This has been a full week of playing the waiting game. On Monday, we were told we were ready to move to the floor on Tuesday. We were super excited and rushed home that evening to get some laundry done and pack our bags. Tuesday, Brody had an echo of his heart. This is routine before going to the floor, but Brody's echo showed a slight change. We know a couple of Brody's valves still leak and will need to be repaired in the future. The measurement of the leakiness of one of the valves showed a change, so they would need to discuss with the surgeon before sending us down. The surgeon was in surgery all day Tuesday, so they wouldn't be able to discuss the results of the echo with the surgeon until the evening, so we were staying in ICU. Wednesday, I was super relieved to find out the surgeon was ok with the change he saw in the echo and was wanting to stick to the original plan of letting Brody grow before going into another surgery (still hoping that will be a year or more). Over the night, Brody had thrown up and they thought they saw blood in it. They stopped his feeds that night, but we were able to restart them in the morning because the doctor was not overly concerned, BUT they would keep him in ICU to monitor him and make sure there weren't any other issues. We spent the entire week not knowing if we were getting moved and were living at home out of our suitcases. Towards the end of the wee,k we didn't quite know what the hold up was for moving us. Brody was doing great and the surgeon had given us the green light. Over the course of the week, we were working on transitioning Brody from his fat free formula to some skim breast milk. They take my breast milk and spin it to take out the fats. They measure the calories in it and then mix in the formula to get to the calorie count the dr wants each feeding. My breast milk has a higher calorie count then most which isn't a bad thing. It just means they won't have to mix in as much of the formula. The people on 15 do not want to take a baby that is transitioning feeds and want to make sure the baby is tolerating his feeds before coming down. This meant, again, we were staying in ICU. The good news is Brody is tolerating his new grub quite nicely. It even seems that he isn't spitting up as much. We are still working very hard on drinking from the bottle. One day we will totally rock it and then the next... not so much. Brody went for a swallow study just to make sure he was safely being able to take a bottle and that his milk wasn't going into his airway when he drinks, and it isn't. It is just going to take him time and adjusting. We have been told, fingers crossed, that Brody should be moving to the floor this week. I am trying not to get my hopes up because this is the fourth week we have been told this. Brody will have another echo and if everything is good, we move on. Prayers! Prayers! Prayers! I pray that his heart doesn't show any significant change so that we can finally be with Brody all the time and we will no longer have to leave him. It is getting harder and harder to kiss him good night and walk away.
Got a mobile to pass the time
Snuggle time!
Out like a light!
Who am I kidding? This kid is spoiled!
:)
I asked Brody what he wanted for dinner, and he fell asleep thinking about his options.
Watching football with Daddy
Brody was voted most athletic kid on the unit
This is how we spend most of our days. I hold Brody on my chest and he is either sleeping, or he cocks his head way back and stares at me.
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