Day 100!

I'm writing this post on Day 99 a) because I'm actually home and it's only 9 pm b) Sadie's in bed c) True Blood is on tomorrow night.

This is a pretty significant milestone.  There have been times when we didn't think we'd make it this far. Also, this wee blog is about 20 views away from 10 000 pageviews!  I know that almost half are from the grandparents who are 'worried they didn't get the email update' but no matter, thank you everyone for reading and for your continued support.  We couldn't have made it this far without you. 

First, I'll make you read a little update - then I'll show you some pictures.  I've kind of lost track of exact dates, and I've been less than reliable with updating (wasn't that the goal of this blog in the beginning - to help me keep track of things?).  In terms of ventilation, Ryan had been doing well on his byphasic so they moved him to c-pap (the same machine, but with less pressure).  He was able to come off the machine and go onto high flow oxygen to work on oral feeds. From there, they decided to take him off c-pap and put him onto low flow oxygen to see how he did. That means no nose thingy, and no machine - just oxygen prongs in his nose and a steady flow of oxygen.  He's doing all the work.  So far so good.  He's requiring a lot of oxygen, but not more than they'd anticipated.  It has been about 72 hours.  It is still very possible that he will get tired and they will have to put him back on cpap, but for now he's doing well.  He will most likely come home with low flow oxygen.

As far as feeding goes, he's getting better and better (when he's not too sleepy).  He's up to 4 oral feeds a day (out of 8 feeds).  He's not super consistent on the breast or bottle but he's had some success with both so we're happy.   He's not gaining as much weight as the dietitian would like, so they're supplementing him with lots of extra calories.  They've also started giving him some medication for reflux.  It's very common in preemies and they like to give the medication because reflux can cause feeding aversions and they'd like to avoid that (obviously). We noticed he'd cough and gag a little before and after feedings and this is a sign of reflux.  After tracking those episodes they decided to start the meds.  I would like to do a nice montage of "where we were/where we are" pictures, but this ol' computer just can't take it... nor can my patience for formatting and trying to make it all look pretty.  Sorry to disappoint, but this is all ya get for now.

*Thanks to a wicked loud thunderstorm, it's now 5 am on the 5th, and we have 10 007 pageviews and Ry is officially 100. 





Aug 4, 99 days old