Not All Water Weight

Nadine was Henry's nurse last night. She's not going to be on duty again until Wednesday, which is disappointing because he does so well in her care.

Nadine weighed Henry at 810 grams, so his weight increase doesn't appear to be all water weight. She thought his color looked good. I think that she was a little disappointed that his breathing isn't quite as good as when she had him last weekend. It may be the case that the steroids are wearing off.

She said that Henry was pretty mad at her during his cares at 8PM. But at least he was alert. And, he held her finger with his hand. Jeff and I did some of the cares at 11PM. We took his temperature and changed his diaper. Although the nurses are adept at changing diapers, it feels like a two person job when Jeff and I do it because there are some many chords (e.g., the leads to his heart and breathing monitors, his PIC line). I suctioned out his mouth and lightly massaged his nose while the mask to the CPAP was off. He only frowned at me once and kept his sat levels up during cares. In addition, his body language was good (didn't suggest stress). Jeff did the feeding tonight. Henry is now up to 4 ml of breast milk. The plan is to up the ml's to a unit increase every 12 hours as long as he continues to tolerate it.

For the most part, the pod was relatively quiet. The noisy neighbors to the right of his isolette have gone home. But unfortunately, the staff decided to put a gargantuan baby right across from Henry. The nurses weighed this kid at over 9lbs. While baby didn't scream all of the time we were there, but when it did scream, it wailed. Nadine was trying to get Henry moved toward the very back of the pod, in the far left corner. Sarah earlier today was also trying to make this happen. Henry's pod holds 10 babies, 5 slots on the right and 5 on the left. He's been stationed in stall 11 during our entire time there, which is the second slot on the right as you enter the pod. I'm hoping that it will be better for him when he's no longer in the middle of the room.

The baby that was in stall 15 (the far left corner) was moved to first stall on the left. As soon as one of the cleaning staff has a chance to clean the far left corner, Henry will most likely be moved. The baby that was moved is quite a cutie. He is fascinating to look at because he has the thickest, longest hair that I have ever seen on a newborn. Even the nurses were impressed. Looks like he's about 3 lbs with black hair that is over an inch long that sticks straight up on top. In any event, I hope he thrives in his new location, just as I hope Henry thrives in his. The new location should give Henry a little more protection from the noise in the pod. Jeff is a little concerned because the nurses tend to congregate at the back of the pod when they are gabbing. But I figure that we are there so often, they'll probably find another place to do their gabbing.