Sorry folks. I've been busy. :)
Colton has nicely settled into being home. He is still on his NICU schedule for the most part. (I love those NICU nurses!) At night, he shows he is his mommy's baby. He will sleep for six hours at a time if I let him. Usually, I will get him up at five hours if he doesn't wake up himself. Miss Lulu (our dog, the Italian Spinone) loves him dearly. She knows the difference between him just making noise and his cries. She responds to him quicker than I do sometimes. One thing she likes to do that kind of bothers me is she loves to lick his hands and head. Of course when I mentioned this to Sean's NICU nurse she said not to worry about it. She said taking him out in public and exposing him to the flu or RSV would be much worse. Of course Sean's nurse is an animal lover (as am I).
Most of Colton's days are spent in mine and Bubba's bedroom. He has a basinette set up in there along with the changing table. He does go out to the living room to the other basinette we have (or the swing if he is feeling social), but moving him isn't exactly easy. He has an oxygen tank that is probably about 3 feet tall and on a little wheeled cart (that hurts like hell if it runs over your foot!). Along with the oxygen, he has an apnea monitor that is like an odd shaped purse (definately not one of my lovely purses!). Speaking of the apnea monitor, OMG! When he sets that thing off, it kills your eardrums. It is designed to wake parents up in the middle of the night and to be heard across the house, but damn it's freakin' loud! Usually he sets it off when he needs to burp (so not breathing) or he's crying and his heart rate passes the upper limit. Other than that he is doing really well. I do need to schedule him for a follow up pediatrician appointment in a few weeks. I need to try to find a pedi who has an interest in preemies. The pedi we saw this week said it wasn't neccessary, but after the appointment it was clear that yes, we need someone who has an interest in preemies and doesn't ask questions like why is he on oxygen.
Sean's vapotherm has been turned down again. He is now on three liters per minute (Monday it was turned down from 6 to 5 - he skipped 4). His percent of oxygen is staying around 38 to 42 percent, even with the decrease in liters per minute. He is tolerating all of this very well. The pulmonologist came by to check on him again and said he thinks Sean is doing well and this is all related to his prematurity (meaning we just have to let him grow and there isn't anything else going on). He also got another eye exam. All is well. He gets his recheck in two weeks. :)
A few nights ago, while visiting Seanie, all four babies in the room were setting off their alarms. I said to Seanie that we need to get him out of there because those other babies are becoming a bad influence on him. One of the nurses said, "Oh no they're not! He's the ringleader!" That's my boy! :) Tonight while Bubba was there a nurse came over to do something near Seanie's crib and Bubba told her not to try to blame the smell on Seanie. She told him everyone knows that Seanie has a stinky butt! Poor Seanie is still on that 27 calorie formula. It causes lots of stinky gas.
Also, my friend showed me this video and I wanted to share it with everyone. I will warn you - it's very sad and it will make you cry. But, it's a beautiful story of the life of a little boy names Eliot who suffered from Trisomy 18. So, I've warned you . . . you will cry . . . 99 Balloons
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