Today was one of those days where I just wanted to take my baby and go home. Nothing went wrong, I just feel so exhausted and want to cuddle on the couch with Ezra watching a movie.
My baby boy is starting to wake more for his feedings. It’s nice to see his eyes and see him looking around when I am talking to him.
Here are some pictures from the day.
Today is the day that most babies born with spina bifida are able to turn onto their back. That would mean that within a few days we would be able to go home. However, Ezra is a long way from that. The doctors have not even begun to speculate when that will be. We can only go by the original time line of 6-8 weeks. At least by time we get to go home we wont have to do any snow blowing. How’s that for glass half full?
The neonatologist said that he is doing alright without the catheter, which is definitely good news. That is one of the life long issues that he might be facing, so the fact that he is doing good now is encouraging. We’re still working on the feeding. It seems that when he is awake he does the best. He just isn’t awake that much or for that long.
We are looking forward to the weekend, even though all the days are kind of the same around here.
Today, the surgical residents stopped by, but there was nothing new to report. I think that that is a good thing. No infections or complications is always a good thing. Right now Ezra’s biggest struggle is eating. He has been awake a lot lately, just not when he is eating. He is on a 3 hour feeding schedule, and seems to always be awake a half hour before he eats, but then falls back asleep. We also are not able to burp him, so there ends up being a lot of air in his stomach. He has a feeding tube, so it is not a big concern, it would just be nice to see progress. The truth of the mater is that we will probably be dealing with these types, of things a lot over the course of his life and it is one more thing that we need to trust God with.
We were able to get out of the hospital again today, which was nice. Our accommodations are comfortable, but lets face it, hospitals are not fun places to be. We hung out with Laurens family one last time before they head back out of town, and now we will have a couple of days with no visitors. I think we have had a visitor almost everyday, since we’ve been here. I’ve been able to do a lot of work from down here, and along with everything else, I think that I have been busier than I was back home. We do miss our normal routine, but were starting new ones, which involve me taking care of Atreyu more. Its been nice to spend more time with him, but it brings its own challenges.
Well today felt like a really good day. It started out with Ezra having poop everywhere! but we got him cleaned up and changed his dressing on his back and it got better from there.
We are starting to get to know the nurses better and Ezra is building his team that will continue to care for him. It is so nice to walk in and see a familiar face and know that they are comfortable with Ezra. These nurses are so encouraging to be around and help me to do as much as I can with Ezra.
I am starting to feel tons better from the c-section. It feels better to get around and have a lot more energy.
Ezra had a big day. He was taken off his antibiotics,
which means his IV was able to come out. His head is so cute without an IV. Also they were able to take out his catheter to see if he could pee on his own. And of course the little rockstar did. They will keep and eye on it and make sure he is emptying his bladder. If he isn’t they may have to put it back in or cath him a few times a day.
The doctors stopped by and said Ezra is doing fine. Which sounds good to me.
Tomorrow I think Dave and I are going to try to get out of the hospital, I think we are both getting a little cabin fever and need some fresh air. But everything went well today.
This morning I had the nice surprise of seeing Ezra’s eyes. I can’t believe a week ago I had a baby. Things have been going well, considering that we are where we are at. Ezra still has lots of healing to do but he is doing great.
I am so thankful that we are close to where he is in the NICU, it is just a simple walk across the hospital and I am able to spend time with him. It makes it nice to go back and forth between Dave and Atreyu and spending time with Ezra.
Dave and I are working on having Ezra take all his feeding through the bottle, once he is good at that they can take out the feeding tube. He takes about 45 mins to finish his bottle and we have the patience to get it all down through the bottle, but the nurses only give him about 20 mins to take the bottle so they usually end up finishing with the feeding tube. Hopefully soon he will be awake enough to be a better eater but for now Dave and I are trying to do as many feeding as we can.
I had the chance to sort of hold Ezra again today. 
We needed to change his bedding so I was able to lift him up while the nurse put on a new sheet. I can’t wait until I actually get to hold him.
Ezra had an ultrasound of his head yesterday and the results were stable. So that mean extra fluid is not building up in his head and today he does not need a shunt. It is still a possibility and that would be another surgery, but it is something that will save his life if he needs it and we are thankful for that.