Kangarooing

Day 2 close up

Kangarooing in the nursery is providing skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby for 90 minute stretches. Shanna and Daniel are allowed 3 sessions per day. The amount of extra oxygen he needs is decreasing and soon, maybe today, he'll be off it. He seems to have 'wet lung syndrome' more common in C-section boys. Normally the fluid in the lungs gets wrung out mostly in the birth canal and the remainder is absorbed by the lung tissue. But no birth canal squeeze for Daniel and his immature lungs are having trouble clearing this fluid. It rarely lasts more than 3 days. He nursed for the first time last night so he had to improve enough to just breathe through his nose. Before his whole chest and belly would cave in as he struggled to breathe. Another symptom is a blue tongue but that goes away under oxygen. What remains blue is the foot and leg they pulled on to try to extract him. Maybe newborns bruise easier but it is shocking to see. His face is all swollen by the fluids so we can't see how pretty he really is. The earliest he can be released is Monday where as Shanna needs to go home Saturday or Sunday. Already a woman is camped out in the visitor's room to feed her baby around the clock but can not stay there as a patient. Shanna might be joining her.

We are waiting for Oliver to get up from his nap to go see Daniel. We had been taking Oliver out with us to lunch but yesterday, he refused to sit still and threw everything he could get his hands on to the floor. He has yet to see his brother nor do I think he understands why his mama seems to be living in another place. He likes the hospital though. More people to admire him and new spaces to explore.

Hurricane Bill is scheduled to hit here this weekend hopefully cooling things off. It is so humid here that the highs and lows are quite close. I have been running for the past 2 mornings totally soaked. At least it is flat, carless, scenic, and has drinking fountains along my path. The downsides are no shade and most of the path is concrete.

I am hoping that Naomi is being mature and taking care of things at home. Josh calls her daily and will go over there today (he doesn't work on Fridays).