After having problems getting my blood pressure totally stabilized at a normal level, I was finally released from the hospital today, 5 days after he was born. When I went home, he was still doing well. He had lost a couple of ounces after birth (all newborns do), but he is back on a trend of gaining weight. At this point he's getting most of his nutrition through an IV (in his umbilical cord - amazing!), but he also has an NG tube, which goes down his nose into his stomach and is receiving tiny amounts of milk through that. He has been able to remain off the vent, getting some oxygen through a nasal cannula, but is still mostly breathing on his own. He has overcome one challenge already - he had a PDA, which is basically an open channel in his heart. This channel is open in all babies, in utero, but in full-term babies it closes on its own. His had not had the chance to close yet. So he was given 3 dosesof Indocin, each 12 hours apart, to close the PDA. This medicine can cause some kidney problems in preemies, but they checked him after every dose, and he tolerated it well, with no adverse affects. Thankfully, the medicine closed his PDA (it doesn't always work; sometimes surgery is necessary.) At this point, it's just a waiting game for him to grow, and learn to nipple-feed, as babies at this gestational age are not coordinated enough to suck, swallow, and breathe at the same time. Even as I left the hospital, baby boy Tidball still did not have a name - we thought they had 10 more weeks (well at least 6!) to decide, and had not yet come to a final agreement on what he should be called.
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