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the eric update - day 49: eric's 7 week birthday!

let's all give odin a little birthday cheer, as it's his 7 week birthday today! he gained a few grams and is now solidly in the 3 pound category at 3 pounds and 3.5 ounces. he also added a half a centimeter and is 38.7 centimeters or 15.25 inches, which means he's added 3.25 inches to his length in the past seven weeks! woohoo! he's rapidly being weened from the cpap and is on 6 hours of nasal cannula and 4 hours of cpap. since he's doing so well breathing on his own, i suspect that within the next few days they'll see if eric can go 25 hours on the nasal cannula. despite having to do more breathing on his own than ever, he's throwing very few alarms; he only seems to alarm when the nurses are doing their "meanies" or when he's put his head in a position that's not conducive to breathing. his breastmilk feeds stayed the same as yesterday, as they're pulling up more undigested food than they'd like to see, so they're going to back off a bit on increasing the amount of milk that he's receiving. you might remember that anytime digestion slows and milk starts hanging around, there's an increased risk for a gut infection, so they're just going to take things slow.

the nasal cannula needs to be taped on his face to reduce the chance that he'll pull it out and the process of repeatedly removing the tape when he goes back on cpap has made his skin a little raw. tonight, he even has a tiny bit of flesh pull away, which he obviously didn't care for at all; nurse peggy put little pieces of what's known as comfeel on his face to prevent it from happening again because open, irritated sores are not a good thing when you're enduring a prolonged stay in the nicu.

eric's getting much better at coordinating his sucking and breathing; a mere week ago, he'd alarm when a pacifier was in his mouth for more than 15 or 20 seconds, but now he can keep the pacifier in as long as he'd like. since he's doing so well, nurse peggy said that it's a good time to introduce a pacifier during his breastmilk feedings so he can begin to associate sucking with feeling of food in his stomach. this is but the first step in a long process of getting his used to having to coordinate the sucking, swallowing and breathing that must occur for real breastfeeding, so it's a big step.


sometimes he has trouble keeping the pacifier in his mouth with the tubes in the way, so peggy has "illegally modified" the paci by notching it so that the tubes can stay where they need to stay and he can more easily keep it in his mouth. nurse peggy is thoughtful like that.



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8/22/2004 11:50:00 PM 2 comments

2 Comments:

Happy 7 week birthday, grandson! Your looks are changing everyday. Everyone is so happy that you are well and growing like a weed! It's been a long battle but we all knew that you would triumph over many obstacles. Have fun with Mom and Pops. Now that you are getting rid of all that equipment, you can really start to enjoy yourself. Take Pops pulse for me. That's a neat trick. Gwanmanman Sherry

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:28 AM  

thanks for properly observing his 7 week birthday.

maybe everyone else is just holding their happy wishes for his big 8 week, second lunar month birthday :-)

By Blogger e3, at 11:19 AM  

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[ rhetoric ]

"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 pooh

[ about ]

this 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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