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<p>Micah is 6 days old now. He was moved to the graduate NICU Wed night which is an awesome step. It is much quieter up there so I think it is easier for him to rest and grow. Plus, they can dim the lights more at night so he gets more into a "normal" schedule. 
He is off his CPAP and is on 1liter of high flow room air because he was working a bit too hard when they trialed him off all support. He did have to go under bili lights for about 24 hours but when I talked to the nurse last night, she said he was off of them. Yay! He is getting breast milk for his feeds (and he was getting donor milk before I was producing enough--I am so glad that option is available here otherwise they would have given him formula.). My milk has come in so I am spending lots of up close and personal time with my pump. My kids and my cats are fascinated by the entire process. LOL!</p>
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<p>The doctors did notice a heart murmur and did an echo on him yesterday morning. There is a blood vessel in the heart called the patent ductus arteriosis (PDA) that exists while baby is in utero and is supposed to close after the baby is born. It diverts blood from the lungs while baby is connected to the placenta, but after birth it needs to close so that the blood can go to the lungs to get oxygen. Micah's is not closing and there was significant blood flow in both directions so the doctors are giving him a medication to try and get it to close. They think that if it closes then he will be able to wean off the high flow air. They will do an echo again on him Sunday to see if it is smaller and if it isn't, they will decide what to do from there. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it closes!</p>
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<p>He is currently in an isolette to maintain his body temperature. He has several ounces to gain before he will be able to move into an open crib. Because of that, we are limited in how much we get to hold him although I did get to kangaroo him a few days ago. Because we are an hour away and have 2 other kids at home, we most likely won't be able to make it down every day to see him. Which completely sucks. Once the kids are back in school on Monday, I think it will be easier to get on a regular schedule for me to see him. Luckily the nurses in the NICU are good about taking phone calls to give updates.</p>
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He is off his CPAP and is on 1liter of high flow room air because he was working a bit too hard when they trialed him off all support. He did have to go under bili lights for about 24 hours but when I talked to the nurse last night, she said he was off of them. Yay! He is getting breast milk for his feeds (and he was getting donor milk before I was producing enough--I am so glad that option is available here otherwise they would have given him formula.). My milk has come in so I am spending lots of up close and personal time with my pump. My kids and my cats are fascinated by the entire process. LOL!</p><p> </p>
<p>The doctors did notice a heart murmur and did an echo on him yesterday morning. There is a blood vessel in the heart called the patent ductus arteriosis (PDA) that exists while baby is in utero and is supposed to close after the baby is born. It diverts blood from the lungs while baby is connected to the placenta, but after birth it needs to close so that the blood can go to the lungs to get oxygen. Micah's is not closing and there was significant blood flow in both directions so the doctors are giving him a medication to try and get it to close. They think that if it closes then he will be able to wean off the high flow air. They will do an echo again on him Sunday to see if it is smaller and if it isn't, they will decide what to do from there. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it closes!</p>
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<p>He is currently in an isolette to maintain his body temperature. He has several ounces to gain before he will be able to move into an open crib. Because of that, we are limited in how much we get to hold him although I did get to kangaroo him a few days ago. Because we are an hour away and have 2 other kids at home, we most likely won't be able to make it down every day to see him. Which completely sucks.
Once the kids are back in school on Monday, I think it will be easier to get on a regular schedule for me to see him. Luckily the nurses in the NICU are good about taking phone calls to give updates.</p><p> </p>
