Ok so far…
July 13, 2008
Eli had his first feeding today at 3:00 p.m. For the whole first 24 hours, he is only getting 2 mL of breastmilk (or 2 CC’s) every 3 hours, just to make sure he is going to tolerate them. He did well with his 3:00 feeding, so he was given another at 6:00. At 9, he still had 1.5 mL left in his belly that he did not digest from his 6:00 feeding. The attending neonatologist on duty, Dr. Mandy, decided to re-feed him what had been left in his belly and skip his 9:00 feeding. At 12:00 a.m. he did not have any residual (undigested milk in his belly) and his belly was nice and soft, so they went ahead with that feeding. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here!
Tonight was bath night and Eli did great the whole time. He kept his sats and temperature up the whole time, even when we had his mask off for a while while I was washing his hair. He also cried much less, just got a little whiny when I pulled off the tape holding his temperature probe on, understandably! I was really impressed! (And might I add that his nurse was impressed with my bath-giving skills 
)
Thank you to all of you who are praying!
July 13, 2008 at 7:09 am
Eli looks amazing and I hope every feeding moves without hesitation into the next one. Jake is up to 25 ml now, after his second bout with NEC, and Sara and I hope this time he will be able to get to full feeds and come home. I know what you are going through is a living nightmare, one that seems has no end, but things will improve. As a father I’ve felt so helpless and out of control of everything while my son was sick. Without the doctors and nurses I think I would of lost my mind.We are at OPMRC in Kansas City and the staff is unbelievable, as it sounds like they are where you are too. No matter how slowly things are going with Eli, believe me, it will soon seem like they are racing by soon. It sounds like Eli has a great set of parents to come home to, and both of us hope he will be taking his baths at home with his Mom and Dad soon.
July 13, 2008 at 11:26 am
Hi sweetie. It’s so great to hear he is improving so well. I showed Grampa the site, so he knows he can keep up to date; I told him to just ask me to pull it up for him whenever he wants. We should be down there next month to visit. Keeping you and Seth and Eli in my prayers as always. And just remember to tell those nurses YOU are Eli’s momma and while they may want to “get it done” quickly, his close time with you is better therapy than anything else, so make them wait. You’re the momma now. Remind them of that. Love you hun.