"Never trust a Preemie"

Good morning and good afternoon to all! Hope everyone is having a good day. Today's lesson is about preemies, and how they are untrustworthy. There are a lot of you out there that ask us us if the boy's are safe after a certain age. Meaning, once they hit a certain age, are there problems going to go away. The answer is no. They are never safe. Here is an example. The boy's have a a friend in the NICU. This sounds funny because they have never met him, but we have become close to the parents. These are the parents that introduced themselves to us when Patrick had his surgery. I will change all names to protect the identity of the babies. Let's call him "Adam" Adam was due this week. He had the same surgery as Patrick, and has been on O2 like him also. Along the way he has had issues with his eyes. He also has Retinopathy, and had the laser surgery done. He has been doing well. If you all remember a few weeks back, I had said that they left upset, and we thought it was from the eye doctor. It wasn't, he got a urinary tract infection. Easy enough to fix. He was in Progressive, but they moved him back to the front room where they boys were. As of like 1 1/2 weeks ago, he was back in Progressive and doing well. When Brady moved back there, we were happy because he was in the sane area as "Adam's" parents. Well, "Adam", got his two week mark and was supposed to go on Monday. We are excited for them, but sad because they are really nice, and it is nice to have people to talk to. Before they leave, they are required to do a car seat test. They have to be in a car seat for an hour, and if they "brady," or there SPO2 levels goes below 88, they automatically stay another 7 days. He passed. We said our goodbyes on Sunday, and gave them our email, destined to see them at next years NICU reunion. Well, Craig gets an emails that says "never trust a preemie" from his parents on Monday. We get there and say what happened?! Well, he wasn't eating well, and he seemed lethargic. He also had a few episodes of bradycardia. Uh oh, not cool. So the doctor looks, and says, I trust you, this is not him, lets run tests. Well, he has a urinary tract infection again, and he is on antibiotics. I said oh no, for how long? We were told when we got there that there is no specific date that they will leave. They said plan on the due date, but that is in no way guaranteed. They said they could go a week early, they could get sick the last day and be there for two more weeks. If they are antibiotics, they stay. It's either 14 days or 21 days. That's right, you could be ready to walk out the door, and then be told that you have to be there for another month. "Adam" will be there for another 14 days. It sucks, but this is the life of a preemie. They are now  back in Patrick's section in his old spot actually. We walked in and saw them right behind Patrick through the window, and said uh oh. We actually met another parent, let's call his son "George." He started off in Patrick's spot, then moved to "Adam's spot up front, and is now in Progressive where "Adam" was two days ago. Of all the places in the NICU, all three of them have been in each other's spot. It's funny how that happened. We are getting off track. Moral of this story, and to answer everyone question. Never trust a preemie, they are never safe! They are little tricksters! We all know from Patrick's past, that you can be up for a week, then down for a month. You just never know!

Patrick
I have to say, I am proud of our little Patrick this week. He looks very good today. I just love his little old man face! He is on 24% oxygen today. He took his food very well, but did dsat afterwards. He does this a lot lately. The nurses think it is because he has bad acid reflux. Also he seems a little puffy, so he might need some Lasix. This also can affect his oxygen. She is going to ask the doctor to see if he needs it. He was 1724 grams tonight. He is getting bigger!

                                                                               Look at that little face!

                                                                                     Roar!! Jungle jammies!

                                                                                         I love my mask off!

Brady
First let me start by saying that I did not feel comfortable leaving Brady tonight. Halfway through his visit, His nurse (who was a peds nurse filling in) said I like his outfit, It's Michigan State colors. I graduated from there. OMG, I can't leave my child with you. Hahaha, I need another nurse, stat!  That's for you Sinclair! Anyway, for real though, we did ask Patrick's primary to keep an eye on him because his nurse seemed a little unfamiliar with how the oxygen worked. This is a concern. He was sating really high, and Craig asked her to turn him down, so she did, but to fast and he went a little pale. I started sweating. Besides for that issue, he did well tonight. He took his whole bottle for Craig tonight!  I don't know the weight, she did it before Craig got back there. He seemed quiet otherwise, but seemed good.

                                                                                       High five!

                                                                                  Drank my whole bottle for daddy!

                                                                                  Craig and his Mini me!

Okay so I messed up last night, and said that I might not be able to blog tonight. I was thinking it was Tuesday, but it was only Monday. Forgive me, my brain is mush at this point. Tomorrow night is the night that I might not be able to blog. We have to be up early Thursday for the doctor. They had their Ret Cam pics done today, so we will know the results when we talk to him on Thursday. I will do a afternoon post with the results on Thursday for everyone. Tonight should be good because the boy's primaries are back. We should have a good couple of days.

Everyone have a good day!
The Connor kids