Ty's First Bath

Bathing Ty was like trying to hold on to a greased pig. He was not happy at all about the bath, but we were actually glad to hear his first little cry. He was quite happy when we were all done and had him wrapped up again before his dinner.

Ty's sedation levels were signficantly better today. He is showing his preferences by eating and sleeping on his schedule...not the prescribed eating schedules. I'm fine with that, but it does seem to monkey with the nurses' schedules. We had another new nurse today, who was great about following Ty's schedule.

We got great news today. We think Ty might be discharged some time between Sunday and Tuesday. He still needs to wean himself off of the oxygen, though. The doctors say there is no medical reason he should still need it...I think he is just being a lazy breather. But, when we are holding him, they can turn it off completely. So, he just needs to get with the program. The doctors are going to discharge us with only one medication prescribed for Ty. We'll have to follow up with the neurologist in a few weeks, but I think that is good. We also met with our social worker today to get all of our referrals post-discharge. We are lucky to be in San Francisco and California. Apparently, Ty's diagnosis qualifies for special programs that will monitor him from 3 months on for developmental progress and to make sure that we have the right type of therapies if needed. (I feel really lucky after learning that some of our fellow NICU parents are from out of town and staying at the nearby Ronald McDonald House).

On a lighter note, I have been chatting with several other NICU mothers in the "pumping room" (Where we go 8 times a day to pump milk if we are not able to breastfeed full time yet). I heard some outrageous stories today about one teenage mother who decided to walk around topless in the NICU for 3 months and other similar crazy behavior.

Also, our day nurse had to run out chasing a couple. Apparently, they were told there baby was going to be discharged. So, they picked up their baby and started walking out the door a few minutes later. They seemed to miss the details that their baby still needed a hearing test...and, of course, obligatory paperwork. But, it was funny to see the nurse running fast to catch them.

Tim also wanted me to tell everyone that Ty does actually look better and healthier than the posted pictures show. To be fair, all of the pictures are taken with my cell phone with very low resolution, so I can email them directly from my phone to the blog during the day. Tim is determined to post better pictures to the blog with our "real" camera after we get Ty home.