Cann-U-la tee da

The nurses tell us Calder is doing pretty swimmingly, but I haven't seen it with my own eyes. And that's because I'm sick. Or at least, I think I'm sick, or on my way to sick, with a throat that feels puffy and a little bit of tingling in the ears. It could just be allergies, or it could be the really awful cold Kraemer is just getting over, which seems just as plausible to me.

Ugh! But I really, really dislike not going. Not to be melodramatic here, but it's agonizing! It's tough for any mom to leave her baby for the first time. (Ashleigh, thanks for braving the separation to come to our wedding some years ago!) You could say I leave mine every day ... but not for this long! Even if only Kraemer could go I'd feel better about it, but with him in a similar situation, it's just not worth the risk. I opted not to go into work yesterday in order to avoid spreading my germs, so why would I go to the NICU? While I believe it's very important for Calder to hear our voices as much as possible, his missing out on that bonus for two days won't set him back as much as getting an infection would.

So home we stay.

But Calder has had a big week while we were away. First, his eye exam on Tuesday showed no changes. Same as last week, I'll take it. Second, on Wednesday, the day nurse convinced the doctor that Calder was fed up with his blasted bonnet and needed some freedom (all true.) So they put him on the nasal cannula. Whoa! That means his gear now looks like what you might typically envision someone on oxygen to be on. (Another reason I am SO BUMMED I am not getting to see him last night or tonight.) After the switch his Os did not go up significantly and since have dropped to just as low levels as we were seeing earlier on CPAP. He is mostly requiring somewhere mid-30s but does waver between 30 and 40.

Before I get too excited here, though, his gas this morning showed that his C02 is still higher than they're really comfortable with, up from the 66 it was on Monday to 70 this morning. Yikes. Although they'd gone to Monday/Thursday gases, they've scheduled another one for Friday morning in the hopes that today's was just a fluke, and they'll make changes as necessary based on the results tomorrow.

As I mentioned earlier, Calder is also quite taken with the world and needs some entertainment. Calder told us himself.

Whatever we bring in, stays in. (You don't want to bring that hospital goodness home with you.) Although we've secured a mobile from another mom on Capitol Hill, we haven't had a chance to bring it in yet. In the meantime, the nurses take good care that Calder doesn't get bored.

They even turn the page once in a while!