A little bit of progress

Our last post talked about the rollercoaster that is the NICU. Well, later that night they called us and said they were worried that he may have an infection, so Beckham was started on IV antibiotics and they sent more blood tests to get a better idea. Now, after a few days, it turns out that he probably didn't have an infection, but that the problem with his decreased Oxygen sats are due to reflux. It is very common for preemies to have reflux, and when it happens he can aspirate (some of his stomach contents end up in his lungs). Small amounts can lead to inflammation and eventually infection and breathing problems. So, they are watching him over the next few days to see if that's the case. They have also stopped giving him his bottle feeds and we'll see if that helps.

He is improving. He is only on 1/8th of a Liter of oxygen, which has been weaned down from 3/4 L when he was put back on O2 on Monday. He has an IV in, but today they changed his antibiotics to be given by mouth, so soon he will get the IV out.

He is still gaining lots of weight. Tonight he weighed 2015 grams, 4 lbs 7.1 oz!

Here are some pics with his IV (and some cute outfits):

NICU equals Rollercoaster

The last few days have been a perfect example of the ups and downs of the NICU. Sunday was such a great day for Beckham, but Monday was the worst day he has had in a long time. First, he had to have some blood drawn, which he hated. Then he had eye drops put in to dilate his pupils for the horrible eye exam he gets every two weeks. Right after that the nurse fed him his little 5 ml bottle. Bad idea. He had a rough, busy morning and was worn out, so he didn't do well with it. He dropped his O2 sats for too long and his heart rate went down, so they had to put him back on oxygen. He also just looked miserable and sad all day long. Poor boy!

The blood work that they drew showed that he is anemic, which is normal for preemies since their hemoglobin production is still not very mature yet. Since being so anemic can affect how well he gets oxygen from his lungs to the rest of his body they decided to give him a blood transfusion.

He did show some improvement today. He was much happier and was satting better as the day went on, so hopefully he'll turn around quickly and be back to his normal self.

Happy Easter (Best Easter EVER!!)

This morning Brittany went to the NICU to find that Beckham is no longer in his isolette! They moved him early this morning into a bassinet.



Since he is in a bassinet he is able to wear clothes for the first time. They put him in a shirt, the smallest one they had. Then, when we went back later we put a little preemie outfit on him that we had. It's also too big, except for the hat.




We took a family picture tonight. We still have to wear the yellow gowns, and kids under age 16 aren't allowed in the NICU, so it's as much of a family pic as we can get for now.



Beckham is looking so good these days. Today his weight was up to 1795 grams, or 3 lbs 15 oz. So close to 4 lbs. He was very alert today for brief periods while we were there, so we were able to get a bunch of cute pics. He also did very well with the bottle tonight. He gets 5 mL twice per day by bottle and will gradually work his way up.

Doubled his weight!

Beckham has officially doubled his weight. He now weighs 1770 grams, about 3 lbs 14 1/2 oz.

Happy 2 month birthday Beckham!!

Bottle Feeding First

We got to feed Beckham with a bottle for the first time today! Yesterday they let him try sucking on a bottle for the first time. They give him just 5 mL at a time. The goal right now is just to train him to suck, swallow, and breathe all at the same time. Not an easy task for such a little guy. He did okay with it today. He would take a few sucks, then we would have to take the bottle out of his mouth so that he could swallow the milk. He didn't have any episodes of coughing or choking. He will do this little feeding exercise once per day until he gets better, then they'll do it twice per day, then three times, and gradually move up until he is eating from a bottle for every feeding eventually. After he was done Beckham was worn out and took a nice nap.

A few more pics

Look Mom, No Oxygen!!

We went into the NICU yesterday to find a pleasant surprise... Beckham had been taken off of oxygen completely! They had been weaning him down and yesterday morning decided to let him fly on his own, and he flew. He was maintaining his O2 sats very well all day long. When Brittany went to see him this morning he was still off. That makes over 24 hours that he has been off the oxygen. Go Beckham!! He was also very awake while we were there (which still doesn't happen all that often) so we got a few cute pics of him.







Weight update: This morning Beckham weighs 1600 grams. That's about 3 lbs 8.5 oz!

A few new pics

Here are a bunch of pics we have taken within the last couple of weeks.

Long time since last update

Sorry it has been so long since the last update. Things have been going well. There haven't been any major hurdles or landmarks to post about. There also haven't been any major set backs either!

Beckham has been steadily gaining weight. Tonight he weighed 1460 grams, or 3 lbs 3 oz. Last night I asked the nurse to measure him and he was 15 1/2 inches long. He really looks like he is getting bigger too

His oxygen requirement is getting better too. He is now down to 1/4 liter/min of oxygen at 21-25%

Hopefully tomorrow we can upload some of the more recent pics

Stroller and car seat

Today we bought Beckham his first car seat and stroller! We were very excited about it since we got the carseat free for buying the stroller, plus we had a coupon and some gift cards, so we really got a good deal. The carseat has a special insert that can be used for babies that are as little as 4 pounds.

Beckham's most recent weight was 2 lbs 13.5 oz. So close to being 1 pound over his birth weight! He will most likely reach that milestone during his next weigh in. He may also reach 3 lbs by the next time he gets weighed.

He is making improvements on his oxygenation too. He has been on the high flow nasal canula getting 3 Liters/min. The percent of oxygen has been between 21%(room air) and 30%. Over the last few days they have been weaning that down. Today they took him off of the high flow, so he is now just getting 0.5 liters/min of 28% oxygen!

One more thing... The other day he had his first eye exam. They look for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which is a disease of the retina caused by too much oxygen. Beckham's exam was normal. No signs of ROP. Way to go little guy!