He is continuing to do really well. His oxygen sats are good, and he's breathing and eating well. The coolest thing happened early this morning. Any time one of his monitors goes into a range that's out of the target range, the monitor alarm goes off. He has been nursing really well each time, and each time he nursed, his oxygen sats got so HIGH that the alarm went off! At one point, the nurse had to keep coming back to turn off the alarm so frequently that she silenced it! I cried tears of joy! I memorized scripture to prepare myself to deal with the fear and worry I had about Sam's delivery and the rest of this week. Psalm 121:1-4 helped me through the delivery, but this morning during the high oxygen sats I couldn't think of any scripture about joy because I had only concentrated on the worry instead of preparing for the good times, too. I took a picture of the monitor that monitors Sam's stats and those of a baby in the room next to us that his nurse is also responsible for. The other baby doesn't have a heart condition, and Sam's stats are just as good as the other baby's! It's kind of hard to tell, but the numbers third from the top measure oxygen sats.
The neonatologist, Dr. Schwendeman, stopped by to do his rounds this morning and told me Sam is a "typical newborn with attachments to monitor him." I love this description! He really is acting like a typical baby, but he just has a TON of lines coming off of him to monitor heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and until his 3:00 P.M. feeding, an IV. The nurse weaned him off IV fluids at each feeding--as long as his blood sugar was adequate, they backed him off. Because I had gestational diabetes, they wanted to make sure he could regulate his blood sugar on his own, so they gave him IV fluids with glucose so that he wouldn't be hypoglycemic. The lactation consultant came by yesterday to help me with pumping, and she came back today to watch Sam nurse. She has been so helpful. I feel like we have a great start.
We were able to put him in some clothes this afternoon and turn the bed heater off.
Stephen, Sam, and I FaceTimed the girls and my grandparents again this afternoon. I love technology!
Emory is telling me about carrying Sam around on her shoulders. She has plans for this kid:
They're telling me about the princesses on their new cups:
Dr. Kao, the cardiologist, came by to read the results of Sam's echocardiogram from this morning. She's happy with how everything looks and with all his levels. She said the PDA is getting smaller on its own and expects it will completely close very soon. Praise the Lord! Continue to pray with us that Sam will regulate his oxygen sats well once the PDA is closed. Dr. Kao consulted with Dr. Schwendeman about the goals Sam needs to meet before we he is discharged. We should know more in the morning about this. Pray with us that he meets these goals as he needs to so we can go home soon. I'm ready for my whole family to be together and for all my babies to be in the same room!
Stephen and I get to change Sam's diaper, check his temperature, feed him at each feeding time, and snuggle him pretty much any time we want. I am so thankful for how involved we are able to be during his NICU stay. The staff here is AMAZING! Everyone has gone out of their way to reassure us and get Sam and us everything we need. And they treat us like we're his parents who might know what we're doing and not like we're in the way at all.
Thank you to everyone who has texted, called, left a message on Facebook or Instagram, asked one of our parents or grandparents how we're doing, prayed for us, and thought about us. We feel so loved, and I can't wait to tell Sam one day how many people loved him before they even met him.
Here are just a few more pictures of our little nugget because he's just so dang cute!
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