March 2, 2009 First Bottle Down

Pouty Face!
Colton had a good Monday. Everything thing came together for Colton during his 11:00 am by mouth bottle feed with OT today. He demonstrated a coordinated suck-swallow-breath with moderate force with the suck and finished his 49 mL in 19 minutes with at least 3-4 minutes of rest and burping. He was eating at the recommended rate of 3-5 mL per minute! He was very awake and at least moderately interested in the task at hand. Decreased strider was heard during the feeding indicating improved functional swallowing. He was given O2 at 100% on 1/8 L during the feed. He continues to be on a reduced percentage of O2 when not feeding due to periods of apnea and bradycardia. His OT warned us that he might not finish his bottle tomorrow and that it might take several days before he consistently finishes his prescribed amount in 20 minutes and moves up to try 2 bottles a day.


Colton weighed in today at 5 lbs 11.3 oz. The nurses report he is showing increased periods of alertness and wakefulness. Good signs that he is ready to begin to learning to eat and to interact with his environment.


Some people have asked me about more info on the NICU and prematurity. The March of Dimes has good info:http://www.marchofdimes.com/ as does this website: http://www.prematurity.org/baby/index.html.


Today was Colton's 31st day of life. His gestational age is 34 weeks 3/7 days. He will be 35 weeks on Saturday, still 5 weeks from his due date. We still have a ways to go until we get him home and settled. We have to take each day one at a time. The past 31 days have been the hardest of my life by far; however, the love and support of family and friends have been very helpful to me and my family. Some of you have reached out to make me laugh over the past week or so and I appreciate those laughs more than you know! Keep them coming, please!


Lastly, I am showing good improvement per Dr. Hammill's report today at his office. I am on the mend and doing well.


We will let you know how my little man is doing again tomorrow.


Wendy