Fatty Boombah was delivered by caesarean section after his mother ripped up the roof of her mouth chewing herself off barbed wire. His mum was euthanased after the surgery. Fatty BB had fur and tiny teeth just coming through his gums, a small forearm and quite a heavy weight for his bone size. Premature babies are iffy to keep alive but he's quite strong and is doing well in his first 24 hours, however, don't get your hopes up - they are touchy and die at the drop of a hat in the first few days, despite looking strong and apparently doing well.
He has a strong suck but his sucking swallow coordination isn't great, and he gets tired easily, so he can't take much milk at a time without losing his coordination and snotting the milk out his nose.
He's being fed with his head downwards to make sure he doesn't breathe any milk into his lungs.
He is being fed one drop at a time, slowly dripped down the side of his dummy. I'm not a terribly patient person and for me this has the entertainment appeal of watching grass grow or paint dry, but it's what he needs, every 2 hours with a 4 hour break overnight so both of us can get some undisturbed sleep.
He is getting subcutaneous Hartmanns solution to maintain his hydration.
He will also get humidity in his crib, and nebulised saline to help him breathe better.
For the moment, he's hanging on but his struggle isn't over yet.
The name Fatty Boombah is because he is so huge/heavy for the length of his forearm. Babies with his forearm length are usually only about 50 or so grams. .
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