March 11 Update

Weight: 1250 g (4 lbs 12 oz)

Earlier in the day, I got a phone call from one of the Nurse Practitioners saying that Matthew was doing much better so they were going to lower his oxygen flow to 4 liters/minute and then hopefully down to 2 liters/minute in the evening so he could try nutritive breastfeeding. But when I got there, his nurse, Alyssa, said that he hadn’t done very well when they lowered it, so they had raised it back up to 6 liters.

They did lower the flow temporarily and put his OG tube over to the side, though, so we could still give breastfeeding a try. Matthew did awesome. It was amazing to watch his sweet face as he swallowed for the first time. It was not easy for him, but he did it. Way to go, Matt🙌

Then when he got tired we just snuggled🥰

But after a few minutes, he woke right up and would not keep still. I had laid him on my chest with his face to the side, but he kept lifting it all the way up so he could look around. This kid is so strong.💪

After a few minutes of that, he desatted (on the monitor, they like him to be in the 90s, but he dropped down to the 80s and 70s). The nurse came in and when the oxygen levels didn’t go back up, she took him from me to look at him more closely. She set him up on his bed and watched him to see what might be going on. She said it could be because he was worn out, because of reflux, because the cannula was out of place, because the monitor wasn’t reading right, because his neck was in a funny position, because we had lowered the flow in order to breastfeed….It could be for a number of reasons.

Eventually it did go back up and she got him all wrapped up in bed.

It made me so sad that I could do nothing to help him. So I just talked to him and then read to him while he laid in his bed.

He was so calm as I got ready to leave, but just as I was walking out the door, he desatted again. Hopefully things will be a lot calmer for the rest of the night, and hopefully with some good rest, he will feel a lot better.🥰