Day 6 Update

Things are going great here!! Zane is doing amazing. He is on a tiny level of oxygen, but that is not a big deal at all. He can go home on oxygen. We are waiting for the NICU doctor to do his rounds today so we can get a better idea of what things will look like as far as going home. Zane is breastfeeding like a champ. Everyone in the NICU calls him "champ" because he is exceeding everyone's expectations. I breastfeed every other feeding and then we bottle feed breast milk with a little bit of nutrition added on the other feedings - this will help him to gain weight. Right now the main thing is gaining some weight. He gained one ounce yesterday and now weighs 4 lbs. 2 oz. Apparently they think that someone messed up his birth weight because babies don't usually lose that large of an amount of weight after birth (they originally said he was 5 lb. 1 oz.) We have had the most amazing nurses! They did put him back on the "bili-bed" yesterday for jaundice - but he should be off that today. Jaundice usually peeks around days 4-6 so it was normal for that to be up a bit yesterday on day 5. He is pooping and peeing great. He is eating, sucking and breathing great. Praise God!! We are past the point where we may need a feeding tube inserted. He was sluggish eating yesterday but once the labs came back with an elevated biliruben level that explained why (jaundice causes them to be very sleepy and sluggish). I am supposed to bring in his car seat today so they can test him in it and make sure he does okay breathing while sitting in it...the preparations to go home have begun!! Yippeee!!!

On a different note I realized a couple days ago that I had told the story of being in labor and getting to the hospital fully dialated so many times - and since I was in surgery and post-op I didn't know the story from each of my family members perspectives. I was talking to Sofia and asking her what happened, when she got to the hospital, when she met Zane, etc. As she was telling me she said that they had given me a sedative when they put my IV in. I didn't know that!! It just shows how hysterical I was...it was so awful and scary! I know one of the things that made me so upset was that my mom wasn't there. My mom said she is still traumatized by the whole situation of being far away and getting here 2 hours after Zane was born. Just goes to show...even mom's need their moms!!!