The story continues...
Last evening went well. We've already had to wash the cradle bedding, though. We were told on numerous occasions while in the NICU that babies can make a big mess. Well...Ryan proved that he could. Not too long after getting settled at home we had poop everywhere imaginable in the cradle. Ryan got his first bath at home last night. Of course I didn't think to get any pictures at the time. We were just enjoying the moment. Perhaps I'll get some good pictures of his "second" bath. Ryan did pretty well through the night. I think he may have a little bit of night/day confusion though. He sleeps much more peacefully in the daytime and is more restless at night. But, I have to say, I don't mind. I'm just glad he's home. He has been eating well, although not as enthusiastically as the day before. I imagine that he will need a little time to adjust. He's had a big move. The environment in our home is quite a lot different than that of the NICU. He will probably eat better as time goes by and he adjusts to his new surroundings. Today has been a good day for us all. It has been a day of adjustments and firsts for us all. We are still maintaining the same schedule Ryan was on in the NICU. We are believers in routines, and we have our NICU heros for establishing a good one for us. Even if we wanted to be less consistent, Ryan is so used to his routine that he would remain on schedule. He already knows when it is time to eat. Almost everytime a feeding was approaching today he woke up and started making some noise for at least the 15 minutes prior to his feeding time. He even did that through the night. Today we had a home health nurse come to the house and do an initial assessment on Ryan. A nurse will be coming to see us 3 times a week for 2 weeks just to make sure everything is going well. Today Ryan weighed 4 pounds 3 ounces according the nurse's scale. Other than just adjusting to the "newness" of everything we have been doing a few things around the house. Wade has done some mowing. I've done some general cleaning and organizing. I've also done some sleeping. I didn't realize how tired I had become, but I made up for it today. I guess that's what Saturday's are for. Several times throughout the day I've found myself looking at the clock and thinking about what we would be doing if still in the NICU. I've also found myself wishing I could talk to...(any of the RTs and nurses, we miss you all).
One of our biggest challenges so far has been finding that "happy place" with Ryan's temperature. He still needs assistance with maintaining his temperature. We look forward to when he can lay around in just his pajamas and kick and flail, but for now he needs swaddled in order to keep his temperature up. We have been keeping track of his temperature often and either adding blankets or removing them. Our other challenge has been this ridiculous monitor. We've had many false alarms since we've been home. A couple of times the alarm has indicated a low heart rate. I'm not sure about the legitimacy of that, but I have to assume his heart rate did drop. Most of the time the alarm has indicated apnea. This I know is false. Most of these alarms happened while I was holding him. Occasionally they were while he was laying in his cradle, but when I looked at him he was still breathing. I've watched the monitor throughout the day to see how well it is picking up his respirations. It seems like it only picks up about every 6th breath Ryan takes. Ryan breathes very shallow and often quite rapidly. I think the monitor is not sensitive enough to pick up his breathing patterns. I will be discussing this with the pediatrician this next week. It could be operator (me) error, too.
Well...I know that post was really long, but I hope you enjoyed it. My little boy has had his evening bath, his bottle, and his bedtime story. It's time for bed.
(New Pictures)
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