02-08-2009 Zachary Update

Well the day started out like most others me wishing Zach would stop getting so much air when he eats and would take all the bottle and stop being so hungry inbetween feedings. So I finally got to see the weekend doctor she's seen Zachary just about every weekend since he's been here so she's really familiar with his case. She sees the weekly changes in him etc whereas sometimes the weekly doctor does not notice them as much.

So I was explaining that he was doing better with the blue nipple (faster flow) but that he was still getting hungry much earlier than the "scheduled times" and about the air/burping issues. So she looked him over and checked his charts over the past week and felt it'd be worth a try to remove his feeding tube and oxygen and see how he does for 24 hours. I was amazed we go from tons of feeding issues to this. So I was skeptical but hopeful he'd be able to hold his own.

So 12 hours later I do have good news in that he's been fine and his oxygen saturation as remianed high. For one feed I had to give him oxygen for 2 mins but that was it and I've not had to for the last 2 feedings. He was trying to burp, pass poop and eat at the same time. He's not too great at the multitasking yet :P So that's understandable. But so far he's been wide awake for each feeding and ready to eat. The doctor wrote the order so that he can eat on demand whenever he likes as long as it doesn't go past 4 hours between feeds which is awesome. I'm sure the nurses don't care for that but I'll be here a lot until he goes home to minimize problems with that.

So hopefully, after his regular doctors sees how well he's doing she'll finally schedule his final checkups (ear doc etc) and let me know when we can get the heck out of here. I'm so ready to just be with him at home out of this hospital room. I want MY BED and MY Food. I'm so sick of the cafeteria food and I was sick of it 5 yrs ago when I started working here ROFL. You know I'm desperate when I'm taking leftovers to the hospital LOL.

So I have only good things to report tonight. Oddly enough he's doing better (oxygen saturation wise) off the nasal cannula than on it .. go figure. I can only guess since that feeding tube is out of his nose/throat it's a lot easier for him to breathe. I know it's MUCH easier to burp him now no more 15 min session it's 30s - 1min and he burps just like a champ.

S