Day 37 - Getting Ready...

Harris has been very busy over the last 3 days proving to the doctors, nurses and Mommy and Daddy that he is almost ready to go home. He has been breathing on his own since the cannula was removed on Saturday and has been basically able to keep all his vitals up. Yesturday our little man started taking every feed without the feeding tube, and today when Mommy came in he was TUBELESS! A few more hours, keep in mind a few in the NICU/SCN means more the 24, of feeding on his own and he may be home sweet home!

Day 34 - Ahhh room air

Today was a huge day for Harris. His cannula was removed and he spent the day breathing on his own. Just before his noon feeding, we arrived at the hospital to find Brenda, his nurse, getting ready to remove the cannula. Which, by the way, was a production because after days of the little man trying to pull the tubes out of his nose, today he decided he did not want Brenda to touch his face or to remove the tubes. So Mommy stepped in and attempted to distract him - and after a few minutes it was over and Harris was on his own to breath.

The day went remarkably well, and while his respiratory rate was somewhat higher then the doctors love, he had no real desats and was able to maintain his blood oxygen level through feeding (both a bottle given by Dad, and nursing by mom); playing (with Hayley, Grammy, and Pop); sleeping; cuddling and fussing. All in all amazingly successful - not to mention the fact that he looked adorable through it all!

One month and 3 days (Day 33)

Harris spent a good part of the day trying to remove the canula from his nose. Despite Mommy and Daddy's attempts to persuade him to leave it alone, he worked hard to wrap his little baby fingers around and pull. This is probably a good sign because he worked diligently to remove the CPAP when it was time to discontinue that. PLUS -- he has now succeeded in giving himself a room-air trial and has had no desat episodes -- way to go Harris.

Big news on the feeding front -- Doctors moved Harris's PO feeding (i.e. non tube feeding) to every other meal and he nursed for the first time today. Despite mom's nerves and worries - and the fact that he has spent the last month not having to work too hard to get food - he did great!

In entertainment news: Harris and Daddy put together this little tribute...

And then there was one...

Harris's neighbors are being discharged in the masses - so much so that today there were only 4 babies there that will still be there tomorrow (the SCN holds up to 15 or so babies, and had 12 when Harris got promoted) - one of course being Harris. Babies that were born after the little man have packed there bags and left in their car seats. And while with each discharge I am pleased for that family, I am unfortunately reminded that while we are absolutely moving in forward motion we are moving in slow motion and the end is still fuzzy. Today I had a shocking reminder -- gestational age. It is funny how these things sneak up on you in the NICU. I was holding Harris watching two other babies (well their mom's and dad's) getting discharge instructions when one of the nurses and a resident wondered over to me. The nurse must have known that I was having a torn moment and I was holding on my son tight attempting to focus on all the wonderful progress and she was talking up the strides of the day. Harris is now up to 50 mL of food (though he is still only taking three bottle feedings - often not the whole feeding), he is getting bigger and stronger, etc etc. When the resident (who we shall call beefcake because of his masculine, gold's gym, phisique - and more importantly because he has been on the NICU rotation for about 4 weeks and has never introduced himself to me) said "you have to remember his gestational age, he was only 30 weeks" REALLY-- REALLY genius you think it is useful to tell the mother who is already guilty as can be that she was unable to carry to full term his gestational age. As if that is not very clear to me -- I know many of the nurses and even some doctors have been tricked by Harris size often thinking he was older then he is - or was born later then he was - BUT not for one minute have I forgotten! That said Harris is making some great strides. He is doing really well with feedings for Adam, the nurses and me - now the speech pathologists he seems to be poky for and has yet to finish a bottle for them despite the fact that they are the feeding specialists. Today, I was sitting holding harris when I realised that he was not desating at all! His oxygen stayed HIGH really high (with the exception of when a lead came off) for over 3 hours. One week ago I thought I would never see the day when our little man's monitor did not report a list of desats. But today we were very close and tomorrow I am sure we will be even closer.

One Month!!!

Harris is one month old today - it is amazing. Each day over the last month has felt so incredibly long - but looking back it seems relatively quick. It is even more amazing that our incredible son would not have been here yet if we had had a "text book pregnancy" - we would be waiting for him to arrive, not just to arrive home!

Unfortunately Harris's one month birthday started with an exam from the eye doctor. The eye doctor arrives between 7 and 8 in the morning so there are no parents present - from what I understand, and what I remember from my days working in the hospital, that is probably a good thing. Because eye exams are traumatizing to infants. Harris is no exception and the appointment wore him out - he spent the rest of the day sleeping, not even waking enough to take his noon bottle. The speech pathologist, who was there to do a feeding, and the nurses all assured Mommy and Daddy that all preemies have bad days after an eye exam. And while that takes the worry that he is having a set back away, it doesn't make a parent feel better - just bad that you can't do anything about it. The "good news" is that his eyes are developing nicely and that he doesn't have to have another exam for two weeks - all I can say is that it is a good thing babies don't have a great sense of time because an exam every two weeks hardly seems like good news!

But tonight when Mommy and Daddy arrived with Aunt Hayley and Uncle Dan it was a totally different story - Harris was wide awake and very interactive. He was wide eyed, smiling, and moving around. After a warm bath (given by mom) and bottle (given by dad) Harris got to spend time cuddling with Hayley and Dan before Mom rocked him to sleep and put him to bed. What a great night!

Day 30 - Slow and steady wins the race

Today was mostly a sleepy day. After being up for much of the day yesturday, Harris slept through mommy's whole visit, which included a PT appointment - he slept through PT. Dad says "eating and sleeping, working out and sleeping that is the life." It didn't change that our visit together was a wonderful one - Harris's oxygen was reduced to 0.5 liters - and he is doing great. Feeding continues to make him quite sleepy and he is still only able to successfully take 3 oral feedings a day. Harris had an evaluation by the speech and language pathologist to assess his eating and it they believe the delay is really just stamina - which will come in time!

The little man has a new favorite cuddle position, he loves to lay on mommy or daddy's chest - in the NICU they call this Kangaroo Care. I have to admit it is one of Mom favorite also.

So if Harris slept all day... you can only imagine what happened tonight during daddy's visit- when mom was home cleaning the house - that's right the little man was WIDE awake. Daddy spent some quality time with Harris and for the first time gave Harris a bath and changed his cloths. The nurse weighed Harris during Daddy's visit and he weighed in at a whopping five and a half lbs!

Day 29

Harris was wide awake when I got to the hospital today. A few minutes after I got there, and of course changed a diaper-- I am beginning to wonder if the nurses have my car bugged and leave dirty diapers when they know I am approaching -- the physical therapist arrived. Harris LOVED physical therapy and it was amazing to watch how strong he is. He even did some tummy time - lifting his head and moving it from side to side like a champ. While watching him working with the physical therapist, Lauren, I realized that our little man actually looked older -- like a typical new born (of course with a few extra wires). Dad noticed the same thing tonight!