The Resuscitation Room and First Visit with Calen Day 1

This is inside the resuscitation room which is where Calen went straight out of mom. Most expected him to come out worse then he did and we are so thankful to God as to how well he did. They were able to supply him oxygen with a CPAP and he was doing very well at breathing on his own with room air, assistance with breathing is always needed at his age. He was intubated for a short period of time in order to give him surfactant into his lungs to keep the alveoli opened up, this may have to be done at a later time again, they are unsure at this point. He was placed in a plastic bag which has multiple purposes such as helping him keep temperature, hold moisture in his skin because it is so thin, protect him from infection as he travels in open areas of the hospital and doesn't have any containment. The doctor that was in the room with him said he couldn't have expected him to be doing any better than he was and was confident he was holding up very well. 

While in the resuscitation room I had the opportunity to touch his hand. It is so weird because it is like you are not even touching anything, they are so small and fragile. We did notice later than his index finger is longer than his middle finger which is funny and that his fingers seem to be proportionately large.

This is once Calen was fully settled in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It took several hours before we were able to go in and see him. Holly was able to see him at this time too, they pushed her bed into his room beside Calen. He was continued on the CPAP that is in his nose, he has a nasogastric tube in his mouth to help relieve air in his belly associated with the CPAP blowing air down his trachea which some escapes down his esophagus, the plastic bag was still on him at this point but they were going to be taking it off within the half hour. He gets all his nutrition and iv fluids through arterial and peripheral fluids through his umbilical cord which is pretty cool, they will remove those lines in a couple of days and will get a PICC line probably in his leg. He will likely require a blood transfusion at some point too, in the all and all he is doing well.