Day 2 update

Kieran had a rougher day today - something the NICU doctor did tell us to expect. They spent the morning trying to figure out what was bugging him and making him work so hard to breathe and require more oxygen. He had to be put on a ventilator in the morning because he was so agitated. They did suspect that perhaps something was going on around his heart, causing him to overcompensate and send more blood there than his lungs - apparently babies at his gestation can have a loose flap that connects their heart valves, and if he was in utero it would close itself, but it was possible that it wasn't connected. They wanted to do an echocardiogram to see if that was the case. They also wanted to use a vein in his umbilical cord, where he would have been provided nourishment from my placenta, to send food to him that way, since the feeding tube was agitating him. Additionally, he was hooked up to the phototherapy lights today for jaundice - it was a busy day of procedures for our little guy!

Father & son

The echo was done in the afternoon and they did find the heart flap open, so Kieran will need some neoprofen (tiny baby ibuprofen) for three days to help him with that - once they start that, he should stop overcompensating and more blood will travel to his lungs. Once he starts having more blood flow to the lungs he will probably come off the ventilator, but for now it was a good thing to have him on it to just help him relax a bit.

Kieran's second day of life happened to be his big sister Maia's 2nd birthday! Happy Birthday to my beautiful big girl! We had a mini-party in the hospital room and she seemed to enjoy a balloon, a few presents and "upcakes."

Maia still thinks the baby is in my tummy - she isn't allowed to see Kieran yet, as there are still H1N1 restrictions placed on the hospital, so no one under age 16 can go in the NICU. An RN I spoke with said she thinks the ban will be lifted soon, but for now we only have pictures to show her. I truly hope she can see him soon! She loves him SO very much already. She has been an absolute trooper this past week, though. I am so proud of how well she's done for the various family members who have helped out (thank you, Grandma Sue, mom, Auntie Kristina & Grandma Gale!) We have been absolutely blessed by having Josh's mom Gale here - she arrived Wednesday afternoon after driving from Georgia and she plans to stay with us to help out during Kieran's NICU stay, which looks to be at least 5-6 weeks.

As for me, I'm at the hospital another night. I'm hoping to be discharged tomorrow sometime. I'm ready to go home and relax as best at home so that we can to gear up for the daily trips to the NICU. I'm so nervous about how it's all going to work out, but we can only take it one day at a time.