Positive Changes, and Bumps in the Road

First, Nick is doing well. He is still on cpap and not having any desats. He is really handling it well. They are talking about trying to ween him off cpap and on to a nasal cannula in the next two weeks. It will really be up to Nick when he is ready, but the goal is to have him off of it by the time he is 34 weeks. Every baby is different, and handles it different, so they will be monitoring him to see how he does.

Today, they also started changing his feeding pattern. He is used to getting 10cc's of food an hour by continuous feed. Now, they are not feeding him for an hour, then they give him 30cc's of food over a two hour period. So he is still receiving the same amount of food, just over two hours. They will eventually feed him over 1 hour, then feed him all at once. Once he can handle his food all at once, and he is off the cpap, they will try to start feeding him by bottle. This will be a little bit of a process. Nick will have to learn how to eat and breathe at the same time. This is sometimes hard for a preemie to learn, but I know he do well. All of this is in preparation for him coming home.

We are still looking at him coming home at the end of February. It just feels like they are getting him ready to send him home.

There was a little bit of bad news today, but it is minor. Yesterday, Nicks belly was a little distended and tight. They did an x-ray to make sure he didn't have a blockage. They found a hernia. Basically he has what is called a inguinal hernia. It occurs when the loops of the intestine slip down from the abdomen where it belongs. It doesn't hurt him. The doctors and nurses will check him regularly to make sure it remains soft and can be pushed back into his groin. As long as it stays like this, he will have surgery in a few weeks to repair the hernia. He will have a regional anesthesia to prevent him from having to go back on a vent. It is a fairly easy straight forward procedure. It is actually the most common surgery performed on preemies, because the risk of hernias is fairly high in preemies.

In the event that the hernia becomes hard and can't be pressed back into his intestines, they may have to perform emergency surgery to prevent the blood flow from being blocked in the intestine. This could lead to permanent damage of the intestine if not repaired quickly if the blood flow is blocked. So, they will be watching him closely over the next few weeks. The goal is to not do surgery until he is almost ready to come home. If they do it in the middle of him learning how to do things like eating, or breathing on his own, it may interrupt his learning process and set us back. Generally, they do the surgery about 2-3 days before they think he will be going home. Then he will stay in the hospital 2-3 days and come home. That is the goal. Of course we all know that Nick sometimes has plans of his own.

Last night was a weight night. Nick is up to 3lbs 5.8 oz. He is growing like a champ! He is in the 30th percentile for weight. I know that seems low, but considering he was in the 11th percentile when he was first born, 3oth percentile is fantastic.

So, while all the news wasn't positive today, it wasn't bad. We are making positive steps to Nick coming home and that is the most important thing. The hernia isn't a set back, just a bump in the road. We are still moving forward and that is all that matters.