Sleeping Soundly

Solomon is doing well.

A Good Day for Snuggles

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Solomon is doing well.  He enjoyed lots of cuddles today.  VapoTherm settings were turned down a little bit more.  And oh yeah, Solomon weighs 7 lbs 4 oz.

Lookin' Good in Yellow

Solomon is doing well.  The doctor is continuing to lower his VapoTherm settings.  Routine bloodwork all came back normal.  He enjoyed lots of love and attention today.    

Captain Adorable

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Solomon had a great day.  The doctor lowered his VapoTherm settings.  I got a visit today from the discharge nurse because it's time to start thinking about all the things that need done between now and the day Solomon is ready to bust out of this joint.

Solomon's First 100 Days

Solomon is 100 days old!!

99 Bottles of Milk on the Wall

Solomon's view.

Solomon will be 100 (days old) tomorrow!  He's been on quite a marathon.  He has been on CPAP with 21% oxygen (room air) for a while now since he's recovered from his surgery.  The cannula hadn't been fitting too well and he spent most of last night and this morning with the nasal prongs only in the general vicinity of his nostrils and doing just fine.  The doctor decided it was time to move him onto VapoTherm which is very much like CPAP with a better-fitting cannulla and oxygenated and hydrated air.  He's on a rate of 9 liters per day.  Once he's weaned off of VapoTherm, then he'll be breathing on his own.  Then he can start learning to drink milk and he'll be on his way.  Of course, still taking it one day at a time and have no idea of a timeline for him to cross all the aforementioned thresholds. I am grateful to all of you in Solomon's support network for the sustaining support!

Sleep Sack

Solomon is enjoying his "sleep sack"..... He's been sleeping all day!  The doctor lowered his CPAP setting this morning and he's been doing well today.

Can't Come Up with a Title

Solomon is doing well.  He's been in room air all day, still on CPAP.  The doctor didn't make any changes to his settings today. 

New Digs

Solomon is doing great! He spent the whole day in room air.  Mom talked the doctor into getting him a big boy bed.  Now he gets to wear cute little baby clothes. 

Cry Baby

Solomon is doing well today.  The doctor decided to try turning off his pressure control settings today.  He is on just CPAP now.  He did pretty well throughout the day only occasionally forgetting to breathe.

Solomon has started to cry like an actual baby this week.  It is pretty adorable.  So far I've been able to sleep through all sorts of sounds in the NICU but my crying baby is not one of them!  He had me up until 4 am last night.  He is a night owl just like his mom.

Captain Kangaroo

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Solomon was doing great today.  He was wide awake at times throughout the day and spent lots of time in room air.  He seemed glad to be done with his breathing tube and IV.  He's on his nasal cannula with really low pressure control settings.

The ophthalmologist checked his eyes for signs of infection this morning.  No infection indicated and the Avastin appeared to be working.  He gets a follow up on Monday.

Solomon enjoyed some visitors today, two of which were hopping around the room.

Rockin' Recovery on the Summit

Solomon is resting and recovering.

He has been sleeping all day.  He had a chest x-ray and an echo and both showed that the plug is in the right position, fits well and is doing its job.

Solomon kept trying to open his eyes today but he is pretty puffy and could only muster up some squinting before he'd fall back asleep.  The ophthalmologist will be back tomorrow to examine his eyes.

Solomon is back on his full feeds tonight after a day of half feeds.  Over night they plan to give him some steroids to get him ready to be extubated early tomorrow morning.  I'm sure he will be glad to get the cannula back instead of having this tube in his mouth.... so he can get back to enjoying his purple pacifier!

Pluggus Ductus

Solomon is out of surgery and back in his room.  He had a busy day.  He had his eyes checked this morning and both were at the point to need treated.  He got a shot of Avastin in both eye balls.  Hopefully this treatment will work and he won't need anything else.

He had his surgery to plug his PDA this afternoon.  The procedure went very well with no complications.  He is sound asleep for now and will be for a while.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and prayers.

