September 27

Trevor has clothes on today!! His weight is up to 1290 grams. We didn't get to go see him today, but I'll have a picture of him in clothes as soon as possible! Friday, they took out his respirator. His numbers were swinging lower than I'd ever seen. I was holding him when it happened. They got him back in his bed and took it out. Then they put in the c-pap (helps him breath by putting the air through his nose). He did okay but his carbon dioxide levels in his blood were a little too high, so they put the respirator back in after about 4 hours. They tried it again today, but he still isn't ready. Hopefully his growth within the last week is helping the PDA close on its own. While they were putting on the c-pap I got to get a picture of him with nothing on his face!

September 23

Not much has changed with Trevor. This weekend, his oxygen saturation levels were one extreme or the other. This is because of his PDA. The nurse and I were concerned, but the doctor wasn't really alarmed. He changed his breaths per minute from 30 to 35 and almost immediately the levels were better. I held him after that and the levels never went down (which hasn't happened in a long time!). His blood gas levels on Monday were still high so they increased the medicine to help get rid of the fluid in his lungs. He is doing good with the higher dosage. His weight has been up and down. Yesterday it was 1160 and today he is 1200. The red spots on Trevor's face are gone now. I'm not sure what it was but when they redid the tape they cleaned it off.

September 17

They were not able to take out the respirator today. His blood gas levels were too high. I got there too late to hear what the doctors decided during rounds so I'm not sure when they will try again. It'll probably be at least another 2-3 days. Every time I tried to get a picture, he would close his eyes before I got one. It took several attempts, but I finally got one. We try to keep it pretty dark for him especially if we want to see him with his eyes open! He was up to 1090 grams yesterday, but dropped to 1070 grams today. This is the link I use to convert grams to pounds.

September 16

Trevor had his picture taken professionally today! They have volunteers that take photos and then make a small scrapbook with them. It turned out really cute. These are some of the photos they took. He didn't open his eyes much at all today. He had an eye exam early this morning, so that might have worn him out. They test for ROP (Premature baby's retinas are not completely developed. In some cases, the blood vessels in the immature part of the retina may develop abnormally, which is called ROP). The doctor said he does not have it, but they will contine checking every week. He could still develop problems later.

His settings on the respirator were lowered in an effort to ween him off it and instead put him on a c-pap (continuos positive airway pressure). This goes on through his nose so it won't be as invasive and will be much more comfortable for him. He hasn't been able to cry with the tube in his mouth, so it will be exciting to hear him cry if he gets taken off the respirator. They will test his blood gas levels in the morning and decide whether he will be able to handle it or not. If it doesn't look as good as it should, they will give him more diuretics which helps drain water from his lungs. They looked hazey in the xrays, so he has been on it before. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll be able to go to the c-pap since that's his next big step.

September 15

Trevor has been about the same the past several days. He lost weight and was down to 960 grams. Yesterday he was up to 1060 grams. They lowered his calories from 30 to 28 because they are trying to find the point where he was gaining the most weight. He puts his hands near his face alot. The nurse said this is good because it is a sign he is maturing. He opens his eyes alot more now. Since birth, he has grown an inch! He is now 14 inches. Tomorrow he will be 30 weeks. It's hard to believe it's already been 4 weeks!

September 10

Yesterday, the doctors decided to go ahead and do an echocardiogram to confirm the PDA, but also to make sure there were no other problems with his heart (which there aren't). They also moved him to the other corner of the pod where it will hopefully be a little quieter. He is now getting 30 calories at each feeding. For the first time, I changed his dirty diaper. It was quite an event, because he decided he wasn't done and had an accident right after I took away the dirty diaper. I wasn't quick enough (it's hard to do anything with your hands sticking through the holes of his incubator) and the blanket had to be replaced. This picture was after we got all clean.

September 6 - An Eventful Morning

Trevor is now over a kilogram! He is 1030 grams. About a week ago, the doctors told us he had a heart murmur and they suspected that he had a PDA. This is probably why his oxygen saturation levels are swinging high and low. The PDA can go away on its own just by Trevor growing more. That is why they gave him the extra calories. This morning, his oxygen saturation levels went really low while the head nurse was on break. The covering nurse thought she needed to manually pump air into his lungs instead of turning up his oxygen levels. The cardiologist team happened to be in the pod and saw his heart rate drop slightly. They replaced the respirator tube, and everything returned to normal. Needless to say, he got pretty stressed out from all the people messing with him. Conor and I decided that it was best to just let him sleep it off, instead of holding him today. During all this, we were told the baby across from Trevor slept through all the commotion. But of course, when we got there, he was crying and continued to cry for the remaining 2 hours we were there.

And the exciting news...Trevor has met a famous person! The on-call doctor today was, drumroll please... Jen from TLC's Little Couple! She was very nice. She said that she might come back later to examine him. Thanks to my best bud, I was reminded that she worked there, but never thought we'd see her being that TCH is such a huge place! Conor just told me the mother next to us took a picture with her! I didn't really think about doing that since we were so concerned about Trevor's morning. It would have made for a nice baby book picture though!

September 3

Trevor has gained 15 grams. His birth weight was 850 grams. He had lost a little, but with this recent gain, he is now up to 950 grams (2 lbs 1 oz). They started him on a multi-vitamin and iron today. He opened his eyes much wider today, and I was able to get a picture of it!

September 2

Yesterday, I got to hold Trevor for two and a half hours! His breathing was stable the whole time and his body temperature stayed normal too! They switched out his bed. They had the humidity turned up high for the first two weeks to help his skin, but that has been stopped. The nurse said they get a clean bed after that (sometimes mold grows because of the high humidity). The blood tests came back negative, so they stopped the antibiotics and took the IV out of his hand. They added a different kind of fortifier to his milk so he is getting 27 calories now instead of 21-22. This will help him gain weight. They also changed his respirator settings today in an attempt to begin weening him off it. They are tracking his growth - weight, length, and head circumference. He has grown 2 centimeters. If he can gain a little more weight, he'll be right where he should be for his age. The nurse said he might need another blood transfusion soon (I forgot why...something is low). It sounds like alot of people have been able to donate in his name so thank you very much!