Not Coming Home Yet

I am being discharged today, but William will not be. Unfortunately, they are out of guest rooms for NICU parents, so we will be staying at home without him at night. We only live a few minutes away, so its not too terrible.

We just spoke with Dr. Lee, the pediatrician, and they are going to keep him today and most likely tomorrow. She is fairly certain that the hole in his lung has healed, but they are going to do an xray today to verify that. In checking his blood, they have found that his sodium is low and they don't really know why. They are going to put more sodium in his IV to see if that helps. If they can't get that under control, they might have to send him to Tacoma General. Dr. Lee doesn't think that will have to happen, but she wanted us to be aware that it is a small possibility so that we are not caught off guard if it does. The biggest thing we have to tackle before going home is his feeding. William has not taken to breastfeeding well at all, but they are not ready to give up on that and switch to formula just yet. He is not a very coordinated sucker/swallower, but she said that this sometimes happens to babies that have disorganized and stressful births. My milk has not yet come in (hopefully it will by tomorrow) and perhaps feeding will get easier for him once there is more for him to get. If my milk doesn't come in by tomorrow, or he begins losing weight, we will start him on formula. There is no way to really tell when he will get to go home, we just have to take it day by day and see how he does.

That's the lastest info on our little guy. We are very taken with him, but obviously this is all a bit worrisome.