9-16-10

I can't believe that it has been 4 weeks today. 4 weeks ago I went in for a normal 36 week OB appointment and soon after had a wonderful, beautiful son. It has also been 4 weeks since I have seen my house and I'm getting very homesick. I know we have to stay so that Oliver can learn to eat and grow but I can't help but want to bring him home. It seems as though he is over the illness and is in recovery mode and learning normal newborn things now.

Oliver continues to work on feedings either breast or bottle fed. Last night he finished 2 bottles completly and only needed a bolus once. Today though he has not been interested in bottles when I have been giving them to him and he needs to have the rest of the milk given through the NG tube. He did breastfeed well at noon today and even had a pattern to his suck/swallow/breathe.

They decreased the morphine frequency today to 0.1mg every 6 hours now. They're hoping that he will be off of it by the time we go home. They also did another ECHO of his heart again to determine if the pulmonary hypertension is still there and if it is what the pressures are to determine if he will go home on oxygen or not. I should know the result of this tomorrow morning after rounds. I pray that it is gone or reduced since the ECHO last week. The good news is that once it is gone you can never develop it again. All of the nurses keep telling me how lucky we are and that he was one sick boy. I think that I was unaware at the time how serious he was when he first arrived here until much later on when they finally explained things to me. He has been through a lot and I am so very proud of him for the progress he has made. We will continue to wait this out with him and let him tell us when he is ready to go home.


Yesterday my parents came to visit and go to hold Oliver for the first time. It made their day they said although he was asleep for most of their holding him.