9/13/06: Day 61 (Wed.)*

Not much to report today...Evan got moved back into the "isolation" room since the twin girls got discharged. It's like he has his own apartment. :-) It's nice to be away from the nurse chatter and you can dim the lights. He's still fluctuating between .2 and .1 on his oxygen. Apologies for the short post, but I am trying to get to bed early for once!

Evan had a case of the hiccups

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SVRHC Charges: $1,815.34
Running Total: $358,836.88
------------

9/12/06: Day 60 (Tues.) The Story Keeps Changing*

O.k...every day seem to be something new. This morning, I rolled out of bed at 4am to be at the hospital at the start of shift change. Every morning before I would go into work, I would stop by the hospital to check on things (usually around 6:30-7:00am). I would get these reports from the nurses that Evan was just ultra-fussy and inconsolable. So, I decided to see for myself (and my extra hands can free up the understaffed nurses to do what they have to do). All I have to say is, it's just not normal to be up at that time (and driving on the roads)! Luckily, I only have .7 of a mile to drive to the hospital. Evan was a complete angel for me. He drank his bottle and fell off to sleep. So, amazing what a little attention will do for a baby.

While I was there this morning, he was on about .3 ml on his oxygen, so there wasn't any huge decrease. BUT, when T and I visited after dinner, he was down to .1 ml! So, this makes a change to the plan of him coming home on oxygen. Dr. Ettinger was there and told us the plan is to keep him on the Lasix for about 5 more days. They plan on doing another chest x-ray after he's done with the Lasix to see how his lungs look. Since he's down to .1, they're going to start weaning him onto room air (aka no more cannula as long as he can handle it). I think the doctor said they would observe him on room air for about a week to make sure all is well. So, some more baby steps that are adding up to us going home soon (without oxygen).

Evan was being so good in this video...waiting patiently for his bottle to be warmed up


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SVRHC Charges: $1,804.97
Running Total: $357,021.54
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9/10/06 & 9/11/06: Day 58 & 59 (Sun. & Mon.) Not Coming Home Yet

We got some disappointing news today...they did a chest x-ray on Evan and found he had a bit of haziness in his lungs. They put him on Lasix as a precautionary measure to help pull out any possible liquid in his lungs. When we changed his diaper before we left, it was super heavy, so he is definitely getting rid of any excess water. We didn't get to talk to the doctor, so I'll post any additional info we get. Since he's on Lasix, he won't be coming home anytime soon. Maybe not until next week. :-(

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SVRHC Charges:
$1,924.71 (9/10)
$2,051.89 (9/11)
Running Total: $355,216.57
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9/9/06: Day 57 (Sat.) Still Maintaining

Our little snuggler is still doing fine. No great change to his O2 levels (which is a little disappointing). We were hoping by now he would be down a click or two. He is still hanging out in the .3 range. The nurses say at times they still have to bump him up to .4 or .5 when his saturation levels start dropping. So, it doesn't look like he'll be off O2 in the very near future.

The head nurse on the day shift (Christa) said that Dr. Ettinger had talked with her about about sending Evan home on O2. I don't think Dr. E has cross-talked with Dr. Vedock about it since Dr. Vedock was the first to bring that possibility up Thursday night. I think both doctors were making sure we would be the ones home with him full-time. Evan could very well be one of those babies who needs O2 for a longer period of time; and keeping him in the hospital for possibly weeks or months when we could care for him at home just doesn't make sense. So, hopefully, a decision will be made early this week.

They also want to start to do the car-seat test with him, so we brought his seat back during the night shift. They need to see if he can still maintain his breathing while in it for 30 minutes. If he passes that test, that is a big step towards going home. If he doesn't pass, then we may have to get him a bed that fits like a car seat and will keep him in a horizontal position.

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SVRHC Charges: $1,795.71
Running Total: $351,239.97
----------------------

9/7/06 & 9/8/06: Day 55 & 56 (Thurs. & Fri.)*

I'm trying not to slack in my blogging! Honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot to blog about daily since Evan is doing fine. Thursday night we had the chance to talk to Dr. Vedock (she's the D.O. under Dr. Ettinger). She said that around Tuesday they were going to evaluate the possibility of sending Evan home on oxygen.

It matters over a couple of factors...if he shows over the next few days that he isn't making progress coming down on his O2 level and is still eating well, then they'll send him home on oxygen. If he is showing signs of coming down on his O2 levels, then they will keep him in the hospital for another week or so until he is completely weaned off.

