Since Thursday afternoon our little man has made some good progress. He went down several steps in oxygen, is wearing clothes, was moved from the isolette, started nursing. Those were all great and wonderful things that happened over the last several days. Today, Sunday, has been another great milestone. They put him on room air this morning and then took out his basal cannula later on. Praise the Lord!! He’s been breathing great on his own today. After 24 hours, the doctor isn’t going to worry about the oxygen anymore. We also gave him his first bath which was a great time. Elijah was so comfortable and cozy that he basically passed out while we were bathing him. It was adorable and probably a parenting highlight for a while! The little man continues to try and nurse as well. He has been pretty exhausted since he has done so much today. This is making him sleepy during nursing about every other time. Hopefully tomorrow will be a great day of improvement in this area. He shouldn’t have any other big things to take his energy down. Keep praying for the little guy and that he would continue to improve with each feeding time. We did get to take 10ml off one of his feedings today. That’s a huge start. It’s one fifth of his current feeding! The doctor said he might even cut him off one of these times so he knows what it’s like to be hungry. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
Even though Brent and I are still staying positive and Elijah is doing great, I am still having emotional ups and downs. How could I not? Yesterday all I wanted to do was go home. I just didn’t want to be here any more. We love our nurses and the doctor, but it’s nothing like being home. Elijah is 9 days old, almost 10, and here we sit. Brent hasn’t been home since he took me to the hospital and I was only home for a brief moment between discharge and heading to Billings. We miss our bed, our pillows, Flynn and just everything about our house. I am trying not to think about it, but there are day to day things that Brent and I need to start thinking about. It’s hard when you spend your days just sitting in NICU not to think about everyday life. Will Brent have to leave me here by myself for a couple days? Will we remember to pay the bills? How much money have we spent and will continue to rack up? This wasn’t in the budget! I cry when there is really good news and I cry when there is just no news. I can’t say we’ve gotten bad news. It’s just not what we always want to hear. Basically things like, he is tired and we need to bump up his oxygen or not try and nurse. Not that these are steps back, but sometimes it feels that way when I just want to be home. The little man needs a break since he’s gone through a lot in a little over a week. I just so badly want him to be better today, right now.
I love him so much and can’t wait to have us all at home. Keep praying for the little man and us. We’ve appreciated all that you have done and continue to do for us.
