Doctor's Orders

What a great couple of days. We have had a good week. First of all, he’s up to 3 lbs 7 oz! Also, he’s starting to become my kid. A couple of days ago, I was changing the diaper and the nurse asked if I wanted to hold him. I said yes, but I didn’t move. Then I grabbed the sensors and wires and stuff, and I picked him up. That was the first time the nurses ever let one of us do that. In the past, picking him up was done by the nurses who then handed him to one of us. Now, as long as I have the nurses permission, I get to pick him up and hold him as I wish! In a few weeks, I won’t even have to ask permission.

There are two types of nurses taking care of Jordan. The first type says ‘Jordan is doing well today, why don’t you hold him?’. The other type of nurse says “Jordan is doing well today, let’s not hold him and risk changing that.’. You know which one I prefer. Anyway, the doctor settled the matter, and we didn’t even ask. The doctor wrote an order than Jordan is to have kangaroo care every day that mom & dad come. She believes that he is big enough that the benefits outweigh any risks at this point. There is even a sign up in his room in case of a disagreement. Gone are the days when the highlight of my week is changing a dirty diaper.

Jordan still has stage 2 ROP, which means it isn’t changing – no worse, no better. He is on less oxygen, so I hope the worst risk has passed. He has also stopped swinging on the oxygen. He can go half a day or more now without desatting or setting off alarms. In fact, we left the hospital at 8 last night when the nurse weighed him. We called at 11 and she hadn’t checked on him since other than to change feeding. No alarms or anything! He also had a meeting this week with two therapists. They asked him to tell them about his childhood. Then, they checked his muscles and reflexes to see how he was doing physically. Just as with everything else, he is a preemie, but normal for a preemie. His trunk is a little weak because he spent so little time in the fetal position, but his back is unusually strong from all of the beatings I give him with the hammer. Just kidding about the back, but he’s fine for when he was born.

Finally, there’s the clothing. We dress him up now. The preemie clothes say that they are for babies up to 5 pounds. He is swimming in them. Rather than take off the cannula to pull on a shirt, we can fit his entire trunk through the hole for the head. I’d get something for his right size online, but how do you shop for clothes for someone who has gained 15% of his body weight since Sunday? He’ll out grow the stuff he has now by the end of October.