So, to bring him home on oxygen and an apnea monitor won't be too technically difficult for us. There is a bit of coordination we have to do with a place in Tucson, but it doesn't sound hard. On Monday, we have to attend an infant CPR class at the hospital. I think they make all preemie parents go through the class before they discharge the babies home.

He got a Hepatitis shot and his first vaccination for RSV. He has to get a shot every month for RSV during the cold and flu season. Shots...how fun!!

Our big milestone for the weekend is to get his car seat installed. His crib and play yard are both set up and ready to go!

We were trying to catch him smiling...this is a long one, over a minute.


He was just zoning out in this one.


Trying to get him with his eyes open.


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SVRHC Charges:
$4,798.31 (9/7)
$1,795.71 (9/8)
Running Total: $349,444.26
--------------------

9/6/06: Day 54 (Wed.)*

I had a whole post written and the computer crapped out on me and I lost what I wrote! Arrgh! Since I'm too tired to re-write it, here are some vids from today instead.

After his bath....note the head control he's getting


Before the meltdown


After the meltdown...loving the swing!


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SVRHC Charges: $1,810.21
Running Total: $342,850.24
------------

9/5/06: Day 53 (Tues.) Another Happy Birthday

I have to start off with a happy birthday to Nathan Whitworth who was born today at the SV Hospital! He's the son of friends of ours, Jeff and Stacy. So, Nathan and Evan were nursery mates for a bit today! Nathan and Evan were both visited by our very good friends, Joe and Deb Pedone. Anytime you want to babysit Joey Eggshells, you are more than welcomed!! You guys are the closest we have to family here, and we appreciate your visit!

Evan had a good day (as usual), and he has a much more hospitable nursing crew for the next three nights. We missed his early evening feeding, but snugged with him for a few hours. He was on around .25 oxygen flow...so we're always happy to see that number go down. They retaped his cannula sometime today since he's still sneaky guy trying to rip it off. He's still eating like a champ...oh...weight check...6 POUNDS! He's a brute! ;-)

When we left the hospital, it was raining like crazy (yes it does rain in Arizona). This rain was a remnant from Hurricane John that hit the Baja. Although we never turn down rainfall...our backyard was flooded and we would be happy if it didn't rain again for a bit. Since the backyard was flooded, we had to take the dogs out to find some higher ground for them to do their business. Max had a great time trekking through the flowing "river" on Verde Drive. Sadie was freaked out as usual. T wasn't too happy since he just gave them both baths on Sunday. Our electricity kept cutting out last evening, hence the reason I didn't post last night. ;-)

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SVRHC Charges: $1,810.21
Running Total: $341,040.03
----------

9/3/06 & 9/4/06: Day 51 & 52 (Sun. & Mon.)

Evan in his favorite position, laying all tucked up on your chest.

Apologies for not posting...the holiday weekend has us all thrown off. It was nice having an extra day to hang out with Evan. He is down to about .3 on his oxygen. The nurses tell us for the past 2 nights right around midnight, his O2 saturation levels drop into the 80's and they have had to put him back up to .4. Weird! But then his percentage will max out again at 100 and they bring him back down. Hmmm, could he have just needed his nose suctioned? I guess we'll never know!

Earlier today (Monday), Dr. Patel was around and I asked him if there would be a point when the cannula would be more of an obstruction than a help to his breathing. It hit me the other night that if the oxygen flow is so light, the cannula prongs would be blocking his nose a bit (making it harder for him to breathe and giving an inaccurate reading on his pulse oximeter). Dr. Patel did agree with my concern. He said that past cases have shown, when it looks like it's time to pull the cannula out when the O2 flow is very low, babies still de-sat too much. It's almost like they still need that feel of the cannula in their nose.

When he was laying on my chest tonight, I noticed he had one of the cannula prongs out of his nose. I let him stay like that just to see what his numbers would do. He was still doing great on his stomach, but when I shifted him to his back, his numbers started to drop and I put the other prong back in his nose. So much for experimentation on my nasal blockage theory. So, it still looks like our guy isn't going anywhere for a while. I still think he's going to do like he always does, makes a big jump when you aren't expecting it. Just like when he made huge jumps from the conventional respirator to the CPAP to the nasal cannula all in the matter of days. We're hoping he'll be home in time for Monday Night Football, but we're not holding our breath. ;-)

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SVRHC Charges:
$1,860.21 (9/3)
$1,862.25 (9/4)
Running Total: $339,229.82
---------

9/2/06: Day 50 (Sat.) Hitting 100% again and again and again

I got to talk to Dr. Patel today...he's the pediatrician on duty this weekend in the nursery. He was the doctor on duty when Evan was born and was the one who initially intubated him after birth. He was happy to see how well he is doing now. Dr. Patel said he felt bad he never got to talk to me after Evan was born since he wasn't on duty the rest of that weekend.

