Three weeks old today!
Happy Halloween & three weeks old today! Robin held up three fingers to mark the occasion 🙂 Peter also returned from OS today, but he has brought back a cold with him, so is quarantined from the hospital (and from Nicki)
Throughout the night, Robin had more bradys (heart rate drops) and desats. The team have put his optiflow back up to 4L/minute, to help him breathe easier. Sometimes when preemies have a hard time breathing, it can be an early sign of infection. They tried to get an IV in to him to give him some preventative antibiotics just in case, but couldn’t get it in – apparently he has very tricky veins to insert cannulas into, just like his mum. They took and tested some blood & urine, and happily, there was no infection found. They think he’s just tired from trying to breathe without optiflow.
They tell us that it’s good to test them without optiflow, even if it makes the baby a bit tired for a few days, as it helps to strengthen their lungs and ensure the babies don’t become too reliant on breathing assistance. In saying that, they are very good at knowing when enough is enough, and giving support back. One of the other mums told Nicki that her baby was on and off optiflow four times before she was strong enough to breath on her own.
The nurse notes say he was also holding his breath, and Nicki witnessed an apnea episode (where he just stops breathing) however – these are minor, his oxygen saturation hardly changed, his colour didn’t change and he recovered quickly.
This has probably been the most challenging day of his so far – but it’s quite minor and after three weeks of good days, a hiccup is to be expected. As they say – the days are long here, but the weeks fly past. Good news is that he had a big weight gain of 40gms!
Another nice thing happened today, when Robin was placed on Nicki’s chest, he strained to look up at her, made eye contact, smiled, then placed his head on her chest and happily went to sleep. His stats improved immediately. It’s a heartwarming thing to be part of a tiny little persons life and be able to calm him with skin to skin contact. Kangaroo care is more powerful than we ever could have imagined. Xx
Visitors: Granny Suzy
Stats
Weight: 1460 grams
Air: Optiflow 4L/min, 21%
Feed: 10ml/hour continuous (perfuser)
Nurses: Tamara / Sharon
