Day 15

I tried posting (twice) yesterday, but the computer kept eating my posts. Oh well.

Yesterday, Jaxon was upped to 8 bottle feeds a day - which means that they try all by bottle and gavage whatever he doesn't nipple. I had decided that, with each day and each milestone, I sort of feel like we're contestants on a baby version of Survivor or something. Each day, there's been a new challenge which Jax has done an amazing job of meeting head on and overcoming. We were so sure that the 8 bottle thing was the last challenge and started getting excited this morning when I realized that he had done 5 of the 8 required bottles and drank more than 50% (usually closer to 65%) of each of them. A couple of them he's drank 100% of the 56 mL. The other night, between bottle and his first breastfeeding attempt, he drank 70 mL! Today, the occupational therapist was feeding him when I got to the hospital and she said something about how he had just done bottle 1 of the 8. I asked her what she meant, since he'd been doing 65% or more by nipple for the last 24 hours and he should have been on bottle 7 when I got there.

They've changed the percentage that he needs to drink to 100%. Heart, meet floor.

And so, the bottle count is back at 1. Chances are good that he'll drink 100% of his next bottle as well. These requirements, though, make me weary of more breastfeeding attempts. I've started breastfeeding at least one of his feeds a day. He's done fairly well most of the time, especially considering that it's harder for him to get the mLs by breastfeeding. Thing is, I'd rather not tire him out that way, find out he hasn't gotten the required 56 mL, which means he has to do the rest by bottle and have him not be able to get the 56 because of being tired. We already know that when he comes home, he won't be breastfeeding exclusively because of the effort that it takes, the nurses have said it could take a month or more before he's strong enough to breastfeed at all feeds.

A new baby was brought into the NICU today and need to be in the isolation room, and so Jax and his 2 roommates were moved into the "normal" nursery. The plus side is that now, any family that wants to visit him when we're not there can at least see him through the window. Downside is that it's a lot noisier in there, with the nurses station right on the other side of the wall and there is very little privacy. Not that there was a whole lot where he was before, in the main room of the NICU or in the little room with his roommates, but this is...very open and has constant traffic through it.

Chances are good that we only have to deal with it for a couple days, the babies that were moved into there are the ones that the doctor(s) say will go home in the next couple days. That's a good sign, at least.

I did all the "teaching" with the nurse today and they were going to do Jaxon's hearing test and the first part of the hepatitis vaccine. It's just to do the car seat and some other test that has a three letter name but I don't remember the name and then he's just waiting to come home!

I hate waiting.