I told him I was concerned that it had been about 3 days since Evan has been maxing out on his O2 saturation levels. Dr. Patel said he would look at Evan's chart tonight and make a change. By the time we came back after shift change, he did knock him down to .4; but all evening, Evan was still almost maxing out on his saturation levels. This means his lungs are finally starting to absorb the O2 he needs. Since he is still hitting O2 saturation levels in the upper 90's, we think he could still come down a notch on the level. We just hope they don't let him sit a .4 for a few days with such high levels. Seeing how they did it at UMC, it's overkill to keep him sat-ing that high....at UMC, the nurses would wean him down (or back up) all the time in reaction to his saturation levels. If they would see him maxing out at 100%, they would immediately turn down his O2 flow (they wouldn't have to wait for a doctor's order). I am thinking at SV, the nurses can't make that judgement call. With the way we have been feeling about the quality of care he has been receiving, we just want him out of there as soon as possible (even if that means we have to take him home on oxygen).

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SVRHC Charges: $1,795.71
Running Total: $335,507.36
----------------

9/1/06: Day 49 (Fri.) 7 Weeks Old!*

7 weeks old today! I've been noticing that Evan is able to hold his head up for a few seconds at a time. He loves being on his tummy, so it looks like physically he's developing pretty well. He is still at .5 on his oxygen levels (they haven't lowered him since Wednesday). We think it's a bit of overkill to keep him at an oxygen level that high (when he is sat-ing at 98-100%), but I guess it's all part of the doctor's plan.

T and I visited with Evan at about 6pm and I stayed until 1am. I wasn't too happy with the whole vibe in the nursery, so I decided to stay as long as I could stay awake. I just really feel like he's being ignored (in a sense) by the nurses since they are so understaffed. At least while I am there, I know he's being looked after. It's the little things that are starting to really bug me after having him there the past few days. Things like all the nursery lights being on and they don't even try to give him some cover from the glare. The way the nurses all talk so loudly to each other. Whoever is taking care of Evan never introduces herself to us. The way the nurse talks to me (like I'm nuts) when I explain that his nose needs to be suctioned at least once a shift (even if it doesn't look like he needs it). I even heard a nurse tell a crying newborn baby to shut up. Although it's been great having him closer to home, I would feel more at ease if he was still at UMC.

One of the rare times they had half the lights off in the nursery



-----------------
SVRHC Charges: $1,920.71
Running Charges: $333,711.65
-----------------

8/31/06: Day 48 (Thurs.) Eating and Growing

A new schedule to get used to now that Evan is down here in Sierra Vista. Thank goodness we live near the hospital and it's on the way to work for us. Since the nursery doesn't have a lot of freezer space, I have to bring in a few bottles every day instead a large bulk amount at UMC. They are fortifying the milk to help him gain weight a bit faster. I think I heard them say he weighs 5lbs. 9oz. now, but I'll check on that.

It is funny since to us Evan looks like he's gotten so much bigger, but now that he is beside full-term babies, he still looks so small! The nurses were nice enough to do his feet prints since the prints we had were done very hastily and looked messy. Comparing the earlier feet prints, he has definitely grown. His feet were about 2 inches long at birth, and now they are over 2.5 inches long.

His O2 levels have been steady, so no change to his level. His nasal cannula was half hanging out since the tape holding it on needed replaced. During our evening visit, we asked the nurse (Chrissy) to retape it and it now looks much better. The tape was falling off the past 2 days and we thought someone would take the intiative to change it (um, that didn't happen). Chrissy also suctioned his nose (which we don't think the day shift nurses are doing), and got some nice snot out that was bothering him. He's still eating well, about 60ml/2oz every feeding. They are letting him wake up on his own when he is hungry, but they won't let him go more than 3-4 hours without eating.

