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| Smiley, yet sleepy Micah on Thursday. |
It turns out that between my Thursday 11am visit and my Friday 8pm visit, Micah had been doing great with his bottles! Maybe that made me a bit jealous, but I thought I should jump on the chance to work on breastfeeding him! I really wanted to make sure that Micah was more than OK with nursing when the time came for him to come home. I know that he has to be able to take all of his feedings well before he can go home, and I have no intention of regularly giving him bottles! I talked to a nurse practitioner, and he agreed that working on breastfeeding wouldn't hurt. It seemed like Micah certainly had the stamina and was ready for it!
I stayed Friday night at my dad's new apartment in Green Bay, and headed back to the hospital with the intention of staying in the hotel room for the next few nights.
Thankfully, Micah picked up nursing right away! He has been doing much better than previously! In fact, he was doing so well that when he pulled out his feeding tube, they decided to just leave it out. His oxygen level also changed on Saturday morning. The doctor switched his cannula to a much smaller one with just 1/4 liter of flow (at 100%), and Micah did an amazing job! His stats were great!
Eric brought the kids up on Saturday morning, and we spent some fun time at Bay Beach with Grandpa Cance. It was a great day! Afterward, Eric got to snuggle with his youngest baby, and I got to take the 2 older ones for a walk. I found this great trail that is literally across the street from the hospital parking lot. I burned off the rest of their energy (not that they had much left to begin with) before Daddy took them back home. Grandpa Hawkins got to meet his newest grandson, too, when he and Grandma stopped by for a visit!
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| Out for a walk while Daddy visits with Micah. |
I stayed and nursed him at night, and went back to Manitowoc on mid day on Sunday to pack up some supplies. When I returned, they had switched him from 1/4 liter to 1/8 liter of flow, and he now has "ad lib" feeding times. So far, he hasn't done as well with the reduced oxygen flow. His oxygen saturation levels have been in the low 90's and dipping a bit lower at times. I'm praying that he keeps up his hard work and raises his stats and tolerance level! He has been needing to have his own feeding schedule for a while now, and the nurses know to call me whenever he's ready to eat. He really has come quite far in the last 48 hours!!
The doc I talked to today guestimated that Micah might be able to come home as early as the end of the week or next weekend, depending on many factors. Boy, this mama can't wait! He has now been in the NICU for all 24 days since his birth... over 3 weeks!!! We never would have initially thought that he'd still be in the hospital! The doctors have said that boys tend to take longer to get better, and larger babies take longer, too. With that in mind, I guess its not entirely surprising. He is up to 8lbs 4.3oz!
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| Peeking out from his swaddle that the nurse did for him on Sunday. |
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