October 29

Trevor is 5 pounds now! He is 35 weeks gestational age as of yesterday. He was moved to Level 2 today. He is still having issues with bottle feeding, but they are trying to figure out what's causing it. They keep him on his side for the bottle feeds and he does alright. An occupational therapist came to watch him bottle feed to see if she could tell what was wrong, but he wouldn't wake up to take his bottle. I guess she'll come back another day. They put him at 3 bottles a day now.

October 28

Sunday, Trevor was having a hard time taking his bottle. His heart rate dropped a little during the 3 p.m. feed and the 6 p.m. feed. This is pretty common in premmies. It could be the way he is positioned or that he is not remembering to swallow. So they slowed down his bottle feeds to one a day. I think they started off too much too fast. He did fine yesterday.

The nurse said that he might be moving to Level 2 today or tomorrow. We tried to feed him a bottle, but he didn't stay awake. The nurse said he drank all of the bottle at 9 a.m. It seems like he only drinks every other one. Whenever he takes all his feedings he'll be able to go home. I noticed a week ago that he didn't have eyelashes yet! Now I noticed they are growing in! His feet are much bigger too! So here are lots of pictures since I haven't been able to post any this week.

October 25

Yesterday, I got to feed him a bottle again. He took all but 7 ccs. He was wide awake when I got there! He is on a waiting list to move to level 2. I hope he goes home before that because we would get new nurses, and I like the ones he has now. Conor is going to go up today to feed him. Here's a video. If you listen close you can hear him cry a little.

October 23

Yesterday, the settings for the oxygen were at 100 ccs which is not too high I think. Today they lowered it to 75 and since he did well, they went ahead and lowered it again to 50. He's still doing well and had his first bottle today! He's up to 37 ccs and he took 25 of them from the bottle. The rest they put through the tube because his heart rate started to drop a little bit. Right now, he's only taking two bottles a day. The nurses also have said his heart murmur is not as loud as it used to be, so hopefully that means his PDA is closing. I've heard conflicting opinions as to whether it would close on its own at this point. We won't know if it has unless they do another echo. He can actually go home with the cannula still on as long as he takes all his feeds and does well with them.

Great news! Yesterday at 9 a.m. Trevor got rid of the c-pap and has the cannula now! He looks to me like he's breathing kind of hard, but the nurse said he looks great. He has not had any signs of apnea either. Bottlefeeds are soon to come!

October 20

Today, the doctor changed the rate on the c-pap to 6! I guess he was doing good at the other setting. He also gained 20 grams so he's 2010 grams now! Hopefully he'll get to go to the cannula soon so we can start bottle feeding him!

October 18

Trevor is doing well in his crib! They lowered the pressure of the c-pap from 8 to 7. They'll leave it at that for about a week, and if he does okay at that rate, they'll lower it to 6. That's the lowest it goes, so after that it'll be the nasal cannula. He gained 90 grams this weekend so he's about 4 pounds 5 ounces.

October 15

This afternoon, Trevor moved into an open crib! They will be keeping a close eye on how well he maintains his body temperature. He gained 40 grams today. He is now 4 pounds 2 ounces. That's only one ounce less than Jack's birth weight! His gestational age is 34 weeks. There's still a ways to go before coming home, but he's made lots of progress within the past week!

October 11

Today is Trevor's fourth day on the c-pap and he is doing great! They haven't had to change his settings at all. His feeds are up to 30 ccs which is one ounce. Without the respirator in his mouth, you can hear him cry very faintly. The next step is a nasal cannula instead of the c-pap. This is what you see adults who need oxygen wearing. Once he gets switched to that, then he will be able to bottle feed. The nurse said it might be a week or two (I'm not sure what the requirements are to be on the cannula). His weight is up to 3.5 pounds!

October 9

Good news! Thursday morning, Trevor pulled out his respirator tube. The doctor went ahead and tried him on the c-pap again, and he's been on it ever since! He gained 20 grams last night, so he is now 3 lbs. 12 oz!!! I actually got to hold him in my arms tonight! He was asleep the whole time though. The nurse said he's almost big enough to move to a crib.

October 7

Conor went to see Trevor today. He has on a cute truck outfit! He spoke with the doctor. It sounds like they will only consider the surgery as a last resort. They are in the process of slowly weening him off the respirator. Jack got to visit with him on Sunday, and I got this cute picture!

October 5

Trevor gained 3 ounces over night! So he's up to 3 lbs. 5 oz. I used to sit in on the rounds the doctors made every morning to find out the plan for the day, but since I've been back at work, we haven't talked to, or met, the doctor for this month. They've switched doctors every two weeks since we've been there. The nurse gives us a detailed update though. We are trying to meet with the doctor later this week to discuss his PDA. They are planning on extubating him soon, but if he doesn't do well on the c-pap again, something else will probably need to be done.

October 3

Trevor is now 3 pounds 2 ounces! I finally got to see him after a whole week of not going up there. They are really cracking down on sick people visiting. They also are not allowing children to visit starting Monday. I'm glad about that because of all the germs kids have. Jack won't get to visit, but he always complained about going anyways. So I got lots of pictures of him in his crab outfit! He was WIDE awake when we got there, but fell asleep soon after holding him. He had an echocardiogram again to check on his PDA. It hasn't gotten any smaller. I'm not sure when they will consider doing the surgery to close it. Although he has been gaining weight lately, he also lost a little bit almost every other day. Lately, he hasn't lost any so hopefully it can still close if he keeps growing.

October 2

Wednesday and Thursday Trevor had a blood transfusion. He was looking like he might be anemic and the doctors didn't want to wait until it got bad so they went ahead and did it. There was a match from the donor blood and it was about to expire. He gained 40 grams yesterday so that puts him up to 2 lbs 15 oz I think. Hopefully tonight I will be able to get a new picture of him in clothes! It's been a whole week since I've seen him (the boys have been sick and I went back to work Wednesday)!