Day 7 Post-Op

Henry continues to soldier along.  Today, when we arrived, Henry no longer had nasal prongs to give him oxygen (though they sometimes need to put it on when he is sleeping deeply).  He is breathing regular room air!!  They pulled his pacemaker wires too.  Dr. Chloe Joint (our neonatologist in NICU) had to do some tinkering with Henry's fluid balance -- diuretics help him pee off fluid, but not too much and they also have to watch his loss of potassium (which results from the diuretics). Low potassium levels can and were causing Henry's heart rate to dip down to the 70's... They are getting there, but still little changes to find what works for Henry.  Henry's feeds changed today too. They have been giving him a very small, but continuous drip of breast milk through a tube that goes from his nose to his jejunum (past the stomach - to reduce the risk of regurgitation and associated complications). Now, they are moving toward feeding Henry more like a 'regular' baby. He now gets bolus feeds every 3 hours through the tube that goes from his nose to his stomach.  The amount given to Henry will increase every 6 hours or so and when they see he is tolerating this well, we will progress to bottle and/or breastfeeding.  These are all great strides forward for Henry.

I think Hal and I struggled with the weight of this journey today. We are both tired from the relentless stress of the past week and we both struggled today with feeling sad for what Henry is going through now and what he will have to go through in the future.  We are all going to get through this well, it's just going to be really tough at times.

Now that Henry is on less monitors, we have been getting more holding time.  Below, Daddy enjoyed some time with 2 of his 3 boys.

I also got some snuggle time. Wonderful for all of us!!