After four days of trying to stave off labor, Elliott Benjamin made his early debut into the world at 28.5 weeks of gestation. He weighed 3 lbs, 3 ounces and measured 16 inches long. He was born crying and with his eyes open. He appears to have reddish-brown hair. He is currently in the Baylor Medical Center NICU and will be there until sometime in July.
He spent his first two days on a conventional ventilator before graduating to a SiPAP machine (a step in between the more common CPAP and a ventilator) on Saturday. On Sunday, he graduated to a CPAP. He continues to be on the CPAP, but the nurse practitioner hinted this morning that he might graduated to canula later this week. He has been on room air this entire time, and we are not aware of any desats or any episodes of bradycardia.
He has tolerated feeds well and as of today is up to half an ounce of breast milk every three hours. Unlike his brother, there are no additives to increase the calories. He is expected to be at "full feeds" later in the week and off all supplemental IV nutrition.
Bloodwork yesterday showed some jaundice, so he was placed under the bili lights. Today's bloodwork shows the bilirubin back down to normal levels, but he will be under the bili lights another day as a preventive measure.
He is on caffeine and antibiotics as a general preventive measure, but is on no other meds and shows no need for other meds at this point.
Although we hoped never to be back in this place, this road is so very different than Truman's road. Elliott is behaving more like a typical preemie with no particular complications. Instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop or the latest bad report, we are waiting instead for Elliott to grow bigger and stronger and wondering when he will join our family at home.
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