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Frankie in the NICU, 7-18
We're sharing these pictures now because Frankie's improvement is visibly dramatic. This particular shot was taken on the Monday following his surgery the previous Friday. He has a ventilator tube and a replogle tube down his throat, the former feeding oxygen to his lungs, the latter siphoning excess acid from his stomach, protecting the sutures in his esophagus. The arterial lines in his right arm are held in place with a metal brace and two pieces of foam. They provide the nurses easy access to blood, and keep them from turning Frankie into a pin cushion. He has a broviac catheter sutured into his chest, primarily delivering nutrition and sedatives (fentanyl, then morphine). They'll leave it in right up until Frankie's ready to be discharged. Heart monitors are attached to his back, a blood pressure monitor to his foot, and an oxygen sensor on his right side. There is even a body temperature monitor connected to both Frankie and the bed, which regulates the ambient temperature around him. The bright light is cast by a photothermal lamp, prescribed for the treatment of jaundice (thus, the mask over his eyes). The site of the surgical incision is an inch-long scar on his right side, barely visible in this picture. As you stand by his bedside, you hear the whirring of the ventilator, the clicking of the IV drip, the periodic bleeps of various alarms, triggered whenever his heart rate, or blood pressure, or oxygen saturation levels dip below or climb beyond the range of acceptability. The doctors and nurse constantly reassured us that he was doing fine, but under the circumstances, it was difficult to believe them.
posted by Silver Zephyr @ 4:22 PM
4 Comments:
Wow, what a difference a week makes. He just looks wonderful now. Thank you so much for keeping us all updated, Dave and Anna. I love the blog! Miss you all.
He is looking absolutely amazing! Already I can see such a difference in him from the first pictures...I can't wait to see him in person. You guys sound like you are doing better, keep up the good spirits! Anna- the injections really do help for milk production, also...depending on the beliefs of your doctors one glass of wine a day is known to help increase breast milk production, there is no harm to the baby, and you can enjoy the relaxing benefits. Milk banks even accept donors that drink 2 alcoholic beverages a day; however, I know most of our docs only recommend one...just food for thought!
Just happened upon you guys through the "next blog" button and wanted to wish you and your baby the best. My best friends just recently also delivered prematurely, and they also ran into a nurse who completely tried to make her feel guilty about the fact that the baby wasn't "feeding" enough (she was just too tiny to have much energy to suck). Keep your heads up - my friend's baby is healthy and doing fine at 11 weeks now (more like 5, she was 6 weeks early) and I'm sure the same will happen for you. :)
PS - as a comment on brandi's post, I've also been told that Guiness is good for lactating mothers - apparently it contains a lot of nutrients (and, despite it's "thickness" is one of the lowest calorie beers you can drink). And it's yummy. :)
wow. thanks for keeping everyone posted y'all! stay strong. p.s. i love your writing.
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