Perfect Tens

Matthew's weight at today's pediatrician appointment was 10 lbs, 5 oz. And the most recent weight we heard for James was just a little over 10 lbs. What big boys!! And now the older brother is once again the bigger brother -- James's weight gain has leveled off over the past two weeks or so, probably because he's using more calories with bottle-feeding. (The doctors are keeping an eye on that and may add some extra calories to his milk.)

We really liked Matthew's new pediatrician. She's not the one we'll be seeing regularly, but it gave us a good feeling about the practice. She was very nice, and also seemed very well-informed about preemie issues. (It was a bonus that there did not appear to be any people with contagious illnesses in the waiting room!) Of course, I think the nurse there thought we were a little nuts, because the first thing we did when we arrived was go for the hand sanitizer, and then asked to have our baby's blood pressure taken! ("Why?" "Because he's on high blood pressure medicine.") Oh, and then we followed up by asking for his weight in grams. I think the NICU has turned us into high-maintenence parents. :)

James is about the same as yesterday; he doesn't seem to be acting sick, and he's still drinking his bottles fine (60 ml this morning, then 30 ml for the next two). He did have a slight fever at his afternoon assessment, but when she checked it again 15-20 minutes later, it was down to the high endof the normal range. So, the doctors weren't too concerned about that. Nothing has come back yet on the cultures, but a UTI is still the most likely suspect. If that's what it is, it sounds like they'd want to do a 5-7 day course of IV antibiotics (but I think they started that yesterday, so at least he'll get credit for "time served.") If none of the tests come back positive, it sounds like they'll want to have him go 24-48 hours without a fever or other issues.

We're really glad that he's not showing other signs of being sick, but it's still a bummer to have him in the isolation room. They already have another baby in his old spot in Pod F, and so we have this strange feeling of disorientation -- not only is he not home, but on top of that we've been jolted out of his comforting, familiar surroundings. At least there were a few familiar faces among the Pod C nurses.

We can't have Matthew visiting in the isolation room, so that means Mike and I can't be there at the same time. And having to wear the gown, mask, and gloves takes some getting used to. James looked very puzzled when I was talking to him through the mask -- perhaps I'm just projecting, but it certainly seemed like he was thinking "you sound like mom, but you look really strange!"

So another bummer was that we had gotten a cake (and some fruit, as a nod to healthy eating) to bring in to celebrate James's discharge, and then we didn't have much to celebrate. But my dad reminded me that it's never to early to say thank you, and so hopefully people enjoyed it today.

[Top photo is Matthew; bottom is James's isolation room, decorated with Curious George.]