Little Guy, little change

It's always easiest to write blog entries on the days we leave the hospital feeling as though Calder "looks good." I'm not exactly sure how Kraemer and I make this determination, since lately although a nurse may assert he's had a "good day," I might still leave deflated. And sometimes, although it may seem his uphill battle has grown taller, I leave invigorated, knowing he's up to the challenge. These days, the smallest change in either direction makes the biggest difference to me, and logic doesn't always play a part in my emotions.

So today is one of the easy days. There's been no ground-breaking news, but as Kraemer noted on Monday, Calder finally came down a couple points in pressure on his ventilator over the weekend. Although his blood gases haven't looked good enough the last couple of days to bring the settings down further, a chest x-ray taken Tuesday after he pulled out his feeding tube (yes, he pulled out another tube. At least we know he doesn't lack a good grip.) showed slightly more inflation than the previous x-ray. And his blood gas wasn't that bad; in fact his CO2 was a few points lower. As we sat by his isolette last night, the nurse would wean him slowly from his oxygen as we talked to him after it had needed a bump-up during his hands-on care (diaper, oral care, temperature, etc.). He'd de-sat initially, but slowly his saturation always climbed back up into the 90s, so that by the time we left his oxygen level need was back to 44 (room temp is 21 percent). He looked alert but comfortable. All very encouraging.

Calder had his first eye exam this morning, where they're checking for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). He was diagnosed as Stage Zero, which means that there was no ROP present at the time. He had another head scan a few days back, his fourth, which once again came back normal. I hold my breath with each test, but so far, so good.

They've taken out his peripheral arterial line (PAL), since his blood pressure was doing okay, and otherwise it was just one more line that could get infected. Of course, this means they're back to pricking his poor little heels. Ouch! But he takes it like a trooper.

He's still seemingly handling his feeds okay, so they've upped his intake to 3 mls/hour. This means he's still not back to the level he was receiving at Alexandria, but he's close, and continues to make pretty quick progress in this area.

We also had a visit from Grandma Anderson and Aunt Kristen this weekend! (I know Grandpa Anderson and Aunt Corinne were devastated they couldn't come again - we'll see you guys next time!) Given the limit of four guests for the duration of our stay, poor Krist got to know the waiting room pretty well. And while I'm pretty sure they left exhausted, after a long car trip, helping clean our apartment and dropping off meals, I felt more relaxed by Sunday evening than I had in awhile. They're the best. Guess that's what family's for.

Lunch break from hospital at Great Falls

Gotta keep up my milk supply. :)