A Happy Henry

My parents visited Henry in the afternoon (6/3). My dad got to hold the feeding bottle during Henry's cares.

Jeff visited Henry shortly after my parents left. Henry continued to do well. His oxygen was set at 37% and his sats were around 99%, so Beth turned the oxygen down to 31%. Jeff read "Sam and the Firefly" to him.

We returned to the NICU in the evening and decided to do some kangaroo care. Jeff and I trade off on the holding. Tonight it was my turn. Emily set me up on the recliner. It was my first time holding Henry while he was on the cannula. His sats, respiration, and heart rate were excellent during skin-to-skin. He rested on my chest and was quiet once he got settled. Jeff said that he had his eye brows up, which means he was happy. He also openned his eyes to look around.

After an hour, we decided that it was time for him to go back into his isolette. I would have loved to hold him longer, but we wanted to make sure he stayed warm. Emily had given us plenty of warmed blankets during the kangaroo care, but I tend to run a little cold on average. One study that I read on kangaroo care claimed that mothers raise their body temperatures when babies start getting cold, so I was probably worrying for nothing. Before he was put back into the isolette, Emily took his temperature and it remained in normal range (37 degrees Celsius), which was great.

Emily did a nice job getting him back into his isolette. He was of course cranky when she put the CPAP back on him. But he eventually settled down. All looked well when we left.