Bottles and Cribs

Today I brought in a mobile for Matthew's crib, as he's gone a couple of days in it and has tolerated it so far.  He gets bundled up in a warm onesie and then his sleep sack - sometimes he likes to keep one or both of his arms out.  The funniest is when he brings his hand up as if he would like to ask a question.

The mobile is Christopher's old mobile, which he would still be using today were it not for Matthew.  When they outgrow the animals on the mobile there is a light show that projects onto the ceiling.  Christopher absolutely loved this, and the animals in the light show became his friends.  When we switched him to his new room we made sure to get a non-crib light show for him, which he has used every night and has made new animal friends that he talks to.

Today was Dr. Montgomery's last day on Matthew's service until February.  Hopefully we are able to go home before she comes back, but we will also miss her.  Tomorrow we get Dr. Peterek on our team, whom I have heard good things about from Alyssa (shout out!) and so I am hoping he can get Matthew off CPAP!

The Good

There were lots of exciting things today for Matthew.  He had a stable day and tolerated his feeds well.  Last night he had a good (not excessive) gain of 30g.  I attached the mobile to his crib so that he has something to look at.  But the most exciting thing was that today was the first day that Matthew took a bottle.  The doctors were a little reluctant as they don't normally have CPAP babies take a bottle.  But they let Matthew try one bottle today, with 10ml in it (only part of his feed).  I asked to be the one to do the bottle, so I was able to at his 2pm feed today.  Matthew got an A+, he did great!  He didn't desat once the entire time, he remembered to breathe, he paced himself and he didn't spit up.  One time a little bit came out of his mouth, so we paused and he swallowed it.  But other than that he was a total champ.  People definitely were shocked by how well he did.  Matthew has a very expressive face (I take responsibility for that) and the look on his face when he first started was priceless.  He was really thinking about it, mulling it over, and then decided he liked it.  I can't wait to show Lynn his progress tomorrow, as long as she doesn't get called away for transport!


The Bad

Matthew continues to need the pressure from his CPAP and still seems to need a "whiff" of oxygen.  Sometimes he is OK on room air/21 %, but then still wants the 22%.  If only there were a 21 1/2 % option....

He also has a little yeast rash on his butt.  They gave him an anti-fungal for a few days that seemed to take care of it at the time, but he has to start it again as it seems to have returned.


The Ugly

No Ugly today for Matthew - fingers crossed it stays that way