Saturday, September 30, 2006

9/30/06: Day 78 (Sat.) Another Gator win

First off, glad that Gators won..it makes the house much more calm! Max and Sadie didn't have to run and hide since T wasn't yelling as much at the television.

Today was bath day, a day Evan used to enjoy while in the hospital. Now he doesn't seem to like it as much. I think he likes his body being under the water; but with the baby tub we have, he hovers over the top of the water (like a hammock). Maybe he isn't feeling warm enough like he would be under the water.

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 3 weeks and 1 day
Adjusted age: 2 weeks and 0 days
-----------

Friday, September 29, 2006

9/29/06: Day 77 (Fri.) 11 Weeks Old!

Doctor's visit today went well. We found out his lab results were all within the acceptable ranges. Evan almost slept through the entire visit (but he won't sleep at nighttime...what is up with that?)! Anyhoo...Dr. Vedock is wanting him to gain a bit more weight every week, so we'll be bumping his feedings up to about 80-90ml (about 3oz.). He gained 5oz. from last week's visit. We're still fortifying his feedings to add some extra calories.

-----------
** Weight check: 7 lbs. 2 oz.
** Length: 19.25 inches
Chronological age: 2 months 3 weeks and 0 days
Adjusted age: 1 week and 6 days
-----------

Thursday, September 28, 2006

9/28/06: Day 76 (Thurs.)

O.k...advice here...what makes a kid scream and not sleep during the nighttime hours...but then he'll sleep like a "baby" during the daytime hours?? So much for sleeping through the night I posted about earlier!
-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 2 weeks and 6 days
Adjusted age: 1 week and 5 days
-----------

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

9/27/06: Day 75 (Wed.) Happy Bouncer



Evan finally likes his bouncer...it's taken a few days, but he seems happy with it. For the past few days when we put him in it, he was not a happy guy. He lasted about 10 minutes in it and started crying, right after I took the picture. Nothing much to report on today. Evan is doing much better sleeping for about 5 hours through the night.

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 2 weeks and 5 days
Adjusted age: 1 week and 4 days
-----------

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

9/26/06: Day 74 (Tues.) Napping in My Crib

Evan finally took a nap in his crib in his room! I've been worried about getting him to sleep in other places than just with me on the couch. I wheeled his oxygen tank to the other side of the house and laid him down for a post-meal nap. He slept for a good hour or two, so fingers crossed we'll be able to transition him easily.

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 2 weeks and 4 days
Adjusted age: 1 week and 3 days
-----------

Monday, September 25, 2006

9/25/06: Day 73 (Mon.) Feeling Neglected



I had to post this picture of our first baby, Max. He's been feeling a little neglected lately. He never fails to warn us when Evan is crying and he has been crying a lot. The only thing that seems to stop his crying is to stand and bounce with him. You can't sit and bounce (he knows that you're not standing and will tell you he's not happy). The baby carrier is coming in handy since it is one of the few things that calm him. It's not recommended to sleep with the baby in it though (bummer).

Evan was such a good guy at the hospital! We had to go to the lab to get his blood drawn and he cried just a bit. The lady taking hs blood had asked us if we had experienced this before. I tried not to laugh since we experienced him getting his blood drawn a lot at UMC. We'll find out the results of the tests on Friday when we see Dr. Vedock again. The lab is testing his electrolytes and one other thing (I can't remember what it was). We stopped by the nursery since they found his shot record. The day shift nurses were happy to see Evan. He fell asleep in his car seat afterwards.

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 2 weeks and 3 days
Adjusted age: 1 week and 2 days
Lab Charges: $164.70
Running Total: $368,261.24
-----------

Sunday, September 24, 2006

9/24/06: Day 72 (Sun.) Hoping for a Steeler Win!


First off...not happy about the Steeler loss! Hope the picture makes up for it! The idea behind the picture is to take Evan's picture every year in the jersey so you can see how big he is getting. It's going to take a while for him to grow in to this one!