If you can tell by my post, I am slightly disappointed in the care Evan is getting in comparision to UMC. Of course it's like comparing apples and oranges to compare the two hospitals. But at UMC, the nurses would make sure his clothes were changed and his bed linens were changed out. I've found that if we don't do it during a visit, it doesn't get done. The nurses also don't practice good inside voices while in the nursery (they talk so loudly all the time). They usually leave the overhead lights on, so tonight we turned one of his fleece blankets into a makeshift tent to cover his face from the light. He's due for a bath tomrrow, so we'll see if the nurses will do it without being reminded.

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SVRHC Charges: $1,822.91
Running Total: $331,790.94
-----------

8/30/06: Day 47 (Wed.) Acclimating nicely

Evan's first full day in Sierra Vista went well. He is doing really well acclimating to the altitude here. His oxygen has been bumped down to .4...so that is great for just the past 24-hours. Dr. Ettinger, his pediatrician, was in the nursery since he was delivering twins today, and he touched base with me about his progress. He said that he's not going to push him by lowering his oxygen, but just let Evan work it out. He is estimating even when Evan comes off the oxygen, he'll still be in the nursery for about a week after that. So, I guess we're going to be there for a while. His other concern is that Evan is steadily gaining weight. Last night he was 5 lbs. 6 oz. so that doesn't seem to be a problem for him. He's been eating like champ, so no doubt his weight will jump.

It's quite a change going from the UMC NICU to the SV Hospital! One of the night shift nurses we met tonight used to work in the NICU of a women's hospital in San Diego, so she is very aware of Evan's needs. The SV nurses were afraid Evan would be disturbed by the noises in the nursery, but even that nurse agreed that the environment Evan was in the past few weeks has made him immune to a lot of noise. He has a little corner to himself; all he has is his oxygen line and his leads for monitoring heart rate, breathing and O2 saturation.

-------------------
SVRHC Charges: $1838.22
Running Total: $329,968.03
-------------------

8/29/06: Day 46 (Tues.) Settling down in Sierra Vista

The little guy finally made it to the Sierra Vista Hospital around 5:30pm. Ironic that the UMC nurse (Marnae) who was with him on his helicopter flight was the same nurse on his ambulance ride. It was nice to see her familiar face while he was being settled in to the nursery. She said he slept the whole time, so he was no trouble.

The SV nursery was a little hectic...intially, they weren't going to accept him today since they were anticipating a lot of deliveries. Dr. Tsai from UMC called earlier in the day and said they were pushing for the transfer and she was making some calls to the higher-ups at SV. I got the call around 4pm that they were enroute.

Evan has his own little room in the nursery with a sliding door, so it keeps out a bit of the noise. I don't think noise bothers him all that much since he's been exposed to it since birth in the NICU. The nurse was going to switch him into a crib from the open warming table, so he'll be sleeping in something similar to what he was up at UMC. His pediatrician (Dr. Ettinger) said there may be another baby moved into the other spot in his room.

They have his oxygen level on .7 to see where he is in the higher altitude....he was doing well (maxing out at over 100% some times), but then other times when he was upset, his levels would drop. Their sensor is a bit different, so it would cut in and out sometimes. They had the alarm set to go off whenever he went below 88%, so you can imagine, it went on and off a lot.

So, I'm trying to learn the routine with the new hospital. This is a big change from UMC but a big step in getting him home. His room is right by the door into the delivery room OR, so no doubt, we'll be seeing a lot of babies come and go!

---------
UMC Charges: $320.50
AirEvac Charges: $2,300.00
Southwest Ambulance Charges: $1,572.78
SVRHC Charges: $1,434.74
Running Total: $328,129.81
---------

8/28/06: Day 45 (Mon.) A BIG change of location...

I've mentioned in previous posts that Evan has moved around from pod to pod at UMC due to his condition improving. Now, for another move, but this one is a big one...he's transferring to Sierra Vista Regional Health Center tomorrow!

I got the call today at work asking for our permission to transfer him. According to the call, he was going to be transferred today, but then a later call changed that plan to Tuesday. He needs to have another eye test before he can be transferred (not sure if that is a requirement from UMC or SVRHC). He will be transported by ambulance (thank goodness no more $16,000 helicopter rides)!

We are so happy to not have to do that Tucson drive almost every day! I will post more info tomorrow after he arrives!

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UMC Charges: $3,180.35
Running Total: $322,501.79
----------

8/27/06: Day 44 (Sun.) Could Our Days Be Numbered?

