Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Day 79: Move to Nursery 3

Loki moved to Nursery 3. This is where the babies go when they are needing a little less care, so Loki graduated. He is consistently in a three baby assignment. The nurses taking care of him will not only by RN's (for the Dutch this means HBO-V) but also LVN's (MBO verpleegkundigen).

Loki is still a hair away from five pounds by American standards. He continues to be on a three liter flow nasal cannula. The doctor's approximation of his stay was about four to six more weeks past weekend. This could mean around his due date of February 4th, but also a few weeks after that. So we'll see. I can't wait for him to come home, and I am very, very nervous about it. Living without the monitor and all the nurses around 24/7 will be weird. Although I can't wait to cuddle up on our own couch with the three of us and just sit and realize we have this beautiful baby. Also curious how we will handle nights with even less sleep!

For those who wondered about Loki sleeping on his tummy and bathing him with his head on my arm? We will be weening him from his tummy by the time he goes home because stomach positioning indeed correlates with higher rates of SIDS (sudden infant death). Therefor, our little giant will be sleeping on his back by the time he comes home. Also, one usually has the babies head in their hand and not on the arm for obvious reasons demonstrated by me in the video. There is an increased risk of the baby learning how to blow bubbles or drink soapy water, by force of mother's clumsiness, not by choice :-)

Loki latched on during all three practice sessions, so he is now most getting a little bit of milk straight from the breast, in addition to his 45 mls through his nose!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dearest Lijn,
Don't blame yourself of clumsiness.
Also mother's have to learn how to handle their babies!
I can understand your nervousness about having Loki at home, without all the help of the hospital close at hand.
But you are such a very compassionate Mom, with lots of courage!! So keep hope, it will be allright and it will come out positive, I'm sure.
Indeed it will be wonderful for the three of you to be so close together day and night.
"Angst is een slechte raadgever", we say in Dutch as you know, but I can imagine and understand, you have both feelings of joy and fear.
I do think of you, Jesse and Loki.
Lots of love, Karin.

marieke said...

Great that Loki had a little milk from the breast! The both of you must be so proud! You both give lots and lots of energie and love for months now. And Loki is such a wonderfull strong little dudi maludi. You two and the super nurses made it possible! Loki made the choice to grow with you two and to live with the two of you. It will be very scary to have him home, you will not sleep for some nights:-) But... you can cuddle up everytime you want to and Loki will be so happy to be in a real house with his mom and dad. I'm telling you the truth!
love

Anonymous said...

Dear Loki, Lijn and Jesse! What an accomplishments by the little giant in a day! Isn't that wonderful! Coming home comes closer and closer for Loki. That must be exciting for him and you, and guess what? For us too! That will be a very precious experience too! Keep the kleenex at hand :-)
Love, Opa and oma.

Anonymous said...

“Since the implementation of the "Back to Sleep" campaign, therapists are seeing increasing numbers of kindergarten-aged children who are unable to hold a pencil.”
Susan Syron, Pediatric Physical Therapist

“The one we tend to think of has been the rapid increase in the incidence of positional plagiocephaly and positional brachycephaly. However, there have been whispers and rumors of other effects”
Phil Stevens, MEd, CPO regarding side effects of the Back to Sleep Campaign.

I'm just paasing through doing research on a Sleep Project so I figured I'd give you another perspective on the Back to Sleep campaigns and the developmental delays associated with it.

From Scripps:

In 1992, about 80 percent of 4,895 unexpected infant deaths reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each year were considered SIDS deaths -- a determination that's supposed to be reached only after a thorough death scene investigation, autopsy and medical history review of the baby rule out any other possible cause.

By 2005, of 4,857 deaths reported, just under 48 percent were considered SIDS deaths, but almost 30 percent were attributed to "unknown causes" and the rest to accidental suffocation or homicide.

Also, infants who sleep supine compared to infants who sleep in the prone position have higher risks of the following developmental delays and deformities:
- Social skills delays at 6 months (Dewey, Fleming, et al, 1998)
- Motor skills delays at 6 months (Dewey, Fleming, et al, 1998)
- Supine Sleep causes increased rates of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) (Corvaglia, 2007)
- Milestone delays (Davis, Moon, et al., 1998)
- Increased duration of sleep apnea episodes during REM sleep at both 2.5 months and 5 months (Skadberg, Markestad, 1997)
- 6% decrease in sleep duration (Kahn, Grosswasser, et al.,1993)
- 1 in 300 infants had plagiocephaly in 1974 (Graham, Gomez, et al., 2005)
- 1 in 60 infants had plagiocephaly in 1996 (Graham, Gomez, et al., 2005)

http://www.scrippsnews.biz/node/32310

About Loki Sky

Loki Sky is a special little man. He was a very early micropreemie, weighing only 610 grams (1 lb, 5 oz) after 24 weeks, 3 days gestation, born to an American Father and a Dutch Mother in Berkeley, California on October 18, 2008.

On January 11, 2009, while still in the hospital NICU, his one kidney stopped working. It was repaired after three surgeries. After spending time in three hospitals in three cities, Loki came home on February 17. He struggled with eating, and then stopped in July, leading to 8 days in the hospital, a failure-to-thrive diagnosis, and a NG feeding tube. On October 10, a minor surgery installed a G feeding tube. Another procedure replaced it with a new one, and then again with a Mic-Key button in Jan. 2010.

In August 2010, he and his parents moved to the Netherlands.

Read about his first name.
Read & hear about his middle name.
See photos.
See videos.

Subscribe via email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Loki's Holiday Gift Drive

Please consider donating to Loki's Holiday Gift Drive for the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center NICU. You can donate by Paypal or credit card here:





Click here for more information, including how to pay by check. For all posts on the Gift Drive, click here.

Blog Archive