Right on Track

Landon is still doing really well and now meeting his daily goals for eating!

Ready for a math lesson? They want him at about 100-120 kcals per kilo per day. He is now 3.50 kg (they use kilos in the hospital, which is very confusing. That equals 7lb 11 oz, up 1lb 2 oz from birth) so he should be taking 350-420 calories per day. He is on breastmilk that is fortified to 26 calories per ounce so he has to take 13.36-16.15 ounces per day to be considered at his "goal". Since he eats so little at a time, we measure it in mL instead of ounces and there are 30 mL in an ounce, so his daily goal in mL is 404-484. Yesterday he ate 406 not including the few minutes that he nursed so he is just within his goal range.

He does tend to "snack" quite a bit so he is often taking small quantities since he runs out of steam while feeding. They are ok with him doing this for now, but in a week or so when we come back for a clinic visit, they'll want him to be moving more towards feeding in larger amounts every 3 hours. He did gain some wait from yesterday to today so that is great news and he is scheduled to discharge tomorrow! He'll have another carseat challenge this afternoon since it has to be within 3 days of discharge and the last one was over a week ago. This will be his 3rd one and I'm hoping he sleeps right through it just like he has before!

Last night all 3 of us (Gary, my mom and I) got a chance to go out to dinner with Gary and I's friends from Colorado Springs, Danielle and Jared. They met us at D Bar closer to downtown Denver and we had a great time. It was so nice to get away from the hospital for a few hours (when you're here day and night, being gone for 3 hours feels like forever!) and have a nice meal and be able to take your time a little bit. We are so grateful that we've had some friends drive up to see us from the Springs! It takes away the feeling of seclusion and we are so eager to get back home and introduce Landon to many of our friends! After we get home it is certainly going to be a hectic week! Gary will be trying to work most of the week and we'll have appointments with the pediatrician, cardiologist and one back up in Denver. Still it will be nice to get away from the chaos of the hospital and establish a routine!

He has still been tachypneic (breathing at a high rate) which I don't think is a major concern but they've done a few xrays to make sure he doesn't have fluid in his lungs or anything and those have all come back normal- except the one from this morning which I haven't heard back about yet. Everything else is looking good and we are just praying for no more complications so we can go home tomorrow.

He's Heating up, He's on fire!

Landon has done fantastic over about the last 18 hours. He has slept very well, continued to wake up on his own to feed (not quite every 3 hours like they want, but getting closer!) and is taking increasingly larger quantities. For the last few days now he has looked much more comfortable while feeding and isn't showing signs of pain which we think means the acid reflux meds are finally working well. Hopefully before we leave the hospital he'll be down to one of those, but one step at a time!

It is such a relief to see him actually look content while he eats and to know that he's finally starting to get closer to consuming the amount of calories he needs! Thank you so much for your prayers- God has been so good through this whole process. We know that He is control, even in situations that may be difficult, and it has been amazing to see Him provide encouragement for us just when we needed it. On Tuesday I told Gary when he got to the hospital after work that I didn't think I could do another day like that. It was just so hectic with nonstop hospital staff coming to see me for a million different reasons and with phone calls to set up things like home health care, etc. And that was all on top of the fact that he was seeming to be in pain and eating terribly with no signs of improvement- not to mention me being exhausted in so many ways. Then yesterday was just a totally different day- things were a lot calmer with visitors coming to do "business" and he started to show an interest in eating again. And as little sleep as I've gotten, I felt so refreshed in knowing that things were starting to change for the better.

Knowing from the beginning that this would be a tough journey, I feel like we have tried to take very little for granted, but after the last few weeks I am SO happy to see him eating well and improving almost hourly. No exact word on when he will go home- he's still got to prove himself for a little bit longer with his quantities and his weight gain, but we're hoping it will be very soon and that it will be without an NG tube (feeding tube)!