D-Day

What a day. It's definitely not the day we all expected/hoped for, but what can I say? He is here. He's making progress. What more could we ask for? The barium study he had earlier this week didn't show and strictures or blockages so the plan is to make sure that all of the barium passes through his system, and then to slowly start feeding him again and . . . wait and see. For now he's doing pretty well with his IV fluids. A little puffy, but no worse than before. 6 lbs 3 oz! We were also told today that it looks like he might have a tiny fracture in his arm because of a calcium deficiency, but it doesn't seem to bother him, and they aren't even 100% sure it's there. Other than that, all is well. We are very anxious to see what happens when they start feeding him again because it will pretty much help with everything and we can't wait to see him get rid of the ventilator. It is definitely a day for mixed emotions. It's so special to have been able to already spend so much time with Bryton, but at the same time, I can't help but think of how things could have been different. I just out right sucks to watch your baby struggle and have tons of tubes and machines plugged into him. We are going to be ok though. He is strong and resilient and this will all be over when he's ready.

*big sigh*

Waiting is no fun. Tomorrow morning the little man will be getting an x-ray to see if he is going to need the barium study. We spoke with one of the neonatologists the other day and there are a lot of things for us to be thinking about right now. He is doing pretty well considering the situation. Even though he's on the IV fluids he's still putting on weight and doing well with the ventilator settings. He is already growing out of some of the preemie clothes. We'll be going over to seem him pretty soon, so more new pics later!

Here we go again

More fun stuff. The little mans belly has been distended so they've stopped his feeds and want to do another barium study. However we feel that the only reason his belly is doing this is because they changed his feeding schedule. His feeds have been stopped and he's back on IV fluids. Again. He is doing much better this morning though, which we are happy about. He has pooped and pretty much passed all of the air that was in his bowel. Things have been going pretty well lately. Daddy finally got a chance to hold our little miracle again the other night which was awesome- we all had a great time hanging out. Hopefully we'll have some more news for you later.

More progress . . .

He is just too good. And he doesn't even know it! We are up to 20 mls an hour and doing good. He had a good sized poop last night and he's just hanging in there. He is doing really well in the crib. On of the nurses brought in a cd player and he's been enjoying Bach and watching Harry Potter ;) He is very alert and curious when he's awake so we found some graphics that are supposed to help stimulate vision and brain development, and it also just gives him something to concentrate on and keep busy. It's so nice to be able to just walk in and not have to open up the holes in the isolette to have contact with our son. He's just right there waiting for us. It's a beautiful feeling.

Sorry it's been so long!

Things have been busy here in DE, but all is well with our little man. 5 lbs 5 oz!!! His belly went down so they started feeding him again about 4 days ago and as of today we are back up to full feeds and doing well. He was moved into an open crib today and he seems to really like it. He is wearing clothes and holding his own body temperature. He's still on the ventilator, and he got feisty last week and pulled his own tube out twice! But no more of that. So we are back to wait and see. Now we just need to let him grow and make more progress. I promise I'll be better about updating.

Another one of those days . . .

Here we go again. Everything is fine, except for the face that his belly is HUGE! He literally just has really, really bad gas. He looks really out of proportion and very uncomfortable, but he seems to be doing o.k. All of his vital signs are good and he is taking breaths on his own. It's just really hard to see him like that. His belly is bigger than the rest of him by far. They took an x-ray just to be safe and said there is really nothing to worry about, he just needs it to all move along. They held off on his feeds for a few hours last night to give him some time, and then when they started again they went down from 18 mls to 16 mls so hopefully that will help. Other than that everything is going pretty well. He's doing good on his ventilator settings. It's amazing to see how much he's grown. 12 weeks yesterday. The longest 12 weeks of our lives. Grandma Cathy and Aunt Christy came up for Grandmas birthday on the 1st- we went out to dinner and visited with Bryton. It was a really good night- especially because the little mans belly wasn't so huge. Hopefully we'll start seeing some changes soon. Lets cross our fingers.