Five More Days?
Hello everyone.
What a day! We started the morning visiting Xavier. Rebecca changed his diaper and held him a while before driving to Cheyenne. I stayed behind to feed him and wait out his car seat challenge (we brought in the car seat this morning).
Xavier passed his room air test last night with flying colors, but we had expected that. He did, however, drop 5 grams in weight, bringing his weight to 1680 grams. His weight drop is due to the fact Xavier did not sleep much last night, probably a reaction due to his immunizations. This is common for the first day or two after the shots.
His hearing screening got scheduled this morning, but it did not go well. Xavier was just too fussy, so it had to be rescheduled for tomorrow morning. I was expecting something like some finger snapping and response observation, but not so. Three electrodes are attached to his head, one behind each ear and one to the front of his head. A little sonic emitter is placed in his ear and a computer program took over. It's reminded me of an automobile emissions test.
Xavier no longer has his isolet. It was nowhere to be seen when we walked in this morning. He made it into a crib. Finally, at the end of his stay, he got into an open-air crib! His gel pad (used as a shape-conforming head and should pillow) he has known the last ten weeks was also gone. I was sad to see it go, but it's one of the things not allow in a crib. The open crib environment is supposed to be as close to a normal crib as possible. The only thing allowed in a crib is Xavier, on his back, swaddled or in a sleep sack. That is how we found him in his crib (he was swaddled and gone was his sleep sack)
I spent the rest of the day tracking down a reasonably priced, functional bassinet. Finally found one that will work for our needs. One would think this task would have been simple. Apparently, you can't just get one multi-functional bassinet; you must buy several single-function bassinets.
Xavier's car seat challenge did not go on schedule. He was just too fussy this morning and this afternoon. It would be done later in the day. I waited until 9 o'clock to call the NICU to find out how he did. Sadly, Xavier failed the car seat challenge. He bradied.
This was an important test (sitting, not laying down in his car seat for 90 minutes with his oxygen). The penalty for not passing this test is a stiff one: another five days in the NICU. At least that is how it is looking now. We will know more after rounds tomorrow morning.
We also learned our car seat (the smallest we could find) is still too big for Xavier at the moment. That means a car bed to bring him home (unless he bulks up in the next few days). The good news is the NICU has four new beds coming in on Tuesday and the NICU will loan one out to us. That's exciting, and cheaper: we don't need to buy something we are only going to need for a couple of weeks. (Although, I am bummed we don't get to buy one, use it, then donate it to the NICU).
Still, in the midst of this, Xavier weighed in tonight at 1716 grams (3 pounds 12.5 ounces), an increase of nearly an ounce, and a breaking of the 1700 gram milestone.
We thank you all for your prayers. Our God reigns and He is good!
Xavier in his crib. You can see (very darkly lit) his car seat in the background. Even though Xavier did not pass the challenge today, we are many steps closer to bringing him home!
