![]() Daily updates (March 1999) |
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Page Purpose |
Daily Update Archive:
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Purpose of page | I will try to update these pages daily when
I get in. It is not that I mind people asking me how he is, but it will
save me repeating the same story over and over again which is a little
hard for me, especially if he has had a rough night.
(Plus, my Boss may feel that I am accomplishing more work if I am not always talking about Sullivan when he comes to my door!) Feel free to ask questions, but if you want a quick update, check here first to see if I have made an update. (Note: my schedule will probably be such that I will arrive between 8:45 and 10 am and I'll make this update my first task of the day) (When available, I will put images in here too, or at least links to them.) |
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Mar 1,Mon.
1920grams n/w Sun 1900 Sat |
4 lb 3 oz and growing. Sullivan had a very good weekend.
He continues to feed well, and his Oxygen was reduced to 5 ccs, with no
increase during handling or feeding. Sunday night when his primary nurse
came back on, she decided to try him on room air. After she turned it down,
he did well. This morning he was still on room air, but was turned up to
5ccs to feed, just to be safe.
He is very alert now at feeding times. He anticipates us coming in, and is awake and ready. His grandmother, and cousins and uncle and aunt came in to visit on the weekend. For the first time, he was awake for all of them. He'll be undergoing another eye exam today. They put 2 sets of drops in to dilate his pupils to prepare him, and he seems to recognize what is forthcoming, so he wasn't feeding well this morning. Can't wait to be away from all of this, and just care for him like your average baby. |
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**bonus** |
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Mar 2,Tues.
n/w |
The eye exam, though tiring for Sullivan went well. His one
eye is still back to stage 0, and the other eye is now down to stage 1
from stage 2. That is good progress. It doesn't mean that he won't have
vision problems but it does mean that he won't have the Retinopathy
of Prematurity problem, which could have resulted in a detached retina.
His vision, and hearing, and other developmental issues will have to be
monitored.
Because of the stress and exhaustion of the eye exam, he didn't feed well all day, but he was back to his good old self by his 6pm feed. No date set yet for his release, but we are waiting for the word. He must still be immunized, since he was supposed to get it at 2 months but he wasn't well enough or big enough to get it. He'll get that in hospital, because there is the possibility he may have a bad reaction, and have to be put back on a ventilator (but we hope not). |
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Mar 3,Wed.
1950 grams |
NO OXYGEN! Tuesday at noon, the oxygen was turned off, and
Sullivan's nasal prongs were removed. He did not desat during the breast
feeding. This is a great step. It is now 1 day later and he is still doing
well. Mom fed him 4 times yesterday. His feeding schedule today is going
to be changed from Q3 (every 3 hours) to demand feeding during the day
when Mom is there, and Q4 (every 4 hours) during the night.
One step closer to home ... |
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Mar 4, Thurs.
n/w |
So far so good. O2 is still off, and he seems to be loving
it. He actually met us in the hall today. Peggy, his primary, was waiting
for us to arrive for his 9am feeding and Sullivan was awake, so she disconnected
him from the monitor, and was walking around with him, while waiting for
us. Probably the farthest he has been, untethered from his "station" in
the Nursery.
His bronchial treatments which were to reduce inflammation in his lungs, have been cut from twice a day to once a day. |
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Mar 5, Fri.
2030 Grams 4lb 7.6oz |
2KB (2 kilo boy)!! |
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Mar 8,Mon.
n/w 2000 Sat n/w Fri |
Sullivan continues to do well. His primary nurse decided
that he should have a bottle since he'll be going home soon. So Friday
night she gave him his first bottle. She said he did well, though a little
slow.
On Sunday morning, I came into the hospital and fed him his 2nd bottle ever. He didn't seem to mind (no confusion there!). The bottle contained 55 ccs and over the course of 30 minutes, he ate all but 5 ccs (okay plus the bit that went down his chin!) It was a good experience. (I think 50 ccs is about 1.75 oz!) He'll be getting immunized today. We'll have to see if he has any reaction. He wont be getting another eye exam for another 2 weeks. Last week the doctor said because of his progress, he didn't need to see him for 3 weeks. His room is finally ready, with the carpet put down. Now we have to organize the rest of the house. We have to be ready for him coming home soon. |
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Mar 9,Tues.
2020 grams |
Man Oh Man. How could I do that! I forgot Sullivan's birthday,
until I got to the Hospital last night. I should have mentioned it yesterday.
