7-28-14 Spencer Update

Spencer seems to be doing better this week. His breathing has stabilized, which seems to partly be a result of the diuretic. Today when I arrived, he was on 21% oxygen! When he has been having 'desats' he is doing much better at recovering from them on his own.

They turned him down to "1 liter high flow" today. This provides him a little bit of pressure in his lungs to keep them inflated. If he continues to progress well, they will either turn him down to "low flow" or try to take him off completely in the coming weeks.

Spencer continues to work on his feedings. He is now working at taking some milk from a bottle once a day. Today he took about 6 cc before getting tuckered out. (If you think way back to when I was pregnant with the hemmorage, 6 cc was the size of the hemmorage at one point. It's ironic that we are still measuring things in 'cc' but at least now it has to do with Spencer's eating!) Once Spencer is able to take a full feed from his bottle (currently 38 cc) they will add a second bottle a day. This pattern will continue until he is able to take all his feeds from a bottle or breast by the time he leaves.

In other news, the eye doctor visited on Friday last week. Upon examination it looks like Spencer's eyes are continuing to develop as they should. Hooray! There will be another checkup in a few weeks to continue to monitor his progress. Oxygen levels can affect how his eyes develop, so there is a constant balance to be found between raising his oxygen for his breathing, and lowering it to protect his eyes.

We are often asked when Spencer will be able to come home. They don't really determine this based on his weight. Instead, he needs to be able to do certain things developmentally, and naturally his weight will come as he learns to do those things. Spencer needs to be able to 1. Take all his feeds from bottle or breast 2. Breathe independent of machines 3. Have no alarms (related to heart rate or breathing) 4. Pass a series of tests, including a car seat test.

Typically preemies can do most of these things between 36-38 weeks gestation. (Spencer is currently 33.5 weeks gestation.) Since Spencer was born so prematurely, it will most likely take him until about 38 weeks gestation to be ready to go home. Matt and I are actually ok with this timeline because we would much rather have him at home when he is ready, without monitors or machines to continue to monitor him.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!