Great news to hear today...rumor is that the doctors were talking about making a decision tomorrow about keeping Evan at UMC or transferring him to the Sierra Vista Hospital. Since he is still on a relatively high amount of oxygen (.50), I don't think he'll be completely discharged for a little while longer. The doctors asked Marianne to turn down his oxygen to .125 (which is a very low flow amount) to see how he would react. He reacted as expected, his O2 saturation levels dropped quickly (into the 70's). Even at .40 he has lower than acceptable O2 levels, so Marianne knew there was no way he would tolerate .125. So, the little guy remains at .5 for now.

For those of you who don't want to read about poop, please skip this section:

I hit another milestone today...so far we've done the first diaper change, holding him for the first time, bathing him for the first time, feeding him for the first time, getting pee'd on for the first time...now, the ultimate milestone...I got pooped on for the first time! While feeding him prior to shift-change, I knew there was a party going on in his diaper. I didn't think it was going to be too bad and had planned on changing his diaper once he was done with his bottle. As I was shifting him from one arm to the other, there it was, the up-the-back and out-the-diaper mega poo. He managed to leak it so bad it was on my shirt, my shorts and on the cover for my Boppy pillow. Prior to the incident, I had changed him into a cute onesie, but alas, it is now soaking in cold water. Of course this all happens right before shift-change when parents have to leave until the next shift comes on at 7:45pm. Marianne and I tag-teamed the clean up and Evan was all snugged in his new outfit and new blanket in no time.

If it is true we'll be transferring out of UMC, it will be bittersweet since Evan's primary nurse, Marianne will be on vacation for about a week. She won't get to see us go. :-(

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UMC Charges: $2,800.00
Running Total: $319,321.44
----------

8/26/06: Day 43 (Sat.) I Eat When I Wanna Eat!*

I hope you all get a laugh at the posted picture. When Evan is sleeping, he'll "pose" in different positions and we thought this one had the look of "my life is so tough". We have a couple of vids posted below also.

I had to laugh at the automatic e-mail I received from Babycenter. I think I mentioned before that I subscribe to the site and when you input your due date, it sends you e-mails each week with development info about the baby. The e-mail I received today said:

Only three weeks to go! Your pregnancy is now considered full-term and your baby probably weighs a little over 6 pounds and is a tad over 19 inches long. Worried your water will break in public? This statistic may ease your fears: Spontaneous rupture of membranes before labor happens in only 15 percent of pregnancies.

I am so happy to know I am part of that 15 percent! As far as the other statistics, our guy is steadily gaining weight (he's at 5 lbs. 5 oz.) and he is 44cm long (which is about 17 1/3 inches).

Evan is still doing super-great on his bottle feeds. He's now classified as a baby who can eat whenever he is hungry. So, he's off the scheduled 9-12-3-6 o'clock feedings. When we were there today, he b-fed for 12 minutes, which is a record so far for him. The nurse took out his feeding tube since he isn't needing it anymore (and it was getting cruddy). They also decided to stop putting the dressing on his foot for the bi-carb burn.

Evan got a bath today









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UMC Charges: $2,800.00
Running Total: $316,521.44
---------

8/25/06: Day 42 (Fri.) 6 Weeks Old! Bottle Feeding Begins

Wow, six weeks now! It still seems like a year until he comes home. Today, they started bottle-feeding him and he took right to it. The nurse said at his noon and 3pm feedings he downed the bottles like an old pro. When I fed him his bottles at his 6pm and 9pm feedings, he finished all but about 19ml both times. The nurses would get him to finish it later. That was the first time ever bottle-feeding, so I'm not sure if I have the technique right.

Evan's crib was snatched for another baby, so he's now in a small bassinet. I forgot to bring the camera to get his 6-week photo, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Weight check....the night shift nurse told me he weighs 5 lbs. 5 oz.

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UMC Charges: $2,600.00
Running Total: $313,721.44
---------

8/24/06: Day 41 (Thurs.) Bottle Feeding Starts Tomorrow

Apologies to those of you blog-addicts for not doing my daily postings! ;-) I was too tired Thursday night to post, so I'm playing catch-up. :-)

Thursday was my last day before going back to work, so I made it up there for his noon feeding and stayed until shift change. This was the last day to really try the b-feeding thing. He still doesn't quite have the knack of it, so starting on Friday, the nurses will bottle-feed him. The goal is to get him either bottle-feeding or b-feeding his full feed (which is about 45ml).

