I got fed real food for the first time in over a week today! Not much. Just enough to test my reaction. I’ve been showing signs of good recovery so the hope is that I tolerate it and begin to build up weight and strength. As I do that the nurses are weaning me of off my breathing tube again too.
It’s nice to be eating solid(ish) foods again. Still no pizza or buffalo wings though.
That’s me. The Emperor! Well, kind of. Daddy says he’s the Emperor. But I think mommy is right, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
These are my new clothes! The nurses let me put them on for the first time today because my skin is doing well and I’m controlling my body temperature well. I think I look pretty sharp. What was it that ZZ Top said about sharp dressed men?
Anywhoo, get ready for daily fashion blasts from me, Zachary!
We are one month old today! Time to celebrate right?
Wrong.
Today they are checking our eyes. They are looking for retinopathy of prematurity. One of the things they did to my eyes was dilate them. This made me cranky. Henry too. So the nurses dimmed the lights and mommy and daddy let me rest for the day. I’ll let you all know how things went tomorrow!
Huh? Who’s there? They did stuff to my eyes today and I’m grumpy. Go talk to Zachary. But don’t worry about me. I’m fine.
It’s only four days post surgery and look at me now! I was able to get up and cuddle with mommy. I am doing very well. All of my vitals look fantastic, I’m am almost completely off of my sedatives, and they’ve moved me off of the oscillating ventilator to a normal one. I expect to be back to my non-invasive breathing assistance very soon.
I still have a lot of water weight that my body built up during recover so it is hard to tell where I am in my growth but we will know soon enough.
I have had so many visitors in the past few days! Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Marty, Cousin Emma, mommy and daddy’s friends Dave, Deran, Colin, and Kari, and Deran’s parents Tom and Dora. I am growing so fast and I’d love to have more visitors! It is so much fun. So, if you’d like to meet me let mommy and daddy know.
It was such a great weekend that I even gave mommy a nice kiss.
Well, she’s not really my auntie. She’s my cousin and I met her for the first time today! She touched my head and I held her hand. She’s so nice to me. I love her.
I was so excited that I met cousin Emma and uncle Marty for the first time today that I pooped on mommy! Daddy couldn’t stop laughing. I think I’ll do that again sometime.
I also gave mommy a little kiss on her finger to let her know I still love her. Despite her being covered in poo.
Well, ok, not really. It would be pretty tough to make me better. And I’m pretty fast as it is. But I am getting stronger! I don’t really have an update except that they are beginning to ween me off of some of my post surgery medications. The immobilizing drug has worn off and I opened my eyes today and moved my hands and feet a bit. Tomorrow the doctors will begin to ween me off of some of the sedatives. It may take a few days because they don’t want me moving around too much and disrupting the stitches in my belly. I’ll keep everyone updated and I promise to have more photos once I heal up a bit more!
Oh, hello. How are you? Did you know that the large intestine in an average adult measures over 5 feet long? Mine now measures 0 feet. But that’s ok. I can expect a a complete recovery and fairly normal life. Mommy and daddy will be learning more about what to expect long term over the next few days and weeks.
My procedure yesterday included the surgeon examining the rest of my intestine to ensure there were no signs of additional necrotizing enterocolitis and then closing me up. Thankfully the team saw nothing of concern and was able to complete the procedure. This is a giant step toward moving me out of critical condition.
I have one final procedure to close up a stoma that the doctor created to help me heal. This will happen when I’m bigger. The doctor suggested he’d like me to weigh around five pounds for this operation. This is a relatively small procedure compared to the two I’ve already have and the risks should be correspondingly small.
I am very thankful to the wonderful doctors at MGH including Dr. Doody (hehehe), Dr. Larue, Dr. Darci, Dr. Bates, and Dr. Horowitz. There are way too many great nurses I have to thank and would like to say a special thank you to Alison, Tammy, Tasha, and Amy.
It has been a while since my last post. Worry not for you have missed little. I have been sleeping and eating. Eating and sleeping. And once a day sleeping in mommy or daddy’s arms while eating. I have my challenges and mommy worries about me but nothing of what I am going through is abnormal. Some spells of bradycardia and apnea that would normally be the center of attention and that’s about it. I am doing very well.
Big news yesterday though. I am officially over 3lbs! I now weigh in at 3lbs. 1 oz.