Birthday Blues

Another month has past and Lincoln is now four months old! This past week has been a bit of a challenge for feedings. Lincoln did great last Tuesday (24 hours after his oxygen wean) but by Wednesday, he was having a few bad feedings. He does occasionally have a feeding were he doesn't eat that much, so I didn't automatically jump to turn up his oxygen. Lincoln seemed satisfied by the smaller volume. Then on Thursday morning, Lincoln threw up. And I mean projectile. He had just finished eating and I was burping him when I heard a big splat on the floor behind me. It was every where. Lincoln was scared, but he calmed quickly and seemed to feel better. His therapy was canceled that day, just in case he has something. I was concerned since Lincoln has never thrown up like that before so I called one of his nurses and explained the situation. She agreed that she would wait to turn up Lincoln's Os and just watch him. If he puked again, I should call the doc.

By Friday, Lincoln was consistently eating only about 70mls every four hours (his needed calorie intake is about 130ml every 4 hours). So I decided to start turning up his oxygen support just for feedings and I called Newborn Medicine to let them know. It was so late in the day when I called that they didn't call me back until Monday. It was almost better that way, since I had a couple of days of turning Lincoln up for feeds to see if things improved, and they had. By Monday Lincoln was taking more like 100-120mls per feeding. Much better!

Lincoln has been congested off and on since his first cold a few weeks ago, but Sunday night after his bath he was coughing a bit and then spit up after his Monday morning feed. It is very unusual for Lincoln to spit up after eating (he hasn't done that since he had a feeding tube months ago). There seemed to be a lot of mucous in the spit up and Lincoln sounded congested. So I used saline and suctioned his nose. His secretions were a little yellow, which I know can mean he is sick. Because of all these signs, I called the pediatrician and made an appointment for Lincoln to be seen Monday afternoon (Linc's 4 month birthday). Even though Lincoln had just had an xray a week earlier that showed clear lungs, a lot can happen in a week. I just wanted to have Linc looked at before it got too serious. His doc looked in his ears and throat and confirmed that he is getting a cold again (or it is the same one flaring up again). She said so far his ears and throat look ok and his lungs sound ok too. She said to just watch him over the never few weeks and hopefully it does not turn into an ear infection or something worse like the flu. She said to keep him upright to sleep and use saline and suction for congestion as well as a humidifier. She also said tylenol is ok too if he acts like his throat is hurting.

Lincoln could definitely be worse off, but this time around he has more symptoms(coughing and yellow boogies) so I am more worried. I almost think it is the same cold from a few weeks ago, since I do not know anyone who is sick that Linc could have caught it from. I feel terrible that he is feeling bad but I know that I'm doing my best with screening visitors and using sanitizer all the time to minimize transmission of germs. Linc spit again yesterday AM, but has been ok today and seems to not be any worse at least! Hopefully he feels better soon!