Day 2.5

Hello to my fans,

I wanted to assuage all concerns regarding my awesome tubes, and face accessories.  Here in the NICU we are all one happy treated family.  My fellow babies range from 24 - 40 weeks of age around me.  In fact, the kiddo next door is 24.5 weeks old, and quite frankly looks a little small.

I have a number of tubes and wires attached to me, and I'd like to take a second to describe what's going on.  While it looks a little scary at first, all of my fellow babies have pretty much the same thing going on.

I'll start with my little E.T. foot (What mom calls it).  This is a little light on my heel called a pulse-ox that measures the oxygen in my blood, and tell the doctor how my lungs are doing.  So far I have been able to breath on my own, with little axillary oxygen required.

There is an IV attached to my right hand that will likely stay on for the durations of my stay in the NICU.  This helps the docs have easy access for medicine.

There are two tubes running through my belly button. One is a arterial line that helps to measure blood pressure, the other is a line into my veins to help deliver drugs and food to my tummy.  Neither will stay on for more than a week or so, and after that everything will run though an IV.  Once these central lines are removed, Mom and Dad will be able to hold me, but until then, they can just touch my head and body.

There are also four wires running to leads to measure heart-rate, respiration rate, and sugar levels. 

I am expected to stay here though the original term of the pregnancy (May 11.) Mom is slated to head home from the hospital on Saturday or Sunday, and is doing just fine.  I think she takes after me.  She was up walking around the night of the delivery.  Everything else is going well, and I am a quiet little guy. 

Love to all,
Patrick Andrew