TPN, Mmm, Mmmm Good

Another good day today. Henry is now down to one xray per day. It will probably be a few more days before they start giving him milk again. However, he seems to be doing well on the mixture they give him which is called TPN. He gained 40 grams and weighed in at 950 grams tonight. Hopefully it is not all fluid. He is not urinating quite as much as they would like despite being given the diuretic. He doesn't appear bloated like he did before when he gained a lot of weight and then lost it all. He still doesn't really have any fat on him. I have some I'd be willing to donate.

His nurse was Jenn for a little bit this morning and then Penny took over for the rest of the morning shift. Penny is the developmental specialist and pays particular attention to things like atmosphere and positioning. She has lent us some books on preemies and kangaroo care that were interesting to read. She also has done things like prepared a booklet for Henry that describes his situation and has some pictures. I believe she was behind a framed picture of Henry that Kate received for Mother's Day. I didn't realize she actually took shifts caring for the babies until today.

Kate was able to do kangaroo care for two hours this afternoon during which he did very well. His oxygen has been turned down to 28% and he continues to maintain his saturation well which is encouraging. They also turned down the rate of flow of the oxygen from 1.5 to 1 liters. This will give his lungs less support so he will have to do more work on his own.

He had a visit from his aunt Erin again today. I should also mention that Kate's father visits him every morning and her mother visits every afternoon. It is nice to have him so watched over.

His xray was good, no bubbles. He received an ultrasound of his head again today but we didn't find out the results yet.

Nadine was back taking care of Henry tonight. She is one of our favorites and seems to genuinely enjoy taking care of Henry. It is also nice to have consistency in his care so that they know things like what his color normally is or how often he has apnea/brady episodes.

I held him for about an hour and a half this evening. He did well, pretty uneventful which is good.

After he was put back in his isolette, there was some dark substance that came up his feeding tube. It wasn't very much but Nadine showed it to the doctor just in case. They didn't see a cause for concern as long as it doesn't continue. It might be blood from agitation to the nasal cavity by the feeding tube, bloody nose. They humidify the air that goes up his nose but it can still dry out the insides. Something to keep an eye on.

Overall he had a restful day. We just need about 75 more days like today and we'll be able to take him home.