there's no doubt about it. we're back to the ho-hum days that are mostly filled with kangaroo care.
eric is being transitioned from the cpap to the nasal cannula much more quickly than previous attempts. today, they altered his schedule to alternate between 4 hours of cpap and 4 hours of the cannula. amazingly, he only had 2 brady's (bradycardia, or slowing of his heart rate ), the entire day and both were while he was on my chest, which, of course led to endless jokes from kris and nurse jan. both brady's were due to his head slowly getting into a position that made it difficult for eric to breath. of course, whenever eric's on my chest he seems to enjoy putting his head in the position that will lead to a brady. i imagine that he thinks it's a fun game to have me move his head in the correct position, only to move it slowly and imperceptibly back to the wrong one. over and over we play the game and sometimes he wins and has a brady.
eric also likes to tug on his nasal cannula, pulling the prongs out of his nose. if he weren't doing so well breathing on his own, we'd know when the prongs were out of his nose, as his blood oxygen levels would start to decrease. but since he is breathing so well, we don't see the "desat" and only later discover that his prongs have been out for as long as 10 or 15 minutes at a time, which is yet another sign that he's getting stronger.
some longtime friends, matt and erin, who we haven't seen in awhile came into town this weekend bearing gifts! eric was happy to receive his new ugly doll, even if the nurses were all a little perplexed as to what an ugly doll was and why on earth anyone would want to buy one. but we don't care what they think, since eric and the ugly doll got along quite famously and found themselves in long, heated discussion about which of them was taller. clearly, the ugly doll has no grounds for his assertion that he is, in fact taller than eric.
in addition to giving him the ugly doll, they also gave him a cap that erin knitted with her very own hands! the nurses were all very impressed that the cap was knit by a nicu rookie, since it can be tough to make the cap snug, but not too snug, and it should also be quite stretchy in all directions to accomodate the various forms that his very malleable head might take on from day to day. there's a bit bucket of "discards" in the waiting room outside the nicu that have been knitted by volunteers but that haven't passed the quality control inspection from the nicu staff, but eric's cap won't be in it, because it's about as perfect as you could want it to be. thanks!
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Oh my soul! That little face is really filling out! He's yummy :D
Emily
By 11:23 AM
, at
Congrats on the 3 pound mark!!!! Eric is looking great and gets cuter everyday. I love the blonde hair. =)
Kudos to you for the daily posts.
Brittany from Florida
By 2:06 PM
, at
We had to bring gifts to make up for not sending a postcard. It's nice to see that the hat fits. Ugly Dolls are often misunderstood, but all the hip micropreemies have them. It's never too early to be trendy.
Best to all,
Matt
By 5:55 PM
, at
I changed our son's first diaper, and four years later I'm still getting mileage out of it. Keep up the good work.
-- woolstar
"Congrats on the 3 pound mark!!!! Eric is looking great and gets cuter everyday. I love the blonde hair. =)"thanks brittany. b.t.w. we received your letter along with the package from beth. thank's so much for taking the time to write about your experiences with giovanni.
"Ugly Dolls are often misunderstood, but all the hip micropreemies have them. It's never too early to be trendy."ha! i haven't shown him the leather coat you gave him to wear when he gets older, so can strike a trendy yet brooding pose. the nurses are still scratching their heads over the ugly doll :-)
I changed our son's first diaper, and four years later I'm still getting mileage out of it.i'll admit that kris got the honors of changing eric's first diaper, since i was obligated to photograph the event; but i do jump at the chance to change his diaper, which always seems to amaze the nurses. perhaps some nicu dads are giving us a bad name.
"Congrats on the 3 pound mark!!!! Eric is looking great and gets cuter everyday. I love the blonde hair. =)"thanks brittany. b.t.w. we received your letter along with the package from beth. thank's so much for taking the time to write about your experiences with giovanni.
"Ugly Dolls are often misunderstood, but all the hip micropreemies have them. It's never too early to be trendy."ha! i haven't shown him the leather coat you gave him to wear when he gets older, so can strike a trendy yet brooding pose. the nurses are still scratching their heads over the ugly doll :-)
I changed our son's first diaper, and four years later I'm still getting mileage out of it.i'll admit that kris got the honors of changing eric's first diaper, since i was obligated to photograph the event; but i do jump at the chance to change his diaper, which always seems to amaze the nurses. perhaps some nicu dads are giving us a bad name.
Hi Eric III and Eric IV and Kris...
Greetings from Chicago, and congrats on the steady progress little Eric is making thanks to the constant TLC from Mom & Dad...and the prayers from a good section of the planet!
We came down to visit Sarah and Rob on the Harley...whew, it is hot here. 89 degrees with the Harley throwing at least 10 more degrees at us in the final few miles of stop/go traffic.
It was good to check the recent photos you've posted and see the advancement as your little guy continues the journey toward making his way home one of these days.
Best wishes from Great Uncle Al & Aunt Dolly and cousin Sarah...(I did register on here but for the life of me can't remember my user name).
Al
By 6:49 PM
, at
PS Forgot to mention we are celebrating our 38th anniversary today with dinner in Chicago, and continues tomorrow with Greekfest celebration on Halstead St. Gyro eating contest this year I hope! I'll be ready!
Uncle Al
By 6:51 PM
, at“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”
the complete tales & poems of winnie the poohthis site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.
he's quite a fighter and you can always send him a postcard to the most current address listed here if you're inspired by his adventures. see the postcard project/google maps mashup to see a map of the postcards.
if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.
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The Continuing Adventures of Super-Preemie
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