Our 6:30am call into the NICU this morning was an eventful one, our nurse told us Ethan pooped three times!  When we visited at around 8:30am, he went again and I was able to change my first poopy diaper…it was amazing.

In rounds, the doctors went over the following:

• Ethan’s system is working well, bowel movements looked totally normal.
• When they fed him last night, he spit up and it was tiny bit green in color, meaning they needed to slow down feeding. They took a 6 hour break on feeding. Now that he has worked some of the food through his system, they have resumed feeding and will continue to feed every three hours.
• Ethan’s bili level went down, so the lights are gone!  Since bili levels usually peak around day 5 of life, he may have to go back under the lights, but since he is flushing red blood cells out of his system through bowel movements, he may not need any more tanning time.
• He has a little rash that is really just a few bumps that are hardly noticeable to us. But to be safe, the staff is watching it.  It might be due to sensitive skin but will probably go away on its own.
• Instead of a PICC line, they put a line into Ethan’s belly button where he used to be attached to me in the womb.  It’s a much easier location and is less likely to cause irritation and/or come out.  Hopefully he won’t even need this for fluids soon!

Overall, we think he looks better every time we visit.  His tummy is full but not bloated, his eyes are clear, and his coloring is good.  This morning he had wide open eyes and was looking around at us for a long time…the longest we’ve seen him awake yet. We held him for about an hour and it was wonderful.

The NICU Attending Physician, who is extremely confident and compassionate with us every day,  assured us that he is doing very well and also mentioned that she thinks he’s really cute. :)

We bought him a few preemie outfits today and can’t wait to take them in this afternoon.  The nurses assured us they don’t mind working around the snaps and/or buttons because the clothes are just so darn cute.

Here are some pictures from this morning (that is the feeding tube in his nose):

And here is what the bili lights looked like yesterday:

Each baby in the NICU has their own incubator, then they graduate to a crib when they can hold a regular body temp.  The nurses position the babies on their backs, sides, and tummies.  Preemies like to have their arms and legs tucked in close to their bodies (as I think most newborns do too) so they are always swaddled unless they are being exposed to the lights. He has a wrap around his face because when under bili lights, the babies must wear ‘goggles’ over their eyes.

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