Sullivan was 4 months old yesterday. I checked his chart, and he was also 120 days old. That's a nice even number. He was immunized yesterday. He wasn't to happy about that, but the crying only lasted for the duration of the injection. I'm glad he has only a short memory. I fed him a bottle again last night (his 3rd) and he did quite well with that, so I think that will be any problem. We're at the stage now, where the nurses are quite comfortable with us doing everything (I'd hope so), so last night we took his temperature, weighed him, bathed him, and fed him and settled him all with no contact from the nurse. I guess we're ready for our full-time job. Bring it on! |
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Mar 10,Wed.
n/w |
Sullivan has had no side effects from the immunization on
Monday. He wasn't phased at all.
His feeding schedule got screwed up in the last couple of days. Instead of 9am, then 1 and 5 during the day, he got switched over to 11, 3, 8 and 12 which has made scheduling our visits difficult. I suppose these are the problems that any parent has. So last night we visited but didn't feed. Today he has gotten back to a 9am + schedule. He is doing well. |
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Mar 11,Thurs.
2010 grams |
He is wavering around the 2 kilo mark. We don't think there
is any concern. His weight fluctuation is probably due to him being solely
on breast milk. He is no longer getting formula or human milk fortifier,
but he is getting vitamin D and Iron supplements.
Even though he had a bath and was weighed, which usually makes him tired, he was awake for quite a bit last night. |
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Mar 12,Fri.
n/w |
Let's review Sullivan's Frequent traveller points!:
Well, it turns out that Sullivan is on the ball, and he read
the fine print of his Frequent Traveller Program User Guide, V2.1.
A Free Trip Home!!!!!! Yes, you read that right.
As you read this on Friday morning, Sullivan is being strapped into his car seat for the 2nd time, and he will, before noon on Friday March 12th, be transferred by his proud parents to the awaiting car outside the rear entrance of the Mount Sinai Hospital! To back track slightly, we were told
last Friday that he could come home in one week. We did not want to tell
anyone, because we did not want to jinx our good fortune. Anything still
could have happened. His immunization could have given him a set back,
... anything. We were just worried that by verbalizing it to anyone
that it just wouldn't happen.
Maureen and I thank everyone from the
bottom of our hearts for your thoughts, your prayers, your concern, your
love and your friendship over the past 4 months plus. It is very heartening
to know we have friends as special as all of you.
Maureen, Sullivan,
and Andrew
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Mar 16, Tue.
2095 grams |
Well, we are now just like any other family who has taken
a baby home. Constantly staring because he is so cute, wondering if he
is still breathing when he actually does fall into a deep sleep, and getting
only a couple hours of sleep each night.
Our weekend was very successful. He didn't let us sleep much on Friday night, but did sleep very well during the day on Saturday. We'll just have to hope that we can get his days and nights switched around. ![]() ![]() The above is Sullivan's birth announcement. It appeared in the Toronto Star on Sunday March 14. The announcement originally appeared in The Star, Saturday March 13, but in the original The Star made a "correction" that changed the meaning of one of the thank you's. The word "nurseries" was changed to "nurses". Thank you once again for all your support. Thank you for following this page so closely. I used this page to not only keep you informed, but also as my own daily journal, so I will be able to remember all these early events. I will occasionally put up more images of Sullivan as he grows (like any parent). Thank you once again, later... |
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Mar 18, Thurs. | Sullivan travelled back to Mount Sinai Hospital today to have his
eye checkup. The visit took approx 1 1/2 hours because they had to put
drops in his eyes to dilate them and then wait while the dilation happened.
It was a good visit for Maureen, because she got to visit with 3 other mom's who were returning with their babies for their eye exams. (Thursday must be "baby day"). One was the mother of the triples (with all three babies there for exams), another was Sullivans "cot neighbor" in Level II and the other was one of a set of twins who was across from Sullivan in NICU. Both of his eyes have now cleared up. They are both back to stage 0. Next we'll have to wait to see if his vision is imparied. |
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Mar 23, Tues.
2170 grams (4lb 12oz) |
Sullivan visited the doctor again yesterday. His weight is
now 2170 grams, or 4lb 12 oz, so home life is agreeing with Sullivan. He
is feeding well, and sleeping for stretches of up to 4 hours.
A new gallery with photos of Sullivan's last week in Hospital can be seen in Gallery 9. Sullivan has so far only enjoyed 2 rides in his new chariot. ![]() |
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February 1999 | February Updates | ||
January 1999 | January Updates | ||
December 1998 | December Updates |