Sorry for the delay in posts- recovery and NICU visits have consumed our day! And when I get back to the room I am exhausted so I've been sleeping (doing as I'm told!).
I finally got to go to the NICU and see my baby boy by mid-morning. He has a private room in the Level 3 part of NICU. When he's on the mend he'll graduate to Level 2 and then Level 1 before being out the door! We think we're in a private room not because of being too sick, but to give him some privacy since his intestines are out. Other parents might not be ready to see something like that as most of the babies we've seen are just preemies without visible defects. I like him in there though because it's quieter and there's not as many people milling about his bed. We can spend good quality time with baby. :)
We were excited to see that his intestines had already started to drop in a good bit, so the hole wasn't too small after all! What was a little bit too small were his veins. They had a hard time getting IVs into his arm and couldn't keep them from puffing up so they had to put some lines in his head (pooh).
So he has a PIC line just above his forehead that runs internally to just above his heart. This delivers his nutrients and lipids (fats) so that he can still get "food" until he is able to be feed via mouth in a few weeks to a month. It also feeds in dopamine to keep his blood flowing well (especially into his external intestines- it's crucial those still have adequate blood flow so they don't die and have to be cut out). On his left temple is an IV for other fluids such as pain meds, antibiotics, etc.
Also stuck to the poor baby is a body temp sensor, blood pressure cuff, heart rate monitor, O2 gauge etc. There's still room for us to kiss his forehead, hold his hands and rub his feet!
Today was mainly getting oriented with protocol in the NICU and getting to love on Liam!
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