Posted Apr 26, 2007 9:26am

Day 74
3 pounds 7 ounces

Ryan had a pretty good day yesterday. They increased the amount of milk he gets at each feeding to 30 ml. This is 1 ounce of milk each time! He also gets to eat from a bottle twice a day. The nurse said he ate well at 3 a.m. from the bottle. He also ate well for me when I gave him a bottle at 6 p.m. Hopefully he will be able to continue to eat well and we will be able to gradually add another bottle every day or so until he is up to 8 bottles a day. We think it would be awesome for him to reach that 4 pound mark, hold his temp, and be eating 8 bottles a day all at about the same time. These are the last things that must happen before he can come home.

We didn't get to spend a lot of time with Ryan yesterday because we went to CPR and Discharge Teaching classes. We learned a lot and are glad we went. For CPR we learned that it is 30 chest compressions to 2 breaths for 5 times. Mostly we learned that we hope we NEVER have to do CPR on any baby. We also learned how to deal with a choking infant.

For Discharge Teaching we learned about caring for our little one. We learned about what would be an emergency situation vs one that we just need to keep an eye on and when and who to call. We also learned about just general baby care...taking temperatures, bathing, feeding. For feeding we learned that laying a baby on his side to eat is actually preferred. It makes since because God's design for baby feeding is at the breast, and at the breast they lay on their side. We found it very interesting, so that's how we fed Ryan at 6. He did well. The most critical thing we learned yesterday at Discharge Teaching involves caring for Ryan's lungs. Since Ryan's lungs are damaged from being so premature and being on the ventilator we will have to be extra vigilant in caring for his lung health. The most important thing we must do is keep him away from irritants in the air...smoke, fumes, perfumes, etc. They told us that he must not be around a grill or fireplace. People who care for him must not wear any perfumes. He also must not be around any tobacco smoke. They told us that if we walk into a building that even mildly smells like smoke we must leave immediately. They even went on to instruct us that if people who smoke are planning on holding him they must change into a clean pair of clothes that has not been in a smoking environment, and they must also wash their face if they plan on getting their face near Ryan's. I was unaware of how critical all this is, but they said we should uphold this kind of protection for at least the first year of his life. Wow! Of course our biggest line of protection against most illnesses is hand-washing. So the rule is... "No washy, no touchy!"