Theo update: day 72 in the nicu and 14 days until his due date

Still no signs of him coming home. 😥

He still need oxygen support. He still needs most of his meals through his tube. Because he is still breathing very fast (stays between 80-100 when he needs to be in the 30s), bottles are a lot of work for him. His speech therapist wants his oxygen needs reduced before trying the bottle again.

His last head ultrasound showed slight growth in his brain bleed pocket. This prompted them to do an mri. The nurse said he hated every second of the mri (most babies like the cocoon they go in). The mri showed that the spot to drain fluid from the pocket is quite small. They consulted with Phoenix children’s hospital and determined a shunt is not needed at this time. They hope he will just grow out of it but are continuing to monitor his head as they have been. They will catch it early if a shunt is needed. While super common and done daily, it’s still brain surgery on a teeny tiny human. Plus, he’d be transferred to another hospital for the procedure. Hopefully it won’t be needed. 🤞🏻

Bright side- they had to reduce his oxygen needs some for the mri. He did well the whole time and they didn’t need to up it the rest of the day.

I have been sick, we are assuming rsv, so we (hubby and myself) haven’t seen or held our sweet boy since last Friday. We likely won’t be cleared until Friday or Saturday. 😭 Thankfully, my husband nor daughter have gotten sick. I gave my daughter lots of fresh pumped breast milk to give her antibodies.

This is so hard. My baby is 10 weeks old and I’ve never kissed him. I only hold him 1-2hrs every other day (hubby and I switch off days). He only knows us with masks on. He’s only seen his sister twice (children under 13 aren’t allowed during rsv season). I’ve never fed him. I just gave him a bath for the first time last week. I’ve never just walked around while holding him. I know he’s where he needs to be and he gets love from his care team, but it’s hard. I just keep reminding myself that I’ll have a whole lifetime to make up for these very long months. 😢