He's moved to Rex Hospital!

I got the call from UNC nurse Carol at 12:15 this afternoon! They had packed him up and were loading him into the special care vehicle. The results of his echo cardiogram showed the murmur to be caused by a small PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus). More on these terms related to a preemie heart murmur here.

Anyway, this move means two major things:

1. The heart murmur is not overly concerning the UNC neonatal cardiologist. Rex does not have neonatal cardiology surgical capability, so after reading the ultrasound, s/he must be pretty sure Aidan's heart will not need surgery! =)
   
2. The UNC hospital where he's been his first eighteen days of life is about 45 minutes away (out in Chapel Hill, for those of you not from 'round here). Corey and I were each doing this a hour and a half round trip daily. (No big deal - gas prices are so low nowadays and we have so much free time...)
   

So, how were we managing #2 above? Well, we'd settled into a routine. I was about to say a 'nice, little routine', but that's not true. Call it a grueling routine that was at least workin' for us...

While Corey and Nathaniel were still fast asleep, I would leave by 8 am visit the UNC Hospital in the morning. I have to pump milk every 3-4 hours, so I'd have to do that before I left. I'd try to make it by the time the doctors did the rounds, but that did not always happen, depending on the notorious I-40 traffic. The highlight was I'd get to do kangaroo care, including holding Aidan during his 11:00 - 11:30 feeding! =) I'd have to pump at the hospital, and make sure I left in time to meet Corey in a Rite Aid parking lot off Corey's I-540 Gym exit in order to take over care of Nathaniel so Corey could get to work by 2 pm.

Corey would work his 2-9 pm shift while Nathaniel and I would head back home to deal with dinner, bath & bed time, etc. Corey would then go after work to visit Aidan from 10 pm to around midnight or so, arriving home close to 1 am. He'd wake me to pump and set an alarm to wake up for Aidan's 4 am "feeding", after which I'd get a few more hours of sleep before waking up to pump & leave for UNC again.

So, the great news is Rex Hospital - where I had Aidan and also Nathaniel in 2006 - is only about 20 minutes away, not 45 minutes away. Parking is free, not $1.25 an hour. On the down side, they are closed for visitation from 6:30 - 7:45 both am & pm everyday, where UNC had been open for visitation 24 hours. The really big bummer is Nathaniel can not visit at all at Rex. =(

I called and spoke with his nurse for today at Rex, and he's arrived safe and sound. They had had to skip his noontime feeding because they were in transit. As soon as Corey is home today (he works 9-4 on Saturdays) and Nathaniel is up from a nap, we'll head over to see him at Rex! We'll take and post pictures of him in his new location soon! =)