Its amazing how much goes on in the NICU - every little thing is counted and measured. Wren's 'care' routine is 4 hourly so every four hours they change diaper, weigh wet diapers, record blood saturations, take blood pressures at four extremities, temperature etc etc.
Wren HATES this.
His first objection is that he gets unbundled from his warm blankets. He also hates having any of the tubes and tapes fiddled with and the blood pressures using a plastic cuff are the worst. When the nurse does the procedure alone he cries the whole time but if Josh or I are there we can help soothe him and its much easier so we try and be there for care (aka torture) as regularly as possible.
Today we waited till 3pm to hear from the cardiologists. As it happens the big cardiology conference with Children's was cancelled due to the storm aftermath. One surgeon was trapped at home by fallen trees and the hospital was on backup power. Dr K has made copies of the tapes and had them sent to the surgeon and Dr L at Children's. They may get back to us on the weekend but otherwise Dr K will present the case at Children's on Monday. Apparently the process requires teh surgeons to accept him as a surgical case, get him on the schedule and then he can be transferred by the Children's team who will come to the NICU to take him over.
Children's is close to our home and the trip to the Swedish NICU is taking an hour since the storm so we are keen that he is moved but still very happy with how he is being cared for in the NICU now.
NICU News:
1) Wren lost 70g yesterday which is normal. His diet of sugar water has ended and he is now on a combination of fats, protein and sugar delivered through IV - nil by mouth until after surgery.
2) He has very sensitive skin and is getting red marks and blotches where tapes are left on to hold tubes in place. They are trying to avoid latex in case he has a latex allergy.
3) Blood gases are good (7.44, 7.39)
4) Blood sats in his upper body are almost 100% but lower extremities are 10% lower (88-94%). His legs are a little cold but still pink and he's still very active.
5) He had an x-ray to check on the central line positioning. It was okay but had a kink at the entry point which was occluding the prostglandin delivery. They have taped his hand to a soft board which is clipped to a blanket to improve positioning. He doesn't like this - he wants his hand by his face.
Meanwhile, I had a very good day visiting. I spent a number of hours in the NICU and got to help with 3 care routines. I took his temperature, changed diapers, soothed him and held him for 45 minutes after each session, only putting him down when he was asleep. His swelling (odema?) has subsided and he opened his eyes a lot - staring at me with dark blue-grey-brown pupils. He is very very beautiful and smells delicious:)
Josh came in for the 5pm session and between the three of us he had the best (most stable and normal) blood pressure readings. Normally they get higher and take longer as he yells himself into a frenzy. Josh held him for a while afterwards and then I was discharged.
We are going to head in for the morning session with Mum and Josh may visit overnight to check on him.
Thanks for all the support and good wishes and thanksf or checking in on us. I will post new pictures tomorrow morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment