Getting Ready

Leo's weekly labs came back and things are still looking great. His direct billirubin level continues to come down. He's at 3.6 right now - down from upwards of 6 in weeks past. Ideally it'll be at or around 0 so he still has to get it down, but we're moving in the right direction. And he's making lots of red blood cells, again good. All in all he's leveling out nicely. He just needs to pack on the pounds. The doctors would like him to have another 1-1.5lbs on him so that he has the strength to really thrive on all fronts - breathing on his own, eating, etc. He's at 5 lbs, 6.8 ounces today. So we just have to continue to be patient.

And I learned today that 90% or more of the kids who make a visit through the NICU and ISCU go home eating a mix of formula and breast milk. Leo started on a combo of formula and breast milk a couple weeks back to help with his billirubin levels and his weight gain. There are added quantities of fats, calcium, phosphorous, etc. that breast milk doesn't have that these guys really need. So it's not uncommon for them to be on a mixture of the two (or exclusively on formula) for months. So we'll be doing lots of mixing and measuring when we get home. I think I thought he'd be exclusively on breast milk once he was home, so this is somewhat frustrating, given my supply is staying really high. When you work so hard to get your supply up and then you can only use it half of the time, it's a little annoying. But, as with all things related to this experience, it's for the best and all will work out.

We had a visit from the speech therapist yesterday who helped with some suggestions for more optimal feeding positions for Leo. Seems odd that a speech therapist would be telling us how we should feed him, but when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. She's focused on how his mouth is working - how his tongue is laying down in his mouth, the strength with which he's sucking, how wide he's opening his mouth, cheek strength, etc. And it really does make a difference for these little guys how you hold them during nursing or bottle-feeding. If their heads are too far back they'll be more strained in their breathing which can cause them to desat or stop breathing or just work harder than they should which will tire them out which means they won't eat as much as they need to for growth. Again with the simple equations. So we're trying sort of a modified football hold with Leo. We hold him tucked against our side with his feet essentially under our arm and his body in line with his head - but on his side, not his back. So if he gets too much milk it'll just pool in his cheek, not rush to the back of his throat. And at this morning's feeding I have to say he did awesome with me. I already noticed a difference in him not having to work as hard and therefore being able to take more. And we noticed it last night too at his bottle feeding. Hooray! Hopefully this technique will help him bulk up a little quicker - and get him home sooner!!! It's all about getting him home. We're so excited we can hardly stand it. Scared...but mostly excited.

And now...as promised, some new photos. These were from the weekend, some of Leo and Momma, and one that makes us laugh - Leo being burped: close-up! It's pretty funny stuff when we do that to him.