Owen Masters a Whole Bottle!!

This is Owen yesterday when we had a hard time getting him to calm down. He wouldn't take his pacifier, but eventually found his thumb. It was the first time we've seen him actually suck his thumb for a good amount of time. And then we put him in a little vibrating swing and he was really interested in the blinking lights and seemed to like the vibration.

In another first, today he took an entire feeding from a bottle. He is fed every three hours and gets 44ml. He had previously only managed to get 25ml from a bottle. So he made a big jump today. We're so proud of him.

He weighs 5lbs and 14oz. They increased his feedings to 44ml today from 40. They also decreased the time of his feedings down to an hour and a half from 2 hours. He's off the caffeine as of today, and still maintaining well without the breathing treatments... He keeps moving in the right direction.

 The other promising news is that they want to get a meeting scheduled to talk about the criteria for going home. Hopefully we'll be able to get that scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Thanks for all the prayers! We're so happy things are looking so well for our little guy :)

Our sweet little Owen had a swallow study and an upper GI today. The upper GI was normal, but the swallow study showed some aspiration. He will have to have a thicker feeding. They're going to add rice cereal and they're going to increase the bottle feeding to two times per day. We're going to work on building up his skills and his muscle development.
The nurse prac said this is what we're waiting on to send him home. Looks like as soon as he gets the feeding down, it'll be time for homecoming. Can't wait!!
He's still doing well without the breathing treatments. He only desats when he's upset; like when he's getting his diaper changed for example. Monday, the plan is to discontinue the caffeine or the diuretic.
He continues to grow....
We're getting closer and closer. Praying all goes well and its not too much longer.

Owen weighs 5 lbs and 11 oz. They're going to do a swallow study tomorrow to make sure he's not aspirating. He went up again today to 30ml while feeding with the speech therapist. He seems to be doing really well with his sucking and swallowing. No spit ups. But they still want to be sure. 

The oxygen setup is gone. It was at his bedside on standby, but they've moved it away. They're talking about discontinuing his medications for breathing and lung development because he continues to do so well. They've stopped the breathing treatments to start. They'll monitor and make sure he's good without them. Then they'll move on to the diuretic or the caffeine. The last to go will be the steroid. 

Owen is doing well with bottle feeding. He started at 10 ml, and has gone up everyday. He's at 25 ml as of yesterday. The speech therapist will work with him today to make sure he's on the right track. 

He weighs 5.67 lbs. He's 17 inches long now.   

  

Owen did well again with bottle feeding yesterday. He went up from 10 to 15 ml. It was great watching him do it! He was so coordinated with his sucking and his stopping to breathe. The nurse said some babies get so worked up that they forget to do that. He had nice burps too.
Owen weighs 5 and a half pounds. He's moved in to the newborn size clothes. He's outgrown the preemie size! They did say the more he bottle feeds, he may lose some weight. He's not used to doing any work to eat. That's why they're very slow to start.
We did get to meet with the OT. She was great, and had all good things to say about Owen's development. She explained that his movements and reflexes were developing in the right grouping. He's made great progress in two weeks being off the ventilator. When she initiates his movements, he responds appropriately. His muscle tone is good; not too tense, not too floppy. And he's good at letting everyone know when he's uncomfortable or unhappy, he's not passive, and we love that. All good news! -She also said he had the cutest smile on the unit!
We'll add pictures tonight!