The last few days little John has been erratic with his breathing. His oxygen levels have been ranging from 35-50%, and his needs just keep going up and down. For your reference, the room air has about 21% oxygen. He typically doesn't do well on his back, and when he's having a hard time he gets put on his belly. I'm convinced he's just manipulative to the nurses--"I'm gonna hold my breath if you don't put me back on my belly!" I suppose he finally put 2 and 2 together because sometime last night or this morning, his oxygen needs went way down. Today when I showed up, my little man was snoozing away on his back with his oxygen level in the low 20's, and his oxygen saturation at 97 (they like it to be 85-95). What a show off!
After I changed him and took his temperature, I gave him his pacifier because he was trying to eat his fingers. He started sucking away and continued breathing--two HUGE feats for him. These teeny little babies can take a while to learn to suck, and also to breathe while sucking. Not my little guy, his saturation stayed in the 90s, and oxygen around 25%, and I only had to take the binky away once or twice in an hour because of breathing issues. I'm so excited because he should be ready to tackle breast feeding in the next few weeks, once he gets a bit bigger.
All of his swelling from his IV has gone, but unfortunately he lost weight again last night. He's back down to 2 lbs 2 oz, so basically he hasn't gained any real weight in almost a week. I'm praying his weight goes up at least just a little tonight at his 8pm daily weighing. He should be gaining about .5-1 oz per day. The docs aren't concerned yet so I'm just waiting until they tell me otherwise before I freak out. The docs also mentioned a small heart murmur today. As long as he doesn't get symptomatic with his breathing, it should be nothing. Most babies and children experience heart murmurs at some point of childhood. For preemies, it could be related to Patent Ductus Arteriosus--a condition where a blood vessel in the heart that connects the aorta and the pulmonary artery (which sends blood to the lungs) doesn't close after birth. If it stays open, blood floods the vessels in the lungs and breathing problems ensue. It is fixed with medicine or surgery. This is currently happening with little baby Emma, John's first roommate. I feel so bad for her parents having to deal with this! As long as John keeps on breathing as well as he has been, we don't need to be alarmed yet. If his oxygen needs all of a sudden start increasing, they'll do an ultrasound to check for PDA.
We're just going to keep cheering John on for his great health and his fighting spirit until we hear that we should be worried. He just keeps trying to impress us and improve every day. I think he's finally sick of that place and is getting his stuff together so he can come home.
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