A Little Something Extra

Monday, February 9, 2009

Plan for discharge


For Matthew to be discharged from the NICU, he has to go five days without an apnea or bradycardia (stop breathing or major slowdown in heart rate). He went 24 hours this weekend, but then had one yesterday. So the countdown started today and he could be discharged on Friday. We've been given an option of taking him home sooner than that on a monitor. I've heard that can be very stressful with the monitor going off all the time (usually false alarms). After discussing the options with each other and nurses, we've decided to ride it out until Friday and bring him home without the monitor. But... if he has another episode before then, we will consider bringing him home with a monitor because we don't want this time to extend any longer than Friday.

But barring these small episodes, Matthew is doing very well. His bilirubin level is in the normal range so he is free from the lights. He's eating well so his IV line was taken out yesterday. The only attachments he has are for his heart rate and respiratory rate. So he's in a little bassinet that can be wheeled around. I was able to spend a few hours with him in a "family room" today. He was incredibly sleepy today, probably because the little piggie took between 2.5-3 ounces PER FEEDING overnight last night. And he was likely exerting more energy keeping himself warm today because he was out of his isolette. I'm trying to think positive and not believe that he has his nights and days mixed up...

We brought the boys over to "meet" Matthew last night. The boys are too young to be allowed into the NICU during viral season, so the only option is to bring Matthew into a family room with a window so the boys can look in to see him.

a kiss from Nathan





One of the funniest things about this week has been the reaction of some of the nurses who see me (or Mark) in the NICU and they do a double-take. They certainly weren't expecting to see us back at all, let alone so soon! Matthew's nurse for the past few days has been Ann. She was also one of Micah's nurses one year ago. She enjoyed seeing Micah. He was quite the ham too.

Matthew likes his arms to be free from blankets



Oma with Matthew

Oma with Micah

Grammie feeding Matthew

9 comments:

Jonathan said...

He is so precious! We're praying!

Michelle said...

He's beautiful! Can't wait to meet him! Is he in Neenah or MKE?

I love the pictures of the boys - especially Micah with his nurse; looks like he's chatting, catching her up on his year :)

Cathy said...

I'm glad that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. We too had the option of bringing Lily home with a monitor. It drove us bonkers in the hospital and I think it would have made me a nervous wreck. Looking forward to reading the post that says that the whole family is together under one roof! God bless!

Rachel Dominguez said...

Man he is just a doll. I didnt expect anything less.

I hope things go well from here and you can get him home Friday w/out monitors.

Love and Prayers

Rachel
luvfor9@gmail.com
lovefor9.blogspot.com

Jessica-MomForHim said...

He really is so cute! I'm sure it's hard for you guys to be going through this again, but hopefully it'll be over soon!

paige said...

How cute is it that Nathan is looking at the baby & Micah is looking at his mama (through the window...)

CJ Field said...

Two perfect little boys! How lucky you are!

I stopped by to let you know about the T21 Travelling Afghan Project!

http://littlemisse21.blogspot.com/2009/02/t21-travelling-afghan.html

Anonymous said...

So cute!!! First I have to say how adorable Micah looks in his glasses. Hopefully he's tolerating them. Prayers for sweet little Matthew to come home soon.
Danielle M

Princess Abigail said...

What a beautiful family. The boys peering at their little brother through the window is very touching. Looking forward to hearing more about Matthews adventures when he gets home!