Happy Mother's Day!

Solomon had a great day.

Tomorrow he is having a surgery to close his PDA.  It will be minimally invasive using a catheter inserted through his upper thigh.  He will have to undergo anesthesia.  His surgery is scheduled for tomorrow (monday) at 1 pm.

Tomorrow morning he will have his weekly eye exam.  If his ROP has progressed to the point of needing treatment, they will do this at the same time as his surgery since he will already be sedated and intubated.

Thank you to everyone for keeping Solomon in your thoughts and prayers.  

3 Months

Solomon is three months old today!!  

A Day of Rest

Solomon had a nice easy day today and he spent most of his time sleeping.  The cardiologists recommended to go ahead with the surgery to close his PDA.  He'll be on the schedule for early next week. 

Cardiologist

Solomon had a visit today from the cardiologist.  He said that he would be reviewing the ultrasound and will discuss with the cardiology team tomorrow to decide the best course of action regarding his PDA.  If they do recommend going forward with the procedure, it will be done in the cath lab and Solomon will need to be anesthetized.

Too Big for his Britches

Solomon is 6 pounds today!!  He is too big for the preemie diapers and on to size 1... it's hard to believe.

He had another ultrasound of his heart today to check on his PDA.  It is still moderately large.  He is big enough now that they could treat it by catheterization.  We will be discussing this with the doctor tomorrow and go from there.

Massage Therapy

Solomon had a busy day.  Another Monday, another eye exam.  His ROP is still in stage 2.  No intervention at this point so they'll check again next week. 

The occupational therapist came today and taught mom how to give a relaxing baby massage.  Solomon was happy to oblige.  2660 g. 

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Solomon is doing well.  He's 5 lb 11 oz today. 

Brotherly Love

Sammy teaching Solomon how to swear in Italian.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Solomon had a nice day.  He started out by getting back on his pressure control.  He had a good run and will try again soon after he builds up a bit more stamina.  He is getting a burst of air at a rate of 20/min and a volume of 10 units which is where he was at before they turned it off.  The plan is to wean him down a little further (farther?) over the next couple of days and then turn it off again.

Solomon had a bit of a tummy ache this evening.  Big brother Samson came by and gave him a cuddle.  Solomon was feeling much better after such a sweet visit.

Pressure Control

Solomon is doing well.  Up until this morning, the ventilator was delivering a steady stream of oxygenated air (CPAP) as well as short bursts of oxygenated air (pressure control).  All week long he had been getting weaned off the pressure control, alternately lowering the rate and volume of the artificial breaths.  So today they turned off the pressure control altogether.  He has been on just the CPAP all day and seems to be handling the change just fine.  He is a bit tachypneic (breathing rapidly) but this is not entirely out of the ordinary for him so they are keeping him off the pressure control for the night.  This is another step forward and much like the breathing tube, it might take a few tries.

Many people are asking if he needs to hit a certain weight to go home.  There is no weight requirement to be discharged.  Basically, he needs to get off the CPAP and then he needs to learn to drink milk without the feeding tube.  There's really no telling when he'll be at that point but he is heading in the right direction.  2490 g.  

New Neighbors

Solomon had another good day.  They continued to lower his vent settings and also sped up his meals.  There's a new baby next door and he looks tiny.  2440 g.

5 Pounds

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Chubby Cheeks is 5 pounds today.  Thanks everyone for your continued support!!

Eat, Sleep, Poop, Repeat

Solomon had another good day.  They lowered his vent settings again today and he did just fine. Keep up the good work, lil buddy!  2240 g.

Guy Smiley

Solomon was all smiles today.  He was asleep most of the day and must have been having some really good dreams.

His eye exam showed that the ROP has not progressed out of stage 2.  He will have another exam next Monday.

The team lowered some more of his settings on the vent today and the changes didn't really have much effect on him.  He is doing well.