| The NICU Experience | Aaron update 6 |
| Subject: Aaron update 6 Date: Sunday, December 8, 2002 6:08 PM From: Kevin Quick To: Aaron Update List OK, time for another update! Everything is still going very, very well. It’s been 11 days now since Aaron was born (already?), and we’re becoming more confident every day that we’re going to be bringing our healthy little boy home in due time. It feels really good to have some good, solid history behind us. Aaron’s extubation lasted for about 36 hours, which we understand is very good for a guy his size. After 36 hours, he was working a little too hard breathing on his own, so he got intubated again. Now, though, the ventilator machine is on a gentler mode, with a lower frequency pattern than it had before. This will be more gentle on him than the previous high-frequency mode. Last night (Saturday night) they tried feeding Aaron 1cc of milk via the small tube that goes down into his stomach. That apparently didn’t go too well; they had to pump it back out again a little later, along with some green bile that had collected. So, the pipes aren’t quite working yet, but we’ll try again after a couple of days. Eventually, this “gut stimulation” will be successful, and he will begin to be able to digest his food. In the meantime, he’s getting his nutrition through his IV’s. (He pulled his feeding tube out today, all by himself. I guess he’s telling us that it’s not quite time yet for his digestive system to be up and running.) Aaron had lost about 10% of his birth weight the first few days following his birth, but he seems to be gaining it back now. He should be back up to his birth weight with the next couple of days. Again, the nurses have told us that this is very typical. Apparently, the weight that he lost was mostly just extra water. Kathleen’s mom and brother Brian came up from southern CA yesterday and spent the day with us. “Grandma” Lacrosse was thrilled to see her little grandson for the first time, and will be bringing some nice pictures, memories and stories back home with her. Mom and Brian brought some Christmas presents from the Lacrosse side of the family with them, and they made Kathleen and me open some of them early, during their visit. Kathleen’s sister Denise gave us quite an emotional stir by giving us a newborn baby boy’s outfit and bib. Aaron just has to grow into them! It’s just starting to feel like we really do have a baby boy. Aaron is a little character already. I had my camera on hand this afternoon when he woke up and was making all kinds of funny faces. I’ll pass a couple of these along over the next few days. I took the attached picture today, too. That’s Kathleen’s hand in the picture. Our room number is 114, and the direct phone number to our room is 415-600-XXXX. We’ll both be here for another day or two (Monday and maybe Tuesday), then I, at least, will be heading back home for two or three days. Thank you for your continued prayers. They’re working! Love, Kevin, Kathleen & Aaron |
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