Recap of the last week

So I've been neglecting this blog and favoring Facebook over it! Never has that happened - but with Facebook's quick way to update friends and family it became the easiest way for us.

Lots has happened over the past week. I'll try to recap a little from each day.

Tuesday, Dec. 1st
Will had a setback after his breathing tube was removed. In the AM when we arrived at the hospital he was looking fine but a few minutes later with me and DH by his isolette he started to start breathing. I left his room after I saw his oxygen down to only 50% and he was completely blue. It was the scariest moment in my life and I hope to never experience anything like that again. Lots of crying and praying were down in the hallway while DH stayed in the room along with the doctors, nurses and respiratory team that were called in.  They put him back on the breathing machine. And the rest of the day we sat in his room and watched his oxygen monitor constantly making sure it stayed above 90. But for most of the day it would dip down as low as 84 with alarms going off everytime. DH went home that night to sleep and I stayed in his room. Not much sleep was had since every time his monitor went off I was by his crib trying to encourage him to get his breathing back up.

Wednesday, Dec. 2nd
Will did well throughout the day. They pulled out his breathing tube and he was breathing on his own. They also started some feeds down the tube that runs from his nose down into his tummy. While his esophagus is healing he can't have anything to swallow. That is the reason for the NG tube. He took my breastmilk well for his first feeding and did well throughout the day increasing his amount to a full feed by the end of the day.

Thursday, Dec. 3rd
Today was the first day we got to hold Will! What a great feeling!! I got quite emotional since this was the first time he was in my arms. He is just precious. His breathing was good throughout the day. He is a little nasally, congested sounding due to the breathing tube, the ng tube, and from the surgery.

Friday, Dec. 4th
This day DH and I took turns holding Will. He has a chest tube and ng tube that we have to be very careful about when we are holding him. These two tubes are very important. So far he's been a pretty content baby. When he is in discomfort the soothing sound of Mommy or Daddy's voice along with a soft touch to the head and a little lullaby will calm him down. It is so hard to not just pick him up when he's upset but rather try our touch and our voices. This night I tried to go home and be away from him but after my 1 am pumping I called the nurse to find out that he was quite fussy. So I had DH drive me to the hospital and drop me off to try to comfort him. By the end of this day we noticed how "hungry" he was. He's been getting a full tummy this whole week thru his ng tube but since nothing is going into his mouth he knows that there should be something more than just a passy to suck from. It broke my heart every day to see him root at his passy as to try to get something to come out of it.

Saturday, Dec. 5th
Today was a fun day for Will. He got to be held by his Grandma and Grandpa LeFebvre. Uncle Sean got to view him from the NICU lounge. They were so anxious and happy to hold him. He was a good baby all day. I stayed with him again this night since I couldn't leave him after what a off night he had the night before.

Sunday, Dec. 6th
Another big day for Will. Today we got held by Grandma and Grandpa Binger. We was again a good baby. Over the weekend both grandparents got to see him more alert with his eyes open. I again stayed over night trying to console him. This was a rough night as he was fed up with the passy to try to comfort him from feeling hungry. Nothing was helping and it was the worst feeling ever to not be able to help him. This night was the first diaper "blow out" we experienced. Mommy & Daddy went through 5 diapers in a matter of 5 minutes. We would get a new diaper under Will and he'd either poop or spray pee all over. It was too funny and we were laughing so hard!

Monday, Dec. 7th
Will's big test day. In the AM they took him down for his swallow test. This test had him swallow for the first time some kind of liquid to watch it pass down his esophagus and make sure nothing was leaking from where they fixed his esophagus. It took about 30 minutes and he came back from the x-ray passing with flying colors. This was a huge relief to us as we knew that he could start having feeds down orally. A half hour after the study the surgeons did an exam on him and wanted to have his first bottle of breastmilk at noon. Mommy got to do the first feeding and it was awesome to see the relief in his face. He was so content and did a great job sucking and swallowing. Later that afternoon they surgeons came back and removed his chest tube. This was very uncomfortable for him and caused pain and discomfort. We were told that it would be painful and have a stinging sensation for a bit. But when the time came to be the worst part - the stinging sensation - Will didn't cry a bit! We only a flinched a little. We were so very proud of him! We could tell that he was a different baby. Much more content with a full belly and no chest tube. He also did great on his feedings throughout the day and night. His goal is 45 cc every 3 hours and he was goal or coming very close at each feed. The remaining cc that he didn't finish were given to him thru his ng tube. This night was the first time that I felt comfortable leaving him . We was eating then falling straight to sleep after each feed.

Tuesday, Dec. 8th
Tuesday was another good day. Because he was doing so well with his feeds the surgeons removed his last tube (the ng tube) that morning! We now have a tubeless baby! The only cords that remain are his Stat cords and his oxygen monitor. But these are very do-able to maneuver him with. They also decided to allow him to take as much breastmilk in the bottle at each feed as he wanted. And get introduced to breastfeeding! For his noon feed we tried breastfeeding for the first time and he did great! They weighed him before putting him to the breast and then right after. The scale measured that he drank 44 cc of breastmilk. That is almost his goal amount from the day before. Will is much more of a content baby - eating, sleeping and pooping. He is just precious and seems to be changing every day.