Today Evan had a visit from Chris and Stephanie (our former SV friends now living in Tucson). Chris and T are golf buddies (aka "golf elitists/snobs" as I call them).If you can't play from the "tips", then don't be in their foursome! ;-)

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 2 weeks and 2 days
Adjusted age: 1 week and 1 day
-----------

Saturday, September 23, 2006

9/23/06: Day 71 (Sat.) 1 Week Old (sort of)


Evan has decided that Dad is the best pillow for sleeping. :-) Dad and Evan have been having a great time watching the Ryder Cup together. Too bad the U.S. isn't doing too well.

Another normal day...we had to switch out his oxygen tank. We're still using the medium size tanks until Apria delivers the big tank on Monday (that will last about 2 weeks). Since Evan's appointment in Tucson isn't for a few weeks, he'll be on the oxygen until then (bummer). On Monday we have to take him to the lab at the hospital to have some blood drawn to check his electrolytes.

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 2 weeks and 1 day
Adjusted age: 1 week and 0 days
-----------

Friday, September 22, 2006

9/22/06: Day 70 (Fri.) 10 Weeks Old!

Getting into a daily routine finally. Evan had a good night last night. During the day, we took a little walk through the house with his oxygen tank in tow. He seemed to like his room...eventually he'll get to sleep in there. :-) I took him into the backyard in his baby carrier. He likes the carrier thank goodness. The sunlight freaks him out a bit, so we'll have to ease him into outside time. I took him next door to meet our neighbors Tina and Robert. They were excited to finally meet the little guy.

It was bath day, but before his bath, T put him on the webcam so his mom could see him. She'll be coming out to stay with us at the end of October when I get ready to go back to work again. We have to keep Evan out of day care as long as possible (especially during cold and flu season).

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 2 weeks and 0 days
Adjusted age: 6 days
-----------

Thursday, September 21, 2006

9/21/06: Day 69 (Thurs.) A Trip to the Doc

O.k...what day is this? Amazing how my timing is all thrown off! Evan slept much better through the night. I still slept with him on the couch...he even slept through his midnight feeding. He was ready to eat at 3am though. The monitor recorded 2 apnea incidents through the night...they weren't really incidents...they were false alarms when he moved.

He had his doctor's appointment today with Dr. Vedock. She was happy to see him out of a hospital setting. No al whole lot came out of the appointment aside from a trip to get blood drawn on Monday. We have to come back in and see her next Friday for a weight check.

Dr. Vedock also gave us referrals for the pediatric pulminologist in Tucson and a urologist. We didn't realize until a few weeks into his stay at UMC that he has a condition called hypospadia. It's a mild case, no big deal, but we have to wait a while to have him circumcised. He also has newborn anemia...again, not a big deal. It's something he'll grow out of once his bone marrow starts producing more red blood cells. We have to give him liquid vitamins fortified with iron to help the process kick in. The liquid vitamins are really yucky and thick, but Evan drinks it down like a champ!

Evan wasn't too happy being handled at the doctors office and was really unhappt going back in his car seat. Thank goodness it was less than a 5 minute trip home. He's been fussy on and off since he's been home....we reverted back to the burrito-swaddle and he's sleeping like a dream now.

-----------
Weight: 6 lbs. 13 oz.
Height: 19 inches
Chronological age: 2 months 1 week and 6 days
Adjusted age: 5 days
-----------

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

9/20/06: Day 68 (Wed.) Apnea Monitor Must Die!

We survived the first night with Evan home...what's up with babies not sleeping through the night?? We're about ready to through the apnea monitor out the window though. It's as loud as a smoke detector and is easily set off if the leads are setting wrong on his chest. When this thing goes off, it sends you straight up out of bed.

