by We are still hanging out, waiting for weight gain. His weight has held steady for the most part since birth, but now we want to see him gain weight steadily for a few days in a row. In order to take his tube out they like to make sure his digestive tract is empty beforehand in case they need to put it back in, so they’ll wait another few days after he shows weight gain before they try to pull it out to see how he breathes on his own. Simply put, we need him bigger and stronger than last time…
Aside from that he’s still on full feeds, with a new recipe, still using skimmed breastmilk fortified to add in more calories. He managed to get a new IV last night after a couple of failed attempts so they could give him additional fats. Today he’s going to get a bit of blood to try to increase his hemoglobin count and make it possible for him to more easily maintain his blood oxygen saturation levels.
A couple of friends arrive today, Brandy and Emily. Once they head back I’ll be testing the waters with going back to work. Definitely looking forward to some form of normalcy, though I may need to hunt down more work appropriate clothes (unless my coworkers want to see yoga pants on a regular basis or I learn to do laundry more frequently!)
Other than that, I’ve been able to hold him on a regular basis, which has been so nice. He’s definitely a snuggle bug, and a furnace. He heats up fast in my arms. He’s been pretty awake and alert, interacting with people and really only getting upset when someone messes with him, most notably when he has to go to the bathroom, has a dirty diaper, or is having his diaper changed. He does have a pretty bad diaper rash, so I can’t say I blame him much there.
We’ve started to look at flights for the holidays, trying to see if we can’t find a way for me to go home over thanksgiving and for family to come out here for Christmas. Even if things aren’t “normal” we want to do what we can to make sure we can be together over the holidays.
Please keep the prayers coming that AJ will continue to gain more weight so he can be stronger and ready for this next attempt at getting this tube out!
