Ben is still in the hospital. He was doing fantastic on Friday. They even asked us to bring in his car seat Saturday morning so they could check to make sure he was able to breath properly while sitting in it.
...then he was circumcised... and things went downhill. The first feeding after the circumcision he didn't take all of his bottle from me. That night he barely took any of his bottles from the nurses. I think this is the part that bugs me the most... I begrudgingly agreed to have him circumcised because Doug felt so strongly about it. It is healing nicely, but I still carry a lot of guilt over it.
Also that night, his diaper rash got substantially worse. We think the diaper rash is from some aloe wipes they were using in the NICU on all of the babies. They have stopped using them, but his bum is taking quite a while to heal.
Since Saturday, his bilirubin levels have been really high which is also causing him to tire out before finishing his bottles. Just today, there was an actual decrease in the levels, which hopefully means we are on the upswing.
Unfortunately, today we also figured out that he has thrush. When I tried to feed him this morning, I noticed that the entire inside of his mouth was white. The doctor checked it, and immediately put him on meds to get rid of it. I can't believe how quickly that happened, because his mouth was fine yesterday, and he hasn't been on anti-biotics since Friday.
Overall, I exhausted. I am spending 12-13 hours a day at the hospital. I am happy to do so, because I get to hold and feed Ben, but my body is not so happy about it. None of my shoes currently fit. I actually wore crocs to the hospital today, but am currently sitting in the waiting room with them off, because my feet are so swollen that the crocs feel tight.
Sorry if my recent posts have been incoherent I blame hormones and fatigue... I know everyone says that a person should take advantage of the time when their baby is in the NICU and get some rest, but I am just not able to do this... I'm sure it's the whole Type A thing... I just can't come in and see him for one feeding a day and go on with life as normal... quite a few of the other NICU parents are doing that, but I can't and won't. Not that I am judging them... I don't know their situations, but, luckily, my situation allows me to spend as much time as possible with my sweet baby.
Staying Centered at Christmas
7 years ago
2 comments:
Its good to get the updates but golly I wish he were home now. I know you & Doug do too...
On the bili, my nephew was born (Sept) and by 24 hours his bili was 19.9 and 20.0 is the cut-off. He was under lamps and a biliblanket for 2 weeks and got daily heel sticks but he's just fine now.
I'm sure that doesn't help.
We're thinking of you guys. Try to get some sleep when you can.
I get it. I totally get it. And, I hope he starts improving all the way around. Hopefully all of the problems are front-loaded so by the time you get home, he won't get sick or have any issues for years. I can dream. :D
I'm sorry you feel guilt about the circumcision. He'll be fine. Really.
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