Evan was really fussy when we put him down in his play yard for bedtime. We're using the play yard/pack-and-play in our room...he has a crib in his room also. Initially, we're keeping him close by...we'll eventually put him in his room on the other side of the house. Since he was fussing so much, I ended up taking him and the apnea monitor and slept on the couch so at least T could get some sleep. The one nice thing about the apnea monitor is that it will tell us if he isn't breathing, so I felt comfortable sleeping with him on the couch. He slept well that way...it just seems he needs to have some human touch these first few days while he's sleeping. I still didn't sleep super-well since I was up almost the whole night.

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 1 week and 5 days
Adjusted age: 4 days
-----------

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

9/19/06: Day 67 (Tues.) We're Home!!*

Whew...we made it home! Today was a crazy day! We had to be at the hospital at 9:30am to meet up with the respiratory technician from Apria for our instructions. She brought us the smaller oxygen tanks...really easy to set up and use. This makes him so much more portable now! Nice to know we only have to have the apnea monitor on him when we're not directly watching him (like while we're sleeping). That thing is SO loud.

We have a 25 foot oxygen tube, so we can move him around relatively easily. We have him hooked up to the medium size oxygen tank that will last him a few days. Apria is supposed to deliver the large tank tomorrow (that will last about 18 days). They'll come by and swap out the tanks for us on certain days. The small portable tank will last about 24 hours. We have a handful of each of those tanks in garage, so he won't run out.

It was a little wierd leaving the hospital without all the bells and whistles...just him and an oxygen tank. It now falls on us to observe him and make sure he is breathing well. So far, so good! The pups are a little anxious...they've been underfoot all day trying to figure out who this little guy is. Max tried to take his sock off when I was holding him. :-)

He was a little fussy this afternoon...I think it was too much excitement for him today. He did great in the car ride home (all 5 minutes of it)! It's nice to be close to the hospital. We just gave him bath this evening and put him in his sleeper gown. Hopefully it will be a calm night!

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 1 week and 4 days
Adjusted age: 3 days
-----------

Evan in his "crib"


In the swing with his protector, Max




---------
SVRHC Charges: $95.51
Running Total: $368,096.54
---------

Monday, September 18, 2006

9/18/06: Day 66 (Mon.) Coming Home!!

Great news to report...Evan is coming home tomorrow! A bit of coordination had to be done with a clinic in Tucson during the day, but he's coming home with oxygen. The decision was made for him to have an apnea monitor. Dr. Vedock was pushing for him to just have a saturation monitor, but the doctor at the Tucson clinic (Dr. Morgan) decided the other way. So, we won't know on a daily basis how his O2 saturation levels will be. The plan is to set his O2 level around .225 constantly and let him "grow out" of it. He's been floating between .1 and .2, so they say keeping him at that slightly higher level all the time will be fine. At his weekly check ups they will check his saturation levels to see how he's doing. We have to be at the hospital at 9:30am to meet with someone from respiratory. I assume it will be to go over what we have to do.

They have officially diagnosed Evan with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD). It's something that will take time to heal. He'll be going to the Arizona Respiratory Center (ARC) for monitoring.

A company called Apria is setting us up with the oxygen. They have to come to the house tomorrow and set up the big tank. Evan will have a smaller tank for travelling. He did great in his carseat (he slept for about 4 hours in it), so driving to Tucson won't be a problem. We'll have to take him to the ARC in Tucson for periodic monitoring. I also set up his appointment with Dr. Vedock for Thursday. Needless to say, he's going to be seeing the doc probably weekly. During those appointments they will be taking blood to check his electrolytes also.

This is our last night of sleep, so I guess we should enjoy it!

