Homestretch

Today is Spencer's due date.

(Well, he has two due dates. When I was first "dated" for this pregnancy, they told me the due date was Sept 11, and I told them that just wasn't going to work. So, when I had a second ultrasound and 'baby' appeared to be growing ahead of schedule, they graciously moved my due date to Sept 6.

But, then we started seeing the specialist, and he didn't believe in such nonsense, and so he always used Sept 11 as my due date. Which means Spencer is late.......but not really.)

This all probably sounds like I am splitting hairs, but when your baby has been in the NICU for over 13 weeks, every day counts. So, I could sit and tell you how frustrated I have been this week that Spencer is not yet home. And it has been hard...disappointing...tiring...

But really, we have a lot to be thankful for.

Tonight we were talking to one of the NICU nurses and she was reminiscing about all these other NICU babies/families. She talked about one family whose baby was there for over 5 months. And then she talked about how one of her own children has cerebral palsy.

And I sat there and realized how much worse it could be, how much harder this all could be. When really - our little guy has overcame every single obstacle put in front of him. No infections, no surgeries, no complications. And just a few things he has taken awhile to learn. But, he is figuring it out. He is amazing. He is a miracle - a real miracle sitting in my arms.

And so, we are thankful. Somehow thankful for this journey, very thankful with how well it has gone, thankful for the many amazing people and experiences we have had, and thankful our family will be whole...together....very soon.

So, here's the latest with Spencer -

One of the neonatologists decided to give Spencer a little 'tough love' this weekend. She took out his feeding tube and is making him try every feed by bottle. And guess what - he is doing pretty darn good. Sometimes he eats more than other times, but he is hanging in there. The first day he took about 400 ml in a 24-hour period. Today the goal is to hit 450. And after that, they will move it to 500. When Spencer can consistently take 500 ml a day, he can go home. I think this approach works better for us than 'passing' or 'failing' on every bottle. With this approach, every ml counts and he is allowed to have times where he eats more than other times.

Spencer continues to breathe great without assistance. It's been over a week! And, he has been two days without an alarm. He has to make it 5 days without an alarm and then he can go home. Otherwise, they will probably resort to sending us home with a monitor. So now, the best possible outcome (no monitor and no oxygen) is actually a possibility for us. That absolutely baffles us.

So, all that to say, if Spencer can keep it up, and pass his tests (car seat test and hearing test) he could come home as early as this coming week! Thank you for your prayers and encouragement during this tough week. We really appreciate it!

So, we have discovered Spencer's 'awake time' is 7-9 pm. Bright eyes!

And, this is how Spencer felt about the Husker game today.......