From Charlie’s private Facebook page (yeah, he’s that cool!)
UPDATE APRIL 13:
It was another big day for Charles today! (Amazing what 24 hours can do!)
Overnight Charles had several periods where he was quite irritable, which is what normal babies do, so his nurses were happy to see that. He had regular periods of sleep and wake cycling, and is continuing to poop – also good! When his nurse went over for one of his checks she discovered that he’d pulled out his oxygen cannulas and was holding his stats no problem, so Charlie is officially off of oxygen! He was able to handle all of his feeds last night AND the neuro team cleared him to be removed from CFM since they are no longer concerned about seizures or irregularities in his brain activity. Without the dose of phenobarb before bed yesterday, he was even more alert and active overnight and this morning. The doctors will test his levels around 5pm in order to determine what dosage to give him tonight.
I went in for rounds today – Luc has a cold so isn’t allowed in to visit until he’s feeling better
The doctors are happy with his progress, so said we can start trying oral feeds (bottle) today and increasing him to full feeds over the next 2-3 days. He’s currently only getting about 1/4 of what he should be, but this will increase very quickly. His nurses think the fussiness is because he’s hungry so I’m sure he’ll enjoy the extra milk. We’re also discontinuing his antibiotic since all his labs came back negative.
Charles was awake when I went in, so his nurse swaddled him up and let me hold him for about an hour. We snuggled, hugged, and kissed. It was a very special time. After I took a quick break to hydrate and sneak a quick snack, I was able to change his diaper, AND give him his very first oral feed! Charles took to this with no problems at all (though there was a learning curve for mommy to manage everything), so (with the doctor’s OK) we’re going to try him back at the breast the next time I am back at the hospital!!!
I pumped him some nummies before I left, and then we had some more kisses and snuggles. He has the sweetest cry that is like music to my ears! The rest of today will just be making sure he keeps tolerating feeds and holding tight. We’re very proud of how well he’s doing and should hopefully have a better idea of when he can come home on Friday.
Big City Mama 