Monday (March 5)

Okay, so a lot has changed since I last blogged.  There are two reasons I haven't written a blog post in the past five days.  1.) I was too busy getting everything ready for Silas to come home.  And 2.) I was bummed out because Silas wasn't coming home yet.  Here's what happened:

Last Thursday, the doctor said that it would be at least Tuesday before he went home.  Silas was doing great on Saturday.  Jason and I spent the day with him.  We packed up almost everything from his room and took it home.  We took home a huge cooler full of my breast milk from the nicu freezer.  We were very excited because the doctor who was there over the weekend said that Silas could come home on Monday, instead of Tuesday.  We left on Saturday night and planned to come back early on Monday to take our monitor training and then bring him home. 

On Sunday we decided to take the girls out to lunch for the last time before Silas came home and turned us into a "table for five."  I also needed to go to Kohl's to pick up a few things while I actually had the time.  While we were eating lunch the doctor called.  I hate that feeling I get when I see that number on caller id.  He said that Silas had not been eating well and was very tired.  The nurses all agreed that his eating habits had changed over the last day or two days.  The doctor decided to put the oxygen back on him and see if that helped him have enough energy to take his bottles.  The nurse also kept switching nipples on him to see what worked best, got his schedule all messed up that day too, and several other things that totally annoyed me.  For the first time I was really not happy with the nurse.  We had this nurse one other time and although she is very nice I didn't think she was as good at her job as the other nurses.  I was ready for Silas' primary nurses, Karen and Jenn to come back on Monday.  All of the other nurses agreed with this one particular nurse though that Silas was acting differently so I probably shouldn't be frustrated with this nurse after all.  I just wanted to be there and thought I knew Silas better than she does, which I do.  But anyway, the doctor put the oxygen back on Silas and that is what he wanted.  After being on it a little while he started eating better and was awake enough to eat.  His liter flow of oxygen is .1%.  It is practically nothing but if that's what it takes to get him home, so be it. 

So today I had training on home oxygen machines and at-home monitors.  The monitors are nice and I am thankful for them.  The oxygen is going to be a pain in the neck but hopefully we won't have to deal with it for too long.  The home medical guy that delivered them both to me was a hoot.  He cussed about ten times throughout the hour I spent with him.  I was a little shocked but he just kept going.  He reminded me of a sitcom dad but I'm not sure which one.  I think the guy off of King of Queens is probably the closest match. 

I met with the pulmonologist (lung doctor) today and he thought maybe in 2-4 weeks Silas will be done with the oxygen.  I pictured this doctor to be an old man for some reason but was pleasantly surprised to find that he was about my own age and very nice and easy to talk to.  He became a lung doctor because he himself has had asthma his whole life.  His name is Dr. Spivy.  He thought Silas' lungs sounded great though.  He couldn't believe he was a 25 weeker.  He had read through his chart before he met with me and thought he must be missing something because 25 weekers don't usually look or sound as good as Silas.  He wondered if I was aware of how amazing Silas' journey has been.  I told him yes I was and that we have been very very blessed.  He said I was exactly right about that. 

I talked to Silas' regular nicu doctor today as well, Dr. Chao.  He is a great guy.  He explained everything and made me feel better about the way things were going.  He thinks that maybe Silas will go home on Wednesday now.  I refuse to get excited until he is in the car with me.  He did pass his 2 hour, 45 minute carseat challenge test over the weekend so that's good. 

Last night Silas weighed 5 pounds 8 ounces and tonight he weighed 5 pounds 10 ounces!  Can you believe that??  I had to take all of his preemie clothes home as he has outgrown all of them. 

In other Cooper news, I skyped with the girls tonight while they were at Grandma Debby and Grandpa David's house.  They were glad to see me and we had a good little visit, although Carissa was a little too busy playing to talk to me.  Maleah told me all about her day at school.  Shortly after our skype chat, my Mom sent me a picture text.  Carissa had fallen and hit the end table with her face.  She now has a big ol' black eye.  I do believe it is the first one ever in the Cooper household.  It's quite the shiner for my beautiful little blondie. 

That pretty much wraps up our news.  I promise to keep you posted on what the next couple of days hold for us.  Be ready Flora, because an amazing little fighter is headed to town soon!!!