June 13 - Let's Hear It for the Boy!

21:31 - It's late, I'm tired, Phoo's at the hospital.... oh wait, haven't I said that before? Meaghan is finally down after fighting the good fight to stay awake so I may now blog in peace. She's been such a good girl through this whole ordeal. For those of you who haven't seen her in awhile, here she is last weekend after her haircut:

Anyhoo, all in all, it was a very good day at the hospital. Nurse S., Max' Primary Nurse, was back from two days off. Felt like I hadn't seen her in forever -- what would we do without her? Max' platelets were at 39K, but that's attributable to yesterday's transfusion. His hematocrit and other blood-related levels were the same, so no blood products today. His CO2 has been trending up the past three days, but his Ph and everything else have remained consistent. No need to panic yet (though I know the CPAP threat looms ever so scarily), there are many things that could make his PCO2 rise: if he's in a deep sleep and not breathing enough PCO2 off, stress for any reason, boogers clogging up his airway, general malaise, time of day....

Today was Try #2 for bottle feeding... and... it... was... a... SUCCESS! The OT gave Max an A+! Here he is taking his bottle -- can you see the bubbles?


He drank 25ML compared to yesterday's 7ML, but again, the goal is quality not quantity. I even got to try to feed him, but it was toward the end of our attempt and he was totally tuckered out. He did suck a couple of times, but fell asleep during it. Dr. M. was so impressed, we're graduating to twice daily feedings as of tomorrow. Since tomorrow's Saturday and the OT isn't in, it's just me and Nurse S. trying to feed him. Should be scary -- I mean, fun!

Ah, Phoo just emailed me and said Our Boy is "awake and active." Here's a fresh-off-the-iPhone picture:


I'm glad Max is well tonight. Phoo had a rough night last night with him. Max was de-sating a lot and seemed really irritated. Nurse J. ended up suctioning a whole bunch of yellowish-brown gunk from his nose and after that he settled down quite a bit after that and needed less oxygen assistance. Today the RRT said Max sounded "wet" so we'll need to keep an eye (and ear) on his nose and chest.

So there you have it. Three pictures, and a long post. I've done my work for today and now it's time for some entertainment of the Law & Order variety before I collapse.