Reed is doing remarkably well for his gestational age of 34 weeks.
However, the doctors keep reminding us not to get ahead of ourselves yet, that
he might still regress and have some problems. But, each day of steady
improvement feels wonderful at this point. He has done fine with no ventilator
and no warming lamps – showing he can breathe on his own and regulate his own
body temperature. He is using an IV to get some of his fluids but I’m able to
nurse him a tiny bit (the physical action of nursing is pretty challenging for
him) and give him bottles of breast milk for the rest of his nutrition. Each
day the doctors increase the amount of milk he is allowed to drink and he is
steadily going up. We haven’t needed to use a feeding tube as he is doing okay
with the bottles. We hope to have his milk increased enough by tomorrow to take
him off the IV which would be wonderful as it is currently in his foot and
bothers him and trying to find a good IV site has been tough for Reed (this is
the third site they’ve used). You can see other wires connected to him in these
pictures – these are for monitoring different vitals (oxygen level, heartbeat, and
breathing). His billiruben levels continue to be just under the threshold for having jaundice and needing light therapy.
We can’t wait to have him home – Edison an Charlotte are
probably the most excited for Reed’s arrival at our house. They really have
been phenomenal throughout all of this and are eager to step into their roles
as big brother and big sister.
We have received so much kindness and goodwill since this
began and we give you our continued thanks.
He is in a nice room in the NICU with a view of the trees
and the now cloudy weather (guess its that time of year again in Seattle).
There is a fold out bed and a recliner amongst the hospital items. They’ve
taught me how to wash and make all his bottles and they system they use for
milk storage. I still haven’t changed his diaper (mostly because of the fragile
IV) which is kind of crazy.
He eats every three hours (7:30/10:30/1:30/4:30 repeat) and
for each one the process takes about an hour, so I’m spending most of my time
at the hospital though I was discharged as a patient yesterday morning. Because
he is taking breast milk by bottle anyway, I head home for the 4:30 pm shift so
I have some time with Eben and the kids. I’m also able to sleep at home by
skipping the 1:30 am and 4:30 am shifts (still have to wake up to pump,
though). So it is a strange breaking in time for us with Reed.
With Auntie Karen who graciously took care of Edison and Charlotte while I was in labor.
Reed...
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