Day 80

Maks did well today. He is doing better at maintaining his heart rate and oxygen saturations without the nurses having to continually chase him by turning the oxygen up and down or by repositioning him. During the day shift, he at three entire bottles, two of which were back-to-back feedings. He did so great, but it definitely wore him out. When I spoke with the night nurse, she said Maks completely slept through his 8pm cares.

His hematocrit was only 30.5 this morning. Normally Dr. Anschutz transfuses if less than about 32, but since Maksim hasn't been symptomatic of anemia with lots of bradys and desats, he decided to wait on the transfusion and recheck his hematocrit in two days. If it is 29 or less, they will definitely transfuse on Wednesday.

Maks has actually had a pretty uneventful and stable couple of days. I am hoping this continues so his body can focus on his eyes. The prune juice has helped him be less constipated, and he is more stable on his oxygen. Hopefully this reduced amount of stress will help show positive results on his eye exam this Thursday.

The best part of today was during morning rounds when Dr. Anschutz said, "you better get that nursery painted!" We aren't even painting Maksim's room, but it is what the doctor was referring to that mattered. We still probably have at least a couple of weeks left in the NICU, but compared to the last 11 1/2 weeks, that seems like nothing. Logan and I are starting to freak out, because we have literally not done anything to prepare for Maksim coming home, except put up the crib. We have so much to do. We had nothing done before he was born because we just weren't expecting that, and now that he's here, and Logan and I are both working full time, we just haven't had time to get anything ready. I guess we better hurry, though, because even though it seemed like he would never come home, it looks like he will be after all!




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