The Murray Brothers: ooops forgot to publish, from 11/7

Hudson was great again today! He gained 80 more grams weighing in at 4lbs 10oz (which I found out was the same weight his Daddy was when he went home from the hospital, hard to imagine Ben that itty bitty:) love you BEN). The doctors increased his food to 14ml per hour, which is FULL feeds for him at his size.

Since he gained we tried popping his top again...he's borderline with having to be enclosed again. Might take him a few more days before he can keep his body heat regulated. So a crib might be down the road...

His nurse and I were talking about his vapotherm and when he last went down, I told her and she said she was really surprised they've not tried to wean him off vapotherm and onto the nasal cannula. I told her on Monday the doctor seemed like she wanted to, but with his eye exam being the next day he might take a step or two back. And with the next eye exam next Tuesday she thought we should at least have the doctor revisit it. So after talking with the nnp and doctor, Hudson was weaned. The doctor said "I'll be surprised if he tolerates it, but lets let him prove me wrong". Hudson took the challenge and is now on a nasal cannula.

His nurse and I had a lot of great talks today, I enjoy her! She was asking about Hudson's "take down" otherwise known as "reconnection". I told her they want him at 3kilograms, which is 3000 grams which breaks down to 6 lbs 9 oz. I reminded her of another patient who was less than 6lbs for his take down surgery. I told her I'd like to see Hudson at 5.5 lbs before surgery, but I'd like to have the surgeon start coming to see him again. Hudson healed great from his first surgery, a lot quicker than they thought he would. So the nurse was going to pass along to night shift that Mom wants the surgeons to start looking at him. Now, the other patient's Mom had to bug the nurses for a week before the surgeon finally came and when that happened it was 3 days later and boom surgery. So, we'll see. Not getting my hopes up...but when I originally asked the surgeon what needed to happen in order for his next surgery the following was listed to me.

be 6-8 weeks from first surgery - check, we are 6 weeks and 2 days
be off the jet ventilator - check, we are on a nose cannula
have a biopsy of his rectum - I've asked, but they say the surgeons haven't ordered it yet...cause they need to come see him again!
be 3 kilograms - almost there!

Hudson had 4 bradys total today, all of which were caused by reflux and he immediately came back up with no help. I was doing his care during one of them, saw his face looked at the screen and his heart rate fell and then came right back up. I don't freak out like I used to...

IU nurses started their red tops and black pants, black socks and black shoes today. I remember the University Health nurses talking about the change and nobody except the males were happy with it. So, November 7th was the big day...so I decided I'd help them feel better today. I walked into Hudson's module today and giggled and said I'm ready for duty:) I wore black shoes, black pants and a red iu tshirt:) The nurses got a big kick out of it! They were like OMG, who is the nurse and who is the parent? And if you just saw me from behind you'd think I was a nurse. It was funny!

Other than that Hudson and I had a pretty typical day. Exchanged silly faces at each other, read books, did his care, had 2 bag changes and snuggled:) He also is getting to be a pro at his pacifier! Today is the first day that he did the "shaking his head trying to get the pacifier in quicker" I was so happy to see that!