There was a moment yesterday in NICU when time stood still for a little two and a half year old as he got to cuddle his baby brother for the first time. He had been dotingly practising up till then with his "baby" at home whom he loves to put in the pram with all his medicines (little plastic ABC blocks) piled up next to him. It was a tender moment! In his excitement Matt then poked his finger into Sammy's eye but I expect that's something he'll be doing for most of the rest of his life.
Mr Weigh-More-diet clocked in today at 2.1 kilograms. He hit the magical 2kg mark on Friday which is one of the three remaining barriers to his homecoming. The other two are breathing and feeding. On the former he's doing very well - the serious apnoeas are few and far between but there are sporadic bursts of breath forgetfulness so we're not in the clear there yet though Mich is getting very good at averting them as they kick in (I still rely heavily on the sats monitor and the colour of his lips!). On the latter, his feeding, he is still getting the bulk of his milk+mutis via the nasogastric tube but is up to 60ml every 4 hours so we are seeing the milk stockpile slowly being eaten away. We're defrosting bottles pumped on 15 Sept today. He's gradually being weaned onto taking milk from a bottle - today he took 15ml (three teaspoons) which for him was an exhausting ocean. He has to be feeding well from the bottle before he exits. (Of course there's also that double chin - but it looks like time will have to heal that)
So relatively speaking things are looking pretty good. We have been testing the apnoea monitor for the past couple of days and steeling ourselves for the next phase which our doctor has made clear should be one of near isolation until he reaches 4kgs. So if you're in town it may unfortunately be a few months still before you get to meet the little fella. High infection control will be the order of the day to avoid a return to hospital! This is probably the most difficult part for us as there is nothing we'd love more than for everyone who continues to pray and support us to meet him.
Tomorrow we check the alphafeto protein levels again.
3 comments:
God is so faithful, so good...Samuel's journey has increased my faith. Thank you for the privilege of sharing it.
elle
I had tears in my eyes when the page opened and I saw Matt holding Sam. A simple photo that most people have in their albums but for those of us who have shared your story - it was breath taking! Can't wait to see one with the Grandparents! Lots of love The Crew from Downunder (Allison, Steve and Lachlan)
I think the double chin makes him look rather distinguished.
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