Reid - One Week Old

Well, today marks one week since Reid was born. Things have been very good so far. Jimmy and I visit Reid every day (sometimes twice a day). I also get to hold him once each day. He can't be moved around too much b/c he needs to save his energy for growing! He is currently still on C-PAP (basically an oxygen mask that just helps him breathe easier), but Dr. Ahmed (Reid's baby doctor) thinks he will move to just the nasal plugs in a day or two. He lost some weight, but every baby does. He currently weighs 2 pounds, 2 oz. He started with his feedings on Monday - just 1cc of breast milk which is literally a drop! He is fed through a tube that runs through his mouth into his belly. The milk is put into the tube via a small syringe. He digested that well, so he moved up each day and as of Wed. morning he was up to 3cc's! Such a little piggy! Wednesday was a little tough b/c we found out Reid had a heart murmur. Dr. Ahmed assured us that a heart murmur is very common in preemies Reid's size and that hopefully it would correct itself with the help of antibiotic. He received 3 doses of the antibiotic over 48 hours. Unfortunately, he couldn't eat during this time. So a small step backwards, but things could certainly be worse. Yesterday (Thurs. 7/16) Reid had his first blood transfusion. As scary as that sounds, it apparently is also very common with preemies. He was very fussy yesterday though, but that is to be expected. Today (7/17), we found out that the antibiotic worked and corrected the heart murmur!!! Yeah! He started with his feedings again at noon today - back to 2cc's, but hopefully that will pick up soon. He had a head scan today too to check for any bleeds. Bleeding in the brain is another risk that preemies have. We haven't had our consult with Dr. Ahmed yet, but one of Reid's baby nurses said that she overheard that it looked normal (i.e. no bleeds!). So cross your fingers!!! Future posts shouldn't be this long...just trying to catch you all up on our fist week in the NICU! I will also try to post some pics of both Reid and Jameson - will probably be Monday as I will start back with a few hours at work.