The Next Few Days in the NICU

Well, Jaren had a chest X-ray last weekend and the doctors spotted some gunk in his lung, which they are diagnosing as pneumonia. They are treating him with antibiotics and so he'll be here for several more days.

(This was the first time I held him.)

He has been on oxygen since the day he was born and has gone through several variations since. First, he had a clear plastic shield over his head, then he had several large tubes hooked up to a nasal tube and had to wear a little hat that held the tubes on tight. The hat always slid over his eyes, and we could hardly even see him through all of it. (I thought he looked like a little elephant with one of the tubes hanging out!) Finally, he just has a tube with the nasal prongs in it. They have been trying to wean him off of the oxygen so that he can breathe on "room air". He's doing better each day!

Also, he has jaundice so they started him on phototherapy for it yesterday, the 26th. He started with a lighted pad underneath him and has since added a light over the top of him. He has little shades covering his eyes, which are attached to his head with Velcro of all things! He looks like he's in a little tanning booth! It stinks because now we can only hold him while we are feeding him. He is a little cuddler that's for sure! :)

When they first hooked him up to the monitor, there were (and still are) several wires on his chest. He would constantly be trying to rip them off and rip the hoses off his face! So, they put socks on his hands and he's been better behaved since! (It's good that he's so fiesty, since he wasn't moving much after the delivery)