November 7th, 2010

Well the little man is now 4 months old. kinda hard to believe. :) He's weighing in at about 7 1/2 lbs now. He's a little chunk. the docs just reduced his calorie intake from 27 cal. to 24. Hopefully that will help with some of his gas.

Here is the latest update:

Eyes: Regressing. Since he is fully off oxygen now his eyes have been cleared and aren't one of the things keeping him in the hospital anymore.

Breathing: He's getting better...a bit. They had to increase his theophalin levels but his A's and B's have been reduced. Once they are gone (which we keep hearing that he WILL EVENTUALLY grow out of them) we will just have to figure out the feeding. In the mean time, that is what we are working on.

Feeding: He has improved greatly over the last couple days- up to about 20-38 mls by mouth! It has been a VERY VERY slow process but I really do believe he will get it! If he is not taking more than 75% of his feeds by mouth when he is finally over his A's and B's, the doctors have recommended he get a g-tube (tube that is inserted into the stomach) so he can go home. At first the g-tube totally freaked me out but i've come to accept that this could be the outcome and tried to educate myself more about it and it's really not as bad as i thought...and that's after educating myself through the internet.. I know this is the worst way for seeking information, but we all still do it. He will only need it until he is eating completely by mouth and I really don't think that will be too long at all. The worst part about getting the g-tube is he would have to be reintubated and with his lungs that's kinda scary. The longer we wait and his lungs improve and he gets bigger, the quicker he will come back off them. And if it gets him home sooner, than I think it's worth it.

HOME...not sure how I will feel when that time comes or the adjustment it will be. To be honest it has me a little freaked out. At least in the hospital I can rely on the nurses and doctors watching over him 24-7 instead of being alone with him. I am Scared to death that something scary will happen and I won't know what to do. Especially at night. I don't know how I will be able to fall asleep and not worry something will happen while I'm sleeping and I won't wake up. I'm sure all first time parents feel this to some extent when they are bringing home their newborns but Kingston's had people watching over him his whole life and so I feel we have had help but when we go home, it's all on us and the help is gone. I just hope once we do get home we don't end up having to go back. We have had been in the hospital far too long. ~Amber