4w6d

Wow, it's been too long. Life's just been too busy to update as frequently as I'd like, so now there's a huge bunch of things to update on. Oh well.

Tomorrow Kieran will be 5 weeks old/34w5d. Today he weighed 4 lb 9.2 ounces - he's getting so big! He's nearly outgrown some of his preemie stuff and is wearing a bit of newborn sized clothing. Feedings-wise, he's doing really well with both nursing and now bottlefeeding. The nurses introduced a bottle to him last week and he took his first full feeding (38ml) last night over 30 minutes. As for breastfeeding, it was decided Monday that if Kieran nurses 10 minutes or more at feeding time he doesn't have to have a tube feeding - he nursed 15 minutes and 12 minutes at two separate feedings yesterday, so he didn't require the feeding! So awesome!

There are quite a few medical updates, so I'll bullet-point them to keep them all straight.

• On Saturday Kieran did end up requiring a blood transfusion. I appreciate that his doctors gave him some time to let his hemoglobin increase with medicine, but it just wasn't working. He had some other side effects of anemia such as paleness, lethargy (we couldn't wake him up for feedings) and lower oxygen saturations, as well as increased stop-breathing spells. He pinked right up after the transfusion and responded well, and he was so alert on Sunday and Monday!
  

• We found out Kieran has inguinal hernias, which are very common in preemie boys, and will require surgery post-discharge (though I'm not sure when.) If you don't know what that is, here's some info from babycenter.com: "During gestation, a boy's testicles develop inside his abdomen, and then, sometime before birth, they push through a tunnel in the tissue between the groin and the abdomen (called the inguinal canal) and descend into the scrotal sac.In about 5 percent of babies (mostly boys, and especially those who were premature), the opening remains large enough to allow a loop of the intestine to poke down into the tunnel. Inguinal hernias do not improve on their own."
  

• Today Kieran had a bit of a setback - I arrived to see him and he was on oxygen. Apparently his oxygen saturations were in the 60's and 70's - NOT good considering he's supposed to be in the mid-80's to mid-90's+ (100 being the best.) He wasn't acting like himself either, and wasn't responding to oxygen blow-bys so they put a cannula in his nose and he's on low-flow oxygen now. That, combined with some funky lab levels - protein is down, hemoglobin decreased, plus a few other things - led his neonatologist to believe he could have some sort of infection, maybe a bladder infection or UTI (yeah, again! How many times has this kid been on antibiotics!?) so a battery of tests are now being run - urine culture, urine analysis, urine protein/creatinine ratio, and stomach x-ray, as well as a protein level, because he's spilling protein into his urine. We should get the lab results back tomorrow morning. He had a lung x-ray this morning and they said it was slightly cloudy in one area, which could be nothing/normal for him, but he got a diuretic in case he had fluid in his lungs. They also decided to hold feedings for 24 hours and just give IV nutrition while they run tests, so no milk for 24 hours :( He is now on antibiotics again as a precautionary measure. This could have something to do with his enlarged kidney but he had a renal ultrasound today and the radiologist actually noted that it looked like the kidney had decreased in size. So basically - WHO KNOWS. We're not sure what's up with him at this point, but we're working hard to figure it out. Whatever it is, it's bothering him enough to in turn affect his breathing/oxygen saturations. I really hope they figure out what's bugging my little guy. Once we do, he'll be that much closer to coming home, especially since he's doing so well with his feedings. So please think happy thoughts or pray for a resolution to whatever this is! I will update the blog as soon as I know what's going on with him.
  

Now onto some pictures to end this entry on a high note!

Getting a visit from his Aunt Kristina on Saturday - this was her first time holding him!


Grandma Gale, Josh's mom (or GiGi, as Maia calls her) also holds Kieran for the first time on Sunday.


Kieran today - back on O2 and hanging out on the warming table right before they drew some urine from his bladder for tests.


My sweet boy & I cuddling after IV placement & the bladder tap - he needed some loving after the rough day!


Look at this sweet face!