Life in the NICU - Week Five
April 30 - May 6, 2000

Arran didn't have an easy time today feeding.  He had a stuffy congested nose that prevented him fom breathing easily.  This caused
problems with his sucking ans swallowing.  He was a little on the fussy side at times and let us all know when he was uncomfortable. The nurse is going to try to feed him with the bottle again at 6pm.

Arran is doing a little better this evening. At 6 PM he took 20ml in 20 minutes however he spit some of that back up.  Then at 9 pm she tube fed him.  Tonight's nurse said that he doesn't sound too congested and that he was sleeping peacefully.  He is gaining some weight so that is good.

Arran took his whole bottle for me today at 3pm and kept the whole thing in.  He didn't get a chance to finish his bottle at 6pm because he fell asleep at about 20ml.  He was tired at this point because he had a bath and this exhausted him.  He had a pretty good day today.

Arran ate 30 ml for me at 3 pm today after his bath.  The rest he had put into his tube.  At six he took all of his food through his tube. He switched rooms agian today.  He is stable enough to go to the satillite room which is the last room before you leave.  He isn't in their though because they thought that it would be more benificial to him to be back in the general room and get some special care for feeding times.  He is doing great.

This isn't really an update.  Arran had a quiet night last night so there really isn't anything to report.  A lot of people have asked us why we spell Arran's name the way we did.  I'd like to take a minute to answer that question.  Arran is an island in Scotland.  In case you hadn't realized, the Willocks are scottish.  Benjamin means a sure thing.  We were sure that Arran was going to make it if for no other reason than to stick his tonge out at the doctors who said he woulnd't.  Thats how Arran got his name.  He's so cute.

5/3/00 10:20 PM

Today I meet with Arran's doctor.  He gave us some options on how we can take care of Arran when he comes home.  He will be coming home soon but he still won't be able to eat a whole bottle at every sitting. This means that he will need to be tube fed.  We need to decide along with the doctor, how this should be accomplished. He did say that we may be able to take him home at the begining of next week.  Good news!

Today I learned how to put the OG tube in Arran.  This is how he is eating about half the time.  If we want to take him home then Brad and I both need to be able to put the tube in him.  I did it today and Brad will get his chance this weekend. It is not as difficult as I thought it would be. We are still trying to get him to eat every time with the bottle.  Right now he has a little bit of a cold (along with the rest of his family) and he can't suck and breathe as well as he was before.  Once he starts to feel better though he should be back on track.  We can hopefully take him home on monday or tuesday as long as everything goes well this weekend.  By the way, we moved to Smithsburg last weekend.  If anyone needs the phone number or address please e-mail me.

I spoke to the doctor again today.  He said that Arran will more than likely be going home with a monitor and a suction machine that will help clean his nose out more.  He also had a hearing screening today.  He did not pass the test at the normal level but he did hear and pass at a higher level. This means that he can hear but he's either developmentally behind a little or he just can't hear all that well.  He will have follow up tests after he's released from the hospital.  I placed the tube in him again today.  He took his whole bottle this morning at both 9 and 12.  He's doing great today.