On Friday (5/18), Kate went to visit Henry in the morning, the first visit since having stomach flu. Henry was doing OK, but the Dr. Erin McLain mentioned that they were quite worried over Henry's stomach. His stomach had developed a gray tinge to it (which is bad), but the stomach wasn't hard (which is good). The nurse and doctor went to show Kate what they were talking about, but as they looked at it, both remarked that it looked a lot better since the previous observation. They had started giving Henry antibiotics, so perhaps that helped whatever was going on. The other concern was that a genetic screen had come back suggesting that Henry may have a thyroid problem.
On Saturday (5/19), Henry's color looked better. He had a good day. Dr. McLain said that they retested his thyroid, and the readings were still lower than normal, but they don't think that it is causing him problems at this time. The low readings may simply have to do with his early birth, and hopefully, his thyroid will develop further. Nadine (his nurse on the night shift) weighed him, and it appears that his weight increased to 640 grams (up from 620 grams). She weighed him a couple times to be sure.
On Sunday (5/20), Henry had another good day. Nancy was his day nurse, and she thought he looked better than he had on Friday. Nancy took his head measurements, and things looked good. The circumference of Henry's head had increased just a little bit, which is fine. A large increase would suggest hydrocephalus, water on the brain, which would be bad. So, we were very pleased that his head size isn't increasing beyond what is normal. Nadine (again on evening shift) weighed him at 670 grams. We did the skin-to-skin holding in the evening. Kate did the holding this time. It went pretty well, although he seemed to get a little cold (despite the fact that we had warmed blankets on him).
On Monday (5/21), Henry had another good day. Today was his 3-week birthday! Dr. McLain said that they were going to start him on breast milk on Tuesday. They wanted to give him another day of rest. Lisa was Henry's day nurse. Belen was his evening nurse. She weighed Henry at 720 grams (she did it twice, just to make sure). Henry was a bit fussy while Jeff and Kate visited him. His oxygen saturation levels dropped ("de-sat"ing) a couple of times...scarying his parents. Belen ended up tucking a blanket around him, which seemed to calm him down immensely.
On Tuesday (5/22), Henry was pretty calm in the morning. Lisa explained that they've decided not to push the oxygen levels too much (meaning turning his oxygen down). They could, but then he'd have to work harder, and the doctors and nurses don't want him expending his energy on that right now. He still needs to gain weight, so they don't want him to use what little energy reserves he has on breathing off the CPAP. The nurse did give him breast milk (1ml, which they will be giving him every six hours).
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