Update on our Ethan's progress

12/2 Thursday about 10 am & 8 pm

Yay! Oxygen has been removed!

Ethan is still doing well. The nurse was able to remove his oxygen and leave it off. I did get to feed Ethan, and he finished off the bottles I had just brought in. He only has an order in to have 20 ccs every 3 hours. He had 50 ccs from the bottle! The nurse got permission to disconnect the iv fluids, and he won't need them anymore as long as he continues to eat so well. They did leave the iv needle in though.... just in case.

He will be moved to an open crib as soon as one is available. For now, they have opened the top of the incubator so as to stimulate an open crib.


The nurse also mentioned (and I did notice) that he has a bit of jaundice, but she wasn't quite sure what was going to happen there. She thinks that either they will let it resolve on its own or he might have to have 1 to 2 days of light therapy. This is very minor, and of course, very common.


It was great spending so much time with my Ethan today.


Now, the next goal is for me to get some rest! Good night all.


12/1 Wednesday 7:30pm


Ethan is doing EVEN better! He has been feeding by bottle a little bit and they tube feed the rest. Oxygen flow was turned down and is still at 21%. I did get to hold Ethan for a bit, and even got to feed him a few little "bites".  He seemed a lot more like a "normal" baby and was not anywhere near as cranky tonight.

He kept yanking out this oxygen, so when I was leaving they decided they would try to take the oxygen off and keep a close eye on him for an hour or so. If he tolerated it, they will keep the oxygen off. I am sure he did just fine last night because when he would take his oxygen off I would look up at the numbers and see that he was still doing just fine.



We did ask about what would need to happen to see Ethan discharged yesterday. Thanks to the help of my friend Tasha. They are intending to send him home without any monitors as far as what I can understand.



11/30 Tuesday 10 am



I got a much more informative update during rounds this morning. Dr. McQueen states Ethan looks much better. The dr is still unsure on exactly what caused his breathing problems- they are saying it was either Congenital Pneumonia or immature lungs.

Last night they reduced his oxygen from 30% to 28% and all stats are looking good. They want to make sure that they complete 5 days of antibotics and 5 days of steroids with recovery time before release. He has to be off the oxygen and eating via nipple or bottle before leaving. They are considering putting him in an open crib soon. They are also starting to tube feed him later today. At this point, he should be less fussy and not require the blankets and such over him.

Dr says if Ethan follows what he thinks will happen, we will be released early next week.

Dr reviewed repeat chest and stomach xrays that were done this morning and yesterday. Chest looks much better, and stomach xray was to check to make sure his intestines were ready for feeding. The neonatalogist states he is ready for 10 ccs feeding each time.

11/30 Tuesday 5 pm

Nurse states they were able to take the oxygen from 28% to 25% then to 23% to 21% with periods of 2 hours that Ethan's oxygen was just  fine. Once he was at 21% for 2 hrs, they turned down the volume from 3.5 to 3. For those who aren't sure, 21% oxygen is the air we breath on a normal basis.

He woke up fussy again from his sedation with Verset (spelling), and nurse gave him 1 cc of breast milk by mouth. He was very happy about it, and fell back asleep and did not require more sedation.

Ethan's weight is at 6 lb 1 oz. We did not hold or touch him since he was resting peacefully and had been so fussy.



Everything is looking up. At 6, we headed to the NICU discharge class!!! WOOHOO!



Our Sweet Baby Ethan!