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 1 week and 3 days
Adjusted age: 2 days
SVRHC Charges: $1,832.74
Running Total: $368,001.03
-----------

Sunday, September 17, 2006

9/17/06: Day 65 (Sun.)*

When we visited prior to shift change, we got another report that Evan was not a happy guy all day. The nurses all had to take turns holding him since he didn't want to lay down in his crib. The head nurse was worried he is getting sick, but the whole time we were there, he was perfect. I think it's all in Evan's master plan to make the nurses so miserable that they also will push to get him sent home! ;-)

Hopefully we will hear today from Dr. Vedock on the details about getting him home this week. Some coordination needs to be done with a clinic Tucson, not sure what all that will entail.

-----------
Chronological age: 2 months 1 week and 2 days
Adjusted age: 1 day
SVRHC Charges: $1,800.34
Running Total: $366,168.29
-----------

Getting his bottle from Dad

Saturday, September 16, 2006

9/16/06: Day 64 (Sat.) Due Date!

Today was Evan's predicted due date, so he has hit the 40 week mark! Since he was a preemie, we now start all over on his "adjusted gestational age" (he's 0 again)! I think he'll catch up quickly to his chronological age though. So down below on each post, I'll list his chronological age and his adjusted age.

Evan had a good scrubbin' in his "spa". Yes, Marianne, we still use "Evan's Spa" for his bath time down here! The nurse practioner, Sue (who is great), helped out since I didn't realize babies are so slippery! We put his spa under one of the bed warmers, so he was a happy guy. We slathered him up like a holiday turkey with baby lotion. Afterwards, he zonked out, as usual.

On an unrelated, note, thank goodness the Gators won over Tennessee or it would have been a very unhappy household! I was at the hospital during most of the game and missed out on T screaming at the television.

--------------
Chronological age: 2 months 1 week and 1 day
Adjusted age: 0
SVRHC Charges: $1,800.34
Running Total: $364,367.95
-------------
--------------

Friday, September 15, 2006

9/15/06: Day 63 (Fri.) 9 Weeks Old!



Another mini-milestone....9 weeks! He's getting so old! Hopefully a step closer to going home. His doctor is on call all weekend, so I'll surely run into her sometime this weekend at the hospital. From what we heard, Evan did fine through the shots last night. They gave him Tylenol an hour before the shots and have a standing order to give it to him as needed. The morning shift nurse said they plan on just giving it to him all day anyway. He was sleeping away when I saw him before work. His O2 flow is still fluctuating between .2 and .1. That's not too bad since last week he was floating between .4 and .3. So, he's making progress!

--------------
SVRHC Charges: $1,814.23
Running Total: $362,567.61
--------------

Thursday, September 14, 2006

9/14/06: Day 62 (Thurs.) Getting shots tonight. 2 Months Old!

It was a quick visit today since I had a dinner up in Tucson to attend. Evan was sleeping soundly when we arrived afetr 4pm. We sat by his side since we didn't want to disturb him and then leave. He was down to .1 on his O2 again. Before we left, we realized his cannula was completely out of his nose (and his saturation levels were fine). It was sort of funny since he was laying on his stomach (almost laying straight down on his face, and the cannula was smashing his nose down. We told the nurses, and they decided to just let him stay in that position since his saturation levels were so good. Although we all know it's bad to put a baby to sleep on his stomach, Evan has had lots of tummy time at UMC and he sleeps really well in that position. Of course it helps to be on a monitor that alarms if he's not breathing correctly, so we'll definitely not put him to sleep in that position when he comes home. :-)

Evan is also getting his 2 month shots sometime tonight. That won't be fun since he's getting 4 at one time. They plan on giving him some Tylenol first since one of the shots is one of those thicker immunizations.

---------
SVRHC Charges: $1,916.50
Running Total: $360,753.38
---------

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

9/13/06: Day 61 (Wed.)*

Not much to report today...Evan got moved back into the "isolation" room since the twin girls got discharged. It's like he has his own apartment. :-) It's nice to be away from the nurse chatter and you can dim the lights. He's still fluctuating between .2 and .1 on his oxygen. Apologies for the short post, but I am trying to get to bed early for once!

