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Friday, December 09, 2005
So little time
I don't have a lot of time anymore. There is so much going on!
We asked during rounds yesterday and it is most likely that the lowercase's homecoming day will be Tuesday. He has only two days left of his seven day countdown, however he is still in his isolette and has to be weaned down to room temperature (he currently lives in 27 degree [Celcius] and needs to get to 26/26.5 degrees). The nurses expect this to take about a day. Then he moves to the open crib. Once in the open crib they will alter the caloric content that he is taking in (from 24 cal/oz to 20 cal/oz). Again, that should take about a day. The extra two days are built in to ensure that he adjusts well to all of this and may not be necessary. The soonest he could come home would be Sunday evening, but since discharges are generally done in the mornings that leaves Monday as the earliest.
Of course a lot depends on new arrivals to the NICU. NICU capacity is 52 babies. Two pods are being renovated so there are 12 fewer beds than normal. Due to several sets of multiples, they are over capacity. (The sets of multiples: Several sets of twins; a set of triplets; TWO sets of quintuplets -- one set born by emergency c-section Wednesday night)
As of yesterday, the NICU has 56 babies (and they did 6 or 7 discharges yesterday alone!). There are two annexes -- the one we are in (developmental, prep to go home) in the pediatric ICU and another in the newborn nursery.
If the lowercase is NOT out of his isolette or weaned down on caloric content by Sunday, he will be transferred out of the NICU and into the newborn nursery (under the care of those nurses and not the NICU annex there) for a day or two so that NICU space can be freed.
One thing that has me in fear...After the Reglan was reintroduced, they also added 5 ml of prune juice per day. He now poops CONSTANTLY. Since he is so regular, they took away the Reglan yesterday. We'll see how he does with just the prune juice helping his motility and if there are problems, he will immediately be put back on the meds. GAH!
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