A Great Day

Well - today was an eventful day. Dylan started his Junior year of High School and Ryan made great strides.

Dylan was the first awake in the house this morning. He woke Jeff up at 7:30 for a ride to school. I, on the other hand, took a little longer to wake from slumber. Waking some time after 8a (but probably closer to 9), it was near 11:30a before we made it to the NICU for our first visit with Ryan.

Jeff and I took turns holding Ryan. We each held him for about an hour waiting for the doctors to make their rounds. We just wanted to know if they would be removing the tube from his mouth and if they would allow feedings to begin. We were getting ready to leave for lunch and FINALLY someone came by with some answers!!
- - Ryan's tube was moved from his mouth to his nose. (He is soooo much happier!)
- - We were able to feed him for the first time since he was admitted on Friday. The doctors are gradually allowing food. He will start off with 10cc's of milk and will be fed every 3 hours. After the 3rd feeding, the quantity will go up 5 cc's for every 2 feedings.

The nurses had reported that Ryan needed much soothing last night because of his hunger. So when he was given his first (non IV) meal today - he was very happy about it!! He first latched on to the bottle and was a little surprised that he was getting something from it. Once he realized what was going on - - he viciously sucked down his 10cc's. He was so content - - and we were so happy that he was no longer going to be suffering pains of starvation.

After coming home to visit with Dylan after his first day of school, we headed back to NICU for the 2nd feeding at 5 and then came home again to get Dylan for the final visit and 3rd feeding at 8p. We are so excited to be able to feed him. We're equally excited that Ryan is continuing to poop and his stomach measurements continue to go down. These are all really good signs that he is doing well. Who would have ever thought we would want our baby to poop so bad?!?!

By the time we arrive tomorrow, Ryan will have had 4 more feedings and will be up to 25cc's of milk. We should also hear back on the results of the biopsy tomorrow. With this we hope to learn of when Ryan can come home. One last hurdle. Our fingers are crossed and we have nothing but positive thoughts.

It's been another 15+ hour day. We spent 8 hours in the NICU and another 3 hours making the commute to and from. We're off to bed and will be at it again tomorrow.