Our Visit With the Dr.

I am both discouraged and encouraged with our discussion with Dr. Porter last night. Sometimes when I think I have all the hope and faith in the world, something is said or our baby makes a turn that kind of deflates that a little for me. I am not sure what to make of everything that he says, but we just roll with it. I have to admit, though, that some of it makes me a little uneasy, but regardless, Kadin is our son and we love him, now and always.

First of all, they were able to ween him down on the vent yesterday morning and when the Dr. came in last night, he weened him a little further. He is on a rate of 36 breaths per minute from the vent and from watching him last night his settings indicated he was breathing over the vent twice that. As long as his pressures are ok, he does fine, even with the fewer breaths from the vent.

Kadin is now weighing 4 pounds 2.3 ounces. He has meds last night again to pull off the fluid so he didn't seem to increase as he has been the past few weeks. He doesn't look puffy or anything, but the fluid in his lungs is still present.

The goal, as has been this entire time, is to get Kadin off the vent and back to the bubble cpap. After that, the goal will be same ... getting him off the bubble cpap and onto the nasal canula. Then, as pattern has determined, it will be to get him off of that with no extra oxygen! We are only 8 weeks from his due date and that seems like quite a LOT to get thru. I am having doubts about our coming home date and that is driving me nuts. I guess it's fairly common for the Dr.'s to not be able to tell you anything definite about that since it all depends on how the baby will do. He does well, he just doesn't breathe well on his own, which is absolutely to be expected being born at 24 weeks. As the lungs grow, the old lungs are taken over by the new, but it will never be like new healthy virgin lungs. Should we have to stay here longer than February 23, I pray I will have the strength to do it. I am trying to stay positive of it all and believe that he is one day going to all of the sudden just take off and show us all !!!

He had his eye exam on the 1st. He is scheduled for another one a week later. Dr. Porter said there was an indication of ROP but it will be monitored extremely closely. I can't go into details about everything he said because, although I understood what he was saying, I don't know how to articulate that back to everyone else. I do know that Kadin is at level 2 in his retina development and can stay in that level for a long time. He is also in stage 2 of level 2. There are stages 0 to 5 with 5 being retinal detachment. It is not uncommon for a baby to get to stage 2 and regress back to level 0 and be perfect. This is why they will monitor him very closely. If he progresses to a higher level, he will be a candidate for the laser surgery to correct the retinal issues. I asked him if any of that meant he will not be able to see and he said "Absolutely not!" He said it really doesn't affect acuity since they also closely monitor the levels of oxygen that the baby receives. He said it could possibly affect his peripheral vision but that won't be known until later ... So, we are waiting now for the second eye exam and will know more about that later.

He looks so adorable in his bed dressed in his clothes! We have sssssooooooooo many clothes for him now (Thanks to Kirsten/Joshua and to Hilarie/Preston!) I love to see him dressed in his clothes. He is keeping his temperature steady also, but is still in his isolette (with the top up) because it drowns out the noise enough that he can rest well.

Kadins calorie intake has been decreased ... they took most of the human milk fortifier out of the composite and he is still gaining weight! His stools are much better now tho he still has them very frequently. I am still pumping, but with our trip home, my milk decreased a little. I have not been able to build it back up as of today. I pray it doesn't dry up.

Insert Random Thought: My little man just asked me for a "Popper Pepper" ... even tho he is 7 and perfectly able to say "Dr. Pepper" ... he still calls it the same thing he did when he was small. And of course, here is his big brother sitting here talking about what he used to call it ... ROOT-ROOT. Yeah, not sure where that came from but it has stuck all these years. Robbi never cared for it much so there isn't a word she called it. She still prefers water to anything!

I can't think of anything else to update on Kadin right now. Really, other than what I have written about, nothing has changed much. He is just resting and growing. I can't wait to see him today. JT saw him for the first time since he came for a competition in November and he can't believe how big he has gotten.

So ... until my next blog, be blessed and if someone has done something nice for you today or recently, pay it forward. The results are heartwarming and inspiring!

God Bless .....