#nicumama

Jeremiah Jerome made his entrance on 2/7/19 at 34 weeks and 3 days gestation. He weighed in at 6lb 4oz and 17 inches long. I went into my local hospital the night before and was transferred via ambulance to a larger hospital with a nicu and pediatric cardiologist due to how far along I was and possible heart issues in Jeremiah.

After 32 hours of labor (thank the heavens for pain medication and epidurals), he showed up in a 2 minute delivery that seemed to be compensation for the long labor. Two contractions back to back and he was here. He gave a good squawk at first but then had some trouble remembering to breathe, so he was on CPAP for 2 minutes and some oxygen another 5-10 minutes before getting some snuggles and then being transferred to the Nicu.

We are currently waiting on him to build up the strength and endurance needed to eat more than 10 ml orally before falling asleep. He is up to his max of 56 ml per feed and they added in 2 bottles of neosure per day to help him gain missing nutrients from pregnancy. He also has some intermittent breathing episodes where he will stop breathing or breathe really shallow so his oxygen levels drop,

Big brother Joshua doesn’t quite seem to know what’s going on, though I’m sure he’ll get it once we’re home. I’ve been rooming in with Jeremiah so I haven’t left the hospital yet. Between blizzards and work, family hasn’t been able to come visit much, but video chats help lessen the loneliness. It’s an hour and a half drive on a good day, so it’s been hard to coordinate visits.