Beep away ventilator!!

Today is Saturday, 04-15-06 and I am 5 days old! I've had a great day so far, but mommy and daddy were a little worried to begin with.

Yesterday the doctor told me, mom, and dad that I could eat 1CC of mommy's milk every three hours. I did really good with the first feeding. I didn't eat too fast but I did finish every last drop! The nurses warned mommy that because my tummy is so little, she shouldn't be worried if I still had most of the food in my tummy three hours later.

When they checked my tummy at 11am (three hours after my first feeding), my tummy was EMPTY!!!!! And man was I hungry so I got another 1CC of mommy's milk. Actually, to make a long story short, I got to eat 1CC of milk every three hours yesterday, even during the night!

Anyways, this morning the nurse checked my tummy and mommy was sad because I actually had 1.5CC's of milk in my tummy from the previous feeding. The nurse explained that this was not bad news because I had partially digested the milk, I just didn't finish the job. I think mommy was really only sad because they had told her if I still had milk in my tummy before any feeding, they would hold off on that feeding. That made me kind of sad too because I wanted more milk! Well....guess what?

The nurse showed the doctor what was still left in my tummy, and the doctor said I could still eat. In fact, the doctor decided that since I was doing so good the nurse was going to give me back the old stuff (so I could finish digesting it), and the doctor wanted me to have 2 more CCs with it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now we're talking food!!!!!

It's now 2:20pm on the 15th of April....did I tell you I'm five days old already???? I'm almost a big boy!! Anyways, I've already gotten 6CCs of food since 11am and I am loving it!

Oh yeah, I have other big news too.....

My ventilator has been beeping at me all day. Mommy and daddy say that it's an alarm of some sort, but they really didn't know because it's a new noise. When they asked the nurse, she explained that the alarm keeps beeping because my lungs are becoming more open and are needing the ventilator less and less. The nurse said that it's still too early to take me off the ventilator, but because I'm doing so great....I'm only on 39% oxygen and my O2 stats have been awesome!!!!!

So that's my awesome news for today. I know I still have a long ways to go, but I am bound and determined to get better quick so mommy and daddy can hold me.

On a side note, I do have to have my tanning light back (bilirubin) because the doctor said I was getting a little jaundice again. But I'm okay with that because now I don't have to wear the heavy blanket anymore. The blanket makes it really hard for me to move around and I like to be active. The nurses and doctors tell mommy and daddy I move around too much for my own good, but it's pretty boring laying around all day so let me kick my feet already!!!!!!!!

More updates soon:)