Evening update (Wednesday 12/17)

Max is doing well and having a quiet night.

I spoke with Nurse C., who reports that Max is doing well. He's still on a nasal cannula but not supplemental oxygen. He's only had brief desats and no bradys. She measured his head circumference at 35.75 cm, which she thinks is the same as today's 35.5 cm finding. In other words, basically unchanged over the past few days.

Okay this next part is gross (feel free to skip to the next paragraph). Max has tolerated his feeds well, with litte or no residual. When they check for "residuals" after a feed, they pull back on a syringe attached to the feeding tube--sucking out whatever might be left in the stomach. I think they're looking for signs of infection or digestive problems. During the Great NEC Scares, they reported that when they checked his residuals they didn't find "anything green". Tonight, I asked Nurse C. if Max had had any residuals: "Only 1 cc of undigested milk which I gave right back to him." (In other words: reinjected into his stomach.)

Finally, Max is due for a bath some time tonight. He hasn't dropped stool since 5:00 AM this morning, so I encouraged Nurse C. to hold the bath until after any blowout.