Evan had a case of the hiccups

------------
SVRHC Charges: $1,815.34
Running Total: $358,836.88
------------

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

9/12/06: Day 60 (Tues.) The Story Keeps Changing*

O.k...every day seem to be something new. This morning, I rolled out of bed at 4am to be at the hospital at the start of shift change. Every morning before I would go into work, I would stop by the hospital to check on things (usually around 6:30-7:00am). I would get these reports from the nurses that Evan was just ultra-fussy and inconsolable. So, I decided to see for myself (and my extra hands can free up the understaffed nurses to do what they have to do). All I have to say is, it's just not normal to be up at that time (and driving on the roads)! Luckily, I only have .7 of a mile to drive to the hospital. Evan was a complete angel for me. He drank his bottle and fell off to sleep. So, amazing what a little attention will do for a baby.

While I was there this morning, he was on about .3 ml on his oxygen, so there wasn't any huge decrease. BUT, when T and I visited after dinner, he was down to .1 ml! So, this makes a change to the plan of him coming home on oxygen. Dr. Ettinger was there and told us the plan is to keep him on the Lasix for about 5 more days. They plan on doing another chest x-ray after he's done with the Lasix to see how his lungs look. Since he's down to .1, they're going to start weaning him onto room air (aka no more cannula as long as he can handle it). I think the doctor said they would observe him on room air for about a week to make sure all is well. So, some more baby steps that are adding up to us going home soon (without oxygen).

Evan was being so good in this video...waiting patiently for his bottle to be warmed up


-----------
SVRHC Charges: $1,804.97
Running Total: $357,021.54
----------

Monday, September 11, 2006

9/10/06 & 9/11/06: Day 58 & 59 (Sun. & Mon.) Not Coming Home Yet

We got some disappointing news today...they did a chest x-ray on Evan and found he had a bit of haziness in his lungs. They put him on Lasix as a precautionary measure to help pull out any possible liquid in his lungs. When we changed his diaper before we left, it was super heavy, so he is definitely getting rid of any excess water. We didn't get to talk to the doctor, so I'll post any additional info we get. Since he's on Lasix, he won't be coming home anytime soon. Maybe not until next week. :-(

---------
SVRHC Charges:
$1,924.71 (9/10)
$2,051.89 (9/11)
Running Total: $355,216.57
---------

Saturday, September 09, 2006

9/9/06: Day 57 (Sat.) Still Maintaining

Our little snuggler is still doing fine. No great change to his O2 levels (which is a little disappointing). We were hoping by now he would be down a click or two. He is still hanging out in the .3 range. The nurses say at times they still have to bump him up to .4 or .5 when his saturation levels start dropping. So, it doesn't look like he'll be off O2 in the very near future.

The head nurse on the day shift (Christa) said that Dr. Ettinger had talked with her about about sending Evan home on O2. I don't think Dr. E has cross-talked with Dr. Vedock about it since Dr. Vedock was the first to bring that possibility up Thursday night. I think both doctors were making sure we would be the ones home with him full-time. Evan could very well be one of those babies who needs O2 for a longer period of time; and keeping him in the hospital for possibly weeks or months when we could care for him at home just doesn't make sense. So, hopefully, a decision will be made early this week.

They also want to start to do the car-seat test with him, so we brought his seat back during the night shift. They need to see if he can still maintain his breathing while in it for 30 minutes. If he passes that test, that is a big step towards going home. If he doesn't pass, then we may have to get him a bed that fits like a car seat and will keep him in a horizontal position.

------------------------
SVRHC Charges: $1,795.71
Running Total: $351,239.97
----------------------

Friday, September 08, 2006

9/7/06 & 9/8/06: Day 55 & 56 (Thurs. & Fri.)*



I'm trying not to slack in my blogging! Honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot to blog about daily since Evan is doing fine. Thursday night we had the chance to talk to Dr. Vedock (she's the D.O. under Dr. Ettinger). She said that around Tuesday they were going to evaluate the possibility of sending Evan home on oxygen.

