Day 22. Jack has had a reasonably uneventful day. We have been waiting eagerly for Jack to do a poo but it hasnt happened yet. They are talking about possibly giving him another suppository, Ive tried warning him!! He started the day with a concerning blood test but a few hours later another was taken and had improved considerably. These are taken by pricking Jacks heal and the blood is sucked up a tiny straw. The blood is then put in a special machine and immediately gives a printout of his results/readings. Jack is still having regular desats (where he stops breathing) but he usually self corrects these. He seems to have been coping much better with being handled today. Unfortunately his oxygen requirement has continued to be really high. The aim is to get this as low as possible but at times it has been 85-100% although has been sitting at 64% for most of the day. Jack wont be moved onto the CPAP until this oxygen requirement drops dramatically and stays low. We really want him to progress with this as the SIPAP mask is really squishing his face and poor little Jack looks so uncomfortable, swollen and unhappy. The bridge of his nose is really pushed in and his nose looks huge. The CPAP mask is similar but not quite has harsh on his face as the SIPAP mask. His nurse said sometimes these masks can cause areas on the face to break down in little babies. If this happened they would need to put Jack back on the ventilator (breathing tube down his throat) temporarily to give his face a rest. It would be great to give his face a rest from being so squished but not so good for him to go back onto the ventilator as it is harmful to the lungs which is why they wanted to hurry and get him off it in the first place. Tonight Jack was due for an incubator change. Id been looking forward to this since lasts weeks change! During this I was able to sit down and hold Jack. He handled this really well and his levels stayed really consistent during my cuddle showing he wasnt at all upset by being handled. Because of this his nurse let him stay out for a bit longer so I had about a 10-15 minute cuddle which was very very cool. It was awesome that he was so calm during this and it was so lovely being able to hold him but is so surreal that he is so tiny, he just doesnt seem real. I even gave him his first kiss on the cheek! Unfortunately we had no eye action tonight!! We visited another baby today. Baby Cameron from Nelson, who is in another room, arrived weighing about 1200 grams. Mum and I both commented one how huge he looks! Actually he is tiny for a new born but compared to Jack he seems massive. His parents (Robyn and Lachie) think he is really small so we invited them to visit Jack. I have really enjoyed having mum here for the last few days. It has been really special having her come and do Jacks cares with me three times each day and lovely that she has been able to touch Jack finally. Im sad that she will be leaving tomorrow but will return with dad in a week. Libby arrives just after mum leaves in the morning so Im really looking forward seeing her and to her meeting Jack. Today is five days since my last gallstone pain. Im feeling really nervous as there was five days between the last two hospital visits. Im really aware that the chances of it happening again are really high which is a horrible thought. I am being careful with what I eat and every night Ive got my clothes ready for a quick midnight getaway. Having weighed up my opinions and considered everyones advice I am really hoping I will be able to have the surgery as I realise I cant keep being on edge wondering when/if it will happen again. Like mum said yesterday what if it happened when I was somewhere where I couldnt get to a hospital. I almost had a panic attack thinking about it!! Although I guess its going to be a long time time before I dont have the hospital across the road from me!! The cute little monkey in the picture is a 24cm long toy/rattle that Marty just brought his boy.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:50:08 +0000
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