So, on Day 3 of Anders' life he slowly started improving but not much changed. He stayed on oxygen and CPAP at consistent levels all day. He was between 40 and 50% oxygen all day but he appeared as if he was breathing easier. He was not grunting as much and his retractions (the sucking in of the skin in his chest around the bones) seemed to be getting better. They did start decreasing his oxygen later in the day and got it down between 30-35% but then he stayed there all night. They still wanted him handled as little as possible so that he could recover, so I didn't get to hold him but it was just good to see him making improvements.
Anders resting.
My mom and I brought Alden over to the hospital that night for dinner in the cafeteria. He couldn't go in to see his brother but at least this way he got an idea of where mom was spending all of her time. Alden had fun walking all around the hospital and looking at everything.
I was really grateful to get to spend time with Alden, even with Anders being in the hospital. I am really grateful my mom was willing to do so much back and forth driving to the hospital we got moved to! (It was a half hour drive each way without traffic)
Anders Day 4
On Day 4 they started decreasing Anders oxygen more aggressively to try and get him to room level. They had to get him to room level oxygen before they could start weaning him off of the CPAP. He started the day around 30-35% oxygen and they got him down to room level (21%) pretty quickly that morning. Then we just had to watch his oxygen levels for the day and see if he remained stabilized. I felt like I was just watching the monitors all day, hoping that the number stayed in the safe zone. Thankfully, his oxygen levels stayed fairly good all day and so they started weaning the CPAP that night. It was a great day in terms of making progress. It was so nice to know that Anders was getting better and making steps towards going home!
They also started feeding him my pumped breast milk through a OG feeding tube which was also a big step in the right direction. Before, the risk of aspiration had been too high to feed him anything, even through a feeding tube, but with him no longer needing extra oxygen and them decreasing CPAP we could finally try feeding him. He did great with his feedings which was a really good sign.
I think the best part of my day was being able to hold Anders again! He was finally stable enough where they would let me hold him outside the isolette. I was so excited and it felt so good to just be able to cuddle with my sweet little boy.
We had to put socks on Anders' hands because he kept trying to pull the oxygen tube out.
I got to hold Anders and just cuddle with him for about an hour!
He actually started opening his eyes more this day too which was really exciting! It was nice to see him actually awake a little.
These were just a couple pictures I took of Anders' room. I was very surprised when we got transferred to this NICU to find out that every baby had their own private room. It was really nice for me because the couch pulled out into a bed so that I could just sleep in the room with him at night. It was a little strange though, because I never saw another baby the whole time we were there. It was a very nice hospital and we had a really good experience there with all of the care that Anders' received.
To be continued...
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