The daily grind

Another fortunately uneventful day with Miles. He continues to be feisty, alert and a complete charmer. When I hold him, he focuses his little determined eyes on mine as if to say he wants out of this place!

He gained 50grams, getting him within striking distance of his birth weight. They say this usually takes 2 weeks so he is close enough. We are both anxious about his weight although the doctors and nurses tell us there is not a specific magic weight when we can take him home. He needs to be able to do three things - feed through a bottle or breast, maintain his own body temperature and not have any A's or B's (apneas or Brady's).

We will start working on the bottle feeds in the next week or so as he gets older. Based on his easy take on the breast, I am hopeful although today, he did not seem as interested (blame it on a case of hiccups). The temMiles Journey in the NICUperature control will come with weight gain and as for the A's and B's, for his age, he doesn't have that many and those too, he should grow out of.

Until then, whenever we visit or hold Miles, we have one eye on him, another on his monitor tracking his progress. Three numbers tell us how he's doing - the top right, his heart rate. Over 200, he is agitated and needs to be calmed down. Under 120 and going down, could be a sign of a Brady. Depends on the top left number, his oxygen saturation (how well he is breathing) tracked by a monitor on his foot. 100 is perfect and we like to see it in the 90s. When it falls into the low 80s, an alarm sounds but usually because he is moving or if his chin becomes tucked and or he becomes too cozy sleeping in our arms. The bottom left number is his resting heart rate and jumps from the 20s to 90s. Under 10, I worry but with all of it, the nurse cautions, look at the baby, not at the monitor. If his color is good, which it usually is, that is all that matters. If only it were that easy.

Tomorrow, is his third head ultrasound and we will get an update on his IVF. We are hopeful it will begin resolving as it should and are feeling optimistic about any issues that may result. More to come...