Barnaby is Doing Great, Day 37

At this point, the team thinks that his spells are back within typical premie territory. The doctors have given him an allotment of 5 spells per day based on what they consider normal development and he is not going over his limit most days. Many of his spells seem to be feeding-related, and a few are from “apnea of prematurity” where he just holds his breath. He loves sucking on a pacifier, but also seems to spell more while he is enjoying that so we try to balance the benefits of him practicing that motion with the discomforts.

Ana and I have both received our first vaccine dose, and the research is starting to suggest that her immunity will be passed to him through breast milk.

He is 4lbs 4oz and downright chubby. Starting to wear infant-size onesies which are too big for him but not by so much that it doesn’t work. He gets milk every three hours and is starting to get fussy and cry when he is hungry.

His shunt is still functioning. A little bit of asymmetrical ventricle expansion has led them to restart twice a week ultrasounds. Still, they haven’t felt the need to tap the shunt (removing CSF manually with a hypodermic) which is a vote of confidence in how well it’s working to passively stabilize his ventricular pressure.