07/06/2007

Well, do you know what today is? Why, it's Emery's bicentennial, of course! He's 200 days old today. Yes, we have been here 200 days. I spent nearly the whole morning with him, and I am just now taking a quick break to eat lunch and update all of you! I still get to do that... leave when I want, eat when I want, nap when I want.. blah blah. There really isn't much new on him. His blood gases were beautiful yesterday, and I imagine Monday will be the day that they try and go down on his flow again, but for now they just went down on his morphine today, which is good. Emery is now averaging about 50 mL via bottle, when he gets them. We have very specific instructions for feeding him. It must be quiet with no distractions. We cannot push him. We need to give him 30 to 45 minutes to try and eat. He has to lie with his knees up a bit, away from the person feeding him so he won't get too hot. We have to hold his hands to his sides (and try to hold the bottle), and make sure he isn't choking/gagging/desatting. Who would have thought that eating would be such an issue? I mean, c'mon. Mom and Dad here obviously eat just fine. Actually, I'm going to back and hit up his NP today to see if we can go 4 times a day on bottle feeding and see if I can prepare them. He eats every 3 hours, but yesterday he was so miserable and hungry that I had to ask the nurse to get it early. She wanted to check his residuals because it was an hour early, and sure enough, his tummy was bone dry. (Yes, it is disgusting, but they actually check stomach contents before feeding babies.) Anyway, once he got his bottle he settled immediately, ate the whole thing, and then slept for nearly 12 hours with only occasional periods of waking. Emery likes his food! Anyway, he got measured for length, weight, and head circumference today. His head circumference (I think) is 39 cm... either that or 34.. I can't remember. He's also 23 inches long.. just shy of 2 feet! He weighs 12 pounds 7 ounces. Little love isn't so little anymore. Since I've been staying up here I've been a lot less stressed and worried. It sucks not being with Erik, though, but it's also tough being with Emery who has been fussy a LOT to say the least. He grunts all of the time. It sounds like he's trying to poo all day long, but he's not having any issues in this area. He also seems to go crazy every now and then. When he naps he startles awake, but it's over dramatic, like his head flies up and his hands fly up and his legs kick and he starts flailing about like he's drowning, and then the problem is, once this happens he's mad... um, usually for hours. Then the grunting/crying/flailing goes on and on and on and on and on. Last night it took several hours to get him to calm down. I had a moment of panic today when I realized I was going to have to bring him home, but the PT came and she was able to calm him and gave me some tactics, and most of it involved removing stimuli. Emery just can't be around stimulus. It drives him nuts; i.e. anyone talking or moving around him, loud noises, monitors beeping, lights... etc. And, this is the hard part, if you move him he has a COW! It's natural instinct to pick up a baby, but with Emery it's like lighting a fuse. Anyway, he was fussing/grunting/crying today and I had all of the lights turned down, the monitor silenced, a blanket over him, the door shut and he just kept crying and crying and grunting and finally I had just had it so I picked him up and laid him on my chest and sat in the chair and lo' and behold, he started smiling and giggling! Turns out, he just wanted some mom attention. Picky kid. Wonder where he gets that from?