Yesterday Vinnie was allowed outside! The incubator that is. Along with all the paraphernalia... wires, tubes, breathing apparatus etc. Once they pass day 5 preterm babies are able to have some times each day with mum or dad (not both - just yet anyway) for Kangaroo cuddles, providing that they aren't too tired from a hectic day of poking and prodding.Now, I'm not too sure what is behind the name - 'Kangaroo' cuddles. Maybe it is because they put the babies down the inside of your shirt for some skin on skin contact kind of like a little Joey in a pouch. It was really sweet though, I got to have a cuddle with him for 2 hours reclining on the Lazyboy. We both had a nice little sleep together. I didn't want to give him back at the end though - maybe they should be called Boomerang cuddles instead!
Today has been a very big day for Vinnie so no time for Kangaroo cuddles :-(
This morning the doctors attempted to a lumbar puncture on our little guy to determine whether or not he has meningitis. I don't really understand how he would have contracted this, but something to do with my membranes rupturing early and Vinnie being prone to infection from that point forward. He has been on a course of antibiotics since delivery to fight this infection and needs to stay on these drugs for 2 weeks if he has in fact got meningitis. The lumbar puncture was unsuccessful today (mainly because he is just so little) so they will attempt to do this again on Monday.
They also tested me for Listeria after the delivery to see if there was any trace, if so then Vinnie would have this also. The test results came back negative thank goodness. I had been fretting about this one as some of you may recall the amount of cheese I was eating during pregnancy (amongst other things generally not recommended in pregnancy!). Hmmm... if I ever get pregnant again (at some point in the very distant future) I will be a complete paranoid about food hygiene!
When I last saw Vinnie this afternoon he was having an intravenous tube inserted in to his arm for fluids. Providing that that went well, the plan was to then remove the line in his belly button that currently serves this purpose. Depending on how settled he was after having this done, they were then going to attempt to take him off the ventilator and insert a CPAP/oxygen (2 lines up his nostrils to support breathing). If he was a bit unsettled then they plan to do this tomorrow.
So, a busy day for Vinnie! But he is doing really well and I am encouraged by the fact that they are going to move him from the ventilator to CPAP some point soon. He has also been a little intolerant to my breast milk - for no other reason that his gut is a little underdeveloped. But they were going to reintroduce this again this afternoon and hopefully he'll be pooing some meconium (that nice green spinach coloured stuff that newborns poop) sometime soon. More on breast milk and meconium tomorrow! Depending on how sensored this entry is it might carry a warning: MRGA (Male Readers Guidance Advised)!
A little on me... I am doing well and discharged myself from hospital this afternoon (I did get the option of another night but those walls were closing in on me). My wonderful (!!!) cousin Liz has kindly offered us her apartment in Parnell so we are currently residing here while the alterations are finished. The location is just perfect - extremely close to the hospital for all the visits I will be making to NICU. My poor husband is probably wishing I stayed in hospital a bit longer (like after the weekend maybe) as he now has to cope with the invalid and all the demands I am making! Oh well... as I might have mentioned earlier... milk it while you can!
No comments:
Post a Comment