Hitting Milestones

As you can see by the pictures below, Baker has hit some milestones. He hasn't needed oxygen since we were given the order to take it off during the day. We still put it on at night (just to be safe), but most every day since his visit with the pulmonologist he's gone without supplemental oxygen. The other thing missing oh yeah his feeding tube!!! Well he started pulling out the tube at least twice a day since last week, so we made a deal with him. We won't put it back in and continue to bottle feed him if he does well with the bottle feeds. He's kept his end of the bargain so far. We talked to the GI and his speech therapist and they both told us as long as he's gaining weight then go for it. He was taking 1 to 2 bottles a day for a week or so prior so we did kind of gradually work him into this. The therapist did notice that he was getting a little fatigued near the end of the bottle, and showed us what to look for – but he's trooping along. Since he's started the bottle feeding his overall demeanor has been happier, and he's getting more formula then we were supposed to give him through the tube. So our fingers are crossed that he's gaining weight, so that we can do away with the feeding tube and pump.

It's such a relief for his mom and I to be able to bottle feed him. The enteral feeding was so impersonal. You fill the bag with warmed formula; make sure the tube is in position and press the button to start the feed. He doesn't look like he's eating, and sometimes seems not even to notice what's going on. We even would feed him while he was sleeping sometimes. With the bottle we can look in his eyes, watch him drink the milk and look satisfied when he's done eating. (I'm probably making that up, he is only really 3 weeks old officially).

He had a visit with his pediatrician yesterday to get more shots and for a checkup. His inguinal hernia has gotten worse, so he's going to visit a surgeon again on Thursday to see if they should operate to fix the hernia. We've read up on this surgery and have actually talked to a parent whose son had the same surgery and they said it was pretty routine and usually outpatient. Even though I hate to see him undergo any type of surgery at all, I would rather they do it and get it over with. It has progressively gotten worse since he left the hospital, why wait until it gets life threatening to deal with it? Even though we were told that the grunting, bearing down and cries were normal preemie things, his mom and I still think this has something to do with the hernia. Baker isn't your normal preemie, so stop generalizing… J

I miss not having a team of experienced nurses to bounce ideas off of, or get their opinion based on their experiences…