It matters over a couple of factors...if he shows over the next few days that he isn't making progress coming down on his O2 level and is still eating well, then they'll send him home on oxygen. If he is showing signs of coming down on his O2 levels, then they will keep him in the hospital for another week or so until he is completely weaned off.

So, to bring him home on oxygen and an apnea monitor won't be too technically difficult for us. There is a bit of coordination we have to do with a place in Tucson, but it doesn't sound hard. On Monday, we have to attend an infant CPR class at the hospital. I think they make all preemie parents go through the class before they discharge the babies home.

He got a Hepatitis shot and his first vaccination for RSV. He has to get a shot every month for RSV during the cold and flu season. Shots...how fun!!

Our big milestone for the weekend is to get his car seat installed. His crib and play yard are both set up and ready to go!

We were trying to catch him smiling...this is a long one, over a minute.


He was just zoning out in this one.


Trying to get him with his eyes open.


---------------------
SVRHC Charges:
$4,798.31 (9/7)
$1,795.71 (9/8)
Running Total: $349,444.26
--------------------

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

9/6/06: Day 54 (Wed.)*

I had a whole post written and the computer crapped out on me and I lost what I wrote! Arrgh! Since I'm too tired to re-write it, here are some vids from today instead.

After his bath....note the head control he's getting


Before the meltdown


After the meltdown...loving the swing!


-------------
SVRHC Charges: $1,810.21
Running Total: $342,850.24
------------

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

9/5/06: Day 53 (Tues.) Another Happy Birthday

I have to start off with a happy birthday to Nathan Whitworth who was born today at the SV Hospital! He's the son of friends of ours, Jeff and Stacy. So, Nathan and Evan were nursery mates for a bit today! Nathan and Evan were both visited by our very good friends, Joe and Deb Pedone. Anytime you want to babysit Joey Eggshells, you are more than welcomed!! You guys are the closest we have to family here, and we appreciate your visit!

Evan had a good day (as usual), and he has a much more hospitable nursing crew for the next three nights. We missed his early evening feeding, but snugged with him for a few hours. He was on around .25 oxygen flow...so we're always happy to see that number go down. They retaped his cannula sometime today since he's still sneaky guy trying to rip it off. He's still eating like a champ...oh...weight check...6 POUNDS! He's a brute! ;-)

When we left the hospital, it was raining like crazy (yes it does rain in Arizona). This rain was a remnant from Hurricane John that hit the Baja. Although we never turn down rainfall...our backyard was flooded and we would be happy if it didn't rain again for a bit. Since the backyard was flooded, we had to take the dogs out to find some higher ground for them to do their business. Max had a great time trekking through the flowing "river" on Verde Drive. Sadie was freaked out as usual. T wasn't too happy since he just gave them both baths on Sunday. Our electricity kept cutting out last evening, hence the reason I didn't post last night. ;-)

----------
SVRHC Charges: $1,810.21
Running Total: $341,040.03
----------

Monday, September 04, 2006

9/3/06 & 9/4/06: Day 51 & 52 (Sun. & Mon.)



Evan in his favorite position, laying all tucked up on your chest.

Apologies for not posting...the holiday weekend has us all thrown off. It was nice having an extra day to hang out with Evan. He is down to about .3 on his oxygen. The nurses tell us for the past 2 nights right around midnight, his O2 saturation levels drop into the 80's and they have had to put him back up to .4. Weird! But then his percentage will max out again at 100 and they bring him back down. Hmmm, could he have just needed his nose suctioned? I guess we'll never know!

Earlier today (Monday), Dr. Patel was around and I asked him if there would be a point when the cannula would be more of an obstruction than a help to his breathing. It hit me the other night that if the oxygen flow is so light, the cannula prongs would be blocking his nose a bit (making it harder for him to breathe and giving an inaccurate reading on his pulse oximeter). Dr. Patel did agree with my concern. He said that past cases have shown, when it looks like it's time to pull the cannula out when the O2 flow is very low, babies still de-sat too much. It's almost like they still need that feel of the cannula in their nose.

