Wet and Wild

Henry is doing well. The big news is that he is still on the cannula!

I was incredibly surprised to find that Henry was still on the cannula when we visited him in the evening on Wednesday (6/6). His weight was 880 grams. We were pleased to find that Kathy and Holly were his evening nurses. They had taken care of him during his first few weeks in the NICU, but they'd been assigned to the triplets in his pod, so they hadn't had him in awhile. Kathy, Holly, and Joyce make up a trio of nurses who often work together switching off on "8 hour" shifts instead of the usual "12 hour" shifts. 8 and 12 hours are in quotation marks because, as near as I can tell, an 8 hour shift is really 9 hours (at least) and a 12 hour shift is really 13 hours (at least) because of the time spent relaying information about the patients during shift changes. Kathy, Holly, and Joyce are excellent nurses and have a lot of NICU experience.

I was even more surprised to find that Henry was still on the cannula Thursday. Henry's bedding had been changed. The full drape on his isolette was changed to a cute yellow blanket that comes down halfway along the side of the isolette. This allows the nurses to better keep their sights on Henry (which is important with the continous feeding). And, Henry got his first teddy bear (it's a blue beanie bear that Holly chose for him).

Joyce was his day nurse. Joyce has been working in the NICU at UMC for 36 years. That means that she was working there when I was in the same NICU 34 years ago. I was a preemie, a 33-weeker born 3 lbs 13 ounces. Alas, Joyce doesn't remember me (I'm a bit heavier than I was back then), but she feels a strong bond with Henry. When she saw me enter the NICU, she said to me, "I get to take care of Henry today!" It was nice to see such enthusiasm over my son.

Henry was given a dose of Lasix again. They switched him to a different diuretic after the Lasix dose. Other than that, he was doing well. They must have felt confident in his cannula experience because they took the CPAP machine away from his bedside. Joyce said that Henry had good muscle tone. His color was still rather pale, and his hematocrit was somewhat low...suggesting a blood tranfusion in his future. Basically, as I understand it, the hematocrit is a determination of the red blood cell count. However, they aren't inclined to do blood tranfusions just based on the labs because they want Henry's body to learn to make the red blood cells on his own. If Henry shows problematic symptoms (e.g., sats continuously low), then they'll proceed with the transfusion.

My mom arrived just as I was leaving. Henry put on quite the show during her visit. Henry managed to pull out his feeding tube. Because Henry was on the continous feed, this made a mess. So, they ended up putting the feeding tube through his nose (something they couldn't do when he was on CPAP), which should make it much harder for his to pull out and a bit more comfortable for him.

In the evening, Kathy was his nurse. The Lasix did its job. Henry had a 20 gram diaper and a 30 gram diaper during his first two cares on Kathy's shift. When Henry was weighed, he was 860 grams. Jeff did skin-to-skin with Henry, which Henry enjoyed. Holly took over the second half of the evening. Henry continued to do well.

Today (6/8), Joyce was his nurse again. When I arrived, he was wrapped up like a burrito in his blankets. Holly left a book for Henry entitled "Everything I Know I Learned from My Grandpa." Holly often talks to my dad when my dad comes in the morning.

I did skin-to-skin for about two hours with him. He did very well (high sats, often at 100%). My mom visited and watched his monitors while I held Henry. The big "wet and wild" event of the afternoon was that Henry peed on me. When I mentioned it to my mom, she said that it wouldn't be the only time. Kathy (who had just taken over for Joyce) said the same thing as she helped get Henry settled back into his isolette.

Jeff and I arrived later than usual in the evenings (arriving around 10:45PM). Kathy was still his nurse. She reported that Henry's PIC line had to be removed because it was clogged with a small clot. They decided not to replace it because he just started full feeds, and if they take, he won't need a PIC line. As of 10PM, his continuous feeds were up to 5ml per hour (his current feeding goal). He had lost some weight (probably fluid) and was down to 830 grams.

Things continue to go well, but he did a little sat surfing (not enough to make the alarms go off, but sat surfing nonetheless). Jeff did the skin-to-skin again, which went well. Henry looked relaxed. Because heat is often lost through one's head, Henry usually wears a hat when he's taken out of the isolette. Tonight was exciting because Henry got to wear the first article of clothing that he actually owns (not borrowed from the NICU). It's a red knit hat with a blue letter H on it. Our good friend Jamie is an expert knitter and made it for him.

During the skin-to-skin, a nurse came by and wrote some things in one of Henry's charts. She mentioned that Henry had been switched to the blue color on the patients board. I don't know what the full color range is, but Henry started off at red color, then went to green, and now he's at blue. We'll mark this as a step forward.

Michelle took over for Kathy when Kathy went off shift. Jeff and I helped with cares before we left.