the eric update – day 15: more of the same. in a good way.

day 15: yet another finger grab

nope. you never get tired of seeing the finger grab.

we had another great day today. his white blood “differentials” are all back to normal and he’s now getting a whopping 1.5 cc’s an hour of breast milk, which – if i’ve done my math correctly – is a little over an ounce a day. he didn’t forget to breath at all today and he had 8 episodes of bradycardia ( slowing of the heart rate ), but they can all be attributed to a buildup of saliva in the back of his throat. micropreems don’t have a fully developed swallow response ( and all the tubes don’t help ) and somehow that leads to his heart rate slowing down. nurse cheri said he lets them know that he needs his mouth suctioned by throwing a bradycardia alarm or two. he’s funny like that.

day 15: the finger grab

day 15: and still even more kangaroo care

and he got two more hours of kangaroo care with kris. maybe tommorrow i’ll get my chance.

day 15:  something bulbous

he’s got a bit of a bulbous growth near the entry point of his pic line. besides being fairly nasty looking, it’s not anything that overly concerns the staff. fluid collects at the entry point of the pic line that threads close to his heart. he keeps his hand folded in such a way that fluid tends to pool in the area. it’s really not very pleasant to look at, but it’s fairly harmless. they did try to get him to keep his arm extended more today and it got better, but he didn’t cooperate for very long.

day 15: fingernails

i’m studying his fingernails, which have just started to grow out past the end of his fingers.

nurse denise said that they won’t ever clip them; apparently, they are so soft that they wear down simply from rubbing them against the blankets.

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