When he was laying on my chest tonight, I noticed he had one of the cannula prongs out of his nose. I let him stay like that just to see what his numbers would do. He was still doing great on his stomach, but when I shifted him to his back, his numbers started to drop and I put the other prong back in his nose. So much for experimentation on my nasal blockage theory. So, it still looks like our guy isn't going anywhere for a while. I still think he's going to do like he always does, makes a big jump when you aren't expecting it. Just like when he made huge jumps from the conventional respirator to the CPAP to the nasal cannula all in the matter of days. We're hoping he'll be home in time for Monday Night Football, but we're not holding our breath. ;-)

---------
SVRHC Charges:
$1,860.21 (9/3)
$1,862.25 (9/4)
Running Total: $339,229.82
---------

Saturday, September 02, 2006

9/2/06: Day 50 (Sat.) Hitting 100% again and again and again

I got to talk to Dr. Patel today...he's the pediatrician on duty this weekend in the nursery. He was the doctor on duty when Evan was born and was the one who initially intubated him after birth. He was happy to see how well he is doing now. Dr. Patel said he felt bad he never got to talk to me after Evan was born since he wasn't on duty the rest of that weekend.

I told him I was concerned that it had been about 3 days since Evan has been maxing out on his O2 saturation levels. Dr. Patel said he would look at Evan's chart tonight and make a change. By the time we came back after shift change, he did knock him down to .4; but all evening, Evan was still almost maxing out on his saturation levels. This means his lungs are finally starting to absorb the O2 he needs. Since he is still hitting O2 saturation levels in the upper 90's, we think he could still come down a notch on the level. We just hope they don't let him sit a .4 for a few days with such high levels. Seeing how they did it at UMC, it's overkill to keep him sat-ing that high....at UMC, the nurses would wean him down (or back up) all the time in reaction to his saturation levels. If they would see him maxing out at 100%, they would immediately turn down his O2 flow (they wouldn't have to wait for a doctor's order). I am thinking at SV, the nurses can't make that judgement call. With the way we have been feeling about the quality of care he has been receiving, we just want him out of there as soon as possible (even if that means we have to take him home on oxygen).

----------------
SVRHC Charges: $1,795.71
Running Total: $335,507.36
----------------

Friday, September 01, 2006

9/1/06: Day 49 (Fri.) 7 Weeks Old!*



7 weeks old today! I've been noticing that Evan is able to hold his head up for a few seconds at a time. He loves being on his tummy, so it looks like physically he's developing pretty well. He is still at .5 on his oxygen levels (they haven't lowered him since Wednesday). We think it's a bit of overkill to keep him at an oxygen level that high (when he is sat-ing at 98-100%), but I guess it's all part of the doctor's plan.

T and I visited with Evan at about 6pm and I stayed until 1am. I wasn't too happy with the whole vibe in the nursery, so I decided to stay as long as I could stay awake. I just really feel like he's being ignored (in a sense) by the nurses since they are so understaffed. At least while I am there, I know he's being looked after. It's the little things that are starting to really bug me after having him there the past few days. Things like all the nursery lights being on and they don't even try to give him some cover from the glare. The way the nurses all talk so loudly to each other. Whoever is taking care of Evan never introduces herself to us. The way the nurse talks to me (like I'm nuts) when I explain that his nose needs to be suctioned at least once a shift (even if it doesn't look like he needs it). I even heard a nurse tell a crying newborn baby to shut up. Although it's been great having him closer to home, I would feel more at ease if he was still at UMC.

One of the rare times they had half the lights off in the nursery



-----------------
SVRHC Charges: $1,920.71
Running Charges: $333,711.65
-----------------