing normal air and his blood oxygen level never dipped below 96%...the nurses said that was quite good and that as long as his levels stayed good for a certain amount of time, that they'd be able to take him off of the assisted breathing. The little guy is working hard to catch up to Dexter!
Well, just day by day--but today was a good one.
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