6 pounds
Look at this boy he is 6 pounds. Thankfully his eating patterns are still allowing him to gain weight steadily so we know he is getting the nutrition that he needs to grow up. There has been a lot of talk and a lot of plans in order to get him out of the hospital and on his way home and that is definitely our goal. So feeding's have been a pivotal part of everything that is happening here. He failed on the Dr. Brown bottles and nipples, he moved from that to an evenflo system which was even worse, and then they put him on what they call volume feeders that are only available in the hospital, we cannot buy them, but he was so successful on them. He went from taking 20's to 30's to 60's in ml of volume, it was like day and night. They said that since he was tolerating those that the closest thing to them was playtex pro vent's so we went out and purchased a couple of those to test them. He took them today well, he took 55 ml and 45 ml while we were visiting with him. He has to be consistently successful on them for 48 hours before we can consider the bottle and nipple combination good enough for him to go home on.
On Friday I felt like we were kinda running in place. I mean I know that Calen is close to coming home but nobody had actually came in and talked to us about a plan to get him there and what we needed to be prepared for when he does come home. We asked if we could talk to the doctor and he happily came in and talked to us for a while and gave us the whole layout of what to expect and the plan at this point, which was great it really cleared the air. We talked about a possible discharge date and what we will need at home. Once the holiday is over and people come back to work on Tuesday then we just need the seal of approval from Occupational Therapy that he is eating well. If the feeding is good then the other concern is whether or not he needs to have surgery before he comes home or if they are willing to wait a while. I am in support of surgery before home because I just want to go home and stay home. Ohh the surgery, he will need to have inguinal hernia surgery. He definitely has one and it is currently easily reducible and it may stay like that but there is no doubt that surgery will be needed because there is to much abdominal pressure on the hernia to let it heal it's self. The surgery will be done at Children's hospital, hopefully just in Dayton, maybe Cincinnati not really sure. Doctor asked us if we are comfortable with taking him on oxygen and sleep apnea monitors and medications and we said we were, we will try to get the oxygen company to our house this coming week in order to get the training on all the new equipment that we will need. This came to a surprise to me but you don't actually have to take your child home on oxygen or medications, they will keep them admitted until they come off of all those things if the parents so choose, I really couldn't believe that but some people do that.
Me and Calen doing our normal sleep sessions.
We started to put Calen into baby swings. When we leave at night we have been putting him in the swing and turning on his music therapy. We hope that it helps him sleep good and relaxes him. It plays an even bigger role though in determining that he will be able to sit in a car seat. The position that they sit in the swing and the car seat are similar. He still needs to have the car seat test, which he will just need to be placed in his car seat for 1 hour and ensure that he does not have any vital sign trouble. Due to the fact car seats are not well designed for premies there can be an issue with there neck being out of line and restricting there airway. We think he should be fine because he is up to 6 pounds and he tolerates the swing well. We are hoping that maybe Sunday or Monday we can get the car seat test knocked out and then we are hopeful for a Wednesday discharge but it could be later than that , we definitely do not know for sure. They want us to come to medical rounds Sunday morning in order to possible get a definitive discharge day, we will be heading there for medical rounds in the morning, Grandma Dot Birthday party is tomorrow night.
I thought I had so much more to talk about but that might be it. His eyes are fully matured now and we don't have to worry about seeing an ophthalmologist for another year. He has possible hearing issues in his left ear that we are going to follow up with out patient. All of Calen's medical records are being transfered to Dr. Horn our pediatrician, we will have to see him within one week of discharge from the hospital. It is going to be very busy for us once he comes home, at least for a while it will be.
Holly and I are both healthy and well at this point. We are excited about the summer and ready for the weather to get nice again. We have been using every nice day outside and we have been able to keep the lawn work up and we have even got our garden fully planted.
Night everybody. Hope everyone is doing well!!!!!
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