Dr. Tsai told me that once he is consistently doing full feeds (which will be by the bottle since I'm not there to b-feed him), that signals that he can go home. She told me he could go home on oxygen, but I really hope not. He is so fidgety with his cannula, we would constantly worry about him pulling it out and not getting the O2 he needs. So, best case scenario, he gets weaned off the O2 and is bottle-feeding like a champ all at the same time. The doctors know best, so I trust their judgement, they wouldn't discharge him until they are sure he is fine. Since he was on the respirators for so long, they are being extra careful about pushing him too fast.

---------
UMC Charges: $2,600.00
Running Total: $311,121.44
--------

8/22/06 & 8/23/06: Day 39 & 40 (Tues. & Wed.) Moving Again*

These days have been blending together...I'm finding it hard to remember what day of the week it is! Counting down these last few days I can spend the majority of the day at the hospital until returning to work.

Evan was moved into the 4th pod due to some nurse scheduling issues. It's a good thing, since he's only with 2 other babies (a twin boy and girl) and that makes it very quiet. The view is even better in that pod since there are windows facing north and west. :-)

I've spent the majority of the time at the hospital just holding the little guy. He is pretty comfy to cuddle with since he sleeps so much. He has been so much more alert during his feedings. They are still playing with the O2 flow into his nasal cannula. When I arrived today, Marianne was happy to report he had been moved down to .20 on the oxygen flow. His O2 saturation was still really high (in the upper 90's), which is way too good. So, Marianne bumped him down to .10, and when she did, the oxygen flow suddenly increased which was really odd. We noticed his O2 saturations levels were still in the upper 90's and that just didn't seem right (he should have dropped a bit). She had one of the respiratory therapists check the low flow meter on the oxygen. The RT ended up switching out the meter for a different one, and with that new low flow meter, he was back up to .50. So, we think that other meter was not working properly. If he truly was down to .10 on the oxygen flow, it would have shown that he was making huge strides in his saturation levels which would be one step closer to coming home. But, were at the point he can't be rushed, it's up to his lungs to keep maturing and doing a better job of absorbing oxygen. He has no problem in breathing on his own, his rates are great, it's just the O2 saturation that is still weak.

This clip shows how active Evan is getting. I couldn't get him to look for long towards the camera. He's squirmy and you'll see him try to get at his cannula. The beeping you hear is the O2 saturation alarm, he started to drop while I was recording, but he came right back up to normal levels (like he always does).




----------
UMC Charges (8/22): $2,800.00
UMC Charges (8/23): $2,800.00
Running Total: $308,521.44
---------

8/21/06: Day 38 (Mon.) Adventures in B-Feeding

Today I had the opportunity to meet the wound care specialist who has been overseeing Evan's bi-carb burn on his right foot. She hadn't seen his foot in about a week and was very happy to see how well it is healing. She thinks he'll only need about one more week of the treatment (and she lessened it to just once a day). It's nice to know the next time he gets a bath, he can immerse his foot in completely in the water.

The little guy still loves to tug on his nasal cannula and gavage tube. The nurses had to replace both since they were coming too loose. He was able to completely pull the cannula out down to his mouth. He is super-sneaky...he'll make it look like he is just putting his hands up to his face, but then he'll dig his fingers into the top of the tape and pull down.He definitely was not a happy camper when they taped it all much tighter to his face. We'll see how long this one lasts. They did wean him down to .30 on the oxygen flowmeter and he does great when he's mellow; but when he gets agitated (like during diaper changes and such), he desaturates too much (sometimes he'll drop into the 70's which is not good). So they usually bump him back up to .4 or .5 when they fidget with him and then turn it back down when he sleeps. They want his O2 saturation to be between 88 - 100.

For those of you who don't want to read about my adventures in breastfeeding, you can skip the rest of this post! ;-) The main goal for this week is to see how well Evan will take to breastfeeding before I go back to work on Friday. After Friday, they will try to bottle-feed him my breast milk instead of feeding him through the gavage. They hope by testing him on b-feeding, that I will be able to go back a forth between that and the bottle once he comes home.

Over the weekend, which was the first experiment with b-feeding, he didn't do much, so we still had to gavage the whole feed, but he was getting more interested every time we did it. Today, I am happy to report, he latched on for almost 8 minutes during his 6pm feed. Since he was actively latched on for that amount of time, the nurse reduced his gavage amount to about 20ml. The longer he is latched on, the more they reduce the gavage feeding. The lactation consultant (Gloria) was very pleased with how he did since he is still about a month premature.

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UMC Charges: $2,800.00
Running Total: $302,921.44
-------------