oh what a night!

So, last night Ian had gone to bed early to try and rest up from a very long weekend. I had to stay up so I could pump before bed and only have to wake up once in the night to pump again. So, at about 11pm, I was pumping and watching tv and I hear a voice talking on the answering machine. I never heard the phone ring because Ian had taken both house phones upstairs. I assumed it was Ian calling down to see if I was coming to bed anytime soon so I tried to call his cell phone and when he didn't answer, I knew he was still sleeping and I got worried. Nobody ever calls our house that late. I stopped pumping and listened to the message. It went something like "Hi, this is Dr. Hoffman. I wanted to catch you before you went to bed. If you get this message, call me back. Nothing urgent." So, I'm thinking, if it's nothing urgent, why in the world are you calling at 11pm. I panicked and called him back. He said he wanted to call with a bit of good news since so often the nicu calls with bad news. Riley had pulled out his ventilator tube and they put him on cpap! He was also in the middle of the second part of his blood transfusion. So, while it may initially sound like great news, it had us worrying for a good part of the night. He's still small and was still on relatively high vent settings and he recently had an infection which he's still receiving antibiotics for. The nurses have told us many times that re-intubating babies is somewhat traumatic and can result in setbacks for days. He had been doing so well that the last thing we wanted was another setback. His vocal cords and throat were swollen from the vent tube so they were going to also give him an anti-inflammatory with a steroid to help with the swelling.

This morning, we were excited to get in and see how our little guys were doing. We got wonderful updates.

Addison is up to 1lb. 14.6oz. He's so close to 2 pounds! He is up to 20cc (3/4oz.) of 24cal. breastmilk and tolerating it really well. He's again, staying steady on his vent settings. They're starting to try to bring him down 2 breaths per minute every day to prep him for the cpap.

Riley was in the middle of his transfusion and his IV blew. They had to start a new one in his arm and even though he was on the cpap, he didn't have too many problems. He gets his last dose of antibiotics at 11pm tonight and then he should be IV free.

As of 8pm tonight, he hasn't had any apnea episodes and his oxygen is staying in the upper 30's to low 40's. The nurse explained that it's very common for the oxygen level to go up when they switch from a vent to the cpap because they're not getting pressurized breaths on the cpap. He's been tolerating his 24cal. feedings and pooping on his own. His belly is not distended at all.

Riley wasn't weighed today because of his ordeal overnight. They may weigh him tomorrow but they'll more than likely just wait until Thursday (weight days are monday and thursday).

I think that's about it for today. It's been a long and exhausting night and day and I'm looking forward to going to bed in a few hours.