After I was admitted to the hospital on Monday with pre-term labor, Samson Joseph was born Thursday, January 29th a 7:58 pm. We were lucky to be able to get 2 doses of steroids to take effect before he was born, and he was breathing on his own right away. He weighed in at 5 lbs, 10 ozs and was 18 1/2 inches long. Very big for his almost 34 weeks!
He started off doing extremely well. He continues to do well, but as the case with preemies, we've started to hit a couple small hurdles. Somehow it is still difficult, even though we have been through this before and know what to expect.
His breathing is still perfect, so now we just need to get him feeding the amount that the doctors want to see out of him. Yesterday he did great as they continued to increase his feedings every 8 hours. In the middle of the night he was up to an ounce and that was kind of his breaking point. They did have to put in a feeding tube - they feed him by mouth as much as he will take, and then "top him off" so to speak with the tube. He is currently at 30 ml (one ounce) and they will increase by 5 ml after 3 successful feedings at the current amount. His goal before he can go home is 45 ml, and without the tube.
The good news is that he is no longer on IV fluids. He's also under a bili light today as his bilirubin count was high this morning, but that was also expected. They have new lights that work very quickly, so we are hoping he can be out from under those tomorrow. Unfortunately he had just gotten weaned out of an isolette and into a crib over night, but now he's back in the isolette until he doesn't need the lights. The other bad part about the lights is that well, he needs to be under them, so we can't hold him as often.
We'll try to keep updating this site, although I won't be so good with pics, etc until he gets home, as I'll be at the hospital all day during the day when Chad is working and Gav is at school. I am hoping he can be home by the end of the week. Now that I am ahead on pumping, I am hoping that he will tolerate the feedings better with milk - he was on formula most of last night, which is a high-cal formula and a lot heavier. I'm hoping if we can avoid the formula from here on out, it will be more successful.
Oh, and I should mention Samson looks nothing like Gavin, but is equally adorable. He must look just like Chad because he sure doesn't look like me!
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