Today I had to go to the hospital alone because Mark really needed to work, he's taken so much time off with everything going on and really can't keep doing that. So I got up with the boys, did some laundry and hung out with them for awhile. Then I made them lunch and left them with Stephanie while I went up to the hospital. Not long after I got there the occupational therapist came in to do his first bottle feeding. He did pretty well, she had to pace him so he wouldn't just keep sucking and not breathe. He is taking 48ml per feed right now and he managed to drink 22ml...the rest went in his feeding tube. Not bad she said, she said usually they are happy with 5-15ml for their first feed so he did really well. I was still hoping he would just drink it, breathe and everything be great like a normal baby would so he could come home sooner. She said babies that have been on oxygen typically have a harder time figuring it all out and it could take a couple weeks even. He has to be able to take 8 full feeds before he can come home :( For now they are starting him out on 3 bottle feeds a day and after a day or so they'll see how he's doing on that and see where to go from there.
They had to take his PICC line out today because it looked a little red like it might be getting infected so they are doing tests to make sure there aren't any infections and he's on antibiotics until those come back. They had to put an IV in his foot because he still needs fluids but they hope to have that gone tomorrow.
He is down to .5L at 21% oxygen on his nasal canula and they hoped that by 11pm tonight it would fully be gone. I can't wait to go in and see him tomorrow, hopefully that's gone, the IV is gone and he's in an open crib. If he does all that he SHOULD move to special care soon so I can stay with him there...if we have someone to stay with the boys. I won't do it all the time because it's just not fair to the boys at home but I will stay some at least. I get to try to nurse him tomorrow which I'm really nervous about but hopefully he does ok. Tonight I pumped 10oz in one session, I've been getting SO much and my let down is really fast so I'm scared to actually nurse him. But the occupational therapist said to give him the chance and if it's too overwhelming then the next time we'll pump a little first then let him nurse.
Overall he's doing really well it's just all going way too slow for me, hearing yet again it could be a couple more weeks when you look at him and see a healthy baby now is so hard. I hope he yet again proves them wrong and gets this feeding thing down really quickly so he can come home with us.
Tonight was Casen's final tournament game. They lost but they played really well, they ended the season as #1 American league team but #2 overall for tball...out of 17 teams! So they did awesome this season!!!!
First bottle feeding
Sleeping on Mommy with his full tummy
Casen and his trophy
Go Orioles!!!
Casen and his coach
Yay Preston! I know how you feel, especially when you see a healthy baby instead of a sick one. I only had to endure it for a few days. I hope he proves them wrong too! :)
ReplyDeleteThat is so good to hear!! He is still moving in the right direction which is awesome to hear!!!! I am praying for you and just remember he is in God's hands and you need to just breathe and leave it to him. Love ya girl!!!
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