Also exciting - the nurses have been working on giving him one of his feeds from a bottle each day. He has been taking about 15 cc each day and then he gets tired and quits. But, the nurse told me that today he took the ENTIRE bottle, all 45 cc! I am not sure where that came from or if he can repeat it, but it was still very exciting. At least now we know he can do it, if he wants to.
Matt and I attended a "care conference" this week where the primary nurse, the doctor, the nurse practitioner and the social worker met to discuss Spencer's progress. It was very in depth - we covered every part of his development - breathing, eating, eyes, ears, organs, immunizations the family needs to get, next steps when he comes home, etc...It gave us lots of great information, but it also delivered a dose of reality to us.
We have been pretty optimistic that Spencer would outgrow his breathing support before he comes home. But apparently, most babies that aren't off their breathing support by 36 weeks end up going home with assistance (monitors and/or oxygen). Spencer is currently at 35 weeks, so that would mean some major developments for him over the next 5-10 days or he will fall into that category. That's not to say that Spencer couldn't defy the odds (as he has done so many times) and be off support before he leaves. But the team was gently letting us know that that might not happen. That was a bit of an adjustment for Matt and I to hear. Disappointing for sure. But, once again, there is nothing we can do about it but sit and wait and see what our little guy is capable of.
The next three weeks will be very telling, as that is where a huge amount of development in breathing and eating usually happens for babies like Spencer. To help gage where Spencer is truly at, the doctor tried taking Spencer off oxygen today just to see how he would respond. I was surprised to see that he did fairly well for an extended period of time. He lasted about 3 hours before they had to hook him back up again. It's a start, and we will see what happens next.
The doctor also decided to move his feeding tube to his nose so that he can more easily work on his sucking during bottle feeding.
It was so much fun to see Spencer without tubes on his face for a short period of time. It was the first time since he was born, that we have seen him this way. The first time. It was really special and I took a bunch of pictures. Also, he is looking adorable in his polo today, so that was definitely photo-worthy.
Thank you for your support. If you want to pray our little miracle would pull out another miracle by getting off breathing support, we would love to have your prayers! Thank you.
Hey, you guys, I received a card from you today and it was signed Matt, Stacey, and the boys. I can't express what a feeling came over me. It just sounded so good. It warmed the cockles of my heart, what ever they are. Keep up the good work:-) .
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