Two Weeks Old

Gus was two weeks old Wednesday, which is pretty hard to believe.

He's come a long way from where he was, but he definitely has a ways to go. While he has not needed a breathing tube for quite awhile (Day 2), his breathing is closely monitored, as he suffers from regular bouts of apnea, during which he stops breathing. This is not unusual for preemies, but it's concerning to watch, nevertheless. He's been off and on CPAP, with little prongs (everything's little) up his nose, providing some pressure to his lungs. But he's still just breathing room air, which is good. And the CPAP is at least helping with the apnea. But the gear takes up most of his head (since the tubes are pinned to a hat).

For awhile, he needed to be under lights, because his bilirubin count was high, but his Jaundice has settled. Not that he ever looked yellow, mostly purple. Now he has a very nice tone. The goggles he had to wear under the lights were mildly amusing, but it's nice to see his eyes now, though that's pretty much all we can see of his face now (see CPAP).

He also has a PDA, an arterial valve which hasn't closed properly, though the most recent echocardiogram shows it to be making progress. This is also not that unusual for preemies but something that will need to be monitored. Everything is monitored.

The bottom line is that he's doing pretty well under the circumstances. And he's getting milk (through a feeding tube) which is great, because Jamie's been pumping furiously, and it's full of good stuff.

Sorry for all the Wikipedia links, but it's certainly easier to link than explain. And knowledge is power. And knowing is half the battle.