An eventful day

So much happened yesterday!  I showed up to the NICU just in time to do physical therapy with Cayden.  The therapist, Elizabeth, decided that he's now big and stable enough to do his therapy outside of his isolette, so we started by me picking him up, holding him close, and just swaying with him in my arms.  Before we got any farther, we took a quick break - the doctors had just given the respiratory team orders to change his oxygen to a low-flow cannula!  So I sat down and held him while they swapped out his equipment.  The new cannula is slightly smaller and now he's breathing all of his own effort with just some supplemental oxygen mixed in.

After the switch, we resumed therapy but decided to take it easy given all of the stimulation he just had by the respiratory therapists.  He laid on my lap with his head toward my knees while I rolled and relaxed his shoulders.  I guess a preemie's natural tendency is to scrunch up their shoulders, so the idea is to manually release the tension in those joints.  Next, we did some self-soothing practice:  putting his hands to his mouth, then putting each hand to his hair.  We ended with a nice massage up and down the side of his body from shoulder to hip.

It's a good thing he was nice and relaxed because as soon as we finished, the eye doctor (I'm not sure if she's an opthamologist, a neonatologist, or both) showed up to do his bi-weekly eye exam.  Nurse Zoe had dilated his eyes earlier in the afternoon in preparation and the exam took just a minute or two, but they told me I might want to step out of his room because "it isn't a very pleasant exam to watch."  It isn't painful, but apparently they use fork-looking instruments to hold his eyes open so they can shine a bright light in to look at his retinas.  I stepped outside to get some water and came back just a little too soon - I stood outside his curtain but heard him let out a cry of protest.  As I stood there feeling helpless and horrible and starting to cry myself, Jessica (the other NICU mom I met at the parents meeting in November) saw me and came over to give me a hug.  After just a few seconds, Cayden had stopped crying and they told me they were all done and I could come back in.  Before I went back in, I said goodbye to Jessica - she and her baby, Bianca, were being discharged!  Bianca was born at 28 or 29 weeks and was going home before her 39-week birthday.  I am so happy for them!

The results of the eye exam were the same as last time but encouraging:  his retinas are still not fully mature, but at this point, there is no evidence of ROP.

The last change of the day was an increase in his feedings to 33 ccs every three hours.  Now that he's getting bigger, he needs even more food to maintain his growth.