8 Day NICU Update
Hi everyone,
Wow, it’s been a week. The past 8 days have felt like a lifetime. This chapter of our journey has proven to be the toughest and most emotional of them all. Overall, Clifford is stable and doing well. He is the cutest little guy you’ll ever see, and loves to wiggle around and kick his little legs. He’s completely stolen our hearts – and the nurses. Words can’t express the love we have for him, but also the heartbreak we feel seeing him attached to so many tubes and getting pricked and prodded all week long. He’s had a tough start to life.
Over the last week, Clifford has gone through a lot of testing and scans. In the first couple of days, it was all about balancing his sodium and sugar levels – when he was in utero I did all the work, so his body needed a little help. We’ve since leveled this out and everything looks good. He was put on antibiotics right away to treat any infection and also received a couple of blood transfusions. They have done numerous bloodwork throughout the week and have not detected any signs of infection so he is now off antibiotics – good news! He’s been on and off ‘bili lights’ or blue lights to treat jaundice, a treatment that is very common for micro-preemies. They did scans of his heart which looked good – a lot of premies are born with a sort of hole in their heart or a ‘valve’ that is open, which can cause complications. The doctors were very shocked and happy to see Clifford’s valve was actually closed. He also had a scan of his head, since brain bleeds are very common when babies are born this early. Thankfully, there was no bleeding! He is at highest risk of brain bleeds within the first few days, so the odds of this happening have gone down quite a bit. They did notice some fluid on the outside of his brain, but the doctors believe this is completely normal and don’t suspect this to be anything to worry about, however, they are doing another scan on Monday to double-check. We also started feedings with my breastmilk through a feeding tube that goes straight into his belly. We started with 1ml every 3 hours and have since increased to 5ml. He’s been tolerating feedings really well!
Now the more concerning news... Clifford needs a lot of oxygen support and is on a high-flow ventilator to help him breathe right now. Babies’ lungs are the last organ to fully develop, so this is expected and normal for a 24-weeker. However, over the week he has needed very high amounts of oxygen, between 80-100%. The doctors do not want to see his oxygen levels this high consistently since it can begin to cause other issues, affecting his eyesight and brain, and give them less wiggle room if he needs even more support. They are trying many different things to get his oxygen down. In the last couple of days, his oxygen needs have seemed to be trending down, closer to 60-80%. I’m hoping this means we’re on the right track, and praying his breathing gets better and more stable over the coming weeks – especially as he grows and his lungs develop more.
My last update is that today I finally got to hold my baby boy after over a week since giving birth. Being separated after delivery for hours and not being able to hold him all this time has been tough. Having him close to me again was the best thing I’ve felt in a long time. I feel so lucky to be his mom.
This week has been full of so many ups and downs, something we will have to get used to as he will be in the NICU for the next few months – the goal being to bring him home close to his due date of December 5th. Clifford has a long journey ahead of him, but he sure is tough and is fighting so hard. For now, we continue to take things day by day, hour by hour, and even minute by minute.
Thank you for all the sweet messages and continued prayers. ❤️
With love,
Sadie
