Sunday, January 16, 2011

Plenty to be thankful for

Today was a big day for Toler with plenty of good news to be told.  Monday morning would have been his 32nd week in utero and he is really growing as if he doesn't know he's a preemie.

Positive news!
  1. IV has been removed: as Toler is now up to just under 30 cc's (30 cc's = 1 oz) of food every 4 hours and digesting it all like a champ he is now officially off his IV.  This not only is good from a progress perspective, but also removes a solid portion of the wires from his little body.  This is especially good news for Mom & Dad as it will help reduce the likelihood of closing the diaper with a cord or hand still inside (yes a hand has been diapered, not saying who, but it wasn't by the guy who has now changed 15 diapers in his life).
  2. Light Therapy is complete: (mark the next couple sentences as TMI) Toler's day back at the beach was short lived as a combination of his light therapy and his newfound ability to poop on his own have greatly reduced his bilirubin count.  We are pretty confident that the mask can be retired for good.
  3. Oxygen support reduced: Toler's stats have remained steady even as they have reduced the level of oxygen support on a periodic basis.  As he continues, they will move him from a 'high-flow' to 'low flow' to nothing.  If he continues on track, his oxygen should be removed within a short period of time.  That news of course wasn't  fast enough for our little guy as he wanted to remove the oxygen tonight.
Toler's new favorite move...take out the oxygen
Firsts for Toler
As the little man is not quite a couple weeks old, pretty much everything short of a diaper change is a 'first' for him.  That said, since we got his IV out for the first time since he was born we were able to give the little guy a bath.  Let's just say that he went from docile to excitable in 0.1 seconds, but Mom did a great job cleaning him up.


Toler and Mom pre-bath, can you sense the uncertainty in his eyes?

Wasn't this loud since birth!

The world's saddest face
Since he braved his first ever bath, Toler was rewarded with a very exciting reading of Curious George's ABC's as read by Dad.

*JOIN THE FUN AND ADD YOUR OWN CAPTION IN THE COMMENTS*

One final close up to say good night...

nite y'all
Love,
Steve, Emily and Squeaky Clean Toler
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. VictoriaJanuary 17, 2011 at 8:09 AM

    Love,love,love that you are reading to him!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AutumnJanuary 17, 2011 at 9:52 AM

    Emma, I am so glad that I found your blog. I went searching on your Facebook page last week to see if you had posted an update and found reference to the blog. Toler is just beautiful and I will keep all 3 of you in my prayers. I am so glad Glenda was able to come out and visit as well. I can't imagine what this experience must be like, particularly so far from home, but y'all seem to be managing expertly, with grace and style! So glad the tubes are slowly coming out and just praying each day that he grows a little more robust and continues to meet his milestones so that all of you can come home. And did I mention that you still look beautiful?!? How?!? Hang in there! Love, aut.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJanuary 17, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    Your experience with Toler's bath brought back a memory...in the early days our son cried every time we bathed him! Then, we discovered that if we flipped him over so he was looking at the water, he didn't cry during his bath anymore. We are so glad Toler is making such good progress! Love your blog!!! Evelyn

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)