A Little Longer Than Expected

Bath time again! The nurse gave us some tips for washing Chase's hair. This is his favorite part of getting a bath.

What are you doing to me?

This isn't so bad

That's the spot

All clean!

Time for bed

Since I'm back at work now I don't get to participate in daily rounds with Chase's team. One of the nurse practitioners came in while I was feeding him this morning to cover a bunch of info. First of all, he'll be 8 wks old this weekend-time flies right??, and even though he is a preemie he's due for some vaccinations. Ironically our nurse yesterday is also a researcher on pediatric vaccinations, my favorite topic:) Take a wild guess what our conversation was about... so Chase will be receiving his first course of vaccinations when he hits 60 days old(which is right around the corner)!

We also starting discussing criteria for discharge this morning. Since he still has a bit of progress to make it looks like it will be at least another 3 wks or so before we get an actual date. Even though he surprises us on a daily basis we still have a ways to go. Today they wrote orders for the flow to be decreased to 1.5L and he will now be fed when "awake and ready" by breast or bottle!

Chase will need to continue to wean off oxygen and/or the diuretics before he can come home. He most likely will still need to continue on some course of the diuretics, but that is better than lugging around oxygen. Also, since he continues to have a wonderful sounding murmur they are going to have the cardiologist take a look at him to see if she thinks he has PPS(Peripheral Pulmonary Stenosis) Ultimately in newborns, especially preemies babies blood vessels surrounding the heart are small. With PPS as they branch farther from the heart the vessels get even smaller therefore you would be able to hear turbulence from the blood flow. In Chase's case the murmur sounds just as loud no matter where you place the stethoscope. As babies grow, generally so do the vessels so hopefully no treatment will be required!

The usual updates- His chest x-ray today looked no worse than in the past and all his blood work came back normal. Oh, and he officially is over 4 lbs now. 4lbs 2.2oz to be exact:) Keep growing little one!!