This morning I came in and you had another eye exam. They said they just wanted a baseline, and they knew that you had just had an eye exam done on Tuesday. They said that your eyes looked great.
At 9, we did your care and then started to bottle feed you. You did about the same as you did yesterday at 9 am. You took 8 ml. Over night the nurse had you drinking around 20 ml, so I was a little upset that you didn't take as much. I held you after we did your bottle. Speech came and said that she wanted to come for your noon feeding.
The doctors rounded as I was holding you and said that we are going to keep going with the feeding plan. They said that you would need a hearing test and that they would schedule that. They said that you looked great. I asked if you could come home on the NG tube and they said yes. We could continue working with speech and getting you to eat even while at home. I asked if you would have to be on gravity feeds and they said no, that they could contact insurance and we would be sent home with a pump. I asked what the requirements would be for you to come home and they said that you can't have an episode that required stimulation within the last 5 days, and they checked and you haven't had any episodes that required any in a while. You would need to pass the car seat test which is sitting in your car seat for an hour without having any episodes. You need to have the caffeine out of your system, which it should be pretty soon anyway. The doctor then said "lets make it a goal to go home mid to late NEXT WEEK! You read that right! NEXT WEEK! AHHHH! Again, this is pending your car seat test and not having any episodes that require stimulation. I can't believe that we are actually talking about possible discharge! We have been waiting forever for that to happen! June 3rd will be 100 days in the NICU. Now we have tons of things to do to make sure we are really ready for you to come home!!! The doctor told me about the follow up appointments we would have - We are going to be busy! You have neurology, ophthalmology, speech, neonatology, pediatrician, urology, and early intervention. Crazy! They were talking about your 4 month shots, as well as the shot for RSV for you to get in September. Ahh!!
At about 11 am, mom-mom and I went to get some lunch before we came back for your speech appointment. She watched as I fed you, and then told me to try keeping the nipple in your mouth and just tipping it to the side every 3 seconds instead of fully taking it out of your mouth. You ended up taking 48 ml for me!! We were all SO excited about it! You did amazing! The nurse called the doctor to ask if she could just gravity feed the rest and he said yes. You stayed awake for a while after that. We ended up leaving before your 3 o'clock feed, but I figured you would be pretty tired from not going back to sleep and from working at getting 48 ml.
When I called to see how you were doing, she said that you took 15 ml at 3 pm and she was still feeding you, but you had taken about 15 ml for your 6 pm feed. Practice, practice, practice!
We are so excited and can't wait to see what happens next week. I am trying not to get my hopes up, because we all know things can change so fast. However, I am looking forward to you being home! We can't wait to experience what everyone else is able to experience after giving birth. We love you and can't wait to welcome you home!!
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