Day Six Update

Baby Boy Newman had a pretty good day today.

He started the day with a blood transfusion because his hermatocrit levels were a bit low. This is probably because they take blood from him so often to measure his oxygen levels, and he cannot manufacture enough to keep up. He took the transfusion well - much better than mommy took the surprise 6am phone call from the hospital asking for parental consent for the transfusion :-) There's nothing like seeing a hospital phone number on caller id so early in the morning to get a person's heart rate up! But all was fine in the end.

He continues to do well on the respirator - requiring only 40% oxygen. If all goes well tonight and his chest x-ray looks good in the afternoon, there is a chance that they will remove the respirator tomorrow and switch him to CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure).

They have held off on feeding him more milk because he was not digesting what they were giving him so well. The nurses explained this is just his way of telling us his digestive system isn't ready yet, so they'll try again in another day or so.

They took out his second chest tube today and most likely he will be moved from his warming table into an isolet tomorrow, which will be much more comfortable for him because it will be quieter than being out in the open.

Mommy enjoyed her first day home from the hospital and loved spending time with Ilan. Ilan is having a bit of a hard time understanding why mommy can't pick him up and play with him on the floor. We've tried explaining that mommy has a boo-boo on her belly and hopefully after a couple of days, he'll come to accept this temporary change.

Hopefully we'll continue to have good news to share tomorrow!