NUK nipples, who'd a thought...

Tennyson is doing so great, they switched him over to what is referred to as a NUK nipple. Apparently it's a slower flow so he's able to regulate his breathing better with that. Yesterday he did great during his 8am feed, then during 11 and 2 he took the vast majority of the bottle however was gavage fed 7ML and 10MLs.

At the 8pm we got to have some extra fun with him as he was finally given his Synergist vaccine (which is a vaccine given for RSV. It does not prevent RSV however with the vaccine if he gets RSV it will be like a terrible case of the flu however he should be able to tolerate it. Without the vaccine he will end up back in the hospital in peds on a ventilator and we will begin our entire NICU stay over with him having ashtma and respiratory distress for most his childhood years as a result). Needless to say the Synergist is something we've been anxious to see him get, though it's a painful shot. He will have to get another one every 28-30 days, if we miss one or are late on one it makes the entire process nul in void in it's ability to fight RSV. It costs between $1500-$1800/shot depending on your childs weight and we will receive one monthly through May however, praise the Lord since he was so early our insurance company will cover it, had he been a month later at 32 weeks they would not.

After Jenny gave him the shot, we did our first tub bath (and no there are no pictures as I didn't know we were going to be able to do that). Travis and I were in there holding him and Trav was washing his face and I his body (as you can't get soap on his face yet) and the monitor was alarming, so we turned around to grab it each thinking the other still had a hold of him and in the split second we turned around and looked back he was blowing bubbles in the water as part of his mouth was under. We grabbed him up and felt terrible though it didn't seem to bother him much, thank the Lord for Johnson's & Johnson's being so gentle. Many other soaps would have been disasterous to his little belly. Can you believe they're going to send Tennyson home with us??

Anyways after the shower and getting him dressed Travis fed him another bottle and he took the entire thing. He's doing so great with his feedings, and this nipple is really helping him regulate his breathing. It's amazing how one little thing can make sure a difference. Jenny took his 11pm, 2am and 5am feeds and snuggled with him each time, she really loves our little boy as her own, it's precious. You should have seen her trying to talk all the other nurses into giving him the shot as she didn't know if she could cause she didn't want to hurt "her" baby.

So this morning at 8am I was there to feed him, after two diaper changes we were all snuggled in ready to get started and Dr. Jordan walked in. So we let Dr. Jordan examine him which Tennyson didn't enjoy. He wasn't fussy or anything but every time Dr. Jordan would open his eye Tennyson would roll them back into his head, so it took longer than usual. Dr. Jordan said most preemies didn't do that as they weren't so quickly responsive. It was hillarious and frustrating for the Dr. Needless to say there was no sign of ROP (praise the LORD) and on the tear duct issue, his lowest membrane before his nasal duct is closed. He said 90% of them open before 6 months of age which is the amount of time we have to wait anyways because they have to give them a general anesthetic. So we discussed some techniques in which we can encourage the duct to open, but if it hasn't in six months he will have surgery on those ducts.

Also the nurses' are now charting every little change in his oxygen levels as Dr. Topper likes specific documentation before prescribing Zantac or Prevacid to the preemies. Usually if Tennyson self recovers and doesn't set off the alarms then it's not documented because it's not a true desat, anything can cause this, hiccups, bowel movements, any level of reflux, etc. He sometimes has many of these during the feeding due to his reflux so they're probably going to put him on something later today unless he miraculously heals.

This morning he then after the eye exam took 40MLs however got to refluxing horribly and gagging worse than I'd seen so he was gavage fed the other 10, yes they increased his feedings yesterday to 50ML/1/2 hour.

He weighed in last night at 5lbs. 11.2 ounces, so he's looking rather like a full term baby. He's so cute though. Jeanne stated last night that his plan of care now is to do full feedings (every 3 hours if he's alert he receives a bottle, if not they'll gavage it) with him taking at least 75% of his 50 MLs. Once that's attained, they will take him to full feeds, every 3-4 hours where when he wakes if he's hungry he's fed (which will be nice because he can set his own pace and we can start to see how things will be once we're home) and he can eat as much or as little as he likes as long as at the end of the day he's still gaining.

After that they will work on weaning him off the oxygen and taking care of a few other minor things so hopefully if he doesn't have any major episodes, we'll be home in the next few weeks, Thank you Lord.

So all in all, he's had a wonderful 24 hours at this point so maybe we're getting this all figured out.

Thanks for all the prayers and for remembering us. Love you all.

Exalting the Excellent-
Travis, Lindsay & Tennyson Myers