The Cubby Chronicles XV

Note: Jacob Raymond Walker was born 12 weeks prematurely at Duke University Hospital the morning of Monday, May 19 2008. The following are updates, notes, & observations on his growth & development.

Its been a bit since the last update but all everyone needs to know is that Jake's doing very well. He's off the CPAP & for the past few days has been on a nasal cannula, the weakest form of 'breathing help.' He's actually breathing on his own & the tubes don't give him any oxygen (depsite what the link says); they just help keep his lungs inflated between breaths.

This is also the 5th or so day in a row where all his vitals (heart rate, blood pressure, breathing) have been good and his 'output' (e.g. pee & poop) has been strong too. The latter is quite important because the doctors were concerned that he might have some kidney issues but now the nephrologists are fairly sure that his kidneys are normal. Its kind of humorous that we're so excited about excrement but that's the way it works in the intensive care nursery.

The other exciting Jake development is that he's gaining weight--he's now officially 2 pounds, 1 ounce which is higher than his birth weight. All newborns (preemie or full term) lose weight their first week or so of life & slowly make it up. Since they've also increased his breast milk feeds (by 50%), hopefully he'll continue to put on some pounds. As you can see above, he's pretty sure he's becoming a big boy--even giving the 'large' two-handed pacifier a shot tonight.

In other news, my parents were back in town for the weekend and we had a good time with them & my 2nd aunt/uncle Denny & Georgia who drove up from Charlotte. Earlier in the week my sister Jennifer was in town & she not only enjoyed seeing Jake but also talking medical terms & procedures with the 'human' doctors & nurses. We've got a few days alone & then Kristin's mom & sister are flying in with that cute niece Lily...

Addendum:

• A quick intro to hospital charges & why its good to have health insurance. For those that remember, Kristin had some food issues when she was a patient at the hospital (essentially, it sucked). Duke had one of their staff dietitians come down to the room twice & discuss some other food options. We may have seen her a total of 10 minutes. We just received a copy of the insurance invoice & Duke is billing $376 for her services. I did some quick extrapolation on the figure for fun & if she was billed out at 40 hours a week that's ~ $4.7 million a year. Clearly I'm in the wrong career field....
• Apparently the Costco photo site won't be online until Wednesday, June 4. Sorry, we just pass along the info but we'll try to put a couple more shots up on the blog.