It’s been quite the week! He started doing better with his bottle feedings so they moved him up to being able to take his full volume 6 times a day and then the next day they moved him up to 8. He got us a little worried though because he lost weight one day because he was using so much energy to eat. Luckily though the next day he gained again so it didn’t throw us off schedule for being able to go home. He was really happy when they started letting him be able to eat on demand. He was getting hungry before he was able to eat so he’d get pretty upset. Shaun came up on Thursday night which was nice so he could help get everything ready before we went home, they had told us it would be Saturday unless he didn’t gain weight so we had a few errands left to do before we went home. His hematocrit had been low so one of the doctors had thought he might need a blood transfusion before he went home. We had the labs redrawn on Friday and even though they decreased a little bit more, the doctor was confident that he didn’t need a transfusion. He wasn’t showing any signs of needing one; he didn’t have any problems with his breathing or anything and the level that showed the new red blood cells he was making was pretty high. We were very glad that he wasn’t going to need to get blood. On Friday he had his car seat trial where he had to sit in the car seat for an hour and make sure his heart rate and breathing stayed okay. He passed the test and luckily he was just big enough to be able to fit into his car seat. If he had been any shorter we would have needed one made especially for preemies. He had his circumcision Friday night and the doctor did his discharge exam later that night so we would be ready to go on Saturday. Saturday morning he was given his Synargis shot to protect him from RSV. He also had his eye exam on Saturday morning and it went pretty well, we just have to go back in 4-6 weeks because the blood vessels in his eyes are still a little immature. That is pretty normal though considering he wasn’t even supposed to be born for another 4 weeks. The doctor told us that this is as early as they let babies go home and most of them aren’t ready to go that early. Once all of our stuff was packed and ready to go, we were discharged. It was exciting to finally have him unhooked from all his machines & monitors! He did really well on the 2 hr ride home; he pretty much slept the whole way. When we left the NICU he weighed 5lbs. 2 oz, so finally over the 5lb mark! At home we settled in pretty well, just had a ton of stuff to put away. He is still too small to fit in most of the baby gear we have like the swing and bouncer. He stayed on his schedule pretty well and is eating about every three hours and he has been sleeping well in either his cradle or his crib. Hopefully he stays this laid back! We had a pretty quiet Easter with him although we did dress him up in his Easter outfit and bunny ears. This week we have our first appointment with our doctor in Huron.
Emerson arrived at 30 weeks due to severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome. He just turned a year old and every day is most certainly an adventure!
Monday, April 13, 2009
We're Free! (sort of...)
It’s been quite the week! He started doing better with his bottle feedings so they moved him up to being able to take his full volume 6 times a day and then the next day they moved him up to 8. He got us a little worried though because he lost weight one day because he was using so much energy to eat. Luckily though the next day he gained again so it didn’t throw us off schedule for being able to go home. He was really happy when they started letting him be able to eat on demand. He was getting hungry before he was able to eat so he’d get pretty upset. Shaun came up on Thursday night which was nice so he could help get everything ready before we went home, they had told us it would be Saturday unless he didn’t gain weight so we had a few errands left to do before we went home. His hematocrit had been low so one of the doctors had thought he might need a blood transfusion before he went home. We had the labs redrawn on Friday and even though they decreased a little bit more, the doctor was confident that he didn’t need a transfusion. He wasn’t showing any signs of needing one; he didn’t have any problems with his breathing or anything and the level that showed the new red blood cells he was making was pretty high. We were very glad that he wasn’t going to need to get blood. On Friday he had his car seat trial where he had to sit in the car seat for an hour and make sure his heart rate and breathing stayed okay. He passed the test and luckily he was just big enough to be able to fit into his car seat. If he had been any shorter we would have needed one made especially for preemies. He had his circumcision Friday night and the doctor did his discharge exam later that night so we would be ready to go on Saturday. Saturday morning he was given his Synargis shot to protect him from RSV. He also had his eye exam on Saturday morning and it went pretty well, we just have to go back in 4-6 weeks because the blood vessels in his eyes are still a little immature. That is pretty normal though considering he wasn’t even supposed to be born for another 4 weeks. The doctor told us that this is as early as they let babies go home and most of them aren’t ready to go that early. Once all of our stuff was packed and ready to go, we were discharged. It was exciting to finally have him unhooked from all his machines & monitors! He did really well on the 2 hr ride home; he pretty much slept the whole way. When we left the NICU he weighed 5lbs. 2 oz, so finally over the 5lb mark! At home we settled in pretty well, just had a ton of stuff to put away. He is still too small to fit in most of the baby gear we have like the swing and bouncer. He stayed on his schedule pretty well and is eating about every three hours and he has been sleeping well in either his cradle or his crib. Hopefully he stays this laid back! We had a pretty quiet Easter with him although we did dress him up in his Easter outfit and bunny ears. This week we have our first appointment with our doctor in Huron.
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