One Month Old

Status:

28 Days Old

33 Weeks and 5 days 

Looking Great!

This last week has been exciting for the Rueckert-Downey clan; if you haven't heard Devin was transferred back to the NICU in Foothills Hospital in Boulder.  Jeff and I couldn't be happier!  They decided that Devin was holding his temperature enough for an open crib and events started snowballing from there.  Flight for Life, the same transport company that took him to UCH, transferred him to Foothills on Friday afternoon after many hours of deliberation with the insurance company.  He handled the transfer very well and only needed a little more oxygen.  After all Boulder is a whole 100 feet higher.  :)  We are exited since Foothills is way closer to home, Jeff and I know Boulder a lot better and more friends are near by.  If you are one of those friends and want to stop by give me an email we would love to see you and for you to meet Devin.  The nurses, NNPs and doctors that first treated him are amazed with his improvement in the last month.  It is fun to get to see and work with them again.  We'll miss the team at UCH they did an amazing job and everyone at Foothills keeps saying that Jeff and I are well trained NICU parents.  We can be taught!  

Devin had his first bath and his second bath also in the last week.  After the first initial shock of being submerged in water he rather liked it.  Although you might not be able to tell by the pictures.  For his second bath Jeff got to carry him down to another room with a warmer.  This was Devin's first ride in one of our arms.  All of his moving has been a short lift or rolling in an isolette.  He seemed to love it.  

Progress on going home.  

Devin is now classified as a grower/feeder.  This is the last step before going home from the NICU - so good news.  This just means that he needs to grow and learn how to feed.  He still has some oxygen but is a very low flow rate and will probably be weaned off that in the next week.  The growing and learning to feed stage is a slow one as the skills to suck, swallow and breath just take time.  Since he no longer has IVs, PICC lines or anything attached to a vein it is much easier to hold him.  The routine is that the nurses wake him up every three hours for Cares.  Cares involve taking his temperature, changing his diaper, changing any clothes or blankets that are dirty, the nurse checking him over in general and then breast milk is feed to him through his gavage tube.  We are invited to do as much as they feel comfortable.  Jeff and I try to do anything that doesn't require a nursing degree.  Also durning his feeding, which takes an hour we can hold him.  In the morning I do skin to skin holding called Kangaroo Care with Devin which is supposed to help him relax and therefore get a more restful sleep.  Then Jeff and I hold him as much as we can for each feeding.  This is a huge improvement and a large boost for our morale.  It makes us feel more like parents.  :) 

NOTE:  I think that I fixed the not being able to view the pictures.  Let me know if you still can't see them.