Got milk?!

Lincoln had a big day today! It started at 9:00 with his swallow test. As soon as I got the hospital(about 8:45) they were loading him up in an isolate bed on wheels to take down to radiology. The nurse said I could go with him so I got to go along on his field trip. He was wide-eyed as he was wheeled down the hallway and "oohed" and "aaahed" over in the hallway!

In the radiology room, he was placed on a HUGE table (it was kind of a sad sight but I got to hold his hand, or at least his sock on his hand) and the radiologist had him drink a white dye from a bottle. It was neat to see the dye on the screen flow down his body to his tummy...yep, no leaks!! It was very exciting! Lincoln's nurse did a great job of translating all the medical dialogue from the radiologist. But they did find one minor complication on the test. When Lincoln swallowed the dye he was aspirating (sp?) a small bit into his lungs. For all you none medical people (like I was) that is when liquid goes into the lung which can lead to big problems if not solved. The nurse explained that this could be caused from a couple of things, either Lincoln needs to learn how to swallow properly with the help of an occupational therapist or the aspiration was caused by the feeding tube that is going down his throat and will be solved when they take it out. I was a little bummed when I heard this, I wanted them to say "He looks great! You can take him home tomorrow!" (wishful thinking I know, but I can dream) but the nurse reassured me that though it is abnormal and can be a concern it was very common and very treatable. She said many times they just thicken the milk in a bottle which makes the milk go to the stomach until the baby learns to swallow correctly. Once we got back to the NICU we waited to talk with the surgeon and what was next to come.

The surgeon came in about 10:30ish and quickly (seriously this is the quickest doctor I have ever met with) told me that we would starting Lincoln on breastmilk TODAY through a bottle. I was thrilled to hear this! Lincoln now eats every 3 hours from milk that I have pumped with a bottle. He also said that if nothing comes out of his chest tube (drainage from his surgery site) then it will be removed tomorrow. This is also great news because this is the tube that is keeping us from being able to hold him because it is in his back and can cause major infection if it is moved. So the sooner it gets removed the sooner we can hold him! The doctor does want to keep his feeding tube in because if Lincoln doesn't get enough nutrition then he doesn't want to reinsert the feeding tube down the surgery site. This makes sucking harder for Lincoln because he has a tube in the way but he did well!

I had a doctor's appointment at 12:15 so I figured I would miss Lincoln's first attempt at eating but when I got back to the NICU at 1:00 the nurse had pushed back his feeding time so I could help. Lincoln is a champ at eating! When he first discovered that food was coming from the bottle, he was eating too fast which made him start to choke so we have to slow down his eating and make him take a breath! Lincoln does not like the burping part, especially since he has a nasty wound across his back that is trying to heal. I was a little afraid to burp him at first so I got some good help from his nurse. I got to feed him twice today and Shane got to feed him "dinner" around 6:00 when he got there. It was great to see him finally eating.

Also Lincoln got moved from an isolated bed to an open bed, which means his bed doesn't have a top on it and we can touch him as much as we want! It was great to be able to touch him since we can't hold him yet due to the chest tube. This open bed does cause Lincoln some restlessness. His NICU pod got full today with other babies (he was only 1 of 3 before today now he is 1 of 6....and he is the least sick!) so Lincoln "jumps" and wakes up to any sound in the nursery. I hope this gets better when he is home and away from other crying babies and constant beeps. It was even harder leaving him tonight because I knew he would not get much attention from the nurses since he is the healthiest (which I am grateful that he is the healthiest) and it breaks my heart to know that he is up there all alone (makes me cry just typing it!) I want to spend the night up there but I am sure Shane would not let me since he knows I definitely wouldn't sleep up there.

Now to some eating pics!

Here is my first attempt at feeding Lincoln. It is a little difficult to hold him at the angle in his bed but it was worth it!

I love this picture of his hands folded while Shane fed him!

It copied one twice again!

Shane's first attempt...he was a natural. This was Lincoln's GREAT nurse, we are sad that she will not be back until Sunday! :(

Well those are the updates for today! We are hoping for good feeding the rest of the week and weekend. The surgeon is out of town now until Monday so we are hoping that Lincoln gets this eating down so we can set a discharge date soon! Fingers are crossed!

Until next time!

Carrie