…by New Year’s night…?
After all these whispers and questions and comments about Finn being home for Christmas, including more yesterday, Britt and I finally got up the nerve to ask a doctor – the only ones who can tell us for sure. And no, Finn won’t be home for Christmas. While we are a bit disappointed, we can’t help but be thankful for how far he has come! The doctor told us yesterday that 9 out of 10 babies with his exact circumstances (25 week gestation birth, under 2 pound birth weight, 7 weeks on a ventilator, etc) would not be faring as well as he has. Everyone is still really shocked at how well he has taken to the bottle. He just needs more time to grow bigger and get new pink lung tissue to help overcome the chronic lung disease. It just takes time. And patience.
So, now we are hoping for the end of the year. I know that’s only a week out from Christmas, but for insurance purposes, that would really be helpful. Of course, we want him to be as healthy as possible before he joins our crazy household, so we will do what the doctors advise us to do, but we sure could use some BIG prayers for a New Year’s Eve homecoming! That will be some kind of party at midnight if it happens!
We were able to go back to bottle feeding yesterday. I fed him a bottle at 8, 2 and 5. His 11 o’clock feeding we gavaged since he was SO asleep all the prodding and noise we were making didn’t even cause a stir. He was kind of fussy after the 8 o’clock feeding and stayed awake for quite a while, so I guess he was just worn out. I told Britt I gave him a C+ for that first bottle. He gulped and held his breath a lot for the first half, but then got the hang of it again and did well. He gets a C- for the 2:00. He kept de-satting (his oxygen saturation level goes below the desired level and makes the alarm go off), so we stopped a lot, but he still drank the whole thing in the 30 minutes allotted. Then, the 5:00 he got a solid B. Did well; his sats only dipped twice – and neither time set off the alarm. He just needed to get back in the swing of things! Sounds like he did about the same overnight, as well. Back on the right track now!
While his breathing and oxygen levels are getting better, it is a slow climb. His machine last night was set to 3.5 liters per minute of flow, and early this morning it was at 78% oxygen. That’s down from the 4.0L and 100% we had Tuesday night! He has to get down to 1 L to come home. He will be at 100% at that point, but that’s the flow they need for him to be comfortable at and still converting the oxygen as needed. There is no telling how long that can take, but late this morning they turned the flow down to 3.0 and his oxygen up t 100%! We are THRILLED with this development. He just has to keep getting new lung tissue every day and keep working on his bottle feeding to get better. The nurse practitioner (that changed the oxygen settings) told us to GET READY! So, we have signed up for the final NICU parenting class, as well as infant CPR next week, so we can be ready!
Today, Britt is getting some cuddle time in with his son. Long overdue! It’s been a crazy week! Loving the holiday season, and being able to celebrate our own little miracle. At the same time, glad to see the tumultuous year of 2011 come to a close. Bring on 2012! I now know I can survive just about anything that’s thrown at me!
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