A Fast Weekend

This weekend has gone by quickly. I had sent Jason to go get us donuts Saturday morning and I headed up to the hospital room to see Henry. Upon my arrival, not only had Henry moved rooms, but his nurse informed me that they were giving Henry a blood transfusion. It was a shock, as the nurse had asked if we had been called (the answer is no, we hadn't). Henry was receiving a transfusion due to the low level of his hemoglobin in his last test. With a child with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, the doctors do not like to see the hemoglobin level drop below 14. Henry's level had been at 13 and had dropped to about 12.

Henry's color improved over the day, but the poor man was very fussy as the doctors still wanted to wait to try to feed him. The day was spent making sure Henry was not having any additional problems. Henry had an x-ray done earlier Saturday morning, and everything is looking great. As the day progressed, we learned that Henry was not the only baby down in the NICU having this problem.

Sunday Henry was finally able to receive food again! The doctors started him on just plain breast milk of 10 ml over an hour on bolus feedings. Henry's meals will increase an additional 6 ml every 6 hours. Henry was less fussy today, so that has made Jason and myself feel a little less tense. Henry has been a pretty quiet baby, for that I am grateful, but hearing him cry and be fussy all weekend was just heartbreaking to me, as I know that all my poor little man wanted was to receive some real food.

My sister was able to make a visit up to Henry on Sunday. She hadn't been up since his surgery, and had yet to hold our little man. Mallory looked like a pro holding her nephew.

She even indicated that Gunner was kicking a few times too while she was holding Henry. Hopefully the two won't be kicking each other (too much) down the road.
 
Tomorrow, we hope to go off the IVs and switch back to taking oral medication.  No word yet on when we will move back upstairs.