better morning

I called to check on Robbie about 4 this morning and he was doing well.

They had given him a glycerin last night while we were there (Essentially a lubricating enema. Poor baby.. but pooping takes a lot of muscles that he just doesn't have. The look on his face after she did it was hysterical. He didn't cry, but he did look.......surprised. She apologized to him for the violation. I couldn't help but giggle.) and apparently it did the trick. I don't know what qualifies as big from a 1lb 9oz baby, but both his night nurse and day nurse have described it as "huge" and "enormous" And since then, he's taken his feedings better. It seems he's probably going to require a glycerin/day to keep him pooping.

Honestly, considering the the complications involved if he can't poop, if all it takes is a glycerin, I'm thanking my lucky stars.

Anyway, I was also wondering what his blood sugar was. I'm not down with what is good vs what is bad, but I do know that yesterday morning it was a little after 200 and that was bad. Last night it was 177 which was bettter but still a bit high. They tell me he "tends towards the sweet side anyway" so they'll tolerate into the 150's and 160's for him because he's sort of stayed that way the whole time, but this morning it was actually 122, which pleased them greatly.

She had also backed off on his oxygen even more- 21%. That's really low. So in other words- he's doing great. She sounded very pleased this morning.

I think we're going to attempt to Kangaroo him today.

That leads me to another big thank you for some friends.

The internet strikes again. I'm a member of another message board (not baby related) and they put together what I can only call a mobile baby shower for me yesterday. As it happens, a couple of the girls from the board live within an hour of me, and they came to take me to lunch and brought with them bags & bags of stuff. Included in it is a REALLY great double thick baby blanket. (Also: onesies, hats, a sterilizer, a REALLY awesome big diaper bag, sleepers, pacis, socks, diapers.. the list goes on.)

The nurse yesterday recommended trying to find a really heavy baby blanket for the next time and this is ideal. I washed it early this morning, so it's ready to go. I think our plan is to get him out and take his temperature at 15 minutes to check him. That would be a very short Kangaroo time considering it's actually no easy feat to get him out, but his nurse is willing to do it. And 15 minutes is better than 0.

Also, I got a little bit of sleep. Maybe 5 1/2 or 6 hours, and not all at once, but wow, what a difference a few hours can make. Between the sleep & good news this morning, I feel about 8 billion times better than I did last night.

Everyone who has been through this keeps warning me not to focus on the bad days. I hope I can learn to do that. Yesterday was a rough one. Today is going to be better.

--Trish